WWE Rumors on Edge, Judgment Day; CM Punk Talks Injury; Cody Rhodes Pushes Raw Rating
Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe and All Elite Wrestling.
Reported Reason for Removing Edge from Judgment Day
Edge's removal from the Judgment Day stable on Monday's episode of Raw reportedly may have had something to do with a disagreement regarding the direction of the group.
According to Fightful Select (h/t WrestlingInc's Kellie Haulotte), WWE wanted to take a "supernatural route" with Judgment Day, but Edge was against the idea.
WWE had reportedly planned well ahead of time for Finn Balor to join Judgment Day, but the decision to have him replace Edge as the group's leader reportedly wasn't made until hours before Raw went on the air.
After Edge, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley beat Balor, AJ Styles and Liv Morgan in a six-person tag team match at Hell in a Cell, Judgment Day vowed to add another member on Raw.
Balor announced that he had seen the light and wanted to align himself with Judgment Day before Priest talked about getting rid of the weak link, which led to him and Balor attacking Edge.
Judgment Day was first formed at WrestleMania 38 in April when Priest helped Edge beat Styles. Then, at WrestleMania Backlash, Ripley joined the group by helping Edge defeat Styles again.
Now, it looks like Edge is set to transition back to a babyface role after his brief heel run, and the circumstances surrounding the sudden switch have left some fans confused.
Although the route to the switch may have lacked logic to some degree, it could turn out to be the best possible move for all involved.
Balor will now have the opportunity to lead his own heel group, while Edge can be a top babyface while Cody Rhodes is out with a torn pec.
Being a face is likely the best role for Edge given all he overcame to get back to WWE, and it shouldn't take much of the fans to embrace the Hall of Famer once again.
Punk Discusses Injury, Interim Title Decision
In a YouTube video posted Tuesday, AEW world champion CM Punk discussed the injury that will keep him out of action for the foreseeable future.
On last week's episode of Rampage, Punk announced that he suffered an injury that would require surgery, meaning he would be unable to defend the AEW world title. It was clarified after the promo that Punk would not be relinquishing the title, and instead, an interim champion would be determined.
In Tuesday's video (h/t WrestlingInc's Sai Mohan), Punk expressed gratitude for AEW for allowing him to remain champion while healing, as well as for the wrestlers and fans for supporting him:
Punk also divulged a discussion he had with AEW president Tony Khan, saying: "I probably wasn't as clear as I should have been. I offered to relinquish the title and Tony told me that under no circumstances was I allowed to do that."
After Punk made his announcement, Khan laid out the plans for the interim AEW World Championship in a press release.
On Wednesday's episode of Dynamite, the winner of a battle royal will face Jon Moxley, and the winner of that match will move on to Forbidden Door where they will face the winner of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Dominion.
The winner of the match at Forbidden Door will be the AEW interim world champion, and they will eventually face Punk to determine a definitive champion.
Punk ascended to the top of AEW at Double or Nothing less than a year after making his AEW debut, as he defeated "Hangman" Adam Page for the AEW World Championship.
Raw Ratings Up After Rhodes' HIAC Performance
WWE Raw experienced a significant bump in viewership on Monday, and Cody Rhodes may have been a big reason why.
Rhodes courageously fought through a torn pectoral muscle at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view on Sunday, beating Seth Rollins in a Hell in a Cell match.
Cody opened Raw with a promo before getting interrupted by Rollins, who shook his hand. Rollins later returned with a sledgehammer and attacked Rhodes, likely writing him off television so he can undergo surgery.
Per Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline, Raw had its best viewership numbers in the first hour, which is when Rhodes was featured.
Additionally, Raw did an average of 1.87 million viewers and a 0.52 rating in the 18-49-year-old demographic, which were both major bumps from the previous week.
Compared to the Memorial Day episode of Raw, Monday's edition was up 25 percent in viewers and 24 percent in the 18-49 demo.
Meltzer noted that the numbers marked Raw's best since the post-WrestleMania episode of Raw in April.
It was also reported by Meltzer that Raw was second only to the Western Conference Finals NHL playoff game between the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers in almost every major demographic, except 18-49-year-old women, which Raw won.
The challenge for WWE moving forward will be maintaining those numbers for Raw, especially since Rhodes is likely to be off television for months while he recovers from the torn pec.
Further showcasing established stars like Rollins, Bianca Belair, Edge, Becky Lynch and others could help, as could featuring undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns on the show, or bringing in part-timers like Brock Lesnar or John Cena, the latter of whom is scheduled to appear on the June 27 Raw.
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