Tag: wwe returns

Montez Ford returns to action on WWE SmackDown

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Monetz Ford returned to TV on tonight’s SmackDown after briefly being out of action due to injury.

Ford teamed with Angelo Dawkins tonight to defeat the team of Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler, with Ford getting the win with a frog splash.

It was reported on June 25th that Ford had undergone surgery. Dave Meltzer reported that it was surgery that was voluntary and not related to an injury, and something that should not keep Ford out of action for a long period of time. Ford was written off TV briefly following an attack from Otis that took place on the June 11th edition of SmackDown.

WWE later issued a storyline update. SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, the wife of Ford, said on an episode of The Bump that he was at home recovering from rib injuries.

In the month of July, Angelo Dawkins wrestled two singles matches, one where he lost to Otis on July 2 and another match on July 23 where he defeated Chad Gable.

Zelina Vega returns to WWE on SmackDown, enters MITB match

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Zelina Vega returned to WWE tonight on SmackDown, being entered into the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.

Sonya Deville introduced Vega as the next woman on SmackDown to be entered into the ladder match. Liv Morgan came out and argued that she should be in the match, as Vega hadn’t appeared on television all year while she has defeated Carmella, who is in the match already, twice. Morgan asked Deville to make a match between her and Vega. The match then went down, with Morgan quickly pinning Vega with a roll-up.

Vega, real name Thea Trinidad, was released from WWE on November 13, 2020. She was released after WWE implemented a new social media policy that no longer allowed talent to use third party platforms such as Cameo and Twitch, a policy which Vega did not agree with. Minutes prior to WWE announcing her release, Vega tweeted that she supported the unionization of professional wrestling.

Participants already announced for the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match include Asuka, Naomi, Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross, and Carmella.

Aleister Black returns to WWE TV on SmackDown

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Aleister Black re-emerged on tonight’s SmackDown, narrating a story and berating the WWE audience.

A vignette was shown on SmackDown tonight featuring Black sitting in a chair among a number of candles. He read a book named “Tales from the Dark Father”. He told a story about a boy whose father took him to rituals of life and death.  Black claimed that the boy never learned how to slay the dragon, but he learned to be the dragon. He called the people watching the vignette monsters, saying he would never help them with their lies and their deceit. He called them vile and they should be condemned. 

Black had not been seen on WWE television in six months. He had been drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2020 WWE draft in October, but was never shown on television until tonight’s show. Prior to the draft, he had been feuding with Kevin Owens, with his last match being a No Disqualification match in a losing effort.

Eva Marie set to return to WWE

Posted on by Bryan Rose

After being gone for three years, Eva Marie is returning to WWE.

Dave Meltzer has confirmed that Eva Marie is set to return to the company. This was first reported by Cultaholic. PWInsider additionally reported that Marie is in Orlando for this week’s tapings and is currently undergoing additional testing. An agreement regarding a return came the week of 9/20. It isn’t immediately clear if she will be returning as a wrestler or as a personality.

Marie was signed to a WWE developmental deal back in 2013 and was picked to be a part of the first season of Total Divas. She soon started to appear on the main roster and worked matches, despite having little training. 

She moved to NXT in 2015, then returned to the main roster a year later. Following the new brand split, Marie was sent to SmackDown and started a new gimmick with a lengthy narration introducing her before each match. Her gimmick also had her faking events that would prevent her from wrestling.

In August of 2017, Marie announced that she had parted ways with WWE. She has since started her own YouTube channel and appeared as a cast member on the second season of Celebrity Big Brother.

Kalisto returns to WWE TV on SmackDown

Posted on by Bryan Rose

After being away most of the year due to injury, Kalisto returned to WWE on tonight’s episode of SmackDown.

He made an appearance during a Gran Metalik vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match which took place tonight. Kalisto helped Lince Dorado take care of Cesaro with a tornado DDT.  This allowed Metalik to hit Nakamura with a springboard elbow for the win.

The announcers mentioned that Kalisto had been out of action for some time following a separated shoulder. Kalisto last wrestled back in December, when he and Gran Metalik lost a tag match to The Revival at a WWE house show in Los Angeles, California.

Since Kalisto’s injury, the Lucha House Party has remained a team and have competed for the SmackDown Tag Team titles on several occasions throughout the year.

The trio, originally part of Raw, were moved to SmackDown as part of the WWE Draft that took place in October of last year.

AJ Styles reportedly returning to WWE Raw this Monday

Posted on by Bryan Rose

It seems that AJ Styles will be making his return to WWE imminently.

John Pollock of Post Wrestling is reporting that AJ Styles will be returning to Raw this Monday. It would be the first time he has appeared on television since WrestleMania 36.

At that event, Styles and The Undertaker competed in what was billed as a Boneyard match. It turned out to be a cinematic brawl, where the Undertaker won after burying AJ Styles underneath feet of dirt. Styles’ hand was seen through the dirt as the Undertaker rode off into the night to end the first evening of WrestleMania.

When Styles makes his return, the rest of the OC won’t be with him. Both Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, who were last seen getting laid out by the Undertaker in the Boneyard match, were released last month as a part of massive cutbacks by WWE in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Announced for Raw on Monday is a Gauntlet match that will determine the final spot in the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match following a in-storyline injury to Apollo Crews. The Street Profits will also face The Viking Raiders.

Goldberg set to appear on WWE SmackDown this Friday

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Goldberg is set to return to WWE this Friday on SmackDown.

It was announced during Raw that Goldberg would be making an appearance. Details were scarce, but announcers mentioned that Goldberg would be talking about what’s next.

Goldberg hasn’t made an appearance for WWE since SummerSlam, when he made short work of Dolph Ziggler.

Since returning to WWE in 2016, Goldberg has made sporadic appearances for WWE. After defeating Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2016, he faced Lesnar in a rubber match at WrestleMania 33, where unlike WrestleMania 20, was unable to defeat Lesnar.

Last year, he faced off against The Undertaker at the Super ShowDown event in Saudi Arabia. The Undertaker ended up winning the match. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last year, headlining the event.

WWE’s next pay-per-view event is Super ShowDown, which like last year will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 27.

Ruby Riott returns on WWE Raw, attacks Liv Morgan

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Ruby Riott returned to WWE television tonight on Raw.

Liv Morgan had just defeated Lana when Riott made her return. At first, it appeared she was there to congratulate her fellow Riott Squad member. However, Riott attacked Morgan and put the boots to her. Once Riott left, Lana took advantage and laid out Morgan with an x-factor.

Riott had been for an extended period of time after undergoing double shoulder surgery. Her last in-ring appearance was back on May 15, when she lost a fatal four way match for the Raw Women’s title.

Since Riott’s injury, the rest of the Riott Squad broke up. Morgan was initially traded to SmackDown, but after months of not appearing on television debuted as a member of the Raw roster late last year, confronting Lana over her marriage to Bobby Lashley.

Sarah Logan, the third member of the Riott Squad, remained on the Raw roster but has mostly been working matches on Main Event.

Big Show returns to WWE TV on Raw

Posted on by Bryan Rose

After being gone for over a year, Big Show returned to WWE tonight on Raw.

He was the mystery tag team partner of Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens, who faced AOP and Seth Rollins. Show, Owens and Joe scored the disqualification win after Rollins hit Big Show in the back with a steel chair.

Rollins set up Show for the curb stomp, but Owens made the save, allowing Show to lay him out with the punch. He, Joe and Owens stood tall to end the show.

Big Show hadn’t been on WWE television since November 2018. He was briefly involved with Sheamus and Cesaro on the SmackDown brand, but the alliance ended in a backstage segment.

The commentary team tonight noted at the end of Raw that Big Show will be teaming with Joe and Owens against Rollins and AOP once again next week on Raw, but this time under what is being billed as a fist fight.

Lio Rush returns to NXT, will get next Cruiserweight title shot

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Lio Rush has resurfaced on NXT television, earning a shot at the Cruiserweight title.

He faced Oney Lorcan on the second hour of NXT that aired on the WWE Network. The two had a hot match which ended after Rush pinned Lorcan following a frog splash. With the win, Rush will now face Drew Gulak for the cruiserweight title. The date of the title shot wasn’t made clear.

Dave Meltzer reported shortly before NXT went on the air that Rush was supposed to return.

Rush had not been on WWE television since WrestleMania 35, when he accompanied Bobby Lashley to ringside for his match against the Demon Finn Balor. He had since been on sabbatical from WWE. In May, he removed all references to WWE in his profile. 

He had previously been managing Bobby Lashley on Raw while wrestling on 205 Live as a singles competitor. His last match prior to his NXT return was a losing effort teaming with Lashley against Braun Strowman and Finn Balor on Raw back on March 18.

Rusev returns to WWE TV on Raw

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Rusev returned to WWE tonight after being gone for several months.

The angle started when Maria Kanellis told Mike Kanellis at their gender reveal party that Ricochet was their baby’s father. An incensed Kanellis challenged Ricochet to an impromptu match, which Ricochet won quickly.

After the match, Maria Kanellis was upset and cut a promo saying that despite what she had said earlier Ricochet was not their baby’s father and had only said that to motivate him. She instead said she was going to reveal the father right now.

Rusev then came out and confronted Mike Kanellis. Lana was not with him, though commentary brought up the question of what she would think of this news. Kanellis said he has had a bad day and that he was okay with Rusev being the father. He tried to leave, but Rusev followed him and laid him out. Kanellis then had another match where he lost quickly to the accolade.

Rusev had been gone from television since taking a sabbatical from WWE following WrestleMania 35. He briefly returned at WWE Super Showdown to compete in the 50 man battle royal, but other than that had not been on television.

Sasha Banks, Tamina, Samir Singh return on WWE Raw

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Tonight was a night of returns on Monday Night Raw, with three people returning to television.

Sasha Banks made her return tonight on Raw after being gone for a month due to what was reported as a undisclosed injury. She returned alongside Bayley serving as Natalya’s backup as she took on Ruby Riott in a singles match. The match ended in a DQ when Sarah Logan clipped Nattie’s leg. Banks and Bayley evened the odds, clearing the ring.

Meanwhile, Tamina made her return to the ring tonight after recovering from a torn rotator cuff. She teamed with Dana Brooke in a losing effort against Ember Moon and Nia Jax. Following the bout, Moon and Tamina eliminated Jax from the ring. Moon tried to eliminate Tamina, but failed to do so. Dana Brooke then eliminated them both, hyping the battle royal all four women are scheduled to be in at Evolution. 

Samir Singh, who has spent most of 2018 out with a torn ACL, returned tonight in the corner of Jinder Mahal, who quickly lost to Finn Balor tonight on Raw.