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Spoilers for Tonight’s SmackDown Live Episode

The following are spoilers for tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live, courtesy of PWInsider:

Zack Ryder is backstage and is expected to make his return on tonight’s show. Ryder has been out of action with a knee injury since December.
There is talk that American Alpha will return.
Charlotte vs. Natalya
Naomi vs. Tamina
Usos/Primo/Epico vs. Breezango/New Day

Check back here at 8PM ET for our live play-by-play coverage. Also, you can join us on RingsideTalk.net for our live fan chat.

Paige Now Training for WWE Comeback

We noted earlier today that Paige went to go visit the doctors for a check up on her neck injury that has sidelined her for nearly a year.

Paige may have got some good news, as she posted the following photos to Instagram which would indicate that she’s training for her return:

Just getting alberto to take pics in the gym. Pretending to work out… Jkkkk. Boxing gym later. Time to start kicking ass again! ??

A post shared by Paige WWE (@realpaigewwe) on Jun 13, 2017 at 11:55am PDT

??

A post shared by Paige WWE (@realpaigewwe) on Jun 13, 2017 at 11:58am PDT

Roman Reigns Blasts His Critics on Twitter

Some of Roman Reigns’ critics have gotten under his skin today as he took the time to blast a couple of them on Twitter. Here is what transpired:

What to Expect on the June 13th SmackDown Live Episode

WWE heads to Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA for tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. The following is confirmed for tonight’s show:

Charlotte Flair will take on Natalya
Tamina vs. Naomi
The Usos, Primo & Epico will face Tyler Breeze, Fandango & The New Day in an eight-man tag team match
Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn & AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler & Baron Corbin
Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton face off before their match at Money in the Bank

Check back here at 8PM ET for our live play-by-play coverage. You can also join us for our SmackDown Live fan discussion on RingsideTalk.net.

17 Names Revealed for the Upcoming Mae Young Classic

The following names are confirmed for the upcoming Mae Young Classic, courtesy of PWInsider:

Bianca Blair
Lacey Evans
Taynara Melo
Sarah Logan
Kimber Lee
Julia Ho
Victoria Gonzalez
Mary-Kate
Danielle Kamela
Zhao Xia
Nixon Newell
Evie
Demi Bennett
Kairi Hojo
Thea Trinidad
Marti Belle
Mia Yim

The event takes place on July 13th and July 14th at Full Sail University. Ringside News will be live providing coverage from the event.

Vince Russo’s The Brand Recap – Monday Nitro Analysis, Cutting A Live Promo for the First Time, Old Guard vs. New Blood, More!

On today’s show Russo and his co-host Jeff Lane will be discussing WCW’s Monday Nitro from April 10th, 2000.

Russo says that watching this show made him sad because it’s evident that he could work well and create some good television with Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett. This was the first episode of Monday Nitro that he co-wrote with Eric Bischoff, and he really wishes they could let bygones be bygones and move on with their lives without all of this bad blood.

Russo informs that he originally reached out to WCW after Vince McMahon told him to get a nanny to take care of his kids. Family was more important than that to Russo, so he inquired about work opportunities in WCW. Russo was hired in WCW as head writer, but he knew pretty early on that things were problematic there.

Bill Bush, an Accountant, was looking over WCW at that time for TNT and he knew nothing about professional wrestling. Russo and Ed Ferrara’s first goal when arriving in WCW was to elevate the mid card and introduce some new blood into the main event picture. The old guard of main eventers like Hulk Hogan and Sting were not happy about this, and they were quick to get in Bush’s ear.

Conflicting Reports on Braun Strowman’s WWE Status

While PWInsider reported earlier today that Braun Strowman was cleared to return to action and is just waiting for WWE creative to pencil him in, Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet says otherwise.

Satin mentioned on Twitter that he came across this story and confirmed with his sources that the information PWInsider reported was not accurate.

“Just read an incorrect report on Braun. While he IS close to coming back, my sources say Strowman has NOT been cleared for return yet.” Satin added, “The report today said cleared to return and waiting for creative plans though, which isn’t accurate.”

Roman Reigns Responds to Hater on Twitter

Roman Reigns caught wind of a Twitter account that didn’t have nice things to say his wrestling abilities and decided to rip into the hater.

He wrote the following in response to a Tweet sent out by the user “HeelDegenerate”, who claims to be a wrestler in training.

Conversation with the Big Guy Recap – Ryback’s New Gimmicks, Worst Match of his Career, What Does Ryback Miss About WWE? More!

Ryback is joined on today’s show by his co-host Pat Buck.

Ryback mentions that Buck takes care of all of his bookings for him. He says that when he left WWE, he called Buck the same day and asked him to be his booking agent for a 10% fee of all money earned. He says that he could probably handle all of his bookings himself but it is very time consuming, and he’d rather be putting his time and effort into other things.

Buck informs that it’s not easy to just start making connections and establishing relationships with promoters right out of the blue. He enjoys handling Ryback’s bookings but he admits that it can be frustrating at times. Some promoters are very rude and he takes the brunt of their abuse from time to time. Ryback requires a deposit after confirming a booking before his image and name can be used for promotional purposes, and sometimes that causes issues.

Ryback informs that he has had successful stem cell surgery on his shoulder where his shoulder is now basically repairing itself with the help of the stem cells. His goal is to fix his shoulder once and for all after dealing with these issues for years, and he believes he’s close to accomplishing that. He admits that it’s frustrating not being able to train as hard as he would like, or wrestle as much as he’d like.

Major Update on Braun Strowman’s Return to WWE

Braun Strowman has been cleared to return to action after suffering an elbow injury last month.

PWInsider reports that Strowman was cleared to return about a week ago. The belief is that he will return to television as soon as creative can fit him back into a storyline.

As previously reported, the “six months” recovery time that WWE reported was a work to make Strowman’s quick return look more impressive. Strowman was originally planned to face Brock Lesnar at the upcoming Great Balls of Fire event, but that match may be taking place at SummerSlam instead. We will keep you updated.