WWE returning to edgier ways?
Last week, we looked at how Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff had been hired to oversee Raw and Smackdown, respectively.
While Bischoff was said to not be at Smackdown, word is that Vince McMahon was very happy with the pace of Raw.
Heyman has not taken over the creative team for Raw just yet, but the show sure felt different, including an actual match starting the show.
Several people reached out about the show starting with an actual match instead of a 20-minute promo.
Midweek, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter said that WWE is going to start giving less of a PG show as the company is worried about the teenage audience watching competition instead of WWE.
We will see moving forward just how match Raw, Smackdown and the PPV鈥檚 change. But the days of having John Cena cater to eight-year olds appears to be over.
Extreme Rules card
WWE presents Extreme Rules on the WWE Network on Sunday, July 14 and on paper, the card looks strong.
The scheduled main event is a Winner Take All tag team match pitting Seth Rollins, the Universal champion, and Becky Lynch, the Raw women鈥檚 champion, putting their respective titles on the line against Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans.
If Corbin and Evans win the match, they will win the Universal and Raw women鈥檚 titles.
In other matches, Kofi Kingston puts the WWE title on the line against Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan and Rowan defend the Smackdown tag titles against The New Day and Heavy Machinery, Bayley defends the Smackdown women鈥檚 title against Alexis Bliss, Drew Gulak defends the cruiserweight title against Tony Nese, Aleister Black faces a mystery opponent to be revealed and Roman Reigns teams with The Undertaker to face Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon.
Look for another match or two to be added including AJ Styles challenging Ricchochet for the US title once again.
AEW show on Bleacher Report
This coming Saturday, AEW will put on another free show on Bleacher Report Live.
Five matches have been announced for the event which begins at 7:30 p.m.
Announced so far, Kenny omega will take on Cima, Cody and Dustin Rhodes will take on The Young Bucks, Adam Page faces Kip Sabian, Brandi Rhodes takes on Allie and a six-man tag match pits Jimmy Havoc, Darby Allin and Joey Janela against MJF, Sammy Guevara and Shawn Spears..
Evolve 131 to air at same time as AEW
At 8 p.m. Saturday, WWE will air Evolve鈥檚 10th anniversary show on the WWE Network at the same time as AEW鈥檚 Fight for the Fallen.
It is a definitive dig by WWE to air the show at the same time, but when it owns its own network, it can put on anything it wants at any time.
Impact鈥檚 anniversary
Sunday night, Impact put on Slammiversary XVII and hopefully the promotion moves in the right direction.
Ring of Honor passed Impact years ago in importance, and most would say that AEW has already done the same.
The opening for Slammiversary was posted online Saturday and it was really well done, so check it out if you have a chance.
MLW announces PPV debut
Major League Wrestling, a promotion that has been building itself slowly for years, announced it will host its first PPV on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The show, titled Saturday Night SuperFight, will be priced at a reasonable $19.95.
On This Day鈥�
In 1996, the New World Order (nWo) was officially formed at WCW鈥檚 Bash at the Beach PPV.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III.