WEEKLY OVERVIEW – WWE (thru 5/2): Top stories of week, major show lineups, live event results, schedule of live events, noteworthy social media posts, more

By Zach Graham, PWTorch Contributor

Former champion reportedly returning to WWE

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

The following is the latest in a new series of weekly in-depth articles exclusive to PWTorch which will help put in perspective major wrestling promotions with a weekly overview, looking at news and roster developments, results, future line-ups, social media activity, key interviews, plus a timely commentary at the end. We will be featuring similar features on other promotions each week and each will be updated weekly.


•Top Stories of the Week

  • Even more roster moves this week as Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows appear on Raw.
  • WWE has changed the name of one of their PPV events. Instead of Battleground, it will now be called WWE Stomping Grounds and it is scheduled for June 23 in Tacoma, Wash.
  • WWE confirms their return to Saudi Arabia on Friday, June 7. They are scheduled for an event at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, which is the same building where the Greatest Royal Rumble event was held. Some of the names featured on this announcement include WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, Universal Champion Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, The Undertaker, Goldberg, and Brock Lesnar.
  • Due to Jeff Hardy having a serious injury, The Hardys surrendered the Smackdown Tag Team Championships on television this week.

•WWE Weekly Event Results

WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster (Huntington, W. Va.) 4/29/19

(1) Charlotte attacked Bayley before their match began
(2) Ali beat Buddy Murphy
(3) Kairi Sane & Asuka defeated Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville
(4) Heavy Machinery beat The B Team
(5) Apollo Crews & Matt Hardy defeated Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev
(6) Roman Reigns beat Elias
(7) Charlotte beat Bayley
(8) R-Truth defeated Andrade
(9) Kofi Kingston (c) beat Kevin Owens to retain the WWE Championship

SOURCE

If you attend a live event, please send results to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!


•WWE TV Match Results

Monday Night Raw TV Results 4/29/19

(1) Braun Strowman & Ricochet beat Drew McIntyre & Baron Corbin
(2) The Usos defeated Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows
(3) Bobby Lashley beat The Miz
(4) The Viking Raiders defeated The Lucha House Party
(5) Naomi beat Alexa Bliss
(6) Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder defeated The Revival
(7) Rey Mysterio beat Samoa Joe

Smackdown Live TV Results 4/30/19

(1) Becky Lynch beat Bayley
(2) Kairi Sane & Asuka (w/ Paige) beat two local wrestlers
(3) Roman Reigns defeated The B-Team in a Handicap match
(4) Ali & Finn Balor beat Randy Orton & Andrade (w/ Zelina Vega)

205 Live Results (Aired on WWE Network) 4/30/19

(1) Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado) beat The Singh Brothers
(2) Tony Nese defeated Drew Gulak

WWE Main Event (Aired on Hulu and WWE Network) 5/2/19

(1) Mojo Rawley beat Heath Slater
(2) Cedric Alexander defeated Cesaro
(3) Peyton Royce (w/ Billie Kay) beat Tamina (w/ Alicia Fox)

Source: WKPWP Post-Raw On-Site Correspondent


•Upcoming Lineups for Stadium/PPV Events

WWE Money in the Bank on May 19 from Hartford, Conn.

  • Seth Rollins (c) vs. A.J. Styles for the Universal Championship
  • Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Kevin Owens for the WWE Championship
  • Becky Lynch (c) vs. Lacey Evans for the Raw Women’s Championship
  • Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte for the Smackdown Women’s Championship
  • Roman Reigns vs. Elias
  • The Miz vs. Shane McMahon in a Steel Cage match
  • Men’s Money in the Bank match
    • Entrants: Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Ali, Randy Orton, Andrade
  • Women’s Money in the Bank match
    • Entrants: Alexa Bliss, Naomi, Dana Brooke, Natalya, Bayley, Mandy Rose, Ember Moon, Carmella

•Upcoming Events

Sun. 5/5/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Ford Center Evansville, Evansville, Ind.
Mon. 5/6/19 WWE Raw, U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Mon. 5/6/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, The Corbin Arena, Corbin, Ky.
Tue. 5/7/19 WWE Smackdown – KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.
Wed. 5/8/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Thur. 5/9/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland
Thur. 5/9/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Forest National, Brussels, Belgium
Fri. 5/10/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Helsinki Ice Hall, Helsinki, Finland
Fri. 5/10/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Arena Du Pays D’Aix, Aix-en-Province, France
Sat. 5/11/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Hovet, Stockholm, Sweden
Sat. 5/11/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Utilita Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Sun. 5/12/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
Sun. 5/12/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, England
Mon. 5/13/19 WWE Raw, The O2, London, England
Mon. 5/13/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth, England
Tue. 5/14/19 WWE Smackdown, The O2, London, England
Tue. 5/14/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Accorhotels Arena, Paris, France
Wed. 5/15/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Resorts World Arena, Birmingham, England
Wed. 5/15/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Getec Arena, Magdeburg, Germany
Thur. 5/16/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Flydsa Arena, Sheffield, England
Thur. 5/16/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg, Germany
Fri. 5/17/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales
Fri. 5/17/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin, Germany
Sun. 5/19/19 WWE Money in the Bank, XL Center, Hartford, Conn.
Mon. 5/20/19 WWE Raw, Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y.
Mon. 5/20/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Tsongas Center, Lowell, Mass.
Tue. 5/21/19 WWE Smackdown, Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Providence, R.I.
Mon. 5/27/19 WWE Raw, Sprint Center, Kansas City, Mo.
Mon. 5/27/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Tony’s Pizza Events Center, Salina, Kan.
Tue. 5/28/19 WWE Smackdown, Bok Center, Tulsa, Okla.
Fri. 5/31/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Santa Ana Star Center, Rio Rancho N.M.
Sat. 6/1/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Extraco Events Center, Waco, Texas
Sat. 6/1/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, United Supermarkets Arena, Lubbock, Texas
Sun. 6/2/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Reed Arena, College Station, Texas
Sun. 6/2/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Foster Communications Coliseum, San Angelo, Texas
Mon. 6/3/19 WWE Raw, Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Mon. 6/3/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas
Tue. 6/4/19 WWE Smackdown, Sames Auto Arena, Laredo, Texas
Sun. 6/9/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Save Mart Center, Fresno, Calif.
Sun. 6/9/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Stockton Arena, Stockton, Calif.
Mon. 6/10/19 WWE Raw, SAP Center, San Jose, Calif.
Mon. 6/10/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Reno, Nev.
Tue. 6/11/19 WWE Smackdown, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, Calif.
Fri. 6/14/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Bell MTS Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Sat. 6/15/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Pepsi Center, Denver, Colo.
Sat. 6/15/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Honda Center, Anaheim, Calif.
Sun. 6/16/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Maverik Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Sun. 6/16/19 WWE Live Event, Raw Roster, Pechanga Arena, San Diego, Calif.
Mon. 6/17/19 WWE Raw, Staples Center, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mon. 6/17/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, Calif.
Tue. 6/18/19 WWE Smackdown, Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario, Calif.
Fri. 6/21/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Adams Center, Missoula, Mont.
Sat. 6/22/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Spokane Arena, Spokane, Wash.
Sun. 6/23/19 WWE Stomping Grounds, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Wash.
Mon. 6/24/19 WWE Raw, Angel of the Winds Arena, Everrett, Wash.
Mon. 6/24/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Toyota Center, Kennewick, Wash.
Tue. 6/25/19 WWE Smackdown, Moda Center, Portland, Ore.


•Latest TV Highlights

Monday Night Raw

  • Alexa Bliss announced the Raw men and women that will be in the Money in the Bank ladder matches. She introduced the men at the start of Raw announcing that Ricochet, Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, and Baron Corbin. The four talked back and forth for a minute, before splitting into groups of two for the obligatory tag match between them would follow. For the women’s announcement, Alexa was out again. She introduced three of the participants and after each talked about how much they deserve to be included (ugh) she asked them to be quiet so the fourth woman on the roster can have her moment. She then introduced herself as the fourth woman from Raw to be in the match.
  • In one of the most controversial segments in some time, The Usos revealed video of The Revival in towels standing outside the showers in the men’s locker room. Dash Wilder was shaving Scott Dawson’s back for him while The Usos stood outside the showers laughing before yelling “you missed a spot” and running away. After The Usos showed this video while standing in the ring, The Revival came out to say that was an invasion of privacy, to which Corey Graves and Renee Young would agree. Later in the night The Revival had a non-title match with Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins, a match they would lose, but the entire commentary focus was on the back shaving segment from earlier in the night.
  • Seth Rollins and A.J. Styles went face to face to sign the contract for the Universal Championship match at MITB. They talked back and forth, Seth saying that Raw is his show and A.J. isn’t on Smackdown anymore, A.J. responding by saying he’s a bulldog ready to “latch on and sink his teeth in.” After the talking, they both stood, Styles grabbed the championship and handed it to Seth with a smirk on his face. Styles extended his hand for a handshake, but Seth stepped closer and held up the championship. As A.J. went to talk away, Seth continued to mouth off, Styles turned and punched him. Seth knocked Styles to the outside of the ring before diving through the ropes. Styles countered back with a punch from the apron before he his Seth with a Phenomenal Forearm that put Seth through the table in the ring. A.J. Styles’ music then played as Raw went off the air.

Smackdown Live

  • Matt and Jeff Hardy surrender the Smackdown Tag Team Championships. While being interviewed mid-ring, Jeff announced he’s suffered a serious injury that will keep him out “for a long time.” Kayla Braxton, who was interviewing them, asked Jeff what happened and Jeff threw to a video package of Lars Sullivan attacking various wrestlers. Lars Sullivan’s music played and he marched to the ring to attack both of the Hardy brothers. He attacked Matt and threw him out of the ring, he teased attacking Jeff, but Matt got back into the ring to intercept him first. R-Truth then came down to help them both by hitting Lars in the back with a chair, but Lars completely no-sold the chair shot. Lars then put down R-Truth before his music played to end the segment.
  • In unceremonious fashion, the Smackdown MITB participants were also announced with a quick on-screen graphic as Byron Saxton told the television audience who would be in the matches from Smackdown. First, the men were announced: Finn Balor, Ali, Randy Orton, and Andrade. Of course, a tag team match was booked for later in the night inexplicably.
  • Kofi gets some revenge against Kevin Owens this week after he turned on him last Tuesday. To open the show, Michael Cole interviewed Kofi mid-ring (why Cole?). Kofi defended believing Owens had changed saying that all people deserve a second chance. Kevin Owens eventually came out to interrupt and said Kofi isn’t championship material and he can see it in Kofi’s eyes, he also knows he’s not championship material. Xavier Woods would attack Owens from behind, but failed rather quickly. After dodging Woods’ blindside attack, Owens superkicked Woods to end the opening segment. Later in the night, Kevin Owens hosted an episode of the KO Show. He tried to bring Xavier Woods out, but when he didn’t get a response, he decided to pull out a Xavier Woods and Big E action figures. After mocking them, Kofi walked out onto the stage, took off his shirt and sprinted towards the ring. Kofi threw Owens over the announce table, Owens then raked Kofi’s eyes and escaped through the crowd to end the show.

•Listen to the latest Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-Show – Smackdown Post-Show

PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by Mike Chiari from Ring Rust Radio to review Smackdown with live callers, an on-site correspondent, and emails. They discuss the Kofi Kingston-Kevin Owens fallout from last week, Roman Reigns continuing feud with Elias and Shane McMahon, Becky Lynch vs. Bayley with Charlotte’s attack, and more. Also, some talk about the alarming drop in Raw ratings this week and whether Reigns moving to Smackdown is part of the reason. The on-site correspondent from…

-On Tune In Radio HERE
-On Apple Podcasts HERE
-Or search “Wade Keller” on your podcast app of choice


WWE Social Media Highlights

Bray Wyatt was having some fun on Twitter this week. First, he tweeted out he loved stockholders. This came after a report that some WWE stockholders and advertisers didn’t like the first Firefly Fun House segment. Bray also tweeted out a picture of a blank shirt because people mocked the Firefly Fun House shirt that WWE Shop posted for sale.

https://twitter.com/WWEBrayWyatt/status/1123245027956801537

Alexa Bliss didn’t take too kindly to Becky and Bayley (mainly Bayley) seemingly making fun of her for blocking Sasha on Twitter a few weeks ago.

https://twitter.com/itsBayleyWWE/status/1122546977735172097

Becky and Lacey Evans got into another Twitter promo/argument as well…

https://twitter.com/LaceyEvansWWE/status/1123305685838594050

https://twitter.com/LaceyEvansWWE/status/1123376014770438144

Natalya brought up some of her more cringe-worthy WWE moments in response to Dana saying she’s been given a ton of opportunities on Monday. Lana seemed to enjoy this response by Natalya.

Big E had some fun with a fan who asked him when he was going to be returning, giving him multiple ridiculous answers.

Finally, Kevin Owens calls out a fan who said he could knock him out.


•Closing Commentary

– What an uninspired week of WWE TV, and the ratings reflected it. Both Raw and Smackdown were bland at best, which is disappointing. I’d like to focus on the MITB announcements that we had this week because I think that’s a big reason both shows felt so bland. I feel this way because the announcements were done so strangely in my opinion, and it didn’t make those MITB matches feel the least bit important. On Raw, we had Alexa make the grand announcements, but the segments were just boring and flat. Having anyone just announce the names isn’t a way to get people excited about the MITB matches. Then to make it worse, we had a tag team match get booked with the four participants, which is the most unoriginal thing ever at this point. The men on Raw and Smackdown were both put into tag matches – what a waste! Then on Smackdown, they didn’t even bother having someone announce the names; they just threw them up on a graphic and had Byron tell us they were in the match. That is just unbelievably uninspired.

I understand they may not want to do qualifying matches, but they need to do something to make it feel like these people belong in the matches. If they actually planned ahead, maybe these selections would feel important, but they don’t, at all. Dana Brooke is in the women’s match. What on Earth has Dana Brooke done to feel deserving of being put in that match? If you made her (and the others) win qualifiers, then she feels like she belongs. You could have had her win some matches on Raw for a few weeks and building up some of that ever-important momentum – maybe she’d feel deserving – but nope. None of that happened, and instead she feels like she doesn’t belong, and it brings down the prestige and excitement for that match. I don’t mean to pick on Dana Brooke either; none of these people feel all that important right now.

Look at the men’s match. I may be alone, but all eight of them don’t feel like they’re on a hot streak that makes me think “WWE has really told a story with them and they have some actual momentum heading into that match; they definitely deserve that spot based on how they’ve been booked.” None of them feel that way! Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre have just continually lost to The Shield or some variation of them since WrestleMania. Ricochet has been a part of a makeshift tag team since his call-up and in his first match on his own, he loses to Robert Roode and his MUSTACHE GIMMICK. Braun Strowman hasn’t done much either since his cringe-worthy feud with two SNL comedians that was horrible. Finn Balor and Andrade have traded wins the last two weeks, which weakens them both. Andrade has flip-flopped from Smackdown to Raw then back to Smackdown without it being acknowledged too. Randy Orton is Randy Orton at this point, but he doesn’t feel like he deserves this spot unless legacy somehow gets you put in matches you don’t deserve (in a storyline sense). Lastly, Ali hasn’t really done much either since he lost all of his momentum before that Elimination Chamber match.

I could be completely on my own about these guys, and I’ll be honest that I still think the match will be good, but WWE isn’t even trying to build people up right now. I think I made decent (albeit quick) claims why all of these MITB participants don’t feel important or deserving of being in the match. That shouldn’t be doable if WWE is doing their jobs correctly and look more than one to two weeks into the future. I know they may not have wanted to give away a bunch of matches immediately after the shakeup and I get that, but you should do more than simply announce names. They had a golden opportunity this week to fill a ton of television time with matches that actually matter, and instead we got some tag matches that were meaningless and forgettable.

Although I picked out a specific example here, I think this is indicative of the larger problem WWE is having right now, which is causing people to change the channel in mass quantities. That problem, simply put, is not worrying about “minor” details and not planning ahead. Continually, they’re doing everything last minute, and that showed here again. If WWE really didn’t want to do qualifying matches for MITB because they didn’t want to give away matchups, it could’ve easily been avoided by building up the people announced for those matches for the last few weeks. With Vince being so indecisive that he is making creative rewrite scripts the day of the show that don’t get finished until mere minutes before they go live on Monday or Tuesday, it’s no wonder these shows are so erratic and awful. Something has to change. Eventually they’re going to run out of excuses for the low ratings they’re getting.


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1 Comment on WEEKLY OVERVIEW – WWE (thru 5/2): Top stories of week, major show lineups, live event results, schedule of live events, noteworthy social media posts, more

  1. “What on Earth has Dana Brooke done to feel deserving of being put in that match? … You could have had her win some matches on Raw for a few weeks and building up some of that ever-important momentum”

    So they actually *did* have Brooke win on Main Event a couple weeks in a row. But they don’t have the sense to mention it on Raw, so nobody knows except me and the other two dozen people who watch Main Event. I don’t know why they couldn’t spare 30 freaking seconds of Raw to show a montage of her Main Event victories.

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