Seth Rollins’ Survivor Series spot will be on the line on Monday’s go-home edition of Raw.
WWE has announced Rollins vs. Andrade for Monday’s Raw. If Andrade wins, he’ll take Rollins’ place in the men’s triple threat elimination tag match at the pay-per-view.
Rollins vs. Andrade was set up by a tweet from Zelina Vega: “I can’t wait to see Team #RAW prevail at #SurvivorSeries but why isn’t @AndradeCienWWE leading the team? Andrade is the BEST in-ring performer of this generation. Shouldn’t HE be at the forefront of this team? Thoughts, @WWERollins?”
Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, Ricochet & Drew McIntyre are the four other wrestlers who will be on Raw’s men’s division team for their triple threat elimination tag match against Team SmackDown and Team NXT at Survivor Series. Roman Reigns, Baron Corbin, Braun Strowman, Mustafa Ali & Shorty G have been announced for Team SmackDown.
WWE hasn’t revealed any of the members of Team NXT.
Monday’s Raw is taking place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Viking Raiders will defend their Raw Tag Team titles against Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins on the show.
The mixed tag match was set up this Wednesday, with WWE posting a video where Vega & Andrade issued a challenge to Lynch & Rollins. Lynch & Rollins then accepted the challenge via Twitter.
Lynch & Rollins defeated Maria & Mike Kanellis on Raw this week, with Maria revealing her pregnancy during the match.
Monday’s Raw is taking place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and is the go-home show for Extreme Rules. Rollins’ Universal Championship and Lynch’s Raw Women’s Championship will be on the line as they face Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans in a winners-take-all mixed tag match at the pay-per-view.
Rollins & Lynch vs. Corbin & Evans also has an extreme rules stipulation.
Reigns & The Undertaker are facing Shane & McIntyre in a no holds barred match at Extreme Rules. Monday’s tag match has a stipulation where Undertaker will be removed from Extreme Rules if he interferes.
Despite the Superstar Shake-up being last week, it seems that WWE is not done moving people around.
Dave Meltzer has confirmed Pro Wrestling Sheet’s report this afternoon that Andrade and Zelina Vega were moved back to SmackDown after initially being moved to Raw. Additionally, Aleister Black’s WWE.com profile has been moved from Raw over to SmackDown and will be part of that brand going forward. He and Ricochet had been teaming up since being called up from NXT, and were confirmed to be a part of the Raw brand last week.
Additionally, Meltzer has confirmed that Cesaro has been moved to the Raw brand. This would effectively break up The Bar tag team with him and Sheamus. John Pollock was the first to report the move.
It should be noted that with the changes, WWE has attempted to keep most of the couples on the roster in the same brand. Black and Vega were married recently, and Andrade is currently in a relationship with Charlotte Flair.
Other couples, such as Naomi and Jimmy Uso, were also moved together in the Superstar Shake-up.
The Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri is hosting SmackDown’s go-home show for Survivor Series tonight.
A six-man tag match has been announced for the episode. Cesaro, Sheamus & Big Show will face The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods). At Survivor Series, Cesaro & Sheamus will wrestle AOP in a champion vs. champion match and New Day will be part of SmackDown’s tag team division team.
Dave Meltzer reports that Zelina Vega has been cleared to return after being evaluated today. Vega missed WWE’s European tour due to taking a bad bump to the outside when she was eliminated from the battle royal at Evolution.
With Becky Lynch off the Survivor Series card due to injury, Meltzer notes that Ronda Rousey’s situation for the pay-per-view will be revealed on tonight’s SmackDown. She had been scheduled to face Lynch in a champion vs. champion match at the PPV.
WWE is also teasing the storyline of whether or not Charlotte Flair will become the captain of SmackDown’s Survivor Series women’s division team, along with whether or not the men’s team will be able to get on the same page.
The card for SummerSlam is now up to 12 announced matches.
WWE revealed this morning that Rusev & Lana will be teaming against Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega in a mixed tag match on the SummerSlam pre-show. It’s the first match to be officially confirmed for the pre-show.
Vega has defeated Lana twice on SmackDown over the last two weeks. The story of their matches has been that, amid dissension between Rusev, Aiden English, and Lana, English has come out to try and help Lana, but it’s backfired and led to her losing.
Rusev wasn’t with Lana at ringside on the July 31 episode. Almas got on the apron to cause a distraction, English ran out to stop him, and Vega rolled up Lana for the pin.
This week, Rusev said they forgave English but suggested that he shouldn’t come out for Lana’s match. He ran down while Rusev and Almas were fighting, with English accidentally tackling Almas into Lana while she was climbing the top rope. Vega hit a double knee strike in the corner for the win.
Almas also defeated Rusev last month after English trying to break up a fight between Lana and Vega backfired.
SummerSlam will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on August 19. Here’s the updated lineup:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Roman Reigns
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defending against Ronda Rousey
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Samoa Joe
Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella defending against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match
Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler defending against Seth Rollins
United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defending against Jeff Hardy
Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens (If Owens wins, he gets Strowman’s Money in the Bank briefcase)
Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers defending against The New Day
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander defending against Drew Gulak
Rusev & Lana vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega in a mixed tag match (pre-show)
A rematch between Zelina Vega and Lana has been added to tonight’s SmackDown.
WWE announced the match via Twitter this afternoon: “The #RavishingRussian @LanaWWE and @Zelina_VegaWWE are set to battle in a rematch, TONIGHT on #SDLive!”
Vega made her main roster in-ring debut by defeating Lana last week. The storyline for the match was that Rusev wasn’t at ringside due to the dissension that’s been building between him, Aiden English, and Lana. When Andrade “Cien” Almas got on the apron, English ran out to stop him. The distraction led to Vega rolling up Lana for the win.
In a backstage segment after the match, Lana asked English to leave her alone and told Rusev that she needed him with her against Vega.
Rusev lost to Almas on the July 24 episode of SmackDown after Lana and Vega fought at ringside and Vega jumped on English’s back when he came out to try and break it up, bumping him into Lana.
AJ Styles addressing Samoa Joe, The Miz making a SummerSlam announcement, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch vs. Peyton Royce & Billie Kay, and The New Day vs. Cesaro & Sheamus in the finals of SmackDown’s tag team tournament are also set for tonight. The team that wins the tournament will challenge for The Bludgeon Brothers’ Tag Team titles at SummerSlam on August 19.
Zelina Vega is set to make her WWE main roster in-ring debut this week.
After Vega and Lana went back and forth on Twitter and Lana challenged Vega to a match, WWE had Paige make it official for tomorrow’s episode of SmackDown: “Well. @Zelina_VegaWWE and @LanaWWE have certainly been … ahem… vocal about their feelings this weekend. SO let’s take this off the internet and bring it into the ring. I am making it official. Zelina vs. Lana TOMORROW NIGHT on #SDLive”
Vega slapped Lana and fought with her during Andrade “Cien” Almas and Rusev’s match on last week’s SmackDown, with the storyline being that their fight and Aiden English trying to break it up caused Rusev to lose.
Vega was called up with Almas as part of April’s roster shakeup. She wrestled once on NXT television before coming to the main roster, losing to Candice LeRae. She also teamed with Almas against LeRae & Johnny Gargano in several house show matches in NXT.
Vega wrestled under her real name (Thea Trinidad) and as Rosita, including for TNA/Impact Wrestling, before signing with WWE.
Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Usos in a tag team tournament match is also scheduled for tomorrow’s SmackDown, with the winners advancing to face The New Day in the finals next week. The team that wins the tournament will challenge for The Bludgeon Brothers’ SmackDown Tag Team titles at SummerSlam.
A debut and another Money in the Bank qualifying match is set for next week’s SmackDown.
Former NXT champion Andrade Cien Almas, along with his business manager Zelina Vega, will make their debut on the program next week. They were announced as coming in during the Superstar Shakeup a few weeks ago on SmackDown and had been promoting themselves with selfie videos since. Almas hasn’t competed on WWE television since losing the title to Allister Black at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans last month.
Also set for next week is a match between The New Day and The Bar, with the winner of the match choosing one member of their team to be a part of the Money in the Bank match. Both teams have been feuding since The Bar arrived on SmackDown, with Cesaro scoring a win over Xavier Woods tonight after the New Day pranked The Bar backstage by putting pancakes in their gear bags.
SmackDown will take place at the O2 Arena in London, England.
The Big News: Johnny Gargano will challenge for Aleister Black’s NXT Championship next week.
The Medium News: In her first official NXT TV match since being signed, Candice LeRae submitted Zelina Vega, who was wrestling in what might have been her last match in NXT.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Lars Sullivan sent Killian Dain to SmackDown with a loss in their no disqualification match.
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The show began with a graphic honoring the memory of Bruno Sammartino, a man who, in my opinion, is the greatest champion in WWE history. May he rest in peace.
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At Full Sail, the episode kicked off with Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae coming to the ring. This is Gargano’s first appearance since getting his job back by beating Tommaso Ciampa in a legit five-star match at TakeOver: New Orleans. The fans were thrilled to see him back, as Gargano got goose bumps from the reaction he received.
Going into TakeOver, he dreamt of returning to NXT. For too long he was defined by Tommaso Ciampa, his former best friend who broke his heart, cost him the NXT Championship, and stole his career. Gargano couldn’t say his name or get past him for the longest time, but after the most intense 37 minutes he’s ever spent in a professional wrestling ring, he has his life back and is back where he belongs.
He thanked the fans for always having his back and thanked LeRae for being with him these last few months. He said he loved her so much. He then announced that they have one last piece of unfinished business. LeRae took the mic and said she’ll be handling it tonight when she goes one-on-one with Zelina Vega. Gargano said if Andrade “Cien” Almas tries to get involved, he’ll drop Almas like his name was “Tommaso Ciampa.”
After they get past Almas & Vega tonight, Gargano said he will be Aleister Black’s first challenger, which the fans approved of.
This segment actually broke from tradition. Normally after an NXT title change, the next taped show opens with the new champion coming to the ring for a promo. The only exception was after Sami Zayn won the belt due to his storyline injury by Kevin Owens.
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Killian Dain did a backstage promo saying he’s going to take everything from Lars Sullivan. He’ll have no backup and will bring the chaos alone.
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Mauro Ranallo and Percy Watson gave a shoutout to Nigel McGuinness, who is home with his significant other and their newborn baby.
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Ricochet defeated Fabian Aichner
Ricochet had a neat laser light show for his entrance for his first official match on an episode of NXT TV. Aichner was compared to Bruno Sammartino, which was a weird coincidence since the commentary is pre-taped.
Aichner did look good here — and it wasn’t just because he was in with one of the best. He sells pretty well and his offense looks good. However, in spite of that, this match was all about Ricochet. He used a 619, a springboard European uppercut, and a standing Shooting Star Press that Aichner kicked out of.
The finish saw Aichner go for a superplex, but Ricochet knocked him off the top rope and hit the 630 for the pin.
Kayla Braxton asked Ricochet what it was like to debut here at Full Sail. He said it felt great to be in a place where a lot of WWE wrestlers made their names, referencing Bayley, Sami Zayn, and Seth Rollins. However, it is now his turn. He came to NXT to prove that there is one and only and that’s him.
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An EC3 video package aired.
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Lars Sullivan built up his no DQ match against Killian Dain tonight.
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War Raiders defeated KC & Chris
The former ROH and IWGP Tag Team Champions debuted last week by destroying both Heavy Machinery and Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli. KC & Chris are the 2018 version of Deuce & Domino. Bet you didn’t think you needed that, did you?
Anyway, the greasers stood no chance and their only offense (a chop) was completely no sold. Hanson did a cartwheel when one of them came off the ropes, which popped the crowd. One was hit with a double-team pop-up powerslam and the other was pinned after Fallout.
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Shayna Baszler arrived late at a woman’s team meeting earlier this week, declaring she is going to set the rules. She took it over, ripping down the tape over Ember Moon’s locker and taking it over. Dakota Kai walked out instead of listening to Baszler’s diatribe where she said this was now her locker room.
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Kona Reeves is re-debuting, this time with a push.
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Earlier today, Pete Dunne arrived at the Performance Center and said he would be back in a couple of weeks to rip Roderick Strong’s head off.
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Lars Sullivan defeated Killian Dain in a no DQ match
These two behemoths squared off in a match two weeks ago that ended when EC3, Ricochet, Adam Cole, and Velveteen Dream all just ran to the ring to stare at each other. Dusty Rhodes would have loved to commentate this match just to holler about the clubbering going on.
Dain went for a suicide dive and, before I could make a sarcastic comment about Sullivan catching him like he did to two of his much smaller foes at TakeOver, Sullivan caught him. Sullivan grabbed him out of mid-air and rammed him into the ring post. Sullivan further showed off his strength with a pair of suplexes, one, the normal kind, outside the ring and one, a German, inside the ring. Sullivan hit his diving headbutt for a two count. He smashed Dain’s nose, with Dain wearing the crimson…mustache.
Dain started his comeback when Sullivan was choking him with a chair. Dain hit the Wasteland, a senton, and a Vader Bomb, but was frustrated when Sullivan didn’t stay down. Sullivan came back and put a chair across Dain before flying off with a diving headbutt. Unfortunately Dain moved out of the way, so Sullivan crashed into the chair.
A table was set up in the corner and Dain went for The Divide twice. Sullivan caught him once and then it actually worked as they went through the table. Dain set Sullivan up for the Van Terminator at this point.
Stop and re-read that sentence. 350-ish pound Killian Dain went up top to attempt a Van Terminator. Unfortunately for everyone, Sullivan cut him off before he could attempt it and pinned the SmackDown-bound Dain with a Freak Accident on a chair.
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Undisputed Era were wandering around backstage and took photos with all their championship gold. They will be in Full Sail live next week.
Also, Adam Cole will defend the NXT North American Championship on TV for the first time ever against Oney Lorcan.
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Candice LeRae defeated Zelina Vega
This was the acknowledged in-ring NXT TV debut for both. However, both have done jobs in the past before being signed or pushed and have wrestled on house shows. The female referee, Jessika Carr, towered over both competitors.
Almas interfered 30 seconds into the match to distract LeRae, so Gargano ran down to glare at the former champion. This was short, but fine. Vega used the double knees in the corner, but LeRae got out of the hammerlock DDT and hit a missile dropkick for a near fall. LeRae locked on the Gargano Escape. Almas ran in, but Gargano cut him off and put Almas in the Gargano Escape. Both tapped and LeRae got the win.
After the match, Gargano officially challenged Black for the NXT Championship. Black came out on the stage and accepted the challenge for next week.
Next week, it’s Black vs. Gargano for the NXT Championship! Until then, thank you for reading and remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers.
As part of a dizzying numbers of roster changes over the past two weeks, former NXT champion Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas and manager Zelina Vega will be coming to WWE SmackDown.
The two announced their arrival via a cell phone video that aired in the second hour of Tuesday’s Superstar Shake-Up finale on SmackDown.
The 28-year-old Almas rose to prominence in Mexico and NJPW as La Sombra before signing with WWE in November 2015. Starting in NXT, he lost his mask and had his name changed to Manny Andrade. That lasted for a month before his name changed to his current moniker.
He had a 140-day run as NXT Champion, defeating fellow main roster talent Drew McIntyre last November before losing the title to Aleister Black just over two weeks ago at TakeOver New Orleans. He made his official main roster debut in the 2018 Royal Rumble match.
The 27-year-old Vega (fka Thea Trinidad) signed with WWE in June 2017 after a few spot appearances over the last few years. She was sent to NXT and soon became a part of the Almas act, helping add some life and dimension to the character. She accompanied Almas to the ring for his WWE appearance in this year’s Royal Rumble.
Ricochet received a lot of chants as people knew who he was and were excited to see him. This was a solid opener and both wrestlers looked great.
– Killian Dain defeated Marcel Barthel
Barthel tried to get easy heat by mentioning how superior the German Olympic hockey team was compared to the Canadian team. His pre-match mic work went a bit long.
The match was okay, but the two of them didn’t seem to click.
– Roderick Strong defeated Fabian Aichner
Strong carried this to a solid match and Aichner kept up with him.
– SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) defeated The Authors of Pain
They did lots of brawling. The match was solid and what you’d expect from these teams.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Nikki Cross and Aliyah in a triple threat match to retain her title
Moon hit a double Eclipse before pinning Aliyah. The fans were really into Cross.
After debuting at the most recent set of television tapings, Ricochet was wrestling at his first NXT house show here. He won with the 630.
– Nikki Cross defeated Aliyah
Cross hit the fisherman’s neckbreaker to win.
– Killian Dain defeated Marcel Barthel
Dain pinned him after hitting a corner slingshot splash.
– Roderick Strong defeated Fabian Aichner
Strong won by submission with the Strong Hold.
– SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) defeated The Authors of Pain
Wolfe and Young hit a suplex/diving neckbreaker combo to pick up the win.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Bianca Belair to retain her title
The ending to this match didn’t go as planned. Belair was grabbing her neck throughout and then took The Eclipse strangely. She kicked out at two when she wasn’t supposed to, but the referee called for the bell anyway despite it being obvious to the crowd that she kicked out.
Belair was escorted to the back by a couple of people after the match.
While the storyline is that Gargano’s NXT career is over after losing the title vs. career match against Almas, WWE explained him still wrestling on the house shows in a video where William Regal said he would have to fulfill his prior commitments like appearances and live events.
Gargano and LeRae got the win with stereo Gargano Escapes.
Baszler forced Kai to tap out. The audience was very into Cross and seemed to like Baszler as well.
– Roderick Strong defeated Kassius Ohno
This was the match of the night. The crowd was white hot for the stiff strikes and a great finish, with Strong submitting Ohno with the Strong Hold.
– SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly)
Young got the pin on O’Reilly and did a promo after talking about how much he loves Nashville and the fans.
– Aleister Black defeated Velveteen Dream
Before the match, Dream got on the mic and said he was under the weather. He talked about the last time he was in Nashville and the bad reaction he got. He took off his jacket to show that he was wearing a Tom Brady jersey.
Black won with the Black Mass.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Bianca Belair to retain her title
Belair was very impressive despite losing.
– Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae defeated NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega in a mixed tag match
Both LeRae and Vega were making their post-signing in-ring debuts. The crowd chanted “Johnny Wrestling” and “Candice Wrestling” before and after the match. They were super over with the crowd.
At one point, LeRae hit a hurricanrana on Almas as she jumped from the top rope onto him. Almas and Vega also did simultaneous double knees to the corner. Gargano and LeRae won with a double submission as they both had the Gargano Escape locked in.
Gargano got on the mic after the match and put over LeRae and the crowd.
Submitted by reader Austin Chlapecka from NXT’s house show in Memphis, Tennessee on Friday night
– Heavy Machinery defeated Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler
This was a fun match with lots of crowd interaction, including Heavy Machinery laying it on thick with the comedy.
– Bianca BelAir defeated Aliyah
Aliyah probably got the least offense of anyone all night.
– Kassius Ohno cut a promo about Memphis wrestling history and said he wants to make history by becoming champion tonight. Zelina Vega rejected the idea, but Vic Joseph announced that fans can vote to decide on Twitter.
– Buddy Murphy defeated Brennan Williams
Murphy won, but Williams showed a lot of athleticism.
– Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated The Street Profits
Both teams were very over with the crowd. Ford is an electric performer — he has unlimited potential with his charisma and athleticism. This was a solid match, and the Undisputed Era won by grabbing Ford’s tights while pinning him.
– Aleister Black defeated Kona Reeves
Reeves actually got in a decent amount of offense, but Black won this one.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Vanessa Borne to retain her title
Borne held her own relatively well despite the experience gap. Following the match, BelAir came down and called out Moon for a title match in Little Rock.
– NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) defeated Kassius Ohno to retain his title
They had the match of the night. It was hard hitting and told a good story. Almas retained when Ohno was distracted by Vega accidentally dropping flour that she planned to throw at Ohno on the apron.
Ohno closed out the night by thanking the fans for showing up.
Submitted by reader Chris Murray from NXT’s show in Little Rock, Arkansas on Saturday
– Heavy Machinery defeated Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake
– Aliyah defeated Vanessa Borne
– Ohno cut a promo, saying he’s disappointed with himself recently and vowing to compete for the NXT title. Vega answered the challenge. She said Ohno hasn’t earned a title shot, but he can have a non-title match tonight.
– Kona Reeves defeated Brennan Williams
– Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated The Street Profits
– Aleister Black defeated Buddy Murphy
This was the best match of the night.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Bianca BelAir to retain her title
Following the match, Aliyah made the save for Moon after Borne attacked her.
– Kassius Ohno defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) in a non-title match
Ohno winning led to an impromptu title match.
– NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) defeated Kassius Ohno to retain his title
Vega hit a flying head scissors and Almas connected with the hammerlock DDT to retain.
