We reported yesterday that there was rumors that Hideo Itami could be heading back to Japan when his contract with WWE expires this year. Itami denied those rumors in a short clip that WWE published on social media.
“No, I worked hard to get here,” said Itami. “One loss doesn’t mean going back to Japan. I’m not done yet.”
Rusev took to his Twitter account to post this crytpic tweet that has a lot of people talking on social media:
As previously noted, Rusev was set to make his SmackDown debut a while back but those plans got nixed once the company decided to go all out with Jinder Mahal’s championship run. There is no new information on exactly when the company plans to bring him back, but we will keep you updated.
Lawler is joined on today’s show by his co-host Glenn Moore.
Lawler informs that he injured his knee recently and it might require some attention in the near future. He recently visited a doctor with his son and the doctor told him that his son’s knees are three times worse than his, and his son is looking at a double knee replacement surgery. Lawler considers himself lucky to have been wrestling for 46 years and he has never required a knee surgery.
Lawler worked a cage match recently and had ‘The Mouth of the South’ Jimmy Hart in his corner for the match. He says that the cage was actually a very stable structure which surprised him, because he has worked in some pretty sad looking cages during his career. He informs that Hart threw his megaphone into cage at one point during the match and that reminded him of a cage match he worked against ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage many years ago.
Savage had Miss Elizabeth accompany him to the ring, and at one point she jumped into the cage. When she tried to climb back out of the cage, Lawler grabbed her skirt and the whole skirt came right off. The Memphis crowd got quite a show that evening. Lawler says that Elizabeth was a tremendous talent both as a valet and as an in-ring worker.
As previously noted, WWE will head to Full Sail University on July 13th and 14th to tape the Mae Young Classic. Here are some notes regarding the show, courtesy of PWInsider:
WWE has already locked in a number of talents for the tournament. There is expected to be around 32-women total.
The WWE Network will feature a preview special for the tournament on August 20th.
The first round of the tournament will be released on VOD the following week.
The second round of the tournament will release the week after that, which is the first week of September.
The finals of the live special are expected to air on Tuesday September 12th. SmackDown runs that night in Las Vegas and it’s being speculated that they could hold the finals there, instead of Orlando.
Pro Wrestling Elite announced today that Alberto El Patron will no longer be appearing on their July 21st and 22nd events. They posted the following on their Facebook page:
***BREAKING NEWS – MAJOR CHANGE TO JULY EVENTS***
It is with regret we have to inform our fans that Alberto El Patron will no longer be appearing at our 6 Year Anniversary weekend of events on Friday and Saturday the 21st and 22nd of July.
It is due to various factors that we are unable to bring you the advertised appearance and match with Alberto, and for this we are very sorry. We would like to wish Alberto El Patron well, and hope that we may be able to work with him in the future.
Please be assured we are working round the clock to bring you suitable changes to combat this disappointment and we kindly ask your patience and understanding at this time.
Thank you.
Taz opens today’s show by saying RAW was really good last night on the whole. He says the Paul Heyman and Samoa Joe segment was fantastic and he loved a lot of the subtleties from Heyman and Joe in that promo.
When Heyman makes his way to the ring he does it nice and slowly, and he always asks the performer in the ring if he can step through the ropes before doing so because he respects the ring and the performers who stand in it. Heyman’s promos are always tremendous, but an underrated part of Heyman’s delivery is his facial expressions.
Taz says that he didn’t anticipate Joe attacking Heyman but once Heyman turned his back to Joe, Taz could see the writing on the wall. He actually anticipated Joe choking Heyman from behind because that would have been a real heel, scumbag thing to do. However, he liked what WWE chose to do by having Joe corner Heyman and threaten him while the handheld mics picked it up.
Taz thought this was very well done, and he has been asking WWE to do this type of thing for a while now. The focus should never be on the live audience, because the millions of viewers at home are the priority. For this reason, it was very cool to see Joe cut this promo right to Heyman’s face which made it more realistic, and only the fans at home knew what he was saying.
The Hardy Boyz will be working a lighter schedule over the next few weeks as Rebecca Hardy’s due date gets closer.
Rebecca is expected to give birth to her and Matt’s second child soon and he’d want to be there for that. They were off yesterday’s RAW because of it and may be absent for other events moving forward.
In regards to their rematch against Cesaro and Sheamus for the Tag-Team Titles, we haven’t heard anything yet, but we will keep you updated.
Kevin Owens mentioned on Twitter today that his thumb is broken but he will not miss ring time. He tweeted:
Sad to report that #TheThumbOfAmerica is broken but fear not! I am in fact the toughest man alive and will not be missing any ring time. pic.twitter.com/y0BIWWN3Vj
— Kevin Owens (@FightOwensFight) June 6, 2017
WWE officially announced that John Cena will be making his return to WWE programming on the July 4th episode of SmackDown Live.
To combat low ratings, WWE is planning a big show for July 4th with Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler.
WWE announced on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live that Naomi will defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Lana at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. Here is the updated card for the show:
WWE Championship
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Women’s Championship
Lana vs. Naomi
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Tamina vs. Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Carmella
SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The New Day vs. The Usos
Money in the Bank will take place on June 18, 2017 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. As always, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of the event.
Welcome to the fastest hour on television, 205 Live!
Two nights ago at WWE Extreme Rules Neville battled Austin Aries in a submission match and retained his Cruiserweight Championship. That marked the third time Neville bested Aries and the end of their series. Last night on Raw, TJP asked Neville to hold his end of the bargain and give him a title shot. Neville spoke to Kurt Angle about it, then attacked TJP before telling him he had his shot.
So, on tonight’s show, TJP gets a shot at Neville’s Cruiserweight Championship in what is sure to be a great match and take up the majority of the program. We may also hear from Austin Aries, who is in need of a new direction after losing again.
Also on tonight’s show, will Akira Tozawa join The Titus Brand? And is the drama between Rich Swann and Noam Dar really finished.
