Brandi Runnels announced Tuesday that she was leaving WWE, following her husband Cody’s departure last week.
Runnels, who used the name Eden Stiles in the promotion, wrote on Twitter, “What I’ve been teasing for weeks: I’ve been offered a new opportunity outside of WWE. So I’ve decided to part with WWE after tonight.” She also plugged her website, BeingBrandiRunnels.com.
Runnels worked in local news in Michigan before moving to Florida to try modeling. She signed a deal with WWE in 2011 and quit the next year. She returned in November 2013 as a ring announcer shortly after marrying Cody two months earlier. She worked as a ring announcer and occassional interviewer on Smackdown starting in October 2014.
Earlier tonight, Cody tweeted “Lot of folks say “ride or die” these days…well @RealEdenWWE is just that in the next 24hrs, most people will realize what I’m saying”, following that up with a tweet referencing Game of Thrones.
The Monday, May 23rd edition of WWE Raw was up slightly this week to 3.26 million viewers, up three percent from last week.
This show came the day after the Extreme Rules PPV with the cliffhanger ending featuring the return of Seth Rollins.
The number was hurt by the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Toronto Raptors NBA playoff game that did 6.14 million viewers. For a comparison, Raw last week did 3.17 million viewers but the Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder NBA playoff game did 8.71 million viewers, which was much tougher competition.
The first hour was actually slightly down from last week, but the rating was up because the show didn’t have the big third hour drop of the week before.
The three hours were:
8 p.m.: 3.36 million viewers
9 p.m.: 3.33 million viewers
10 p.m.: 3.12 million viewers
Dancing with the Stars’ final Monday night show of the season featuring UFC’s Paige VanZant in the final three contestants did 12.34 million viewers. The show brought in 69% of its audience by women in the 18-49 demo.
The Friday replay of Monday Night RAW from May 16th did 467,000 viewers on SyFy with no promotion whatsoever. That show, and Wynona Earp (which site friend Lance Storm has a small role in) were the only two shows on that network to crack the top 150 cable programs for the night.
Day 3 results of the Best of the Super Junior tournament are in. Here’s what went down this morning in Niigata, all Block A matches:
Kushida vs. Rocky Romero
They did some mat wrestling early. Kushida was out of the ring and Romero opened the ropes. So like a true dope, Kushida enters and Romero jumps him. New Japan faces are really dumb at the cheap heel heat bait sometimes. Kushida made a comeback and hit the sliced bread but Romero kicked out. Romero made a comeback of his own and won with his running knee strike. Last half of the match was very good.
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. David Finlay
Today’s Taguchi costume was him wearing an eggplant hat. I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to figure out what he’s trying to convey here. This was solid. Finlay looks good and will probably benefit a lot from working a lot of the guys on his block. He made a good comeback and traded some good near falls with Taguchi. Cool finish as Taguchi went for a hip attack, he countered looking like he was going for a German suplex but Taguchi floated over and snapped on an ankle lock for the submission.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Gedo
Pretty solid match. Gedo is so great in his style. He never does anything flashy but everything looks good and executes stuff really well when it matters the most. They traded submissions on one another throughout; Kyle worked on the arm, Gedo had a crossface in at one point. Kyle landed some stiff shots followed by a brainbuster, but Gedo kicked out. Kyle responded by immediately sinking in an armbar which got him the submission victory.
Matt Sydal vs. Bushi
Kind of just there as a match. Nothing wrong, just overly solid, if that makes any sense. They traded some back and forth offense. Some of the near falls toward the end were pretty good. Sydal won with the shooting star press, so Bushi (who is a favorite heading into this year’s tournament) has now lost twice in a row. One of the big themes of these tournaments is the slow rise towards victory, though, so we’ll see.
UFC Hall-of-Famer BJ Penn is out of UFC 199 in roughly two weeks because he admitted to using an IV back in March. Yes, you read that right.
Originally scheduled to fight against Dennis Siver and then Cole Miller on the June 4th event, Penn has been provisionally suspended by USADA for using an IV “in excess of 50 ML for more than a six-hour period” which is now banned in or out of competition except while used in a hospital, surgical procedure, or as part of a diagnostic clinical investigation.
As you’ll see below, Penn said he was unclear that IV use was now banned year-round, saying it had changed since his last fight which was in July 2014. As FloSports’ Jeremy Botter pointed out on Twitter, Penn was talking about IVs being for “wimps” last year.
The 37-year-old was looking to make a comeback after a near two year absence and three straight lossses.
On his website, Penn released the following:
“I voluntarily disclosed to USADA that during a non-fight period that I had an IV administered under the care of a doctor. The rule for IV usage had changed since my last fight in the UFC and was unaware of the change and voluntarily disclosed the information to USADA. I had no idea that IV use was banned 365 days a year. At no time in my career in martial arts have I ever doped and anticipate all test results from USADA will come back clean and will be working with the UFC to get the matter cleared up and return to fight as soon as possible.”
The UFC released the following:
“The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) informed BJ Penn of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation. Penn disclosed the usage of a prohibited method – the use of an IV in excess of 50 ML in a six-hour period – during a March 25, 2016, out-of-competition sample collection. In accordance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, Penn has received a provisional suspension, and has been removed from his scheduled bout against Cole Miller on June 4 in Los Angeles UFC will announce a replacement opponent for Miller shortly, and additional information will be provided by USADA and UFC at the appropriate time as the process involving Penn moves forward.”
Ray Leppan, known as Adam Rose, was officially released by WWE Monday as he requested it, according to the company.
Leppan was on an indefinite suspension from the company after being arrested on both tampering with a witness and domestic battery charges on May 11 involving his wife at their home in Lutz, FL. During the proceedings it came out, it was a second incident involving Leppan.
He was already on a 60 day suspension, announced on April 16, for a second wellness policy violation. He wrote that the violation was for testing positive for Adderall XR to treat ADHD. He put up a doctor’s note on Twitter, took it down, and then put it up again. WWE never responded to questions regarding the nature of the suspension, but did not change its ruling.
Leppan started his career working in South Africa as a tag team partner of Paul Lloyd Jr. (P.J. Black in Lucha Underground, Justin Gabriel in WWE). He worked for the local promotion there and was one of its top stars when signed to WWE in 2010, where he worked as Leo Kruger and later Adam Rose, highlighted in the ESPN E:60 Behind The Curtain documentary. The latter gimmick got him a 2014 call-up but the character never got out of prelims. He was a member of the Social Outcasts group at the time of his first suspension.
We’ll discuss this more on Wrestling Observer Live today and on Wrestling Observer Radio tonight.
Here’s a recap of the four Best of the Super Juniors B block matches that took place this morning in Shizuoka. Thankfully, New Japan World cut the tag team matches that fill these shows. Not that they’re bad, but they’re super formulaic. Some people get into them, and for the very good ones I can get into them too. Most of the time, I just can’t.
Chase Owens vs. Will Ospreay
This was pretty good. Owens is solid. Not flashy like some guys in this tournament, but works really well with a lot of people. Ospreay’s offense was tremendous here, doing everything including the Sasuke special to Owens on the outside. Owens cut him off and pinned him with the package piledriver in a surprise (at least, for me).
There will probably be many examples like this during the tournament, not just because they want to add an air of unpredictability in the tournament but also because they probably had to change a lot of results due to the Young Bucks being pulled from the tournament.
Trent Baretta vs. Volador Jr.
I guess the rule in Japan if you’re a luchador that’s lost his mask is you can wear it for as long as you want, but you have to take it off sometime during the match. The first half of this was okay, nothing special. Volador did a cool dive to the floor. Seems like every time there was a big spot, things would slow down for a while. Things picked up after a while, but the match as a whole was just kind of there save for a few cool spots by Volador. He hit the top rope hurricanrana that won his match on the opening day, but Baretta kicked out. Volador went to charge in the corner, but Baretta lifted up up into the Dudebuster and nailed it for the win.
Bobby Fish vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
Both Fish’s theme and Liger’s theme are no longer dubbed over. For some reason, though, Owens’ theme was. Fish smacked Liger’s leg with some kicks early and focused on throse throughout the match. Liger made a comeback and hit the liger bomb for a nearfall. Liger went for a hurricanrana off the top rope but Fish grabbed the ropes, causing Liger to land on his bad leg. Fish kept working on Liger’s leg in a long ankle lock submission. Liger escaped, then managed to hold Fish down long enough by grabbing the ropes t o pick up the sneaky win. Do what you gotta do, I guess.
Tiger Mask vs. Ricochet
This was okay for most of it. Nothing bad, but Tiger Mask’s work is always just there, just good enough not to be bad. Ricochet didn’t do anything flashy for this match either and as a result the match in general was just kinda there. Ricochet picked up the submission win with a modified armbar.
Just three weeks after Payback, we’re right back into the big event mix for WWE with Extreme Rules, their annual WWE Network show where nearly every match has a stipulation or twist added onto it. This year’s show emanates from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey — the second time the event has been hosted in the Garden State.
This is the eighth Extreme Rules show in company history as they began back in 2009, headlined by Edge vs. Jeff Hardy in a ladder match. Last year’s show featured then-WWE Champion Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton in a steel cage match.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
**********
There was an angle where Big Cass laid out both Dudleys in the ring. He gave Devon the East River Crossing.
DOLPH ZIGGLER VS. BARON CORBIN — NO DQ
A basic match with Ziggler getting a series of near falls until Corbin did a blatant low blow (legal in a no DQ match) and got the pin with the End of Days. Not as good as their match last month.
DOC GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON VS. USOS IN A TORNADO MATCH
Fast paced match, fairly short. It was all four in the ring at the same time and no DQ. The crowd was totally behind Gallows & Anderson and booed the Usos. Gallows & Anderson got the clean win. Gallows brought in the ring bell, but Jimmy superkicked him. Jimmy went to the top rope and Gallows moved, so Jimmy landed on the ring bell. Gallows & Anderson then used the Magic Killer on Jimmy for the pin and win.
US CHAMPION KALISTO VS. RUSEV
Good match. Rusev won the title after slamming him off the top rope onto the apron. They sold it like Kalisto reinjured his back from Raw on Monday and they were checking on him. Rusev then jumped in and put the Accolade on for the submission. Kalisto had gone to the top rope after delivering a moonsault to the floor. They were pushing like Kalisto was injured at the end, and was coming into the match injured. The EMTs came out after the match.
WWE TAG CHAMPIONS THE NEW DAY (Big E & Xavier Woods) VS. VAUDEVILLAINS
Another short match: 6:00. Match was okay for the time it had. The Vaudevillains used the Whirling Dervish on Woods but he kicked out. For the finish, Big E tackled English to the floor. Kofi Kingston hit Gotch with an enzuigiri which led to Woods pinning Gotch with the shining wizard.
– A.J. Styles interview vowed to walk out as champion.
I-C CHAMPION THE MIZ VS. CESARO VS. SAMI ZAYN VS. KEVIN OWENS
This was a super match with tons of near falls and saves. Cesaro and Zayn, in particular, were great. Michael Cole called it a match of the year candidate, a previously banned Vince McMahon term. The finish saw Zayn hit Cesaro with the Helleva Kick, but Owens pulled Zayn out of the ring when he went for the pin. Zayn threw Miz into the barricade, and then Miz crawled into the ring and pinned Cesaro.They did everything in their arsenals including Cesaro doing a 16-rep swing on Miz. Cesaro had Miz in the Sharpshooter and he tapped but ref Dan Engler was distracted by Maryse. Owens did cannonballs on everyone. Cesaro did running uppercuts on everyone three times on each guy alternating.
DEAN AMBROSE VS. CHRIS JERICHO — ASYLUM CAGE MATCH
The short matches earlier led to this match running more than 26:00 in the cage. It was a weird match that didn’t have much heat for a long time as they traded climbing up and getting the different weapons. They were also hurt following a great match. It was just too long with too many weapons although they did pick it up at the end with Ambrose pulled down a bucket that had thumbtacks. They wrestled for along time after with Jericho using a codebreaker for a near fall. Ambrose came off the top of the cage with an elbow for a near fall.
Jericho used the Walls of Jericho but Ambrose used a kendo stick to break it. They also used a leather strap, fire extinguisher, and then saved a barbed wire board until late with Jericho using it. The match ended Jericho going for a Codebeaker, Ambrose blocking it and slamming Jericho into the thumbtacks, then giving him the Dirty Deeds into the tacks. Jericho’s body had thumb tacks sticking to him everywhere and he was selling it tremendously, bleeding from his triceps.
WWE WOMEN’S CHAMPION CHARLOTTE VS. NATALYA — SUBMISSIONS MATCH
Dana Brooke came out dressed as Ric Flair (wig, robe) and distracted Natalya when she had Charlotte in the sharpshooter. This allowed Charlotte to get Natalya from behind and put her in the figure eight for the submission. During the match, they traded submissions but were just getting the crowd just as the match was ending. Match wasn’t as good as last month. The crowd has never recovered since the four-way which tore down the house. Ric Flair, Brooke and Charlotte celebrated together at the end. So, the story of this match was to elevate Brooke into the top mix. It’s clear they are putting Charlotte and Brooke into a duo to eventually set them up as rivals.
WWE CHAMPION ROMAN REIGNS VS. A.J. STYLES IN AN EXTREME RULES MATCH
The big spot at the end was after Reigns won, Seth Rollins jumped in and hit the Pedigree. The crowd went totally nuts for him as a babyface and chanted “Thank you Seth.” He posed with the belt so Reigns vs. Rollins is the probable Money in the Bank main event.
The match ended with Styles going for the phenomenal forearm but Reigns nailed him with the spear for the pin. Styles had a death wish, taking some crazy (and I mean crazy) bumps including a high backdrop through a table where he landed on his tailbone. Anderson & Gallows interfered first and laid out Reigns but he still kicked out of the pin. The Usos came out and laid out Styles with superkicks and a splash off the top but he kicked out.
Reigns hit Anderson and Gallows with Superman punches. Reigns kicked out of a Styles clash, and Styles used a Styles Clash on a chair but Jey Uso pulled Styles off him. Styles got a chair and destroyed Reigns and the Usos with more than a dozen chair shots before going for the spingboard forearm. Another super match.
I’m at Winter Haven FL for NXT Live in front of a sold out house of approximately 350.
– No Way Jose beat Tucker Knight
Entertaining match with Jose using new baseball inspired moves like setting Knight in the corner and running the three corners like bases before a slide in drop kick. The ref even made the safe sign for the home run. Jose won it with his finish.
– Peyton Royce beat Liv Morgan
Fast action by Morgan including a big monkey flip out of the corner and spinning headscissor rana. Peyton worked holds and won it with a fisherwoman suplex.
– Chris Girard beat Buddy Murphy
Very good match with a lot of crowd interaction “You Got Dumped!” “Blake Is Better!” “Where’s Alexa?” solid support of Girarad for all his running uppercuts. Major combination at the end including running to the buckles for uppercuts and a huge spinning neck breaker for the win.
– Mojo Rawley beat Elias Samson
Comedy spots early on to upset Drifter. The hammer man dance and a lot of wiggling. Mojo won it with a running clothesline in to the corner.
– NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha beat The Authors Of Pain
Big heels got a lot of heat on Chad Gable to set up the Jason Jordan hot tag. Assisted German Suplex for the win.
– Adrienne Reese beat Nikki Storm
Strong match, Nikki had control most of the match, talking trash, keeping Adrienne grounded. Finish was the top rope diving stunner.
– In-ring promo with Mandy Rose she says that she is a bikini model champion. This got a lot of heat and “Wannabe Diva” chant.
– TM61 beat Angelo Dawkins and Patrick Clarke
Well-paced match, TM61 hit their double team spinebuster for the win.
– NXT Champion Samoa Joe beat Andrade Cien Almas
Great match. Joe is the dominant champion so he cut off the fired-up Andrade at every turn. Andrade hit the moonsault into a standing moonsault for a near fall in his best hope spot. Joe caught Andrade in the clutch out of nowhere for the submission victory.
WWE female wrestling star Sasha Banks missed house shows this past week in Utica, NY, and Reading, PA due to an undisclosed head injury which happened on the 5/15 show in Charlottesville, VA.
Banks, who hasn’t been used in a few weeks on television due to creative reasons of wanting to keep her off TV when they didn’t have a program at today’s PPV, was still working a full house show schedule up until this past week.
The injury was described as a fluke in a match where referee Darrick Moore accidentally caught her with a solid knee to the head. It was not a spot where Moore and she were supposed to have serious contact.
WWE hasn’t confirmed the injury, nor whether a concussion was sufferened. Reports within the industry were that Banks suffered a concussion, which would mean an undetermined length of time before she could return — any day or a few weeks.
Bobby Fish & Volador Jr. & Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Trent Baretta & Will Ospreay
Pretty solid opener. Volador and Ospreay showed fantastic chemistry for about a minute before tagging out – that should be one hell of a match when the time comes. As for this match, it was your usual six man tag. Kojima and Ishii battled for a while. Fish did too, as he beat Ishii for the ROH TV title a few weeks ago on the ROH PPV. Volador and Baretta battled for a bit before Volador got the win with a standing hurricanrana off the top rope.
Yuji Nagata & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Juice Robinson & Jay White
Solid match. Pretty much your atypical New Japan six man. Shibata and Nagata were the focus since there’s a title rematch at Dominion. White came in, got in a crossface, then was pinned pretty quickly with the back drop suplex hold.
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yoshitatsu & Captain New Japan & Ricochet vs. Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
Again, your typical multi man New Japan match. Omega and Tanahashi were the focus and worked well. Since Captain New Japan was here, you should know by now he was the one pinned, this time after a lariat and a grenade by Bad Luck Fale.
Bullet Club laid out everyone after the match. Omega brought in a ladder and with assistance, smashed Tanahashi’s arm several times through the ladder with a chair before finally leaving, but not before threatening to rip off a fan’s Tanahashi bear’s arm. Tanahashi had to be stretchered out once Bullet Club left.
Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil
Good match. Naito took his sweet time getting to the ring, and eventually had Milano Collection AT open the ring ropes for him, then spent even more time stalling before finally getting in. Focus, of course, was him and Okada. The real highlight was the ending stretch between Yoshi-Hashi and Sanada. Yoshi-Hashi is super underrated; here’s hoping he gets a G1 spot this year and not Yujiro. After a bunch of near falls, he fell to the Skull End submission.
David Finlay vs. Rocky Romero
Finlay ran roughshod the minute he was introduced in the ring, tearing apart Romero. He looked fantastic here, the best he’s probably ever been in New Japan. Romero gained control and turned into a really good back and forth match. Finlay showed a lot here, and Romero is always consistently great. Romero won the first match of the tournament with a running knee strike.
Gedo vs. Bushi
Solid match. Gedo was over early, even though a lot of people in the crowd were wearing Bushi masks. As far as an all around performer goes, Bushi is improving big time. He’s probably one of the favorites to win the whole thing early. They had some great near falls that people bought as they really wanted Gedo to win. There was a ref bump toward the end but he recovered just in time for Gedo to lock in the Gedo clutch and secured the win.
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Matt Sydal
Taguchi came out wearing a Big Bird balloon for a hat while playing a kazoo. No, I don’t have the faintest idea why. Really good match. Taguchi didn’t do his comedy match routine and Sydal was on point. One crazy spot was Taguchi kneeling on the apron, and Sydal on the floor leaped and hurricanrana’d him off the apron to the floor. Taguchi blocked a shooting star press with his knees and hit two dodons for the win.
Kushida vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Kushida spent the early part of the match working on O’Reilly’s arm. O’Reilly returned the favor, taking Kushida’s knee by smashing it on a chair. O’Reilly ran off the apron and went to attack Kushida but in midair Kushida turned it into an armbar. That was amazing! This was easily the best match of the night, not to the level of their match last year but it was in the ballpark. Excellent body part work by both as they kept going for submissions. O’Reilly finally caught Kushida in a standing armbar. Kushida tried to escape, but O’Reilly got to the ground and Kushida had to tap. O’Reilly gained a measure of revenge by picking up a win over the guy that beat him in the finals of last year’s tournament.
Kushida didn’t shake hands with O’Reilly and went to the floor. O’Reilly said he’d win Best of the Super Juniors and bowed to everyone as his music played to close out the show.
Really fun opening day. Totally check out the main event, though all of this morning’s card was fun to watch.
