The Spotlight On The Week Ahead For WWE

The Spotlight On The Week Ahead For WWE: 11/16-11/22

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Before I start the list of what to look forward to in WWE this week, I’d like to send my condolences to the family of WWE Hall of Famer Nick Bockwinkel who passed away over the weekend at the age of 80.  WWE released a couple of breaking news bits on the WWE Network looking at Bockwinkel’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, as well as some of the many great moments in his career. Bockwinkel was unquestionably one of the all time greats. I expect that there will be a tribute to Bockwinkel tomorrow night on Raw, at least in some capacity.  With no great way to transition, let’s get into the week ahead for WWE.

Monday: Later tonight WWE Monday Night Raw emanates live from Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC, returning to the States after a few weeks in the UK.  I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s Raw as the quarter finals in the WWE World Heavyweight Title Tournament takes place.  The tournament is stacked with four matches that could be really great.  They are as follows:  Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto, Kevin Owens vs Neville and Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler.  On top of that this will be the final Raw before the 2015 Survivor Series and the Undertaker is advertised locally as being there live.  It’ll be interesting to see how this all unfolds tomorrow night.

Undertaker Week: Tomorrow night immediately following Raw, on the WWE Network, Undertaker Week will begin with the first of a two part “Legends” interview with JBL hosting a sit down interview with Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin.  The four legends will discuss their thoughts on their many battles with the Undertaker and this 2 part interview wraps up on Thursday on the Network.  Aside from that, the WWE Network will also feature two additional features on the Undertaker looking at his greatest moments on Tuesday and the most dangerous matches in his career on Wednesday.  I also expect that there will be some sort of on demand section added to Undertaker Week similar to what they did with Black Histroy month.  I say this because WWE has quietly added three episodes of Smackdown from 2007-2009 all prominently featuring the Undertaker.  I’ve enjoyed all of the theme weeks on the Network and I’m sure that this will be no exception.

2015 Survivor Series- This of course all culminates on Sunday night when WWE presents the 29th annual Survivor Series event live on the WWE Network from Atlanta, Georgia.  It appears that the event will feature both the semi finals and the finals of the WWE Heavyweight Title Tournament, a women’s championship match between Charlotte and Paige and a tag team match between The Brothers of Destruction and The Wyatt Family as WWE celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Undeetaker.  Interesting to note that their are not any Traditional Survivor Series Matches announced for Sunday as of this writing.  Things could certainly change this week at TV, however, and I’m sure all of you know that I’ll be rooting for a traditional survivor series match or two to be added.  There is a one hour long pre show being advertised on Sunday so, worst comes to worse, WWE could certainly put one of those matches on the pre show.

Closing Thoughts: 

Obviously with the conclusion of the World Title Tournament, The Survivor Series and Undertaker Week on the Network all coming up this week, it’s going to be a pretty important week for WWE. I should also mention that on November 17th, WWE Studios’ latest film, Santa’s Little Helper, will be released on DVD and Blu Ray starring WWE Studios mainstay, the Miz, and Paige.  This is a release that I plan on checking out here sometime before the holidays, it looks like it’ll be fun.

Ok well that’s going to do it for me but what are you looking forward to most this week in WWE?  What are some of your favorite Undertaker moments?  Let me know in the comments section below or on own brand new official twitter @Daily_Spotlight.

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The Spotlight On The Week ahead for WWE 8/10-8/16

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Hello everyone I hope everybody had a good week last week, as the summer continues to fly right by here in New York City and I know has officially ended in other parts of the United States, as public schools have reopened.  For my fellow New Yorkers, let’s enjoy some of this hot weather while we can because, before we know it, there will be 2 feet of snow on the ground again.  Now that I’ve bummed everyone out, as the summer continues to count down for some of us, things continue to heat up in WWE.  We are now just 13 days away from the “Wrestlemania of the Summer” as the road continues to Summerslam.  Let’s get right into some of the things you can look forward to this upcoming week in WWE.

Highlights

1) The Arrow Has Landed…and He May Have Company-  Ever since Raw emanated live from the Nassau Coliseum (A show I was at live and covered here on the site on Memorial Day) when actor Stephen Amell sat front row for the show, the tension has been building between the actor and Stardust.  This all comes to a head tonight as the actor will return to Raw, live from Everett, Washington this evening.  Whether the actor has agreed to a match at Summerslam remains to be seen, but I’d say it is likely that Amell will be at the event in some capacity.  Rumors are running rampant that Amell will don the role of Arrow for a “Superhero” type showdown with Stardust at the biggest event of the summer.  I think it would personally be a lot of fun but I believe that if Amell hasn’t signed on for a match, he’ll at the least be in the corner of Neville (who’s also been involved in this story line) at Summerslam.

Actor Stephen Amell, may not be the only person returning to WWE tonight as last night at a WWE live event in Vancouver, BC, Dolph Ziggler made a surprise appearance attacking Rusev.  While pwinsider.com is reporting that Ziggler’s return will be held off until next week, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Dolph make that return tonight to build towards his inevitable match with Rusev at Summerslam.  Another superstar on the mend is the intercontinental champion, Ryback.  We touched on Ryback’s staph infection last week on this very column and it does appear that Ryback is going to also be returning in time for Summerslam so he can continue his program with the Miz and The Big Show.  Whether, he returns to Raw tonight, remains to be seen.  Of course, will all do respect to Dolph Ziggler and Ryback, the biggest name of superstars on the way back from injury is John Cena.  Cena has not been seen on WWE television since his broken nose two weeks ago.  It’ll be interesting to see if he shows up tonight to accept Seth Rollins’ title vs. title match at Summerslam.  I for one would like to see Cena held out until Summerslam to add to the mystique of what he will look like and whether he’ll even be there, but I realize that isn’t very likely.

2) A Big Night Following Raw- While both the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar aren’t advertised for Raw tonight, there will be a special presentation profiling the big Summerslam match between the two immediately following Monday Night Raw on the WWE Network.  The special, entitled “Undertaker Vs. Lesnar: One On One” is being promoted as a preview of the main event match with thoughts and predictions from the other WWE Superstars.  I can’t remember the last time that WWE has done this but I’m excited for it, the special gives this match a big event feel and also ties in the WWE Network with the Summerslam promotion.  If WWE were smart they’d promote this special and try to get some network subscriptions out of this promotion.

Also, on the WWE Network tonight is a first look at the new Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 3 Blu Ray set which will be released tomorrow.  I also appreciate these first looks and, I know in the case of Daniel Bryan, the first look got me to go out and purchase the blu ray the next day so they’re a smart idea in that sense too.  DDP is back hosting the set and I think he did a great job on the first two editions.

3) The Build For NXT Takeover: Brooklyn Continues-  WWE Summerslam isn’t the only show emanating out of the Barclays center the weekend of 8/23.  The night before Summerslam, NXT Takeover:Brooklyn will be live on the WWE Network on August 22nd (and is actually sold out which is very impressive for the NXT brand).  Well, this Wednesday the build for Takeover continues when Becky Lynch goes one on one with Bayley to determine the number one contender for Sasha Banks’ NXT Women’s championship at Takeover.  The women’s championship match will no doubt be the second biggest match on the Takeover card behind only the ladder match for the NXT World Title between Kevin Ownes and Finn Balor, so this is a match you want to go out of your way to see,  Will Bayley continue her recent winning streak towards getting a womens title match? or Will Becky Lynch get a rematch against Sasha Banks from their epic match at the last NXT: Takeover event?  The only way to find out would be to tune into NXT this Wednesday night on the WWE Network at 8:00 Pm EST.

Closing Thoughts

On top of all of this, John Cena will be appearing on WWE Tough Enough tomorrow night, as the show has reached it’s final six.  Whether he is able to return to Monday Night Raw tonight remains to be seen, but if not than Tough Enough would be John’s first appearance since breaking his nose in a match with Seth Rollins two weeks ago.  Lastly, tomorrow night on Total Divas it appears that Daniel Bryan’s health will be a big focus of the show.  Up until this point, the details behind Bryan’s injury have been kept pretty close to the vest so I wonder if this is because WWE is saving Bryan’s health update for Total Divas.  Regardless it promises to be a big week for WWE before the mega week and chaos that will commence next week.  Until then, be sure to keep yourself tuned it with all of the great coverage we have for you right here on thedailyspotlight.com.

The Spotlight On The Week Ahead For WWE 8/3/2015

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Hello everyone and welcome to the week ahead for WWE.  This week WWE continues down to the road to Summerslam, which is being promoted for the first time I can remember as the Wrestlemania of the Summer.  With less than 3 weeks left until the now 4 hour show, it’ll be interesting to see how WWE continues the build this week.  That being said, there’s a whole lot more to look forward to this week if you’re a fan of WWE so let’s get right into it.

Highlights

1) The Beast Returns-  Tonight Brock Lesnar returns to Raw which will emanate live from San Jose, California in his first appearance since his big brawl with the Undertaker.  However, one man who won’t be on hand for the show is John Cena who is still out recovering from his gruesome broken nose at the hands of Seth Rollins.  I’m really interested to get an update on John Cena because it really looked like they were heading towards Cena vs. Rollins for the world heavyweight title at Summerslam.  With Cena not being able to be at Raw, it’ll be interesting to see if they decide to go a different direction with the world title picture (perhaps Kane?) or if Cena will be able to return by Summerslam.

2) Stone Cold Live!-  Stone Cold Steve Austin returns to the WWE Network tonight with his latest installment of Stone Cold Live, this time with his guest Paige.  As I’ve touched on before, this was rumored to have been Hulk Hogan in this slot, but obviously with everything going on with him, he is not going to be featured on the WWE Network anytime soon.  This is the fourth installment of the Steve Austin Podcast on the WWE Network and I’m pretty intrigued to see Paige featured in the role as she is a pretty unique guest for the show.  Certainly, with Paige being positioned at the forefront of the Divas Revolution, I’m sure the new Divas movement will be a big topic of conversation.  One thing is for sure, the Texas Rattlesnake, won’t pull any punches.

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3) Big Guy Down– One man who’s been conspicuous by his absence has been, reigning Intercontinental champion, Ryback.  Well Ryback posted a picture of his current staph infection of his right knee this past weekend and it looks awful.  It’s good that the WWE doctors were able to catch the staph infection before the damage was worse.  With Ryback, not looking like he’ll be ready to return to the ring any time soon, it’ll be interesting to see how much longer he’ll be able to go with the intercontinental championship.  I always say that WWE should take a page of out UFC’s playbook in regards to this and crown an interim champion if the champion can’t compete for an extended period of time.  This allows for their to be a champion to still be on television and sets up for a clear title rematch once the original champion is able to return to the ring.  That being said, we wish the big guy a speedy recovery.

4) RIP Roddy Piper–  I’m preparing for a longer piece on Piper later this week but obviously WWE lost one of their hall of famers, and original Wrestlemania main eventers, in Roddy Piper late last week.  It has been a really tough year already for WWE with the untimely passing of Dusty Rhodes and now this.  WWE has been doing ten bell salutes to Piper during their live events since his passing and I’m sure that will continue tonight.  One of the good things with the Network, is that when someone passes, WWE is usually very good about doing a good amount of tribute type programming to remember that individual.  While their hasn’t been any Roddy Piper material added to the schedule just yet, I’m sure the WWE Network will do the same with Roddy later in the week, like they’ve done with Dusty and Warrior.  Of course, there is already tons of great Roddy Piper footage in the on demand section of the Network for fans to go back and enjoy while celebrating the life of one of the all time greats.

Closing Thoughts

Sorry to end on such a somber note, but I figured I would be remiss not to mention this somewhere, that this morning word came out that WWE hall of famer “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka is currently battling stomach cancer.  The good news is that it appears the doctors were able to get to the cancer in time as Jimmy has undergone stomach surgery to remove part of his stomach and lymph nodes and appears to be cancer free.  We wish The Superfly, a speedy recovery.

That’s going to do it for me but keep your eyes peeled for a few more pieces coming at you real soon on the daily spotlight, including my tribute piece on Roddy Piper, the Spotlight On Wrestling Podcasts which will feature Colt Cabana celebrating five years of the Art of Wrestling and so much more.  Until then, what are you looking most forward to this week in WWE?