Roman Reigns
Clearly the top story of the week is the sudden news that Universal Champion Roman Reigns has Leukemia and needs to take time off for treatment. He relinquished the title in the opening segment of Raw. The previous triple threat match scheduled for Crown Jewel will now be a one on one showdown between Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar, with the victor claiming the now vacant Universal Title.
That takes care of the business side of the story. The human side of the story is that no matter what your personal feelings may be about the character of “Roman Reigns,” there’s no denying respect for the man Joe Anoa’i. Seeing the reaction of his friends and colleagues backstage after his announcement, it’s clear how much they love and respect him as a man and as a locker room leader. Get well soon, Big Dog.
Evolution
The second biggest story of the week SHOULD be this Sunday’s Evolution PPV. While the real life health struggles of a top star absolutely deserves the attention, Evolution felt lost in the shuffle well before that news came out on Monday. This event was announced as a major milestone but has definitely not been treated as such when it comes to the build and the booking. There are only 2 or 3 truly exciting matches on the card (The NXT and Smackdown championship matches and the MYC final). The rest just feels like the powers that be were too focused on Crown Jewel to bother putting on a show worth caring about this week.
One of the feature matches may also be going through yet another evolution of its own. The first match announced for the show was Alexa Bliss (then Raw champion) vs Hall of Famer Trish Stratus. Next they added Mickie James vs Hall of Famer Lita and used those two bouts as early ticket drivers. Eventually these two singles bouts were combined into one tag match featuring Alexa & Mickie vs Trish & Lita. Now comes word that Bliss may have suffered a concussion at a live event last weekend and may not be able to compete. For now, this is not confirmed and she is still being advertised for the match. However, Bliss did not appear on Raw, and it was Alicia Fox who joined Mickie for the final build to the match. If Alexa is indeed unable to compete on Sunday expect the match still to happen with Foxxy taking her place.
Final advertised card:
Announcers for the night will be the MYC trio of Renee Young, Beth Pheonix, and Michael Cole
Smackdown Women’s Title: Last Woman Standing: Becky Lynch© vs Charlotte Flair
Raw Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey© vs Nikki Bella
NXT Womens Title: Kairi Sane© vs Shayna Baszler
Alexa Bliss (or Alicia Fox) & Mickie James vs Trish Stratus & Lita
Mae Young Classic Final: Toni Storm vs Io Shirai
6 Woman Tag: Riott Squad vs Bayley, Sasha Banks, & Natalya
*Battle Royal: Tamina, Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Ember Moon, Alicia Fox, Nia Jax, Dana Brooke, Asuka, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Carmella, Lana, Naomi, Torrie Wilson, and more…
Mae Young Classic 2
Semifinal 1: It was a fantastic match between Japanese veteran Meiko Satomura and rising Australian star Toni Storm. In the end it was the younger star who prevailed, and I expect that she’ll take the torch that was passed and run far with it.
Semifinal 2: Another young Australian, Rhea Ripley, used her size and strength to dominate much of the match. However, Japanese superstar Io Shirai eventually seized her moment and claimed the victory.
Storm and Shirai will now meet this Sunday at Evolution to determine the winner of the 2nd annual MYC tournament.
Crown Jewel
The company continued to promote the Crown Jewel event on TV this week as if it’s definitely going on as planned. The big booking change was to the Universal Title match. With Reigns relinquishing the title, the match will now be Strowman vs Lesnar one on one. The Raw booking would seem to indicate a Strowman title run with Drew McIntyre as his 1st challenger.
That said, the fate of the event did still remain unclear. There are reports that stars such as John Cena and Daniel Bryan are refusing to go to Saudi Arabia. There are also reports that tickets are not even being sold for the show yet pending a final decision from the WWE. All of this did lend credence to the reports that they were frantically looking for a new location. If they did indeed move the show it would end up being a financial loss for the company given the hefty paydays already promised to stars such as Michaels, Taker, and Lesnar.
Finally, on Thursday WWE released the following public statement,“WWE has operated in the Middle East for nearly 20 years and has developed a sizable and dedicated fan base. Considering the heinous crime committed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Company faced a very difficult decision as it relates to its event scheduled for November 2 in Riyadh. Similar to other U.S.-based companies who plan to continue operations in Saudi Arabia, the Company has decided to uphold its contractual obligations to the General Sports Authority and stage the event. Full year 2018 guidance is predicated on the staging of the Riyadh event as scheduled.” So there it is. The event WILL go on in Saudi Arabia as planned, though the participation of every advertised participant remains in question.
Announced:
Universal Title (currently vacant): Braun Strowman vs Brock Lesnar
Tag Match: DX (HHH & HBK) vs The Brothers of Destruction (Taker & Kane)
World Cup Tournament: John Cena, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler, Miz, & Rey Mysterio
WWE Title: AJ Styles© vs Daniel Brian
Smackdown Tag Title match: The Bar© vs New Day
Coming Soon:
The next 2 fast approaching PPVs are NXT Takeover Wargames on Nov. 17 and WWE Survivor Series on Nov. 18.
