Injury issues could mean plans for a pair of upcoming title matches could be in jeopardy.
Medical evaluations prior to Raw should determine if three superstars are able to compete as scheduled next weekend. Additionally we can expect a couple of new faces to be gracing WWE rings later this summer.
Extreme Rules Card updates:
Finn Balor vs Stephanie McMahon’s personally appointed Constable of Raw Baron Corbin has been added to the Extreme Rules card. Corbin has been thriving in his new role, and Balor has the ability to put on a good show with nearly anyone so this should be a fun undercard match. Roman Reigns vs Bobby Lashley has also been added to the card and is expected to be the main event even though there are several title matches on the card.
Here’s the card as it currently stands:
-WWE Title: AJ Styles© vs Rusev
-Raw Tag Titles: Deleters of Worlds© vs B Team
-Smackdown Womens Title: Carmella© vs Asuka
-Smackdown Tag Titles: Bludgeon Brothers© vs Team Hell No
-United States Title: Jeff Hardy© vs Shinsuke Nakamura
-Finn Balor vs Baron Corbin
-Roman Reigns vs Bobby Lashley
Injury Report
Ruby Riott suffered a sprained MCL during a match last week. She’s scheduled to be reevaluated in about a month and isn’t expected to miss too much time.
Oney Lorcan has had surgery on the broken orbital bone we reported last week and is expected to be out approximately 3 months.
One half of the Raw Tag Team Champions, Bray Wyatt, was involved in a car accident last Friday which is why he missed Raw this week. He’s being evaluated today to see if he’ll be able to return for the tag title defense at Extreme Rules. It’s also worth noting that Wyatt was cited for careless driving and causing the incident while driving distracted.
Similarly, Shinsuke Nakamura is scheduled to be reevaluated on Monday to see if he’ll be able to make his scheduled US Title match against Jeff Hardy at Extreme Rules. As we reported last week, Nakamura was bit in the leg by a security dog at a live event. This bizarre situation actually puts the powers that be in a bad situation as I’m sure they planned for Hardy to drop the title in order to take time off for his own nagging injury issues.
TV Deals
It was mentioned previously that NXT could make its way to one of Fox’s sports channels as part of the new Fox/Smackdown deal. If that were to happen, it’s expected WWE would replace it on the Network with content from their indy partners. Rumors continue to swirl that they may even be interested in actually purchasing Evolve and giving that promotion a home on the WWE Network.
New Talent
It was officially announced while WWE was in Tokyo last weekend that they have indeed signed Japanese star Io Shirai. She’s expected to participate in the Mae Young Classic next month and continue with NXT after that.
Word is that 43 year old former champion Rey Mysterio has finally come to terms on a new deal with WWE. This new contract is separate from the deal he made to be a preorder bonus character for the WWE 2K19 video game. Mysterio is expected to debut right around or shortly after Summerslam and stick around for 2 years or so… if he’s able to stay healthy that long.
RIP
Former Tough Enough winner Matt Cappotelli sadly lost his long battle with brain cancer on June 29 at the far too young age of 38. He was a promising talent on the rise along side other future stars such as John Morrison and The Miz. Unfortunately his illness never allowed him to totally fulfill that potential. If the flood of social media messages from those who knew him are any indication he remained positive and inspiring throughout his health struggles. Our condolences go out to his friends and family. It’s been suggested that WWE may consider making him next year’s Warrior Award recipient.
