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This week's episode of SmackDown was the penultimate one before Survivor Series. Matches for Survivor Series were set on the Blue brand, with NXT playing a big role once again.
The Universal Title match for Survivor Series was also set, while NXT's Superstars added more fuel to the fire in their feuds with SmackDown Superstars.
On that note, let's take a look at today's WWE rumor roundup:
#1 Future of Bobby Lashley-Lana-Rusev storyline
The storyline involving Lana, Bobby Lashley, and Rusev has been panned by fans and critics. But, it seems that WWE may continue with the storyline, as per Wrestling Observer.
Lashley and Rusev will not face off at Survivor Series, which happens later this month, as there are several matches already set for the PPV. They will not battle it out at that PPV, which means that they could possibly face off against each other at TLC, or perhaps next year at Royal Rumble, which is the first PPV of 2020. They are, however, set to face off against each other at Starrcade.
This past week on RAW, Lana said that she was pregnant with Rusev's child.
This storyline has been downright ridiculous, but there seems to be no end to it at the moment. Many in WWE have been critical of the storyline, with Corey Graves calling it a "car crash storyline".
“In no way, shape or form am I speaking ill of the people involved in this. Maybe it’s just not my flavour of ice cream. I guess a lot more people enjoy car crashes than I do.”
Booker T was also critical of it on WWE Backstage this past week, calling the storyline a "disaster".
"Here's the thing we also need to look at though. All WWE fans are constantly clamoring for the Attitude Era days, so we give them a little bit of it, and yeah sure it's been a disaster, but what is that right footing?"
#2 The Fiend to face Braun Strowman
The Fiend Bray Wyatt is set to face off against Daniel Bryan at Survivor Series, which was confirmed on this week's SmackDown. The Fiend will put his Universal title on the line for the first time at Survivor Series against Bryan.
The Fiend showed off his new title design this past week on SmackDown as well.
But, there are more interesting matches in store for The Fiend in the near future. He is set to face off against his former Wyatt Family buddy and real-life friend, Braun Strowman, at Starrcade.
Starrcade, which airs on the WWE Network, will take place on December 1st, 2019 this time around. Matches confirmed for the show are Roman Reigns vs Baron Corbin, Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton, AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens, Rusev vs Bobby Lashley, among others.
Starrcade is set to be a very interesting and exciting show this time around, especially because of the first-ever match between The Fiend and Braun Strowman.
#3 WrestleMania 36 ticket issues
WrestleMania 36 will take place on April 5, 2020 at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and tickets went on sale on Friday for the mega show.
But, there were problems with the ticketing as Ticketmaster, the company tasked with the job of selling tickets for WrestleMania, faced some issues. Their website was not accessible for several hours while their app also did not function properly, as per EWrestlingNews.
#4 SmackDown viewership
There was some disappointing news following SmackDown for WWE despite a solid show. SmackDown's viewership dropped to its lowest ever (October 25th show of SmackDown aired on FS1 and averaged at 888,000 viewers, but we aren't taking that into account) since the Blue brand moved to FOX.
As per Showbuzz Daily (via WrestlingInc), this week's SmackDown viewership averaged at 2.35 million viewers, down from last week's 2.610 million viewers.
Numbers could increase on next week's show, which will be the Survivor Series go-home episode.
#5 Elimination Chamber date and venue
WWE have a busy schedule coming up, with Survivor Series set to take place on November 24, followed by Starrcade on December 1st, and TLC on December 15th.
The promotion seems to be planning way in advance for next year's PPVs as well, announcing details about the Elimination Chamber PPV on this week's SmackDown. Fans at SmackDown caught a glimpse of when the show will be held.
WWE announced that Elimination Chamber will be held on March 8th and will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
#6 New trademarks
WWE is a company that secures its intellectual properties, often trademarking catchphrases, nicknames, and the like. They seem to have filed two more interesting trademarks this week. "WWE SGL" and "Superstar Gaming League" are two things that WWE have filed for trademarks, as per EWrestlingNews.
These are perhaps related to gaming, as the name suggests.
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