WWE debuting another title
The WWE announced Thursday that it will debut a new title on yet another show that will take place on the WWE Network.
The United Kingdom championship will debut on a special, two-night tournament on Jan. 14-15, at the Empires Ballroom in Blackpool, England.
The 16-man tournament will air on the WWE Network and tickets for both nights sold out immediately.
鈥淥ur passionate U.K. fans deserve to have their own champion,鈥� WWE Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul Levesque said. 鈥淭he tournament is the next step in our ongoing strategy to create localized content for our global WWE Network, develop another brand that engages our passionate fans and add a new dimension to our on-going storylines.鈥�
With the subscriptions for the WWE Network falling, the WWE has to come up with new content to draw fans back or bring new subscribers in.
I sense that the WWE is moving towards having its own regional promotions throughout certain countries across the world.
I remember at a tryout I had with the WWE in December, 2005, Dean Malenko asked me if I was willing to move to Europe if they opened a training center there.
The center never developed, but some 11 years later, the WWE could be looking at having smaller territorial promotions.
Another interesting bit of information that Triple H mentioned was the talent used in the tournament would still be independent to work for other promotions throughout the United Kingdom.
Roadblock tonight in Pittsburgh
The WWE presents Roadblock on the WWE Network tonight, and the show takes place at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Tickets have not sold all that well and there are said to be buy one, get one specials going on.
Tickets are available at the box office at the arena.
In the main event, Kevin Owens defends the Universal title against U.S. champion Roman Reigns.
Other announced matches include Chris Jericho taking on Seth Rollins, Sasha Banks defends the Raw Women蘑菇视频 title against Charlotte in a 30-minute Iron Man match, The New Day defends the Raw tag titles against Cesaro and Sheamus, Big Cass faces Rusev, Rich Swann defends the Cruiserweight title against TJ Perkins and The Brian Kendrick, and Sami Zayn faces Braun Strowman in a match where Zayn must last ten minutes against Strowman.
I anticipate the continuation of the build towards an inevitable feud between Owens and Jericho.
It would be great to see the feud play out to their first match at WrestleMania, but with the show three-and-a-half months away and considering how the WWE creative team seems to rush through storylines, I am not sure this is possible.
On silver lining is that Jericho has one of the best wrestling minds in the business and has pull with the writing team, so maybe the feud could build to a Mania showdown.
The WWE is hyping that regardless of who wins the match between Banks and Charlotte, it will be the last match between the two for the title.
Depending on who comes out of the women蘑菇视频 title match as champion, the next challenger has apparently been set.
If Banks retains, Nia Jax will chase the title while Bayley will go after Charlotte if she wins the title tonight.
Ryder out following surgery
Zack Ryder, one-half of the Smackdown Live number one contending tag team of The Hype Bros., had reconstructive knee surgery Thursday and will be to of action.
The injury happened during the tag team battle royal in which Ryder ironically won.
No timetable is set for his return.
This week蘑菇视频 question
When will John Cena return to WWE? 鈥� Robert, Lemont Furnace.
Cena returns to Smackdown Live on Tuesday, Dec. 27 to gear up for the Royal Rumble.
However, his full-time days with the company are nearing their end as he start to work on more and more outside projects.
He will still be around for major events and shows, but his house show schedule will keep dwindling as it has done in recent years.
Cena is still penciled in to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania, and there have been rumblings that it could be for the WWE championship.
There is word that Taker could face, and defeat, AJ Styles for the WWE championship at the Royal Rumble and Cena would win the Rumble.
It would lead to a match at Mania where the stipulation could be title versus career.
Taker would defend the title, and his career, against Cena, who would be looking to tie Ric Flair蘑菇视频 all-time 鈥渞ecognized鈥� heavyweight title record of 16.