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

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WWE NETWORK REVIEW: RAW TALK
NOVEMBER 2, 2020
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hosts: Charly Caruso, R-Truth

This week’s guests: Braun Strowman, Peyton Royce & Lacey Evans, and Mustafa Ali (w/Retribution)

– Charlie introduced the show and co-host R Truth. R Truth had a neck brace on after his encounter with Bobby Lashley on Raw was upset that he had lost his “baby,” the 24/7 belt. Oh, how I wish they would kill that belt. Charlie spoke briefly about the end of Raw with Drew McIntyre beating Miz and Morrison and then being ambushed by Randy Orton and the RKO. The Fiend’s laughter came over the speakers and R-Truth and Charlie were concerned.

– Braun Strowman’s music played and he came out and R-Truth did his thing about Strowman being the monster among men and whether he had ever met any other monsters, like, Frankenstein, etc. Strowman discussed how awesome the Raw Survivor Series team is with all the big guys, himself, Keith Lee and Sheamus and how A.J. has no business being the captain when you consider how small he is compared to the rest of the team.

– Strowman stated that despite all the shenanigans at the end of the qualifying match, all he wants to do is win and everything else will get handled. Charlie asked him who he thought would be a good fifth member of the team and Strowman said, McIntyre. (Hmm, second person who has said that, foreshadowing or a red herring.) Interestingly in speaking about McIntyre, Strowman confused his finisher when he called the Claymore a Brough Kick, I guess he still had Sheamus on his mind.

– Quick note here, it seems Braun Strowman’s new thing is that “this is his job, he is out here to hurt people and to make money.” He must have said something like that 10 times during this interview and he has been saying it at every opportunity on Raw.

– Next up Peyton Royce and Lacey Evens, who continued to do their “we’re not friends and I am better than you” thing. After a little bit of that they started dumping on Lana and despite R Truth stating how Lana keeps coming back they totally discounted that. Interesting to note, and I noticed this on Raw tonight, that there are some subtle changes to Lacey’s character, she is still Southern and a lady, but she has some rougher edges and a slightly different tone. If this is fact happening, I am happy as the Southern Belle character was just stupid and had her going nowhere. We will see. They also spent a ton of the time saying that they are not tag team partners, which of course means that they will be a tag team as some point soon.

– Peyton dissed Charlie and then the two of them started going after each other again. With mostly Lacey reiterating that her and Peyton are not a team. Charlie asked them about the Raw women’s Survivor team and what they thought that Shayna Baszler had tweeted a picture of the team without Lana. This whole thing (including the tweet) was to bring up the Lana through the announce table thing. WWE is now leaning into this big time.

– I can see they are using this to build up a potential three-way match for Lana’s spot on the women’s team. This segment just started going on to long with Lacey and Peyton yammering on and on about each other, but right at the end after several back and forth insults, I think they cracked each other up because they both started laughing (but kind of out of character) and Charlie quickly ushered them off the set.

– Charlie brought out their last guest, Mustafa Ali. After he came out Ali, jumped on how Charlie pronounced this name. If you saw Raw last week, Ali pronounced his first name with some very specific emphasis on certain syllables and he made Charlie repeat his name until he was satisfied with the pronunciation. I guess this is how he shows he is a heel? I don’t know, this whole angle is so mixed up and damaged that it just doesn’t make any sense. It is so Vince.

– Charlie asked Ali about tonight and Retributions various attacks on both Ricochet and Tucker. He started spouting off about how Retribution is about justice and that the attack on Tucker was payback for him backstabbing Otis. He said that Retribution is the judge, jury and executioner and then he went off on WWE and the environment it creates. R Truth asked why they all wear “Bane” masks and if they were going to attack Batman. Ali got pissed that R Truth is telling jokes, that Ali and Retribution are serious and will change the culture at WWE. They will defend the downtrodden. Oh please, lets lay it on even thicker.

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– Okay, you should probably watch to get the full effect, but Ali gave the reason he gave stupid names and masks to the members of Retribution. Ready? Okay, here it is. He did that so that they can know what it feels like to be judged by their name and their looks, just like someone who looks like Ali and has a name like Mustafa (with full emphasis). What!? I can just see the writers in the back room digging the whole deeper and begging for someone to lower them a ladder so they can get out. And Vince is just standing up there and laughing and saying, “This is such good shit.”

– Charlie asked if Ali could explain the names and R Truth, said, yeah, Flapjack, Slappy, Slapjack. Ali got upset at R Truth again and called out the rest of Retribution to come out to explain it to him. All four Retribution members came out and surrounded R Truth and intimidated him to the point where Ali thanked himself for coming on the show and thanked Retribution “for saving us.”

– With that Retribution left one by one, leaving Charlie and R-Truth on the set to say good night. R Truth looked scared and Charlie said she was terrified and told R Truth he had to be much more careful with what he says. Charlie, acting very shaken, ended the so and they signed off.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Okay, let me go backwards here. WWE has to kill Retribution. When an act can’t even clarify what their angle, purpose, shtick is on a talk show segment, then something is really, really wrong. Personally, I think that they just have to leave this angle behind, take off the masks and move all the performers over to Smackdown or back to NXT and let them rebuild and come back as themselves. This segment was just stupid and boring.

– As for Lacey and Peyton, I got a kick out of them this week, especially when they started to lose it on camera and their real personalities poked out a bit. I do not think that either are ready for a big singles push, but if they do form a tag team after Shayna and Nia break up, they could do some good work while they hone their characters.

– Strowman was fine if a bit gruff, one-note, but it is what we have come to expect from him. Personally, I think it is better to keep him off this platform and get him back to the brutal, punishing wrestler of few words. I actually think he should get off TV for a bit to allow him to be fresher on his return. You know Strowman vs. Lars Sullivan is in the cards somewhere, even if they are on different brands.

– At 25 minutes this week, the show felt a bit long, especially the final segment with Ali, but all in all an easy and okay watch this week. Not great but check it out.

Well, that is it for now, see you all next week. Until then, take care and stay safe.

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RECOMMENDED: 10/31 WWE TALKING SMACK REVIEW: Kayla and Sami talk with Street Profits, Kevin Owens, Dominic & Rey Mysterio, Bayley

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WWE NETWORK REVIEW: RAW TALK
NOVEMBER 16, 2020
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hosts: Charly Caruso and R Truth

This week’s guests: Sheamus, Asuka, and The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)

– R Truth started off the voice over as Charly was having some microphone issues.  As things settled down Charly took over promoting the upcoming Survivor Series on Sunday.  Truth and Charly shared some banter and sold the championship match between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton while clips of the match played on the split screen.  They sold the rest of the card at Survivor Series going through each match and clearly favoring “Team Red”, oh brother, please stop this.

– While discussing the dissention on the Raw men’s Survivor Series team, Sheamus’ music played, and he came out as the first case.  Before anything, he praised Drew’s victory, keeping alive the angle of his friendship with Drew, which has been interesting over the last few weeks.  Charly redirected the conversation back to the Survivor Series and the dissention on the team.  Sheamus went off on A.J. as the supposed captain, and that he should be captain and that he could bring everything together and bring the victory to the Raw team.

– Charly brought up why there should be so much competition between the members of the team and that there should not be any captain and they should just all get along.  Of course, Sheamus took it wrong and said she was right, but he needs to be the captain to bring everyone together.  Perfect delusional heel.  After this Sheamus went through the Smackdown team and sold all of them, very good to build up the opponents!

– With that Charly said good night and they moved on to the next guest: Asuka, who came on and started dancing with R Truth.  The segment was pretty short as Asuka still struggles with English, but with the help of Charly and R Truth, Asuka was able to do her promo without resorting to the yelling in Japanese.  I was happy to see that they made the effort to have Asuka speak in English and make her points.  Good job here by everyone.

– With a final, “Nobody is ready for Asuka”, they moved onto the New Day, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.  Always great talkers, Kingston and Woods just took control of the segment, selling their win over the Hurt Business on Raw and their upcoming Survivor Series match versus the Street Profits.  Very good bit: Kofi said you can not trust people with two first names and they beat two of them tonight: Cedric Alexander and Sheldon Benjamin.  R Truth went nuts.

– The New Day said that while they respect the Street Profits, but the New Day has been doing this a long time and they are not ready to give up the top spot just yet.  Charly turned the conversation to their missing member, Big E.  Asking them how they feel about not having Big E around.  Both Kofi and Xavier said that they see things as the New Day covering both brands and that is only good.  Charly brought up the possibility the Big E could be the final member of Team Smackdown (foreshadowing?????) and how that would make them feel.  Kofi and Xavier both said that would be great for Big E, and there are no problems there as their New Day brotherhood-ness far surpasses any team red/team blue stuff.  (Again, some possible foreshadowing given Big E’s interaction with the Street Profits on Smackdown in recent weeks.)

– Xavier ended the segment with a nice straight into the camera promo, building up the Street Profits, but stating clearly and without doubt that your boys, The New Day!, will win.

– With that Charly wrapped up, again going through all the Survivor Series matches and telling everyone to be sure to watch.

FINAL THOUGHTS:  Just want to take a quick moment here to commend WWE’s use of the split screen here showing events from Raw that inform the conversation during the show.  It is a great use of the split screen and reminds the viewer of some big spot or moment in a match that adds to the discussions going on.

Over the past few weeks, I have been down a bit on R Truth and his over-the-top act, but this week Truth came through with flying colors.  He added some levity, but mostly stayed out of Charly’s way as she moved the show along and added to the show by just adding his personality without overdoing it.  Big kudos to R Truth this week!

The show was strong this week with all the guests giving good performances and doing a good job in not just promoting Survivor Series but throwing out some breadcrumbs on possible storylines going forward.  Sheamus was engaging and despite being a heel was enjoyable to watch, I might even say that I “liked” him.  This fits with the angle with Drew and I am interested to see where this goes.  Asuka came off great and rather than just ranting and raving actually engaged with he hosts and provided information and built on her likability and babyface-ness.  Finally, The New Day did their things.  At times their act can get a bit old, but tonight, while they were clearly the same team, they added a bit of an edge that kept me engaged as they travelled down a well-worn path.

At 26-plus minutes the show is an easy watch and generally fun.

Well, that is it for now, see you all next week.  Until then, take care and stay safe.

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RECOMMENDED: 11/14 WWE TALKING SMACK REVIEW: Sasha Banks, Otis, Mysterio Family and Murphy join Heyman and Braxton to react to Smackdown

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LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School board members earlier this year seemed to minimize the part of the school’s attendance zone that opposed the board’s controversial effort to sell land in Willow Springs.

Noting the opposition among Willow Springs residents, then-board President Kari Dillon said, “That was all focused on one small community, and not the voices of the other 10.”

She was speaking during a Jan. 23 closed session on the land deal. In May, the attorney general ordered the board to release the recording because members illegally closed the doors.

Find out what's happening in La Grangewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In another part of the meeting, board member Alison Kelly, who has since left the board, asked how many Lyons Township High students were from Willow Springs.

Superintendent Brian Waterman responded 124 “current students” were from the village, saying he just looked up the information.

Find out what's happening in La Grangewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

When some residents heard the recording, they said they thought the number was actually higher. They were likely right.

Recently, Patch filed a public records request seeking the number of students who come from Willow Springs.

The school responded that 124 households in Willow Springs contain students attending the high school. Many households may have more than one in high school, so it appears Waterman meant to refer to households, rather than students.

Also, a portion of Willow Springs is in Argo Community High School’s attendance zone.

Willow Springs, later joined by four other towns, opposed the school’s plan to sell to an industrial developer. Zoning barred industrial uses for the area in question.

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In the face of the opposition, the high school board later abandoned the effort to sell.

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For the first time since 2014, two Impact World Champions will clash as Eric Young takes on Nick Aldis on tonight's Impact on AXS TV.

The two last wrestled one-on-one on a September 2014 One Night Only pay-per-view when Aldis was known as Magnus. Tonight's match was made after a backstage challenge last week.

After the closing events of last week's show, The Time Splitters (Impact World Champion Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA) will unite to face Moose & Brian Myers.

Gisele Shaw will face Masha Slamovich after a backstage confrontation last week.

In a loser leaves Impact bout, friends will turn foes as Zicky Dice will take on Johnny Swinger.

Knockouts Champion Trinity will team with Subculture's Dani Luna against former Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (KiLynn King & Taylor Wilde).

Digital Media Champion Kenny King & Sheldon Jean will take on former champion Joe Hendry & Yuya Uemura on the BTI pre-show.

**********

George Iceman talked about Deonna Purrazzo losing the Knockout’s championship at Slammiversary, and said we would hear from her soon about what she was going to do next.

Joe Hendry & Yuya Uemura defeated Kenny King & Sheldon Jean

Uemura got a big win over Kenny King in this one, presumably setting up a future Impact Digital Media Champonship match.

Impact Wrestling

Trinity opened the show, making her entrance to the ring to team with Dani Luna from Subculture.

Trinity & Dani Luna defeated The Coven (KiLynn King & Taylor Wilde)

This wasn’t very good. I’m not sure if it was the extended heat on Luna, or something else, but this was fine at best.

King managed well against both Luna and Trinity in the early part of the match, but was dropped after a flying back elbow from Luna. King rolled the corner to escape and tagged out, only for Wilde to get caught on a crossbody attempt and hit with a fall away slam. Luna hit a sliding clothesline for a 2-count. King necked Luna on the top rope, letting Wilde get control. After several minutes of heat, Luna managed to dump King to the floor while Trinity hit a full nelson bomb on Wilde before rolling over into a pinfall.

–Deonna Purrazzo came down to the ring to announce that she was getting her rematch for the Knockout’s championship at Impact Emergence.

–Lio Rush was backstage and Moose & Myers walked up, complaining that Rush left them hanging last week. Rush said, “Why would you align yourself with someone like him?” and Bully Ray walked up behind him, “Who?” right into his ear. Moose said they weren’t asking to be friends, and Ray said that he was with them or against them, so he would need an answer by the end of the night.

–Dirty Dango was with Johnny Bravo, and talked about why he needed security because Scott D’Amore has been hitting people with chairs, and Santino is attacking people lately. He introduced Bravo’s new name, Alpha Bravo.

Johnny Swinger defeated Zicky Dice in a Loser Leaves Impact Match

Dice and Swinger feigned not wanting to fight, and then Swinger did the finger poke of doom, but Dice cradled Swinger when he went for the pinfall. Dice and Swinger then exchanged eye rakes. Dice slammed Swinger and said, “I’m sorry, I love you.” Swinger kicked out at 2. Swinger rolled to the floor and said, “I’m done, count me out.” Dice looked really sad as Swinger tried to take his cart and go home.

Swinger said it was Dice’s time and told him to ride the cart. Dice rode the Cart and Swinger pushed it before hitting Dice with a lariat. Swinger then threw Dice into the ring and pinned Dice with his feet on the ropes, and Zicky Dice must leave Impact. Dice looked heartbroken as Swinger celebrated.

–Yuya Uemura & Joe Hendry were backstage with Santino and he made a triple threat for the Impact Digital Media Championship next week between Kenny King, Hendry, and Uemura.

Gisele Shaw (w/ Jai Vidal & Savannah Evans) defeated Masha Slamovich (w/ Killer Kelly)

This was a great match. I’m excited to see more between these two as the Knockouts tag title feud was advanced here.

Shaw had a surprising amount of intensity in this, taking it right to Slamovich. Shaw dumped Slamovich to the floor and when they came back from break, Shaw continued the assault with a European uppercut. The announcers noted that this was a new level of intensity for Slamovich, which his what Shaw needs to compete against such a strong wrestler.

Shaw missed a running knee and ate a spin kick from Slamovich. Slamovich setup for the Snow Plough, but Jai Vidal came up on the apron to distract Slamovich. Killer Kelly pulled Vidal from the apron, but Savannah Evans dropped Kelly, and Shaw rolled up Slamovich and hit the Denoument for the pinfall.

–A video aired for Jake Something, hyping up his return to Impact.

–Frankie Kazarian was with Traci Brooks backstage and they were talking about how much trouble Alisha Edwards and Eddie Edwards was giving them, and Kazarian had to talk Brooks out of wanting to fight Alisha.

Time Splitters (KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley) defeated Moose & Brian Myers

Moose was able to get some heat on KUSHIDA due to his size, but the Time Splitters proved to be a more experienced tag team, soon taking advantage of Myers. Myers ran around the ring trying to escape Shelley, which baited Shelley into a clothesline from Moose who was somehow hiding near the corner. Myers tagged back in to take on Shelley, but as he tried to tag out to Moose, Shelley manage to pull him into a crucifix pin, outwrestling him.

–Bully Ray immediately ran in and started beating on Shelley. Josh Alexander ran down to make the save. Lio Rush ran down and jumped Alex Shelley, making his decision by siding with Ray and his crew. Chris Sabin ran in to make the save, and suddenly Lio Rush was left in the ring with nowhere to run, and Sabin hit a superkick and threw him from the ring.

–Alan Angels cut a promo via pretaped video, saying that Heath is an imaginary rockstar while he was a real one, calling himself the Celestial again. He still needs to find his way with his promos, but this is the best way for Angels to learn.

Zachery Wentz (w/ Trey Miguel) defeated Mike Bailey

Wentz had some offence early, but did not account for Bailey being able to kick very hard, and after getting hit with several kicks, Bailey got a two count. Bailey attempted to kick Wentz in the face, but Wentz kept ducking close to the mat. Bailey then faked him out, paused mid kick, waited for Wentz to look up, and kicked him right in the face for another 2-count, where Trey Miguel made the save.

Bailey got into an argument with Miguel on the floor after hitting a trianagle moonsault on Wentz. Wentz responded by hitting a slam onto the apron. Bailey and Wentz exchanged kicks, with Miguel pulling Wentz from the ring to avoid a tornado kick. The referee sent Miguel to the back, who blamed Bailey for everything. Bailey turned around into spray paint in his eyes from Wentz, who hit a cravate into a DDT for the win.

Eric Young defeated Nick Aldis

Eric Young got the win here, with Nick Aldis on his way out of Impact almost as fast as he arrived. This was a good match though. I wish Aldis had more time in the company, and maybe they will come to a new deal, but for now, it seems his short-term deal is up.

The first part of this match featured Young and Aldis both trying to one up each other, with Young and Aldis both skinning the cat. Aldis did it back into a punch from Young, so he bailed to the floor as they cut to a break. As they came back, Young dumped Aldis to the floor, but got caught in the apron when Young went for a baseball slide dropkick.

Aldis hit a big clothesline back in the ring for a 2-count. Young hit a flying forearm off the ropes, and Young followed with a belly-to-belly suplex for a 2-count. Young went to the top rope for an elbow drop, but Aldis cut him off and hit a superplex. Aldis hit a Michinoku driver on Young for a near fall. Aldis locked on the Kingsland cloverleaf, but Young fought out. Aldis went for the figure four leglock, but Young cradled him and then hit a piledriver out of the cradle for the win.

–Deaner ran down to the ring and attacked Eric Young, and Kon chokeslammed Young at Deaner’s directions. I’m not sure if this was the feud I would go with, despite it making sense due to Deaner killing Young months ago. Young could have a better feud given he just beat the person who main evented Slammiversary a few short weeks ago. Kon chokeslammed Young twice and then sent him into a DDT from Deaner.

Final Thoughts

I am really disappointed with Young immediately stepping into a feud with The Design, rather than doing something new. The rest of this show was pretty good, including the main event match, but that angle did not work for me. I can say at least Deaner is giving it his all with this gimmick. He has since day one in Impact, back when he was the redneck with ODB. The guy always gives it 100%. It’s just too bad this character really doesn’t work for me. Hopefully Young can get beyond this feud quickly and move onto better things.

Impact Wrestling – August 3, 2023

Impact Digital Media Championship: Kenny King (c) vs. Joe Hendry vs. Yuya Uemura

Impact Wresting x NJPW MultiVerse United II – August 20, 2023

Click Here: factory direct productsImpact World Championship: Alex Shelley (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Impact Wrestling Emergence – August 27, 2023

Time Machine (Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, & KUSHIDA) & Josh Alexander vs. Bully Ray, Moose, Brian Myers, & Lio Rush Impact Knockouts World Championship: Trinity (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo

À peine arrivés à Rhodes (Grèce), première urgence. Au loin déjà, des nuages de fumée. Les bénévoles français, d’anciens pompiers professionnels et volontaires, doivent intervenir. Sur les hauteurs, une ligne de feu dévore une partie de la montagne. Il ne faut pas qu’elle s’approche du village de Vati. Leur association a donné un ancien camion d’intervention français. Ils vont pouvoir l’utiliser avec des volontaires grecs, au plus près du feu.  

Un incendie difficile à traiter

Dans les airs, des avions légers, lanceurs d’eau, se succèdent. Mais il faut traiter aussi l’incendie au sol. Malgré les moyens déployés, l’incendie sur cette partie de la colline est difficile à traiter. Les bénévoles grecs et français font ce qu’ils peuvent avec leurs moyens. Au bout de quelques minutes, les premières réserves d’eau finissent par être épuisées. Les bénévoles n’ont pas le choix, ils doivent s’arrêter. Des habitants de Vati leur livreront de nouvelles réserves une heure plus tard. Une heure où la végétation continuera de se consumer, comme tous les soirs à Rhodes, depuis dix jours.

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WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
NOVEMBER 30, 2020
ORLANDO, FL. AT THE THUNDERDOME IN THE AMWAY CENTER
AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and Samoa Joe

Match Results and Segments from Last Week

• Braun Strowman headbutted WWE official Adam Pearce during the opening segment where Pearce was having team Raw (Strowman, Keith Lee, A.J. Styles, Riddle, and Sheamus) state their case for a WWE Championship match against Drew McIntyre. Eventually, three matches were set up where the winners would face each other tonight in a triple threat.
• The Hurt Business (Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander) defeated Raw Tag Team Champions New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods via count out. New Day then defeated Hurt Business to retain their titles when Hurt Business goaded them into restarting the match.
• Riddle defeated Sheamus to qualify for the triple threat match.
• Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss hosted another edition of the Firefly Funhouse. They introduced Friendship Frog, who Bray smashed with a scepter. They played a video of his forty-year life.
• Asuka defeated Lana via DQ when Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler attacked Asuka. She retained the Raw Women’s Championship. Asuka and Lana then paired up to defeat Jax & Baszler in a non-title match. Lana was non put through a table, ending the “streak” at nine weeks.
• Keith Lee defeated U.S. Champion Bobby Lashley to qualify for the triple threat match when MVP attacked Lee mid-match. Lashley made his case to Adam Pearce earlier, citing he was the only Raw champion to win at Survivor Series.
• Alexa Bliss defeated Nikki Cross. Here’s Nikki in a WWE exclusive:

• A.J. Styles defeated Randy Orton when “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt appeared and disrupted Orton. A.J. also qualifies for the triple threat match. Orton, who lost the WWE Championship back to Drew McIntyre two weeks ago, made his case to Adam Pearce as well.

Items Advertised by WWE

We’re on our way towards TLC which comes to us Sunday December 20. It will be the last Raw & Smackdown PPV of 2020 and the first to emanate from Tropicana Field in Tampa, FL in the string of events that will take place from that venue, which starts with the December 11 edition of Smackdown. The following are advertised for tonight in WWE’s preview:

• Keith Lee, Riddle and AJ Styles set for “Sudden Death” Triple Threat showdown
• Jeff Hardy to battle Elias in Symphony of Destruction Match
• Randy Orton to appear on A Moment of Bliss

Riddle vs. Keith Lee vs. A.J. Styles: Triple Threat Match to Determine Challenger for WWE Championship

Tonight, Riddle takes on Keith Lee and A.J. Styles to determine who will face Drew McIntyre next for the WWE Championship. In the opening segment overseen by WWE official Adam Pearce, the aforementioned wrestlers along with Sheamus all talked like juvenile kids and called each other names making their case after defeated Team Smackdown at Survivor Series with all members of Team Raw surviving. Braun Strowman took exception to Adam Pearce saying, “last but not least,” and headbutted Pearce as I mentioned earlier. On WWE’s website we found out Braun was suspended indefinitely.

With that said, the only one who has faced Drew on WWE programming is Lee, who had two non-title matches with him several months ago on Raw upon his being moved from NXT. Lee held both the North American and NXT Championships. Riddle is a former NXT Tag Team Championship co-holder and won the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Classic with Pete Dunne, who were known as the “Broserweights.” Styles is a multi-time WWE Champion, U.S. Champion, and Intercontinental Champion.  Here’s Keith Lee, Riddle, and A.J. Styles in WWE exclusives:

Frank’s Analysis:  What’s interesting is that it’s not clear as to when the winner will face Drew.  I suppose we can assume TLC, but it could be a Raw episode and what happens in that match feeds TLC.  I’m leaning towards Lee and sending Riddle and Styles into a feud. They’ve had the two matches as I mentioned, and Lee can position himself strong even if he does lose to McIntyre. Riddle and Styles would probably be a TV feud, but something different for Raw and they do have a small history from Smackdown earlier in the year. Speaking of Styles, I wouldn’t be surprised if they point in his direction. Drew has said he wants to work with him, and he can afford to lose a title match while making Drew look good. Riddle is on the low end of possibilities if at all, but you know how WWE likes to pull challengers out of their rear end every once in a while. His character is horrible and a total goof, but maybe the possibility of facing Drew will make him a bit more serious. Braun will definitely factor in at some point if not tonight, and for sure will be lined up to face Drew possibly at the Royal Rumble. Braun isn’t going to win the Rumble, so you may as well stick him in a title match. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Jeff Hardy vs. Elias: Symphony of Destruction Match

Folks we must accept the universal truth, and that the feud between Jeff Hardy and Elias is not over. Back at Hell in a Cell, Elias defeated Jeff via DQ when Jeff hit Elias with his guitar. Jeff got his win back when he won a guitar on a pole match. Elias hasn’t let matters go, as two weeks ago he accused Jeff of running him down during the Intercontinental Championship back in the summer. Jeff said he’ll be guilty of more than hitting him with a car if he keeps the accusations up.

Tonight, they go at it in a Symphony of Destruction match. There have been two, and both involved Elias. The first was back in March of 2018 against Braun Strowman. In the next match he actually paired with Strowman to face Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro back in February of this year on Smackdown.

Frank’s Analysis: You have to dress these Elias matches up with a gimmick, otherwise why care about seeing him wrestle a straight-up match? He’s more of a gimmick himself than a wrestler with a desire to accomplish anything in the ring. I do like the fact that he’s upset he didn’t get to compete for the Intercontinental Championship, but that’s more to serve the feud with Jeff.

A Moment of Bliss: Guest Randy Orton

Alexa Bliss welcomes Randy Orton into A Moment of Bliss following last week’s events. Towards the end of the match between Orton and A.J. Styles in which the winner qualified for the triple threat match tonight, “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt made his presence known. His music played briefly earlier, but then the lights dimmed and eventually his horror-themed music played while he appeared on the ring apron. This shook up Orton and allowed Styles to hit his Phenomenal Forearm to score the pin.

There is history between Orton and Bray. Several years ago, Orton pledged his allegiance to Bray and joined the Wyatt Family, and together they won the Smackdown Tag Team Championship. Orton had a hidden agenda, which was to take down the Wyatt Family and destroy Bray. He infamously burned down his cabin, and eventually defeated him for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. They had a House of Horrors match shortly thereafter that was, well, appropriately named. In several recent Firefly Funhouse segments, scenes from Orton burning down the cabin have been replayed, and we can see Bray still holds a grudge over that.

Frank’s Analysis: I can’t help but be into this, but more to see how it’s handled. For the past year Orton has been destroying legends, so I’m not in a place as a fan where I’d want to suddenly cheer him. The Fiend is kind of cool in a way, but he’s put Alexa Bliss into a dark place, and they’ve spent several weeks trying to have Nikki Cross try to get Alexa away from the Fiend. Last week Alexa deceived Nikki to defeat her. He’s also terrorized legends and recently tormented fan favorite Kevin Owens. Why would I suddenly want to cheer him? I suppose we can look at this as Freddy Kreuger vs. Jason or either one of them vs. Mike Myers from Halloween? It’s hard to know the end game of this feud, but it’s different and interesting for sure.

Lacey Evans and Peyton Royce

Nothing is advertised for these women. There was an exclusive video of them showing Lacey wanting Peyton to focus on other opportunities:

Other Expectations and Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m looking forward to Raw, although there are still too many distraction and/or screwy finishes. They have their place in wrestling, but it’s become a crutch for WWE. It’s almost pointless to watch matches in their entirety. That said, I’m interested in who’s positioned to face Drew, what happens with Fiend and Orton, and how Braun Strowman’s “suspension” holds up. One thing is missing from all of this is who will be lined up to face Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship. I suppose they’re waiting for Charlotte Flair to come back, and it’s safe to say she’ll probably be the one to dethrone Asuka. It’s a shame WWE spent the summer focused on Bayley and Sasha and not building up anybody else. They don’t think long-term, so I’m not surprised. The Royal Rumble is coming soon, so things will overall get heated up around that time.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Thank you for reading!

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

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Kenny Omega and Don Callis appeared together on Impact’s “Final Resolution” special on Impact Plus and Fite TV tonight. Callis stopped an attempt to interview Omega at his tour bus during the first hour of the show. Callis said that Omega was at Final Resolution to visit family and promised he would have nothing to do with the show itself.

During the second hour of the show Impact EVP Scott D’Amore was shown instructing security to not let anyone through. Karl Anderson came and the security man wouldn’t let him in, but Anderson was on the list. Anderson walked through the door towards Omega’s bus and said it was family reunion time, which signaled that the family reunion Callis was talking about was a Bullet Club family reunion between former NJPW Bullet Club members Omega and Anderson.

The cameras went to Omega’s tour bus. Anderson had his tag title and Omega had the AEW World Hvt. Championship. They talked about their time in NJPW. Anderson said he had to go wrestle. Omega and Callis indicated they wanted family time. He said he’d rather stay on the bus. Callis told Anderson he should beat Ethan Page in two minutes. Anderson said it might take longer.

Omega and Callis seemed surprised that Anderson didn’t think he could beat Page quickly. Omega asked him if he remembered the G1 Climax 2012 when he beat Kazuchika Okada. Callis said that Machine Gun (Anderson’s nickname) would beat Page in a minute. Omega and Callis pumped Anderson up and said they wanted to see the Machine Gun. Callis and Omega then made machine gun noises and Omega did an over the top imitation of Anderson shooting his machine gun during his entrance.

That was Omega’s final appearance on the show. Omega and Callis are scheduled to appear on Impact this coming Tuesday on AXS TV.

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Contact Sean at radicansean@pwtorch.com. Follow him on Twitter @SR_Torch

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While FTR will defend the AEW Tag Team titles against Adam Cole & MJF on Saturday's edition of Collision, the next challenger will be determined on Friday's AEW Rampage.

Announced on Wednesday's Dynamite, eight teams (16 men) will compete in a tag team battle royale with the winner earning a future Tag Team title shot.

The teams are Matt & Jeff Hardy, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker, The Butcher & The Blade, Brian Cage & Big Bill, Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal, Serpentico & Luther, Ethan Page & Brother Zay, and Jay Lethal & Satnam Singh.

While they won't be in the match, The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) will be in action against opponents to be named.

A long rivalry will be renewed as former AEW Women's Champions Hikaru Shida and Nyla Rose will clash. Shida defeated Rose in a no DQ match at 2020's Double or Nothing to kick off her first title reign.

After returning to action recently on Collision after a lengthy absence, Scorpio Sky will take on Kip Sabian. It's Sky's first match on the show since June 2022.

Here's the card being taped after Wednesday's Rampage:

Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla RoseTag team battle royal for AEW Tag Team title shot: Matt & Jeff Hardy, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker, The Butcher & The Blade, Brian Cage & Big Bill, Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal, Serpentico & Luther, Ethan Page & Brother Zay, and Jay Lethal & Satnam SinghScorpio Sky vs. Kip SabianThe Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) in actionClick Here: cheap adidas superstar

"Barbie" avec Margot Robbie et Ryan Gosling est actuellement en salles. Une suite au film de Greta Gerwig est-elle envisagée ? Voici les projets de Mattel Films.

Alors que Barbie de Greta Gerwig cartonne actuellement au cinéma, Margot Robbie a indiqué au micro du site Collider que des discussions étaient déjà en cours pour une potentielle suite. Mais la comédienne est restée prudente en indiquant qu’elle ne souhaitait pas “tomber dans un piège” en prévoyant quelque chose qui n’est pas réalisable.

Le long métrage Barbie est un film autonome qui se suffit à lui-même, pour l’interprète de la célèbre poupée Mattel, également productrice du long métrage, la suite “pourrait prendre un million de directions différentes“. “Je pense que l’on tombe dans un piège si l’on essaie de préparer un premier film tout en planifiant des suites.” poursuit-elle.

Barbie

Sortie :

19 juillet 2023

|
1h 55min

De
Greta Gerwig

Avec
Margot Robbie,
Ryan Gosling,
America Ferrera

Presse
3,4

Spectateurs
3,5

Séances (989)

Dans le film de Greta Gerwig, Barbie vit une vie parfaite dans un monde parfait. Mais lorsqu’elle commence à avoir des idées noires, elle se retrouve forcée d’aller dans le Vrai Monde pour trouver la cause de sa crise existentielle.

Le long métrage présente de nombreuses poupées de la marque : Barbie Présidente (Issa Rae), Barbie écrivaine (Alexandra Shipp), Barbie enceinte (Emerald Fennell), Barbie Prix Nobel de physique (Emma Mackey), Barbie Sirène (Dua Lipa), Barbie gymnaste (Kate McKinnon) et de nombreux Ken… Autant de poupées qui pourraient avoir leur propre film…

Le début d’une franchise ?

Selon Ynon Kreiz, le PDG de Mattel, Barbie n’est que le début d’une nouvelle franchise. Dans une interview accordée au magazine Time, ce dernier s’est montré enthousiaste à l’idée de produire “un plus grand nombre de films sur Barbie“.

Une suite centrée sur le Ken incarné par Ryan Gosling a d’ailleurs récemment été évoquée par un scooper (et une allusion y est d’ailleurs faite dans le long métrage). Mais rien d’officiel, et ces films dépendront bien évidemment du succès en salles de Barbie.

45 films Mattel

Ynon Kreiz a ensuite confié au New Yorker que le catalogue Mattel “n’a rien à envier à celui de Disney“. Le patron de la maison de jouets, qui a d’ailleurs lancé son propre studio de production cinéma Mattel Films en 2013, souhaiterait suivre le chemin de Marvel, passé du statut d’éditeur de bandes dessinées à celui de géant hollywoodien.

Mattel aurait ainsi pas moins de 45 films en cours de développement, tous basés sur ses nombreuses marques de jouets. 12 projets ont déjà été annoncés, parmi lesquels : Barney le dinosaure produit par l’acteur Daniel Kaluuya, un film sur Hot Wheels, un long métrage sur le jeu de cartes Uno, une adaptation du jeu Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots avec Vin Diesel ou encore des films centré sur American Girls ou Thomas et ses amis.

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Préparez-vous donc à voir les jouets prendre d’assaut les salles obscures !