Hectic week in wrestling continues
We are nearing the end of the busiest, and possibly the most important, week in pro wrestling history.
Before reviewing what has already happened, let鈥檚 look at the Smackdown debut on Fox tonight and WWE鈥檚 Hell in a Cell show Sunday.
Rock back on Smackdown
Tonight鈥檚 Smackdown show on Fox has been billed for months as a major happening, and we are hours away from seeing what will take place.
The Rock will return to 鈥渉is show鈥� and will it be to just make an appearance or could a build to a match at WrestleMania 36 commence?
Kofi Kingston, he of the pancake throwing into the crowds antics, defends the WWE championship against Brock Lesnar.
Kingston, whose reign will hit six months Monday if he is still champion, may be thrown around like a pancake by Lesnar.
While Lesnar may not win the title, although he is expected to, Kingston will not score a pin on him.
Could The Rock face Lesnar at Mania?
Speaking of Lesnar, could a Mania match take place against The Rock or even former UFC champion Cain Velasquez?
There will be plenty of other coll happenings on the show including an appearance by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
WWE鈥檚 Cell Sunday
With all of the hype heading into this week, WWE鈥檚 Hell in a Cell PPV on Sunday has been almost forgotten.
Look for there to be several storylines coming out of tonight鈥檚 Smackdown that will carry into the Cell event.
Only a handful of matches have been announced with the Universal title match with Seth Rollins defending against 鈥淭he Fiend鈥� Bray Wyatt.
The other matches announced so far are Daniel Bryan teaming with Roman Reigns to take on Erick Rowan and Luke Harper and Becky Lynch defending the Raw women鈥檚 crown in a Cell match against Sasha Banks.
Raw鈥檚 fresh feel
On Monday, Raw debuted a new set (just like Smackdown will do tonight) and that was just one of the aspects that gave Raw an invigorated sense.
Between the announce team, a different vibe with the show and the build for the Cell show, Raw felt fresh.
Impact on AXS
Impact is now officially on every Tuesday on AXS and check your local cable channels to catch the show.
AEW 1, NXT 0
Wednesday night, the head-to-head competition between All Elite Wrestling and NXT hit the ground rolling and based off of the numbers, AEW blew NXT out of the water.
In terms of overnight numbers, AEW drew 1,409,000 viewers while NXT had 891,000 viewers.
Within the 18-49 demographic, AWE drew a 0.68 rating while NXT drew a 0.32.
Podcast appreciation
On Wednesday, the So Cal Pro Wrestling Podcast dropped a new episode and had me as a guest.
The move is appreciated and a big thank you goes out to Pittsburgh native and Podcast host Jason Marchewka.
Jason has lived in the Los Angeles area and his love for pro wrestling is second to none.
He will be at Smackdown tonight in Los Angeles and he will provide a live look at the show in next week鈥檚 column.
To listen to the podcast, so to https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bill-hughes/id1458301829?i=1000451995731 or search online for So Cal Pro Wrestling Podcast.
You can follow it on social media @SoCalPorWrestlePod.
Punk back to WWE?
Last week, we looked at WWE鈥檚 newest show, named WWE Backstage, which will be a talk show airing on FS1.
Hosted by Renee Young and Booker T, it will have three to five panelists each week.
Recently, wrestling personalities such as Rey Mysterio, Paige, Taz and Sean Waltman (X-Pac) have flown to Los Angeles to do trial runs.
This past weekend, www.PWInsider.com/elite reported that none other than CM Punk was flown in for a tryout.
Punk left WWE in 2014 after being unhappy and burned out.
He recently stated that he wouldn鈥檛 鈥渘ot take a call鈥� from WWE, but did it actually reach out to him?
Fox is in charge of the show and not WWE, so if Punk were to appear, he technically would be paid by Fox and not WWE.
The show debuts on Nov. 5.
AEW to Pittsburgh
Tickets for AEW鈥檚 Pittsburgh debut are still on sale.
The event is a TV taping at the Petersen Events Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Oct. 23.
Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III.