WWE News & Updates

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Stephanie drafts Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to RAW. Bryan drafts NXT's "American Alpha" Chad Gable and Jason Jordan to SmackDown. Big Show is headed to RAW. Shane selects Dolph Ziggler for SmackDown. Stephanie announces NXT's Nia Jax for RAW.

 

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RAW selects Neville, SmackDown drafts Natalya, RAW drafts Cesaro, SmackDown picks Alberto Del Rio and RAW selects Sheamus. That's it for the TV picks, another 30 will be announced on the post-show and we will have coverage.

 

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Last night's live WWE SmackDown, featuring the WWE Draft and the first show since moving to Tuesday nights, drew 3.170 million viewers. This is up a whopping 53% from last week's show, which drew 2.068 million viewers. It was the most watched episode since February 7, 2014. It also tied this week's RAW audience, which also averaged 3.170 million viewers.

SmackDown was #6 for the night in viewership, due to the various mainstream news programs covering the Republican National Convention.

SmackDown came in at #1 for the night in the 18-49 demographic.

 

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Who Was Originally Scheduled To Be The Top WWE Draft Pick, Where Other Top Stars Stood

Following the media publicity that Brock Lesnar generated for his UFC 200 victory over Mark Hunt, WWE had planned for Brock Lesnar to the the first draft pick for RAW, according to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer. He noted that while it's not definite that it was always the plan, it was the plan last week.

As noted, the UFC revealed this past Friday that USADA flagged Brock Lesnar for a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation from an out-of-competition sample collection taken on June 28th. It was announced yesterday that Lesnar also failed an in-competition drug test. Lance Pugmire of the LA Times reported that Lesnar tested positive in both tests for Clomiphene, which is an estrogen blocker.

Meltzer added that Dean Ambrose was scheduled to be the next pick for SmackDown, followed by Seth Rollins for RAW and then Cena for SmackDown.
Obviously plans changed significantly, as Rollins was the top draft pick, followed by Ambrose, WWE Women's Champion Charlotte and AJ Styles.

 

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image free hosting

 

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Roman Reigns' 30-day WWE suspension for his first violation of the WWE Wellness Policy ends today. As we noted last month, Reigns is scheduled to return to action this Saturday at the WWE live event at the Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood, NJ.

 

[Asad Afzal]

During the WWE draft on the first ever live edition of SmackDown, Brock Lesnar was drafted to RAW. However, it is interesting to note that Heyman wasn't specifically mentioned to join Lesnar, while other managers/valets such as Lana and Maryse were mentioned when Rusev and Miz were drafted.

During Wednesday's installment of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer mentioned that the reason Heyman's name was not mentioned on air is because his WWE contract has expired, and both the parties haven't reached an agreement yet to renew his contract. While both the sides can resolve their issues, nothing is certain at this point, which is why WWE decided not to bring him up when Brock Lesnar was drafted to RAW.

 

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Two names returning to the main WWE roster soon are Rhyno and Curt Hawkins.

 

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New Logos For RAW And SmackDown Live Revealed By The General Managers.
Logos

 

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- WWE announced that the Mountain Dew sponsored kickoff show match for
Battleground will consist of The Usos going against the team of Tyler Breeze and Fandango. Battleground takes place this Sunday, with the kickoff show starting at 7PM ET /6PM CT.