Well the world of WWE never stops, that’s for sure. Following three straight days of programming on the USA Network, touted as “WWE Week” and capped off by the annual “Tribute To The Troops” special last night, WWE held a press conference live in London, England this morning. At that press conference, WWE COO, Paul Levesque (Triple H) announced that WWE would be crowning it’s first ever United Kingdom champion as a two day, 16 man tournament will be taking place between the weekend of January 14th and 15th. The tournament will air live on the WWE Network and take place at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England (Home of NXT Commissioner William Regal) and will feature the following 16 competitors Trent Seven, Jack Starz, Pete Dunne, Wolfgang, Roy Johnson, Sam Gradwell, James Drake, Jordan Devlin, Tyler Bate, Joseph Conners, Tyson T. Bone, HC Dyer, Dan Moloney, Chris Tyler, Saxon Huxley, Ringo Ryan, Tiger Ali and Tucker. It would appear that two of these men will be alternatives, though it was not announced who.
Probably the coolest announcement, at least to me, was that former Ring of Honor Champion Nigel McGuiness would be brought in to co host the tournament and work with Michael Cole on calling the event. For those unfamiliar with Nigel’s story, he was seen as one of Ring Of Honor’s biggest stars having unbelievable matches with Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) from 2005-2009. In September of 2009, it was announced that both McGuiness and Danielson would be leaving Ring of Honor as they had agreed, in principal, to a deal with WWE. The two had one last match against one another at Glory By Honor 8 on September 26th, 2009 before the two left for WWE, a show I attended live and was one of the most emotional shows I ever got to see live. In the end, Danielson would sign his deal with WWE but WWE never did offer the deal to McGuiness due to a biceps injury that came up during his medical pre screening. Thus, for me, it’s really great to see Nigel getting a shot to work for WWE in this capacity.
No official press release has been released as of this writing as the press conference just ended a few hours ago but you can see video of the press conference including Levesque’s announcement as well as comments by Finn Balor, who attended the conference along with Leveque and William Regal on both WWE’s official facebook page and on their twitter @WWE.
You have to give WWE credit for always looking for new and unique ways to offer something for everyone, particularly on the WWE Network. Last year the WWE launched the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic which aired on NXT and lead to WWE bringing in independent talent to compete in the tag team tournament, including current NXT Tag Team Champions, DIY! This past year has seen WWE launch the Cruiserweight Classic tournament featuring 32 of the best cruiserweights from around the world. This ended up leading to the return of the cruiserweight division on Raw and a show dedicated to the cruiserweights, 205 Live, that airs on the WWE Network live on Tuesday nights. At the end of the day, wrestling in the UK is a completely different style that really hasn’t ever fully been seen in WWE and so it will be nice to see WWE put a focus on this brand of wrestling and provide the platform for the UK’s wrestling scene through this tournament.
There is no word as to what the future of the UK champion will be following this tournament but we will update that information as soon as we know anything.
Last night, triple h tweeted the above and confirmed that the next NXT Takeover special will in fact be taking place on Saturday night November 19th from the Air Canada Centre the night before the WWE Survivor Series pay per view.
The Survivor series is the second longest running WWE annual pay per view, behind only WrestleMania, and will be the next cross branded WWE pay per view featuring superstars from both Raw and Smackdown Live. Thus, it make sense for WWE to make the most out of one of the “Big Four” pay per views and turn it into a weekend, similar to what they’ve been doing the most recent years with Summerslam. By putting NXT Takeover the night before Survivor Series, and presumably Raw from the same area the night after that, WWE will create a third vacation-destination weekend for its fans. WWE just sold out three nights at the Barclays Center with Takeover, Summerslam and Raw and ran several meet and greet opportunities for its fans throughout the New York City area. The Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Raptors, can actually hold 2,000 more people than the Barclays Center can and so this will become the largest venue that NXT has ever run.
From here, the next logicial step would be for WWE to create that fourth destination weekend around the Royal Rumble, which takes place in Los Angeles, California, and put on the next NXT Takeover special the night before that show as well. It has become a tradition, since 2013, that a member of the NXT roster compete in the Royal Rumble so perhaps they could even hold a battle royal on that takeover show to see who gets that opportunity, I realize we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
This is obviously great news for the NXT brand. While some will say that by pairing the Takeover specials with the big four WWE pay per views and moving them to big venues, it takes a bit away from NXT’s appeal ( with the thought being that you’re not giving NXT as big of a spotlight as their own time of the month for their pay per views and that you’re taking NXT out of the more intimate setting that it was built on), I would tend to disagree. I think it first and foremost shows how far the NXT brand has come in being able to have events take place in such big venues. Also, this is great for the talent involved down in NXT to be able to complete on such a big stage as they prepare for their career in WWE somewhere down the road. It’s also great for WWE because it makes the Survivor Series feel like a bigger deal, in that it will now have a whole weekend centered around it, which is should be due to its rich history.
In the end, it’s great for the fans who will have another place to go see a weekend filled with live events and continue to enjoy more content on the WWE network. How do you feel about this announcement? Let me know over on twitter.com/tommyonthespot. Keep checking out over here on thedailyspotlight.com for all of your wrestling news!
Hello everyone, hope everyone is doing well and welcome to the continued coverage of Summerslam week here on thedailyspotlight.com. I have to throw out our youtube page as there will be a number of videos throughout the week including one of right now looking at how Summerslam has already started to take over the city of Brooklyn. Click right here to subscribe to our youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy_gVqjuaWDp2QW6go6e0Xw! the above video was uploaded on Monday morning really really gives a nice look not only into all of the happenings in WWE throughout the week but also touches on a few UFC tidbits and also talks about the television coverage on both the WWE network as well at network TV. Below is a comprehensive list of all wrestling events going on throughout the week here in New York City. There are also a number of really cool community outreach events that the WWE superstars are taking part in throughout the week, which you can read about here http://www.wwe.com/shows/summerslam/2016/article/wwe-takes-over-new-york-city-summerslam-week! We are seeking live reports from all of the different shows so if you’re heading to the shows send an email to thedailyspotlight2@gmail.com and make sure to include your name and twitter handle so we can give credit. Without any further ado check out the list of events takign place in New York City below. Credit for contributions to the list: pwinsider.com.
WEDNESDAY 8/17
The Dudley Boyz signing
2-4 p.m.
Toys“R”Us Staten Island
2845 Richmond Ave.
Staten Island, N.Y. 10314
Eva Marie signing
5-7 p.m.
Toys“R”Us Flatbush
2875 Flatbush Ave.
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11234
THURSDAY 8/18
The Miz & Maryse signing
10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Toys“R”Us Bay Parkway
8973-95 Bay Parkway
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11214
FREE- Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast- 2PM- 5PM at Carolines Broadway
Live simulcast of the Sam Roberts Wrestling podcast and the Sam Roberts show with guests Today Show’s Katie Linendoll, NXT Ring Announcer Kathy Kelly, Raw Superstars The Club & Kevin Owens and more to be announced
FRIDAY 8/19
FREE SIGNING:
Titus O’Neil signing
10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Toys“R”Us Long Island City
3540 48th St.
Long Island City, N.Y. 11101
7 PM – The Amazing Red and Brian XL’s House of Glory promotion in Jamaica, Queens at Club Amazura with their biggest show of their calendar year “High Intensity” featuring:
*House of Glory Tag Team champions Private Party vs. The Hardy Boyz
7PM- Jake “The Snake” Roberts- The Unspoken Word Tour- Grammercy Theatre
Tickets available at Ticketmaster.com
SATURDAY 8/20
FREE SIGNING:
Becky Lynch signing
10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Toys“R”Us Rego Park
61-35 Junction Blvd.
Rego Park, N.Y. 11374
WWE MEET AND GREETS AT BARCLAYS CENTER:
Randy Orton at 10 AM
WWE Women’s champion Charlotte at 10 AM
WWE champion Dean Ambrose at 12:30 PM
Sasha Banks at 12 PM
Roman Reigns at 3 PM
Seth Rollins at 3 PM
3 PM EVOLVE in Brooklyn, NY at St. Finbar’s featuring:
*EVOLVE champion Timothy Thatcher defends vs. Drew Gulak.
*Cody Rhodes vs. Chris Hero.
*Tommy End vs. Matt Riddle.
*WWE Cruiserweight Classic Spotlight Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Cedric Alexander.
*Tommy End vs. Matt Riddle.
*Tony Nese vs. Peter Kaasa.
*Also appearing are Ethan Page and more.
Tickets are now on sale this link.
8 PM – WWE NXT Takeover: Brooklyn at the Barclays Center featuring:
*WWE NXT champion Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.
*WWE NXT Women’s champion Asuka vs. Bayley.
*WWE NXT Tag Team champions The Revival vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa.
*No Way Jose vs. Austin Aries.
*Bobby Roode vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas.
*The debut of Ember Moon.
SUNDAY 8/21
10AM- Talk Is Jericho Live Podcast at Croline’s Broadway
Live 4 hour podcast at Caroline’s with Chris Jericho and Christain which includes a Q & A, photo ops and signings. VIP Breakfast available.
6 PM – WWE Summerslam PPV at Barclays Center
*WWE World champion Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler.
*Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton.
*Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins to crown the first WWE Universal champion.
*WWE United States champion Rusev vs. Roman Reigns.
*WWE Women’s champion Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte.
*AJ Styles vs. John Cena.
*WWE Intercontinental champion The Miz vs. Apollo Crews.
*WWE Tag Team champions New Day vs. Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson.
*Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho vs. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady.
MONDAY 8/22
7:30 PM Monday Night Raw at Barclays Center
I’ve done my best to denote all of the different free events taking place throughout the week including some meet and greets. My suggestion would be that if you’re going to attend any of the free events, arrive early! Free events are few and far between so you know people with be out in droves for these.
I’d also like to point out that I did not include ring Of Honor. They’re having a very big pay per view tomorrow night that should be great. You can check out Death Before Dishonor 14 live from Las Vegas, Nevada tomorrow night at 9:00PM EST and also on pay per view. For more information, check them out right here http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/jay-lethal-defend-world-title-against-adam-cole-dbd
Hello everyone hope all is well. I figured it was about time that we popped on here and kicked things into high gear. I have a bit of a big announcement that I’m going to get into that will hopefully be as exciting to you as it is to me. As you know over the past 9 months or so I started to upload videos onto YouTube based around my different travels all over the world. I have hours of content already in the can here and plan to begin rolling these out over the next week and into the weekend. I think these videos are a lot of fun because I have been afforded the opportunity to travel a good amount and I personally enjoy sharing these experiences with you. The goal is to hopefully help you to plan your trip by watching some of my videos and giving you some ideas of different things to do on your trip. That said, I also realize that people can’t travel or may just be unsure where to go and so it’s also my goal with these videos to give those curious an idea of different landmarks and destinations. Obviously, travel isn’t the only topic covered here on thedailyspotlight.com, as a matter of fact the primary focus of the site is professional wrestling, which leads me to my announcement today.
It is my goal to be the wrestling fan’s one stop source for all things professional wrestling presented through that fan’s perspective. I enjoy writing up reviews of different shows and all of the hot buttons topics of pro wrestling as well as reminiscing on past experiences and events. Thus, I thought about the different ways in which we can continue to expand our content beyond that of just articles and blog posts. That brings us to the Wrestling Drive. Unfortunately one of the biggest contributions to my time is that spent commuting. I’m on the road constantly from anywhere from 2-5 hours per day and it’s pretty treacherous driving back and forth between Queens and Brooklyn every day. Rather than continuing to let this get me down, however, I see this is an opportunity. Therefore, moving forward I’m going to present to you short vlogs based on all of the news stories, shows and experiences in an around the world of professional wrestling. These videos won’t be more than 10 or 15 minutes to start and have a real sense of convenience in that you can stream them straight from YouTube. Perhaps at the end of the day you want to sit in your recliner, grab a cold one and stream the video on your big screen, go for it! If podcasts are more your thing than you can go right into YouTube and stream the content through your mobile device while listening on your own commute home. The best part about this is that while commuting so much, I have opportunities throughout the day to pop on the vlog and discuss that topic with all of you, literally moments after it drops. This should really be an exciting time and these vlogs will be a great companion piece to the site so while you’ll still get all of the articles on here that you’re used to (and will become more used to in the weeks to come), you’ll have videos to watch either along with the articles or solely if that’s more your thing.
Please be advised that this is a work in progress. I’m working on ways to improve both the video and audio and am confident that we’ll be able to do that moving forward. With the WWE draft fast approaching and Summerslam not too long after that (especially because I am right here in the mecca on New York City, home of Summerslam), I feel like now is as good at time as any to really dive into this new venture. With that said, we are actually going to be dropping the very first edition of the Wrestling Drive today at 2PM! The vlog will be focused primarily on the Cruiserwight Classic which debuts tonight on the WWE Network and I’ll also touch on the big Nakamura vs. Finn Balor number one contender match that is set for NXT tonght. This is an exciting time to be a wrestling fan and exciting time right here on thedailyspotlight.com!
The Daily Spotlight 