Summerslam and Hell in a Cell and Evolution Oh My!
It’s been a busy week for the WWE as they’ve handled fallout from Summerslam weekend and begun making plans for multiple fall events. Let’s dive right in, because there’s a lot to cover!
Triple H
Corporate Trips held a press conference Saturday night after Takeover Brooklyn and covered a number of interesting topics. He mentioned that EC3 was a little banged up following the show and that Johnny Gargano had suffered a legitimate knee injury in the main event. Some minor tweaking to the finish was needed due to Gargano’s injury, however Ciampa was always supposed to end the night still in possession of the title.
Speaking of Gargano and Ciampa, HHH called the two of them as well as Aleister Black NXT’s locker room leaders. He commented on how in the past the culture was very different. If a performer was talented, you would put up with a lot of bad behavior for the sake of having them on your show. Now he prefers team players who want to help their costars and the product as a whole. These are 3 of the top stars currently who have earned his trust in fostering that kind of backstage atmosphere, and people who earn that trust get opportunities to shine.
In other news of Triple H the competitor, he appeared on Raw Monday night to announce that he would be facing the Undertaker “one last time” at the Super Show-Down event October 6 in Australia.
Injury Report
We already touched briefly on Johnny Gargano’s knee injury from Takeover. I assume he’s being evaluated this week, but I haven’t heard any updates on his condition. Meanwhile, according to HHH, Aleister Black is being evaluated day to day regarding his recovery. They seem to have a plan in mind for his eventual return though as they continue revealing “evidence” of who may be responsible for attacking Black in the Full Sail parking lot.
It seems the reason for the Deleter of Worlds lackluster Raw tag title reign and subsequent removal from that title scene may have been the health of Matt Hardy. He’s not officially retired from the ring yet, but has begun training behind the scenes to work as a producer while he’s unable to compete. Some reports suggest Jason Jordan may also be training as a producer should he find himself unable to return from injury.
Finally, Rowan reportedly suffered a torn bicep at Summerslam. Since he’ll need surgery and be out for a few months, the Bludgeon Brothers dropped the Smackdown tag titles to the New Day on Tuesday night. The powers that be reportedly had much bigger plans for the Bludgeon Brothers, so this is particularly bad timing for Rowan’s injury. Maybe with both of their tag partners now injured they can reunite Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper temporarily?
The Women’s Revolution
Charlotte Flair’s title victory on Sunday was historic for 2 reasons. Firstly, it was her 24th victory on PPV. This is the most of any woman in the company’s history. Flair is also now tied with Hall of Famer Trish Stratus for the most title reigns for woman in the WWE.
Speaking of Trish, it was announced prior to Summerslam that she’ll be returning to the ring to face Alexa Bliss at the Evolution PPV. There are also rumors that this week’s return of the Bella twins is leading to a Rousey vs Nikki Bella program, but that has yet to be set in stone. What we do know for sure is that ALL women’s title belts will be on the line as well as the finals of the MYC.
Speaking of the MYC, it seems I jumped the gun a bit in my previous reports. First round matches will begin airing after NXT on September 5. Presumably that means the bracketology special hosted by Beth Pheonix and Mauro Ranallo will air this coming week, August 29, but I could be wrong again (it happens).
Assorted News and Notes
It’s been said that Dolph Ziggler was offered a new contract prior to Summerslam but did not sign it. If true, he’s currently working under a short-term extension while his deal continues to be sorted. This may be why he dropped the IC title back to Rollins this week.
We could be seeing a few NXT call ups sooner rather than later. The 2 names being tossed about the most seem to be EC3 and Shayna Baszler. Baszler makes complete sense as she’s seemingly done all there is for her to do in NXT, but I can think of a few others who I’d place a higher priority on than EC3 at this point in time. Additionally, I’m surprised not to see Nikki Cross’s name in these latest call up rumors considering she’s already been traveling with the Smackdown crew quite a bit lately.
In what would seem to be an odd booking choice, they began teasing a break up of the Titus Worldwide faction this week. Rumors suggest that the plan is to give Apollo Crews a singles run with Dana Brook remaining as his manager. I’m not sure why this would require a break from Titus unless O’Neil is going to be off of television for an extended period.
PPV Event Plans
The WWE has a busy schedule of events this fall, and they’ve already begun announcing booking for at least 3 of them. In order to try and keep things straight I’m going to keep a running list of plans for each that I’ll update for you each week. Let’s get started with what we know so far…
Sept 16: Hell In A Cell
Announced:
Mixed Tag-Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella vs The Miz and Maryse
Rumored:
Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman, Aj Styles vs Samoa Joe, Ambrose and Rollins vs Ziggler and McIntyre
Oct 6: Super Show-Down from Melbourne, Australia
Announced:
Triple H vs The Undertaker
Daniel Bryan vs The Miz with a future WWE title shot on the line
John Cena and Bobby Lashley vs Kevin Owens and Elias
The Shield vs ?
Oct 28: Evolution-All women’s PPV
Announced:
Alexa Bliss vs Trish Stratus
Expected:
Raw Womens Title Match, Smackdown Womens Title match, NXT Womens title match, NXT UK Womens title match, Final match of MYC2
