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Speculation on Roman Reigns’ SummerSlam Announcement
It was announced by WWE that Roman Reigns would be making a SummerSlam announcement on the upcoming episode of RAW on Monday night.
Dave Meltzer discussed this topic on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio. While Meltzer couldn’t confirm exactly what the announcement is, he presented a scenario that would see Reigns challenge the winner of the Great Balls of Fire match between Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe.
Meltzer would go on to speculated that somehow WWE would do an angle that would setup Reigns vs. Strowman before the SummerSlam event (possibly on RAW or Great Balls of Fire), with the winner of that match facing Lesnar. Strowman would defeat Reigns and move onto the SummerSlam match against Brock for WWE Universal Championship.
Reason Why WWE Is Pushing Lana As A Top Female Superstar
As seen on WWE programming, Lana made her debut as a SmackDown Live Superstar and is already being positioned a top spot on the brand in the female division. Dave Meltzer discussed her SmackDown Live Women’s Championship match against Naomi and her position on the roster during today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer claimed that the company is adamant on having an attractive top WWE Superstar to represent the women’s division and this reason attributes her push within the company. He indicated that this role was originally planned for Eva Marie, but with her out of the picture they decided to go with Lana instead.
Speculation On A Sixth Participant In The Women’s Money In The Bank Match
We noted earlier this week that WWE may have spoiled a six participant in the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match for Sunday’s event when they mentioned on Twitter that six women would be in the match. Dave Meltzer discussed WWE’s tweet that may have spoiled the match on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer claims that he reached out to WWE regarding the entry of a six competitor in the match but he said hasn’t received any response back. With the company not responding back to Meltzer, it would be an further indication that a sixth member could be injected into the match. Historically if something is completely false, WWE responds back.
While Meltzer couldn’t specify who the six participant could be, several names speculated for the match include Summer Rae, Page, Lita, Asuka and among others.
Charlotte & Others React to Controversial Finish at Money in the Bank
As seen at tonight’s Money in the Bank event, James Ellsworth injected himself into the first-ever Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match and captured the briefcase only to give it to Carmella. There was tons of backlash on social media regarding the finish to the match.
Charlotte, Natalya, Tamina and Becky Lynch took to Twitter to react to how the match went down:
Paige Reportedly Returning “Soon”
As previously noted, Paige mentioned on Instagram this week that she was going in for her last set of X-Rays and will hopefully be making a comeback soon. Later in that same day, she started posting photos of herself back at the gym training, indicating that the doctor possibly had some good news for her.
When asked about her return to Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer on Twitter, he replied in short fashion, “soon.”
With rumors of a potential sixth spot open in the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match tonight, there is always the possibility that “soon” could be earlier than you think.
Bischoff on Wrestling Recap – WWE’s Aging Fanbase, Free Agent John Cena, Cornette vs. Russo, More!
Bischoff comments on the Sports Business Journal’s recent report, which suggested that the median age of wrestling fans has grown to 54 years old. In his opinion, the median age of wrestling fans is closer to mid 40’s, based on some research that he has seen over the last couple of years. Either way, that’s probably a higher number than WWE would like.
He points out that some people still wish that WWE would return to a more mature style of programming, but sponsors write the cheques, and they want WWE to target a younger demographic. Younger audiences are always preferable for sponsors, because older people don’t spend money as freely. As long as the sponsors demand WWE to continue with PG programming, that’s exactly what they’ll do.
Bischoff points out that IMPACT Wrestling’s audience is made of up mostly older male viewers. Because of this, he says that sponsors can probably get commercial time on PopTV for $49 a spot during an IMPACT showing. Older audiences, specifically males, simply don’t spend money.
Bischoff comments on the fact that ICW from Ireland has pulled their video library from the FITE TV app, and they’re the first independent promotion to be announced as moving their library to the WWE Network. Bischoff thinks this is very interesting, because WWE has always ignored all of their competition in the past. He’s intrigued to see how this relationship plays out.