WWE Reacts to Racial Slurs Used on Monday’s RAW

As seen on Monday’s episode of RAW during the Miz TV segment, Lavar’s son LaMelo Ball dropped the phrase “”beat that n*ggas ass” during a confrontation between Lavar & The Miz. Houston Mitchell of The Los Angeles Times reached out to WWE, who released the following statement regarding the incident:

“The inappropriate language used by a guest during the ‘Miz TV’ segment was not scripted nor reflects WWE’s values “.

You can hear the slurs used in the video embedded below:

What to Expect on the June 27th SmackDown Live Episode

WWE heads to the Valley View Casion Center in San Diego, CA for tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. The following is confirmed for the show:

Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn
The Usos vs. The Hype Bros (If The Hype Bros Win They Get a Tag Title Shot)
Smackdown Women’s Title Match: Champion Naomi vs. Lana
Smackdown Women’s MITB Match: Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Tamina vs. Natalya

Check back here at 8PM ET for our live play-by-play coverage of the event.

WWE Writing Sheamus Off Television Soon

Dave Meltzer mentioned on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE will be writing Sheamus off television in the near future.

The story is that Sheamus has a role in the upcoming “Buddy Games” film and shooting for the movie takes place sometime in August. It’s believed that Sheamus will be written off television around that time. Meltzer indicated that Sheamus could be off of television for around six weeks or however long the shooting for the film is.

We will keep you updated if we hear anymore details.

Bellator Fighter Appearing at Sunday’s Slammiversary Event

It was revealed in a 30-minute preview video for Sunday’s Slammiversary event that Bellator’s Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal will be in Lashley’s corner at the event. As noted, Lashley will take on Alberto El Patron for the unified World Championship on the show.

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Ranallo Returns, Snow vs. Meltzer, Ellsworth’s Heat Leads to Rise in Smackdown Viewership, More!

Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane, Glenn Gilbertti (Disco Inferno), and Konnan.

Russo opens today’s show by discussing the rise in viewership for Smackdown Live this past week. The blue brand’s viewership increased by 500,000 last week and he believes that was a direct result of the booking from Sunday’s Money in the Bank PPV, specifically the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.

Konnan agrees and although he thinks the finish could have been done better, it accomplished its goal of drawing attention to the brand. Russo points out that when you tell stories and leave viewers wondering, they will tune into the next show to see what happens.

Gilbertti says that the fan backlash over that finish was silly to begin with. He says the problem with the wrestling industry right now is that there are too few experts, and the actual experts are criticized and ridiculed by people who consider themselves experts simply because they’ve watched a lot of wrestling.

Mike Tenay Turns Down Offer for Impact Wrestling Return

Mike Tenay has reportedly turned down an offer to return to the announcers booth for Impact Wrestling.

According to the Wrestling Observer, with Jeremy Borash and Josh Mathews competing at the upcoming Slammiversary event, Impact wanted to have Tenay and Don West reunite and call the show. Tenay apparently turned the offer company down, which led to the Impact bringing in Robert Flores to work alongside West.

The Taz Show Recap – Bryan Teases A Return to the Ring, Ranallo Back in WWE, Women’s MITB Rematch, More!

Blocks 1 & 2:

A listener calls into the show and asks Taz if he thinks WWE would throw us all a curve ball and have one of the Money in the Bank winners emerge on RAW to cash in their briefcase against Alexa Bliss or Brock Lesnar. Taz admits that would be a very shocking and surprising turn of events, and would make for a very memorable moment.

However, he doesn’t think cashing in on RAW (especially the day after the PPV) is a good idea. He has always been a fan of the Money in the Bank creative, and more often than not the goal is to get as much longevity out of that angle as possible each year. The briefcase holders can use that contract to boost themselves up throughout the year, and the constant threat of cashing in adds intrigue to the product throughout the year as well.

A listener calls into the show and says that he purchased the ROH PPV this past weekend, and this was the first PPV he purchased since 2014. He’s very happy he decided to spend the money on this PPV because it was a great wrestling show. Taz says that he’s a big fan of ROH, and there’s a lot of hard working people who make that company work on a daily basis.

Two Debuts Announced for Slammiversary

Impact Wrestling has announced that AAA stars El Hijo del Fantasma and Drago will team up at Slammiversary in a 4-way match for the IMPACT Wrestling Tag-Team Championship, now held by the Latin American Xchange (LAX). The match will also feature talent from two other international promotions.

Randy Orton Explains His “Dive” Tweets

While appearing on Hot 104.1 last week in his hometown of St. Louis, Randy Orton explained why he made his tweets about “dives” on Twitter that got everyone talking. Here is a transcript of what was said:

“I’m putting over AJ [Styles] strong, right? AJ, he has dives. A lot of guys that I work with do dives. I’ve been dived on a lot. I don’t have a problem with dives out of the ring, but when a lot of these guys, who don’t have anything to fall back on, and they’re not making any money doing it, they’re going around town wrestling on these independent shows — which is awesome, by the way. A lot of our guys, like AJ, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins wouldn’t be here without the indie scene. But they’re smart. A lot of these guys are going to go out there and they’re going to break their neck at 23 years old, doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing.

“It’s a display of athleticism, no doubt, but … I’m not going to watch gymnastics. I want to go watch a story, a fight between a good guy and a bad guy. How many flips they do each, I’m not keeping a tally … But do you know who had my back on it? Guys like AJ. Guys that do dives and know what they’re doing … Kurt Angle texted me after that. He didn’t do dives. If he did, he would put it where it should have went … he wouldn’t have done it just to do it …

“If that’s where our business is going, to where it’s just a preconceived, choreographed match with a bunch of acrobatics — back flips, front flips, gainers off the top rope, shooting star presses, moonsaults to the floor — then I don’t want to be a part of it. But I’ll tell you what: I don’t think that’s where it’s going.”

Here is footage of Orton’s appearance on the show:

Cody Rhodes Asked About Daniel Bryan’s Challenge

While speaking with Sports Illustrated, Cody Rhodes was asked about Daniel Bryan’s challenge to a match once his contract with WWE expires. Cody made the following remarks:

“I don’t think it was a challenge, just fun. Daniel Bryan remains one of my friends. Final Countdown would be a welcomed tune, even as a competitor. I have always looked up to Dan. It would be major, major box office for all involved.”

You can check out the full interview at this link.

Eva Marie Not Done with WWE?

It was reported back in March via PWInsider that Eva Marie would not be returning to WWE, however those reports appear to be false.

Eva Marie appeared on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live and indicated that she could still pop up on RAW or SmackDown Live at anytime. She mentioned that her return may not be in the near future as she is still working on two filming projects, but the door is still open for her return.

When asked about reports that Lana has received her gimmick on SmackDown, she said that she couldn’t confirm that but hopes that’s not the case.

New Match Added to WWE Great Balls of Fire

WWE announced that Seth Rollins will face Bray Wyatt at the upcoming WWE Great Balls of Fire event. Here is the updated card:

WWE Universal Title Match
Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar

Ambulance Match
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

Cruiserweight Title Match
Akira Tozawa vs. Neville

Bray Wyatt vs. Seth Rollins

Great Balls of Fire takes place on July 9th from the American Airlines Center in Dallas. As always, we will have live play-by-play coverage of the event.