UFC

Superstars Who Have Thrived Through The Brand Split A Year Ago

A year ago WWE produced the second ever official brand split. Smackdown moved to Tuesday nights becoming a live event while also taking the logical moniker of Smackdown Live. Some fans were sceptical of the idea while others could not help but become excited. In the year since the brand split and draft took place a lot has happened in WWE. There has been returning legends, a new world championship and of course rising and falling stars.

Some superstars on RAW and Smackdown Live have thrived while some have failed to make a significant impact. The stars who took advantage of the brand split were 2016’s best and are currently doing the same in 2017. Whether it be due to having more airtime or due to simply relishing in opportunities is up to interpretation. There is no denying the hard work and insane work some superstars have done this past year.

With that this article looks at the stars who have thrived most in the past year. Specifically those who were aided massively by the brand split and took full advantage of it.

Footage of Shane McMahon’s Rescue Released

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Kevin Owens Says He Doesn’t Enjoy Working with AJ Styles

Whiles speaking to The Shore, Kevin Owens talked about several topics and also mentioned that doesn’t enjoy working with AJ Styles at all, especially after he took his title.

“Yeah, I don’t enjoy it at all actually. I’d rather never having to work with him again. He has my title, and I have to go after and it looks like we’re nowhere near done. Unfortunately, I have to step in the ring with him several more times. It’s part of what we do.”

Owens also revealed that he feels Sami Zayn would be the perfect opponent for him if he ever main evented WrestleMania.

“I feel like Sami Zayn. It would be such a great chapter to add to our story. We’ve been at each other’s throats and by each other’s sides simultaneously the last 15 years. It would be great to do something with him.

“And also Finn Balor, who is my best friend. We got to the WWE the exact same time and didn’t know each other before hand. We had a bit of contact here and there before because we knew we both would spend time there. We bonded over that. Once we got to Orlando we’ve became very close quickly and getting to main event with him would be incredible. It would be another incredible chapter to our story. We both kind of dove in to uncharted territories, him from Japan and me from other places. We both did well for ourselves. To get to achieve that was very special.”

You can check out the full interview here.

Possible Spoiler on the Mystery Team for WWE Battleground

As seen on Tuesday’s SmackDown Live, WWE announced that the conclusion of The Fashion Files will take place at Sunday’s WWE Battleground event.

Dave Meltzer mentioned on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that the mystery team behind the segments will possibly be revealed as Luke Harper and Eric Rowan. Meltzer mentioned that neither one of them haven’t been used on television for a while and this would be a good opportunity to bring them back.

Meltzer also said that there is always the chance that they could bring up a team from NXT such as Sanity to be revealed as the mystery team.

Global Force Wrestling Taking 10 Percent Cut of Talent’s Money

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that most of the talent that has signed with Global Force Wrestling are forced to give the company a ten percent cut of all their independent date money.

Also, talents will not receive a cut from any merchandise sold with their likenesses that is sold directly by Global Force Wrestling.

Bischoff on Wrestling LIVE Recap – Talking Smack’s Cancellation, Favourite nWo Member, Lesnar Returning to UFC? More!

On this special ‘1 Year Anniversary’ edition of the show, Bischoff and his co-host Nick Hausman go live in order to answer fan questions.

To start the show, Bischoff says he’s very grateful that Shane McMahon emerged without injury from a forced landing in a helicopter yesterday. He says he doesn’t know McMahon well, but he knows how much McMahon loves his wife and kids and he was certainly thinking about them during that situation yesterday.  In typical McMahon fashion, Shane didn’t really sell anything during his news interview, and Bischoff says that only Shane could top his Hell in the Cell leap by falling out of the sky in a helicopter.

A listener calls into the show and asks Bischoff how WWE can get back to the days when they were doing 6.0 and 7.0 ratings. Bischoff says that things have changed so much in the world of entertainment since those days, and there are so many alternative ways to consume programming these days. He doesn’t think we’ll ever see those types of numbers again, and with respect to the current television landscape, Bischoff thinks that WWE is ‘blowing it out of the water’.

Another listener calls into the show and asks Bischoff who his favourite member of the nWo was. He says that Hulk Hogan is his best friend, but he also really enjoyed Scott Hall’s performance as a member of the nWo. Hall brought a lot to that group, and then his pairing with Kevin Nash resulted in a terrific tandem. Hall and Nash’s pairing is a perfect example of 1+1=5.

Charlotte Says She Wants To ‘Dethrone’ Asuka

On the Fan Theory podcast, Charlotte Flair talked about how she wanted to ‘dethrone’ the NXT Women’s Champion Asuka and defeat her in a match. “I want to dethrone her,” she said.

Talking about her dream match, she said:

“One of my dream matches would definitely be against Stephanie McMahon,(It would be) queen versus queen.”

Charlotte was there to promote this Saturday’s WWE Live Summerslam Heatwave Tour at the Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood.

You can check out the podcast here.

Vince McMahon Not the Primary Reason for Talking Smack’s Cancellation

It was reported last week via Sports Illustrated that one of the reason’s Talking Smack was canceled was because Vince McMahon was not a fan of the format, however those claims appear to be false.

Dave Meltzer received word from a source within WWE that the cancellation of the weekly show had nothing to do with Vince McMahon not liking the format but to do with the viewership numbers the show was receiving.

“Despite all rumors, Vince doesn’t hate Talking Smack. Also, he does not watch it but gets a weekly report about it every Wednesday. The one thing he didn’t like was when the New Day appeared right after Kofi (Kingston) got cleared (the 5/23 episode). That was technically their Tuesday night debut and Vince felt the first Tuesday appearance should have happened on Smackdown.”

As previously noted, the Talking Smack episodes will still air after SmackDown-brand pay-per-view events, as those numbers seem to perform well.

Brock Lesnar Not Re-Signing with WWE Next Year?

It was reported earlier today that Brock Lesnar has re-entered the USADA testing pool for MMA and he could possibly be fighting for the UFC before the year ends.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Lesnar’s current deal with WWE expires shortly after WrestleMania 34 and he has made it clear to the company that he doesn’t intend to re-sign. Bryan Alvarez indicated on Wrestling Observer Live today that this is probably why Roman Reigns’ match against Lesnar is being moved up to SummerSlam instead of it taking place at WrestleMania.

The reason Lesnar has re-entered the testing pool is so that he can make the right career decision about his career move when his WWE deal runs up. Lesnar has to re-enter the testing pool and fulfill the rest of his suspension before he is allowed to fight in the UFC again.

New Match Added to WWE Battleground

WWE has announced Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis for this Sunday’s WWE Battleground event. Here is the updated card for the show:

Punjabi Prison for the WWE Title
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal

WWE United States Title Match
Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles

SmackDown Tag Team Title Match
The New Day vs. The Usos

Flag Match
Rusev vs. John Cena

Fatal 5 Way Elimination Match to Crown a New #1 Contender
Charlotte Flair vs. Lana vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina Snuka vs. Natalya

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin

Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis

Kickoff
Aiden English vs. Tye Dillinger

Gail Kim’s New Role with Global Force Wrestling

Jeremy Borash revealed during a media called on today that Gail Kim will be an agent for Global Force Wrestling following her in-ring retirement.

“This may be known but we are happy to have on board as an agent for Impact Wrestling, who will be helping with our Knockouts, Gail Kim, who announced that she would be retiring at the end of this year,” said Borash. “So she’s going to be taking on a more behind-the-scenes role. Everybody may not know but Gail and I had a very strong friendship for the last decade. I obviously do stuff with her husband Robert Irvine, the chef. And she has an incredible mind and really somebody that’s going to take the Knockouts to the next level. So she’s in Orlando and Tampa training gals that you’re seeing.”

Borash also mentioned that GFW has signed two new established female names but didn’t reveal any information on who exactly they are. We will have to wait and find out.