The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 7/17: Extreme Rules, Low WWE Ratings, AJ Styles Calls Heyman a Liar, More

Welcome back TJR readers. Did you have to get your Washington Redskins Tattoo covered up and missed Smackdown? Perhaps the world is already too much of a “horror show” for you, so you skipped Raw. Worry not, for I have returned with another edition of The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week to catch you up.

10. R Truth’s Game Show Debuts

R Truth can now add his name beside the likes of Bob Barker and Alex Trebek. Truth debuted his new game show this week on the WWE Network, cleverly named The R Truth Game Show. The show consist of celebrity guest playing a multitude of games in an attempt to win prizes. In the debut episode, it was Alexa Bliss and Sheamus that appeared on the show, with other WWE Superstars expected to appear in the future. It is unclear at this time when it will be Triple H’s time to play the game. (TJRWrestling)

9. The Big Show and Randy Orton to Face Off in an Unsanctioned Match on RAW

The Big Show and Randy Orton will try to settle their differences this week on RAW. This past Monday on RAW, Orton easily defeated R Truth. Orton then threatened to punt Truth in the head, causing The Big Show to come out to stop him. Orton then challenged Show to an Unsanctioned Match this Monday on RAW. This match will most likely be violent, but for both wrestlers’ sake let’s all hope it’s not as painful as sitting through an episode of The Big Show’s Netflix show. (TJRWrestling)

8. New Challengers Emerge on NXT

New Challengers for both Io Shari’s NXT Women’s Championship and Keith Lee’s NXT North American and Heavyweight Championships emerged this week. After Lee defended his titles against Dominik Dijakovic, the lights went out in the arena and Scarlett appeared next to the ring. Scarlett left a message from Karrion Kross before walking back up the ramp. Also after Io Shari defeated Tegan Nox in the main event, Dakota Kai came out and kicked Shari to end the show. NXT is clearly building to their next big event, which will of course take place whenever AEW decides to have a major show. (TJRWrestling)

7. Jeff Hardy and Sheamus to Compete in a “Bar Fight” at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules

The feud between Jeff Hardy and Sheamus will come to a head this Sunday at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. During a Miz TV segment on Smackdown this week, The Miz and John Morrison suggested to Jeff Hardy that he should face Sheamus in a “Bar Fight”. Hardy accepted the match, saying that he is on his way to redemption and will never let the fans down again. The Miz and Hardy then had a match, in which Sheamus appeared on the video screen drinking a beer. Despite the distraction, Hardy was able to win the match with The Miz and then proceeded to stare Sheamus down afterward. Having a real-life recovering addict like Hardy wrestling a match in a bar seems slightly inappropriate. Hopefully Hardy can continue to overcome his demons despite the distractions, and his career doesn’t end up taking twelve steps back.  (TJRWrestling)

(Note from John Canton: Even though it seemed like the match was announced last week on Smackdown, it is not official on WWE’s website or rundown of the PPV. We assume it is, but it’s not 100% official right now.) 

6. Nyla Rose Gets a New Manager

Nyla Rose introduced her new manager this week on AEW Dynamite. Rose came to the ring and said she will not tell us who her new manager would be, but would show us instead.  “Excuse Me” was heard throughout the arena, as Vickie Guerrero came to the ring. Guerrero promised that Rose will go after the Women’s Championship at the right time, and let the whole women’s locker room know that they are going to take everything they ever dreamed of. This isn’t Guerrero’s first appearance for AEW, as she is often seen in the crowd, and even did some guest commentary work on AEW Dark. Hopefully adding Guerrero to the struggling AEW women’s division will lead to less people excusing themselves to go to the bathroom every time a women’s match comes on. (TJRWrestling)

5. Shayna Baszler Returns to RAW

After a nearly two month absence, Shayna Baszler returned to Monday Night RAW this week. Before a match between R-Truth and Akira Tozawa could get started, Baszler came out and interrupted the match. Baszler proceeded to beat up a couple of Tozawa’s ninjas, then allowed Truth and Tozawa to leave the ring. Baszler then let the entire women’s division know that she is back, and about to give them all a hard dose of reality. Baszler was so intimidating in her promo that WWE Hall of Famer Sunny violated her parole so she could be safe behind bars. (TJRWrestling)

4. Rusev Tests Positive for COVID-19 

This week proved to be a difficult one for Rusev and Lana. Earlier in the week, Lana announced on social media that both her parents were tested positive for COVID-19, with her mother needing to be put in ICU. Luckily, both Lana’s parents seem to be recovering from the virus, as both are doing much better. Unluckily, however, a few days later Rusev announced that he has tested positive as well. As you can see in the video below, Rusev seems to be doing well and looks healthy. Hopefully Lana’s parents and Rusev can continue to Machka the virus, and they all can have Happy Rusev Days again. (TJRWrestling)

3. AJ Styles Calls Paul Heyman a Bold Faced Liar

AJ Styles will not be sending Paul Heyman a Hanukkah card this year. In his Mixer video game stream, Styles explained why he left RAW for Smackdown. Styles stated that the rumors of him leaving because he was being bullied or because his friends Gallows and Anderson were released are false. Styles went on to explain that his problem was with former RAW Creative Director Paul Heyman, who he called a bold face liar. Soon after Styles moved to Smackdown, Paul Heyman was removed from the RAW Executive Director position, being replaced by Smackdown Executive Director Bruce Prichard. Prichard now is in control of both RAW and Smackdown (under Vince McMahon, of course), with it being unknown if Styles Loves working for him more. (TJRWrestling)

2. RAW Does Lowest Rating Ever

If you are a long time reader of this column then you are probably aware of my thoughts on the Nielsen ratings (they are not good.) However, even if the Nielsen ratings aren’t perfect, getting the lowest rating ever is never a good thing. That is exactly what happened to Monday Night RAW this week when they drew only 1.56 million viewers for their flagship show in terms of the live American television audience. The current health crisis clearly can be blamed for some of the loss of viewership, but the truth is that viewership has been declining for years. There is some good news for WWE however, as all of Sunny’s viewers are now going to have to find something else to watch. (TJRWrestling)

1. The Horror Show at Extreme Rules to Take Place This Sunday

WWE’s next PPV The Horror Show at Extreme Rules is set to take place this Sunday at 7pm ET. The show will feature an abundance of cinematic matches, with three of them already being announced. Either Rey Mysterio or Seth Rollins will have their eye ripped out of there heads in the first ever Eye for an Eye Match. Jeff Hardy and Sheamus will try to settle their feud in a Bar Fight. And finally, Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt will try to avoid alligators in a Swamp Fight. Besides the three cinematic matches, Drew McIntyre will defend the WWE Heavyweight Championship against Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler gets to pick the stipulation for this match, which will be announced on the show. Personally I’m hoping that the stipulation is that whoever challenges for the title next month has to have actually won a match this year. (TJRWrestling)

That will conclude another edition of The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week. As always, if you like what I do, please follow me on Facebook and Twitter @BackseatBookers and listen to my podcast The BackseatBookers. (Please be aware that it is explicit as I drop more F-Bombs then RAW gets viewers.)

I’ll be away next week, so the column returns in two weeks!