Survivor thoughts, PPV in Pittsburgh
There were plenty of news items this week, so let蘑菇视频 get right into them.
Survivor Series solid
WWE presented the 31st annual Survivor Series last Sunday, and it will go down as one of the best versions, if not the best.
Most of the outcomes were predictable, but the majority of matches were entertaining.
The champion vs. champion match between Brock Lesnar and A.J. Styles was phenomenal, no pun intended, and hopefully they run back a rematch at some point before both wrestlers retire from WWE.
Triple H turning on Kurt Angle was obvious, yet my prediction in last week蘑菇视频 column of Trips, Angle, Braun Strowman and John Cena being protected was almost 100% right.
Only Cena was pinned with ease while Angle was pinned after Triple H laid him out, and both Strowman and Trips survived.
Another entertaining match was the six-man match between The New Day and The Shield.
Pittsburgh getting PPV
Earlier this week, WWE released its tentative PPV calendar for 2018 and Pittsburgh, despite light attendance at shows as of late, will be getting Battleground in July.
The event will be a Raw show.
There will be 14 PPV蘑菇视频, with five being both Raw and Smackdown (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series) with Raw getting five brand-only PPV蘑菇视频 and Smackdown four.
The reason WWE is scaling back on PPV蘑菇视频, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, is that the extra PPV蘑菇视频 did not lead to any noticeable increase in subscribers for the WWE Network.
WWE tickets on sale for Pittsburgh show
Speaking of WWE shows in Pittsburgh, is running a special for the December 28 WWE house show.
Ticketmaster has a 鈥淢e+3 Four-Pack offer鈥� with great seats available.
Tickets start at $20 per ticket just off the floor level.
More information can be found at [http://www.ticketmaster.com<http://www.ticketmaster.com/]www.ticketmaster.com<http://www.ticketmaster.com/>.
Reason behind IC title change
When Roman Reigns defeated The Miz to win the Intercontinental title Monday night on Raw, the title change came out of nowhere.
Word trickled out later in the week as to why it happened.
The Miz, as well as Becky Lynch and Shawn Michaels will star in the sixth installment of the Marine series.
Reigns a Grand Slam champ
Speaking of Reigns鈥� title win, he has joined a small list of wrestlers who has won the 鈥淕rand Slam鈥� of winning a heavyweight title, the Intercontinental title, the United States title, and a tag team title.
The others include Edge, Booker T, Big Show, The Miz, Eddie Guerrero, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose.
Women call-ups
Paige returned to Raw Monday night and was joined by Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose.
Tuesday night on Smackdown, Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan debuted.
It appears the reason for the six new female wrestlers is because Vince McMahon felt both women蘑菇视频 division were getting stale and needed freshened up.
McIntyre tears bicep
Drew McIntyre entered last Saturday蘑菇视频 NXT show as the heavyweight champion, but he lost the title to Andrade 鈥淐ien鈥� Almas, but unfortunately for McIntyre, that was the best news of the night.
Towards the end of the match, McIntyre tore his left bicep and will be having surgery.
I suffered the exact same injury in a match in 2009, so I am aware of what his rehab will be like.
Depending on the severity and which end of the bicep was torn, look for McIntyre to be out anywhere from four to eight months.
War Games match solid
Speaking of the NXT show from last Saturday, if you did not see the War Games match, it is worth seeing on the WWE Network.
In fact, the entire show was solid and worth watching.
WWE legend battling health issues
James 鈥淜amala鈥� Harris, who I had the pleasure of facing numerous times in the ring and became friends with as a result, is recovering after a major health scare earlier this week where he was on life support after undergoing emergency surgery.
Kamala has had major health issues in recent years, including having to have both legs amputated below the knees due to complications from diabetes.
New WWE TV deal?
While NBC Universal currently owns exclusive negotiating rights with WWE, WWE has had unofficial meetings with other networks.
Among them include Fox, Disney, CBS, Amazon and YouTube.
According to [http://www.pwinsiderelite.com<http://www.pwinsiderelite.com/]www.pwinsiderelite.com<http://www.pwinsiderelite.com/>, WWE is looking beyond traditional outlets for its next TV deal.
On this date鈥�
In 1985, the first WWE title 鈥渟crewjob鈥� took place.
While fans are aware of the 1997 鈥渟crewjob鈥� when Shawn Michaels was awarded the WWE title when he 鈥渄efeated鈥� Bret Hart, it was not the first time WWE pulled a fast one on a champion.
In 1985 at Madison Square Garden, Wendi Richter defended the title against the masked Spider Lady, who happened to be The Fabulous Moolah under the mask.
Richter蘑菇视频 contract was up, and she wanted a pay raise from WWE but Vince McMahon had already decided to cut ties with her.
Moolah secured a fast three-count win and was awarded the title.
Richter, who was a vital part of the 鈥淩ock N鈥� Wrestling Connection鈥� era, never wrestled for WWE again but was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2009.
This week蘑菇视频 question:
Why was Jason Jordan taken out of Survivor Series and was Triple H the game changer? DJ Streets via email.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III.