WWE did a good job setting the table for the upcoming season Monday night, giving us several surprises on RAW, one night after a fairly decent SummerSlam event.
I guess the top surprise Monday night was the return of Sting. For those who missed the show, WWE World Heavyweight Champion and U.S. Champion Seth Rollins was to have a bronze statue erected in his honor outside the Brooklyn arena where the show was being held. It was to honor him for uniting the World Title and U.S. Title by beating John Cena at SummerSlam.
Rollins won with help from TV personality John Stewart who came out and hit Cena with a chair. Stewart claimed he did it so Cena wouldn’t tie his idol Ric Flair’s mark of being a 16-time champion. That got Stewart an Attitude Adjustment and subsequently got Cena arrested for assault.
Anyway, the large box that contained the statue was moved into the ring and Seth did some self-praising before the curtain was dropped to reveal Sting. WWE is already reporting Seth Rollins and Sting will face off in the main event at the Night of Champions. Last year, Night of Champions was held in Nashville. It will be held Sept. 20 in Houston, Texas this year.
Since I don’t see them putting the title on Sting that will mean he will go 0-2 in WWE as he lost at Wrestlemania to Triple H. However, fans are stoked about seeing Sting so his presence alone will get the company clicks at the next pay-per-view, or as they call them now since the WWE Network is around – special event.
The next twist we got Monday night was the return of the Dudley Boys, Bubba Ray and Devon Dudley. As JBL kept repeating during the broadcast where they returned and did a post-match beat down on the World Tag Team Champions New Day, the Dudleys are the most decorated tag team in WWE history – or one of anyway. Their return might actually help the resurgence of the tag division which has been on a slight uptick as of late. However, I look for the Dudleys to be a rarity after their initial appearances. Maybe not as rare as Brock Lesnar and Sting, but still not an everyday thing.
Then we had the new member of the Wyatt Family make his debut. This guy was huge, towering over Roman Reigns as he came in to interfere in the match between the Wyatt Family and Reigns and Dean Ambrose. He was able to easily dispatch both, making the Wyatt Family again a threat.
The guy’s name is Braun Stowman who has been in WWE developmental for a while. He has done a few appearances on NXT, getting ready for his move to the main roster.
The one thing we didn’t get Monday night was a clear path on where WWE plans to take the feud between Lesnar and The Undertaker after the Dead Man’s controversial win at SummerSlam. For those who didn’t tune in, Undertaker won after the bellman rang the bell when he saw ‘Taker tap out. The referee was on the other side of the wrestlers and didn’t see the tap out so he ordered the match to continue, but didn’t see ‘Taker hit a low blow before locking Lesnar into his submission move which made Lesnar pass out. The ending of the match makes me believe they intend to use Undertaker as a bad guy going forward. When his next appearance will be is anyone’s guess, although I hear they plan to use him more in the future.
Locally, Tennessee All Pro Wrestling is really benefitting from its move to the Victory Center at Smartt Assembly on Manchester Highway. Their show is at 8 p.m. as always every Saturday, with concessions being sold by the church to help with its building project. If you haven’t check them out in their new place, you ought to give it a shot. The fans I’ve talked to have been more than pleased with the new venue.
Also, TAP has a website now where you can watch parts of the shows and they even have a Tuesday night radio show at 7 p.m. This past week, Santino Marella was the guest. The website is easy to remember: www.tennesseeallprowrestling.com.