The one week Superstar Shakeup continued for a second week and may not be concluded yet. Meanwhile, plans must also move ahead towards the next PPV which happens to be Money in the Bank.
Superstar Shakeup
Apparently in the week following the Superstar Shakeup someone <cough>Vince<cough> changed his mind about a few of last week’s decisions. This week brought us some new roster moves, including some major developments for the tag division.
As expected, Samoa Joe brought the US Title to Raw (this would have happened last week had he not been ill). Also coming to Raw this week was Cesaro with no mention of his partner Sheamus. I know Sheamus is currently on the shelf with concussion related issues, but is it possible these issues are actually serious enough for his partner to go ahead and begin a solo run? The final change to Raw came in the form of WWE actually listening to the massive backlash against the “Viking Experience” name. Erik and Ivar will now be the “Viking Raiders” which makes WAY more sense.
On the Smackdown side of things, Andrade and Zelina were moved back to SDL. Did Charlotte complain about her boyfriend not being on the same roster while most of the other couples were kept together? Some reports are suggesting the two may have recently gotten engaged and just hadn’t told management yet. Speaking of couples, Zelina’s husband Aleister Black was also brought over to SDL (breaking up his pairing with Ricochet). Finally, Jinder Mahal and his entourage made their way back to the show where he once reigned as champion.
There may or may not be more changes to come depending on which rumors hold true.
Performers in Limbo
Sasha Banks has still not returned from her post Mania hiatus. Banks was so upset about dropping the Women’s Tag Titles that she threatened to quit the company. Someone supposedly talked her into taking some time off to cool down and think about what she really wanted to do, and all indications currently seem to be that she and WWE are at a stalemate. While Banks has been a major star of the women’s evolution, she’s not currently a big enough star to have a lot of leverage. The company has a deep roster of women now that they can rely on and are prepared to just let her sit out her contract if that’s what happens. For what it’s worth, Banks does not appear to be sitting around at home moping in her off-time. She’s been quite present on social media happily vacationing and/or partying with friends and family.
In other unhappy superstar news, WWE has denied Luke Harper’s request to be released. It’s interesting to note that some others have been granted release recently, while Harper has not. There’s some speculation this could be a case of the company essentially punishing a wrestler for taking his release request public before it had been granted. It’s believed that Luke’s contract originally ran through this coming November, but WWE could potentially add time onto that due to the time he spent on the injury list late last year.
Injury Report
Current SD tag champion Jeff Hardy may have suffered some sort of leg injury at a live event this past weekend. The injury seemingly occurred during a tag match on Saturday. On Sunday Jeff was said to be noticeably limping and only hanging out ringside while his brother Matt worked a singles match. The following night R-Truth teamed with Matt. No word yet on the exact injury or timeline for recovery.
Nia Jax is confirmed to be going under the knife this week. She’ll be getting surgery on both knees and likely will be out of action for quite some time.
Daniel Bryan still has not been seen or heard from since losing the WWE title at Wrestlemania. Most are assuming him to be injured in some way, but WWE is playing his status close to the vest. Given Bryan’s injury history, this silence has many fans concerned that this could be another serious situation. At this point though, no one seems to know what is going on exactly.
NXT
Next week Japanese star Kushida makes his NXT debut facing Kassius Ohno.
Worlds Collide
Cruiserweights Collide
The second of the Worlds Collide specials filmed during Wrestlemania Fan Axxess featured cruiserweights from 4 of WWE’s 5 brands mixing it up. Tom Philips and Aiden English are on announcer duty. The first match features one of the veteran performers of 205 Live THE Brian Kendrick having a battle of the generations against one of the young stars of NXT UK Tyler Bate. Next up is a tag match between NXT UK’s semi-regular tandem of Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews taking on the pairing of Ariya Daivari and Mike Kanellis from 205. The third match of the show was a fun triple threat with one of NXT’s newer signings Albert Hardie Jr (formerly known elsewhere as ACH) taking on NXT UK’s Ligero and Lucha House Party’s Gran Metalik who appears on both 205 and Raw. Finally, in the main event spot, 205 Live’s former champion Akira Tozawa took on NXT UK’s Irish Ace Jordan Devlin.
Women Collide
The third special in this series featured women from 3 of WWE’s brands with NXT Superstar Mia Yim joining Vic Joseph and Aiden English at the announcer desk. Match number one featured NXT’s Candice LaRae going up against NXT UK’s Kay Lee Ray. The second match was a battle of size differences when Smackdown’s Latin spitfire Zelina Vega took on NXT UK’s newest powerhouse Piper Niven. Next up was NXT’s “genius of the sky” Io Shirai squaring up against Smackdown’s Sonya Deville. The main event for this episode was a triple threat for the NXT UK title. Toni Storm defended her title against NXT’s EST Bianca Belair and the currently unbranded Nikki Cross.
Departures
Dustin Rhodes has requested and been granted his release from WWE. The man best known as spandex clad character Goldust has had a long career filled with ups and downs. The 50 year old Rhodes seemed to be in the best physical shape of his career over the last decade, but the years were catching up as he underwent surgery on both knees last year. Dustin spent Easter Sunday flooding social media messages of thanks to the fans and the business. He appears to have officially retired the Goldust character (at least until the inevitable Hall of Fame induction). Before he hangs up the wrestling boots for good though, he’ll be squaring off against his younger brother Cody at AEW’s May PPV.
Dean Ambrose had his final match with the Shield as part of a Network special and has been moved to the alumni section of WWE’s website.
PPV Plans
Money in the Bank May 19
-Universal Title: Seth Rollins© vs AJ Styles- Wasting no time establishing newly transferred members of the Raw roster at the top of the card, Raw held a series of matches to determine the 1st contender to Rollins’ title. First Styles defeated Samoa Joe and Rey Mysterio in a triple threat match. Next Baron Corbin defeated Drew McIntyre and Miz in another triple threat. Finally, AJ defeated Corbin one on one to become the #1 contender.
-Raw Women’s title: Becky Lynch© vs Lacey Evans- They’ve been teasing this feud for a couple of weeks now with Evans repeatedly attacking Lynch. It was confirmed on Raw this week that they will face off at MitB with the title on the line.
-Smackdown Women’s Title: Becky Lynch© vs Charlotte Flair- Becky Two Belts will be pulling double duty defending both of her titles in the same night. Charlotte defeated Bayley this week to assert her position as #1 contender to the title she lost when Rousey got pinned at Wrestlemania.
-WWE Title: Kofi Kingston© vs Kevin Owens- The match has not yet been officially announced, but SDL ended this week with “Big O” turning on Kingston and Woods, seemingly establishing himself as the 1st challenger to the title.
-Roman Reigns vs Elias
-Mens & Womens Money in the Bank Matches: participants from the Raw brand are supposed to be announced during a “Moment of Bliss” segment next Monday.
June- Unknown.
PPV plans for June are seemingly up in the air at the moment. Backlash had been booked for a venue, but then was cancelled because there may be another Saudi Arabia show happening instead. The company has apparently realized that things got a little crowded last fall when they were trying to run big international shows AND maintain their regular monthly PPV schedule. There may also be an NXT Takeover event in June that has not yet been announced officially.
Extreme Rules July 14
Summerslam August 11
