Ronda Rousey suspended on RAW

The big storyline out of Monday’s RAW was the suspension of Ronda Rousey for attacking Alexa Bliss in the opening segment:

Ronda Rousey suspended from Raw for 30 days

Jax will challenge Bliss for the title in a rematch at WWE Extreme Rules. Rousey, meanwhile, will be barred from Monday Night Raw until Wednesday, July 18 — three days after that event.

Here’s what went down on social media:

Unfortunately Ronda crossed the line tonight. If Ronda can’t take a few verbal “shots”, then she needs to reconsider her career in Sports entertainment. This is NOT some fight club. This is WWE. I regret suspending her from Raw for 30 days… but My hope is she’ll learn from it. https://t.co/VdI2foZzDu

— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) June 19, 2018

@therealkurtangle I sincerely apologize for my behavior tonight…. Though you were the first to put hands on me, I shouldn’t have let my temper get the best of me….Despite the fact I was cheated, provoked, and disrespected by Alexa… i shouldn’t have been willing to go through you to get to her. I’ll gladly serve my suspension … but Alexa, know that every moment you don’t see me i am thinking of you and preparing for your comeuppance. So you in 30 days #LittleMissBish

A post shared by rondarousey (@rondarousey) on Jun 18, 2018 at 7:26pm PDT

UK gets own WWE brand

BREAKING NEWS: A new brand, #NXTUK is coming to @WWEUK. @TripleH and GM Johnny Saint announced the news this evening @RoyalAlbertHall. pic.twitter.com/qSsoFa8ztS

— WWE (@WWE) June 18, 2018

Triple H and Johnny Saint formally announced the new UK WWE brand at yesterday’s UK Title tournament tapings in London. It will fall under the NXT banner and will feature a full set of championships and a TV show – though it’s not clear if it will be on the network or/and British TV:

WWE launches new U.K. series
LONDON, England and STAMFORD, Conn. – WWE today announced that tickets will be available Friday, June 29, for eight Live Events that will be taped for NXT UK, a new United Kingdom series featuring the greatest competitors from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The U.K. Championship, plus two new championships — the U.K. Women’s Championship and U.K. Tag Team Championship — will be on the line at the following NXT UK events:

* Saturday, July 28, and Sunday, July 29, at the Corn Exchange, Cambridge
* Saturday, Aug. 25, and Sunday, Aug. 26, as part of Insomnia, the U.K.’s biggest gaming festival, at NEC Birmingham
* Saturday, Oct. 13, and Sunday, Oct. 14, at Plymouth Pavilions
* Saturday, Nov. 24, and Sunday, Nov. 25, at Liverpool Olympia

Tickets for the events in Cambridge, Plymouth and Liverpool will be available via www.livenation.co.uk, and tickets for the Birmingham events will be available via www.insomniagamingfestival.com. Further information will be available at www.wwe.com/events.

“The U.K. has an amazing talent base and incredibly passionate fans that are deserving of their own showcase,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative. “This is the next step in our ongoing strategy to create localized content and further develop our brand globally.”

WWE programs on Emmy ballot

Several WWE productions have made it to the preliminary Emmy Awards ballot, though there are still many stages to go.

WWE Network’s 24 Special “Empowered” and HBO and WWE Studio’s joint project Andre The Giant are up for Best Documentary or Non-Fiction Special.

WrestleMania 34 is listed in the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) category, and Mixed Match Challenge and RAW are also listed for Outstanding Structured Reality Program.

Finally, Total Bellas is in the ‘Unstructured’ Reality Program category.