WWE: Grayson Waller Effect Segment with Cody Rhodes Set for 8/23 SmackDown Show, Ivar Spinal Injury Update, More News

Grayson Waller Effect Segment Announced for Friday’s SmackDown Show

WWE announced one new segment for the card of tonight’s WWE SmackDown show, which takes place at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

This new segment announced was a Grayson Waller Effect segment with Cody Rhodes.

The Grayson Waller Effect with special guest Cody Rhodes Grayson Waller hosts The Grayson Waller Effect with special guest Undisputed WWE Champion Chody Rhodes.

Don’t miss all the action of SmackDown, tonight at 8/7 C on FOX.

Current card for August 23rd WWE SmackDown show:

• WWE United States Championship – Santos Escobar vs. LA Knight (c)
• WWE Tag Team Championship – The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) vs. The Bloodline (Tama Tonga & Jacob Fatu) (c)
• Naomi, Bianca Belair, & Jade Cargill vs. Blair Davenport & Unholy Union (Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn)
• Grayson Waller Effect with Cody Rhodes

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Ivar Spinal Injury Status Update

As noted before, Ivar has been out of action for WWE since this past May due to a spinal-related injury.

Ivar recently provided an update on Instagram stating that he has been receiving stem cell therapy treatment to repair his injury.

“Day 2 at @rejuvstem !!! What an amazing team, all working hard to get me healthy. 100 million stem cells yesterday, another 100 million today all thru IV. And 5 billion exosomes. Hyperbaric chamber. And more to come!!!”

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WWE News & Notes

WWE recently released a new video on their WWE Vault YouTube channel featuring the NXT United Kingdom Championship match of Ilja Dragunov vs. WALTER (c) at NXT TakeOver 36 in 2021.

The CW parent company Nexstar Media Group announced that they have recently signed new affiliate television deals with five television stations across the United States to become new official CW Network affiliates and carry The CW programming starting this September and October. In the press release, Nexstar President Andre Alford stated “The addition of these affiliates will bring the number of Nexstar- and partner-owned CW stations to 54, covering more than 45% of U.S. TV Households.”

MovieWeb.com reported that a new comedy film titled Let’s Star a Cult produced by Dark Sky Films is currently scheduled to be released in theaters on October 25th. This upcoming film features CM Punk among the cast.

In a recent Q&A article, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque has been seen many times backstage scrolling through Twitter from the Gorilla Position at shows and paying attention to what the social media audience is doing and reacting to throughout the shows. Johnson reported that Levesque has been paying very close attention to what the audience wants not just with the live crowd but also based on social media feedback.

As noted before, Over The Top’s Scrappermania VIII Night 2 event earlier this month featured the announcement of Judgement Day’s Finn Balor & JD McDonagh will be making an appearance at OTT’s Tenth Anniversary Event this October in Dublin, Ireland. Fightful Select’s Corey Brennan reported that his sources stated that none of the talent who competed at OTT’s Scrappermania event were aware of the announcement beforehand. Those spoken to stated that all of the talent were just as surprised as fans were to see the video that played during the show. Brennan reported that it is currently not known if Balor and McDonagh will be making an appearance or will be wrestling at OTT’s upcoming event. One source spoken to within OTT reportedly speculated that Balor and McDonagh’s upcoming appearance might be just for the live crowd only.

As noted before, Bobby Lashley and MVP’s contracts with WWE expired earlier this month. In a recent interview with Lone Star 92.5’s The Bo And Them Show, Lashley gave his thoughts about his current plans for the future of his wrestling career. Lashley stated “I’m doing it all. You only live once. I have a lot of gas left in the tank. I’m in great shape. I feel good. I’m motivated, I’m rested. Wrestling, yes. Boxing, yes. MMA, yes. Acting, yes. Everything, yes. I have a lot of different things going on right now. My non-profit, working with kids. I love doing that and working with kids. I want to give back. I do a lot of real estate. I’ve been linking with some real estate professionals (in Texas) to bring some of my properties here and doing work here. Wrestling, I still want to wrestle. I love wrestling. The fans are writing me every day, ‘When are you coming back? Where are you going? We want to be there for you.’ I love the fans.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Randy Orton gave his thoughts about his lengthy time away from wrestling due to his back injury from mid-2022 to end of 2023 being a rough patch in his career. Orton stated “I was in such bad shape, man, that last year or so that I was teaming with Riddle,” he said. “It was everything that I had in me to get out there and even stand on the apron, and when he tagged me in, I’d come in, I’d blow a comeback, maybe hit an RKO, but that was about all I could physically accomplish … So Riddle, I owe Riddle a lot, man, he’s a good dude, because of him going out there every night and taking the brunt of the punishment in those matches, I was able to extend my career longer than it should have went with that injury that I had in my lower back, and that was just wear and tear over the course of about a decade. It was bad all through my 30s.“