WWE Extreme Rules happened this weekend and the big moment everybody is talking about is the return of Bray Wyatt at the very end of the show. After all the matches concluded, the lights went out and the crowd knew exactly what was about to happen. Suddenly, past characters in the Wyatt lore started appearing (like a pig, a rabbit, Sister Abigail, and the Fiend) until Bray finally appeared himself, with a new mask.
Nothing was revealed on Raw last night and it looks like the storyline will continue on WWE Smackdown on Friday night. Wyatt is expected to be featured on the Smackdown brand.
Overall, Extreme Rules delivered. Most of the matches were entertaining and the standouts for me were the opener and the Edge vs. Finn Balor match. Edge vs. Finn Balor was all about melodramatic storytelling and it worked so well, it's something WWE is so good at.
Raw saw some surprise returns as well. Brock Lesnar came back to Brooklyn to mess with Bobby Lashley. Lashley was on the verge of defending his US title against Seth Rollins, when Brock surprised everybody and attacked Lashley.
The two are likely headed for a showdown at WWE's next big event, WWE Crown Jewel, happening in early November. Between Lashley vs. Lesnar and Reigns vs. Logan Paul, the event is shaping up to be a big one.
Elsewhere on the show, Gallows and Anderson, known collectively in WWE as "The Original Club" made their return to offer backup to AJ Styles. It looks like a new trios program will begin against Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Damien Priest and Dominik Mysterio). The unique nature of the situation is that Karl Anderson is currently a champion in New Japan and has a title defense scheduled for early next month. It is believed he will be able to honor the date and drop the title.
WWE is really hot right now heading into the fall and winter season. It will be interesting to see if they can keep up the momentum.
The Rock comments on a potential WrestleMania match with Roman Reigns
The Rock is out promoting Black Adam and it looks like some press folks happen to be wrestling fans. The reporter for E!'s The Rundown is definitely a wrestling nerd as she asked Johnson during the promo tour who the head of the table is. Johnson responded "Who is
Prodded further if that meant he was confirming we would see Rock vs. Roman at WrestleMania, Rock said “I am not confirming that at all. No. No, I am not
What's on TV this week?
NXT is up tonight and things are really starting to pick up on the show ahead of Halloween Havoc next week. Scheduled for tonight is:
- Halloween Havoc North American Championship qualifying match: Nathan Frazer vs. Axiom (Best-of-three series final match)
- Triple threat NXT Tag Team title number one contender's match: Malik Blade & Edris Enofe vs. Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. The Dyad
- Alba Fyre vs. Jacy Jayne
- Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo vs. Wes Lee
- Non-title match: NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. Javier Bernal
AEW is making their Toronto debut tomorrow night and the action starts at 8pm on TBS:
- ROH World Champion Chris Jericho defends against Bryan Danielson
- Jungle Boy vs. Luchasaurus (w/ Christian Cage)
- Swerve Strickland vs. Billy Gunn
- Interim AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm & Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter
- AEW All-Atlantic Champion PAC defends against Orange Cassidy
Scheduled for Smackdown on Fox this Friday is
- Kofi Kingston vs. Sami Zayn
- LA Knight vs. mån.sôör
- The return of Bray Wyatt
Jon Moxley has signed a new contract with AEW for five more years with the company. He was working for a few months without a contract, performing as a free agent.
Former WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Aliyah has revealed that she suffered rib and shoulder injuries last month. In her Instagram post, she says she doesn't know when she will be back but promises she will definitely be back.
Bo Dallas is negotiating to return to WWE.
WWE's next Table for 3 episode will star Bret "Hitman" Hart, Jerry "the King" Lawler and Kane talking about the mid-90s WWF scene.
UFC hall of famer Daniel Cormier was the special ref this weekend in the Extreme Rules fight pit match and he hasn't closed the window on working with WWE again telling AP “I’ve been retired for a couple of years and I look like it. But I’d have to get in shape if I ever want to do something like that. The door is not closed on anything right now in my life.”
Dave Meltzer reports that WWE has an interest in former ROH champion Matt Taven. Taven just finished up with Impact Wrestling. Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis also have their deals up and may be headed back. ROH tag team The Righteous' Vincent and Dutch were backstage visiting at Raw yesterday.
Elias is scheduled to return next Monday on Raw.
Saraya, who was recently cleared to wrestle again, said the topic of wrestling never came up in WWE before she left. According to Wrestling Observer, speaking on her Twitch, she said "We never had that discussion. I never had that discussion with WWE because they let me go. I've been working years to better myself and be healthier and stronger. Me, mentally, I never brought it up because I had this mental block. I want to be as safe as possible. I know what my body can do. Me and WWE never had that discussion about having a match. I never brought it up to them about me potentially wrestling. If I was to talk them about it, I'm sure they would do the research. I wasn't mentally ready. It still makes me nervous, but I'm way smarter about it. I know what I can and can't do. I'm not expecting to do six German suplexes off the top. I'm not that wrestler anyway. I'm not looking to bump around like crazy like I did before. I need to make adjustments and be smart about it. I'm very aware of what I can and can't do."
WWE revealed the logo for WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia.
Don’t forget, Knotfest Wrestling will be live on Youtube tomorrow night after Dynamite recapping all the crazy stories this week.
Read previous editions of this column here. You can always follow me @robinjection on Instagram and Twitter and @Squaredcirclpit.
