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Tuesday, April 30, 2024 Issue #7224
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//->> OPENING WORDS FROM THE EDITOR

Gonna cross another country off the list this week as I did finally get my tickets to Backlash. Never been to France, well, apart from Paris airport. Watching Smackdown too and I depart Thursday night. Looking forward!


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//->> NEWS FROM THE WRESTLING-ONLINE NEWSWIRE
Web version at

2024 WWE DRAFT NIGHT TWO PICKS

- The WWE Draft continued last night on Monday Night Raw with 24 WWE Superstars selected during six different segments on television. Raw walked out with Imperium (Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser), Damage CTRL (Kairi Sane, Asuka, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky), CM Punk, Braun Strowman, LWO (Rey Mysterio, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde, Zelina Vega, Dragon Lee, and Carlito), Drew McIntyre, Ilja Dragunov, The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh), The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), Lyra Valkyria, The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, AOP, Scarlett, and Paul Ellering), and Bronson Reed. Smackdown drafted Jade Cargill, Kevin Owens, The Pride (Bobby Lashley, Angelo Dawkins, Montez Ford, and B-Fab), Tiffany Stratton, Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Humberto Carrillo, Angel Garza, and Elektra Lopez), Shinsuke Nakamura, Naomi, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson), Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa), and Blair Davenport. In the post-show picks on social media, Raw also drafted Dijak, The Creed Brothers, Ivy Nile, New Catch Republic (Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne), Kayden Carter and Katana Chance, Natalya, and Odyssey Jones while Giovanni Vinci, Tegan Nox, and Apollo Crews went to Smackdown.

BRAUN STROWMAN RETURNS ON RAW

- Braun Strowman, who has been out of action since June of last year, made his return to Monday Night Raw, coming out to save Jey Uso. The Monster Among Men marched down to the ring as Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, and Logan Paul beat up on Jey Uso after Paul got three Super Bowl rings from Patrick Mahomes, who was sitting at ringside, and decked out Uso. Strowman lifted Balor up for a huge chokeslam and then went after Mahomes, but Jey talked him into backing off. The former Universal champion underwent cervical fusion surgery and while he has been out of action ever since June, he made a cameo appearance during the Bray Wyatt tribute on Smackdown in August.

STEPHANIE MCMAHON APPEARS ON RAW

- Stephanie McMahon made an appearance on Monday Night Raw and read out the first set of draft picks for both Raw and Smackdown. McMahon, who quit WWE in January 2023 when her father Vince forced himself back in the company, also appeared at WrestleMania, opening night two. She also sat by her husband Paul "Triple H" Levesque during the Hall of Fame ceremony wearing an ECW hat in honor of Paul Heyman. Others who read out draft picks yesterday were Logan Paul, IShowSpeed, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Ron Simmons, Teddy Long, Alundra Blayze, Bubba Ray, D-Von Dudley, Adam Pearce, and Nick Aldis.

KING OF THE RING TOURNAMENT STARTS NEXT WEEK

- The King of the Ring tournament will kick off next Monday on Raw with the finals for both the King and Queen tournaments taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in late May. Three men from Raw have already put their names in for the tournament including former Intercontinental champion Gunther, former World Heavyweight champion Drew McIntyre, and current King of the Ring Xavier Woods. No mention of the Queen of the Ring tournament start as of yet, but with the finals both taking place on the same show, it's likely that it will also start next week. There haven't been any announcements regarding women entrants although Zelina Vega won the last tournament. The Jeddah Super Dome will host the King and Queen of the Ring PLE on May 25. The last tournament finals were also held in Saudi in 2021 at Crown Jewel.

7 NXT STARS CALLED UP TO MAIN ROSTER

- There were 7 NXT stars in total who were called up to the main roster in the 2024 WWE Draft, including two former NXT champions. Calling Raw their brand new home will be Kiana James, Lyra Valkyria, Dijak, and Ilja Dragunov while Blair Davenport, Carmelo Hayes, and Baron Corbin will be part of the Smackdown roster moving forward. Speaking to yesterday's draftees at the Performance Center after Raw went off the air, Shawn Michaels congratulated them and thanked them for being part of NXT. He said he wished all of them great success and they will always have a home in NXT "I'm so unbelievable thrilled for everyone. Every one of you deserves this, congratulations," Michaels said as the rest of the NXT class applauded.

SMACKDOWN RATING

- Despite the Draft usually pulling in good numbers for WWE, Smackdown on Friday drew the lowest rating for 2024 so far, doing 2,143,000 viewers, down 190,000 viewers from the prior week. A combination of the NFL Draft on three networks, NBA and NHL playoffs left a big dent in the numbers, with the 18-49 rating dropping to 0.58, down 0.05 from last week and the lowest since December 22, 2023. Smackdown was #2 on network TV and #5 overall on all of TV. (Ratings credit: SpoilerTV)

CODY ON ROMAN REIGNS: "HE TRANSCENDS WHAT WE DO"

- Appearing on the Cheap Heat podcast, Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes said Roman Reigns transcends what they do and there are only a few people like him. "Truly very few people get to transcend what we do. I think he transcends what we do and I'll think you'll see him pop up in areas that aren't sports entertainment or wrestling and with much success because of how hard he works," Rhodes said. The champion noted how Reigns showed up at WrestleMania and knowing he was at the end of his championship run, he was at his absolute peak and absolute best both physically and mentally. Rhodes went as far to say that he puts Reigns in the same category as The Rock and John Cena for their work in this business. It will be a while before we see Reigns back on our screens again as he will be taking several months off following a historic title run. In the same interview, Cody was also asked about AEW and he said that despite what's been said, he would never root against them. "And that’s not always easy because there’s random things said about you in press conferences and that’s a big no no," Cody said. "You should never say me or my wife’s name, Tony should’ve told you that..."

WHO KILLED WCW? TO PREMIERE ON JUNE 4 ON VICE TV

- Deadline.com is reporting in an exclusive story that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is serving as an executive producer on the new docuseries for Vice TV titled Who Killed WCW? The series will make it's Vice TV premiere on June 4 and "will explore the complex factors that led to the promotion’s downfall, including management challenges, creative decisions, and the intense competition during the infamous Monday Night Wars." It will include exclusive, in-depth interviews with wrestlers, executives, and insiders who for the first time will tell their personal stories and problems faced while working for WCW. "The iconic rise and fall of WCW is one of professional wrestling’s most captivating stories – full of big dreams, massive successes, painful failures, and the harsh realities of the pro wrestling business," Johnson said. "With wrestling viewership and fan engagement at an ultimate high, there has never been a more perfect time to tell top-quality wrestling stories, and there’s no better one to start with than a one-of-a-kind, behind-the-scenes look at this epic saga, known as The Rise and Fall of WCW and personally, the rise of WCW, not the fall, inspired me greatly early in my career where I would eventually become, the Final Boss." This is the second collaboration between Seven Bucks Productions and Vice TV following their work with Tales from the Territories. Johnson and Dany Garcia will exec produce along with Hiram Garcia, and Brian Gewirtz for Seven Bucks with Lee Hoffman, Evan Husney, and Jason Eisener. Danny Gabai, Guillermo Garcia, and Paul Taylor serve as executive producers for Vice Studios. The series is produced by Vice Studios Canada in association with Bell Media’s Crave.

TONY KHAN SAYS ANTI-WWE COMMENTS GOT AEW LOTS OF COVERAGE

- After comparing WWE to the "Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling" during an appearance on the NFL Network, AEW President Tony Khan boasted that his comments got "tons of coverage" for his promotion. Khan also claimed that WWE is the "evil juggernaut" that AEW is competing against and called AEW the "Pepsi of pro wrestling." Speaking to TMZ, Khan said his viral comments led to tons of coverage for AEW and it was important for him to say that AEW is "the best wrestling company in the world in many ways." Khan said that they have the best wrestlers, matches, shows, and pay-per-views. "There are so many great things that have happened in AEW this year. And I’ll hold our track record up on anything, whether it’s the quality of the shows, the safety, the travel, the hotels. Everything we do - in and out of the ring - I think AEW is the very best," Khan continued.

KAMILLE SIGNS WITH AEW

- Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful is reporting through his Select service that former NWA Women's champion Kamille has signed with AEW. Kamille, responding to a message on X, said that she's been signed since February although did not state with which company. She was offered a WWE deal to start with NXT but in February she said she knows what star power is and knows how to do 75% of the work for the fans before the match even begins. In late August, Kamille lost the NWA Women’s title following an 813-day reign. It was in early February when news broke out that Kamille was no longer in discussions with WWE and opted to choose AEW as her new home.


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