Impact’s U.S. broadcaster the Pursuit Channel yesterday messed up the latest episode of Impact and instead aired last week’s episode again.
Reacting quickly to the mistake, Impact made the new episode available on Twitch and also uploaded it immediately to the Impact Plus streaming service for everyone to watch for free. Registration to the service is required to watch it.
Pursuit made no mention of it on their social media and kept plugging their fishing shows instead.
The Fast and Furious franchise is adding its second WWE star to its ever-growing list of cast: former 16-time champion John Cena!
“For nearly 20 years, the Fast Franchise has entertained fans and created some of the biggest cinematic moments in history. It’s an incredible honor to join this franchise and this family,” Cena wrote in a tweet.
Deadline.com also confirmed that The Rock will not be in the 9th installment of the popular franchise. Johnson joined the F&F cast in the fifth movie and has been an integral part of the series ever since. He now heads up his own spinoff from the show, Hobbs & Shaw, and the first movie of that series comes out in August of this year.
The main star of the show, Vin Diesel, teased Cena’s addition in an Instagram video back in April but it was only yesterday that Universal officially confirmed that he’s on board.
It’s not known what character Cena will play yet but Deadline says the only info it has on it is that he will play a “badass.”
Fast & Furious 9 is starting production this month for a May 2020 release.
Following his train wreck match against The Undertaker, former Universal champion Goldberg apologized to his fans for his performance on social media.
The ending of the match was changed as the original plan was for Goldberg to try and Tombstone The Undertaker and then Taker would reverse it. Both ended up on the floor and then Taker just hit a horrible-looking choke slam for the pinfall.
“Knocked myself out and thought I could finish,” wrote Goldberg on Twitter. “Love my fans…but let u down.”
He then said that he hopes that those people who found “pleasure” in his bad performance are now happy.
Goldberg was busted open big time halfway through the match when he went for a spear and hit the ring post. His forehead already seemed to be pre-cut entering in the match. Things didn’t help when The Undertaker dropped him on his head when he got the Tombstone pile driver and Goldberg botched the Jackhammer attempt on Taker as well.
Here are the results from today’s Super ShowDown pay-per-view which took place from the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Usos defeated The Revival in the Kickoff match; Seth Rollins defeated Baron Corbin to retain the Universal title; Finn Balor defeated Andrade to retain the Intercontinental title; Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns; Lars Sullivan defeated Lucha House Party via disqualification; Randy Orton defeated Triple H; Braun Strowman defeated Bobby Lashley; Kofi Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE title; Mansoor won the 50-man over-the-top rope battle royal; The Undertaker defeated Goldberg.
In a promo video hyping up WWE’s return to Japan on June 28, Triple H takes center stage and sits on a iron cross throne which is almost an exact replica of the one that Cody smashed during his entrance at Double or Nothing.
The similarity of the throne is almost identical, down to the placements of the skulls, although this throne seems to look a bit better than the one used at Double or Nothing.
In his post-Double or Nothing comments to the press, Cody said that him smashing the throne to pieces wasn’t necessarily a shot at Triple H, but more of a shot that he wants to still be a wrestler and not ready to be a full-time EVP. “I loved when Triple H came out at WrestleMania 30 and he was kind of like Shao Kahn and it was really cool. The throne kind of symbolized his reign, and, man, I want to play ball,” he told the reporters.
Triple H refused to comment about Cody’s entrance during his media scrum pre-and-post NXT Takeover: XXV but looks like this was the response.
https://twitter.com/WWEJapan/status/1136827881420496896
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that the Saudi Arabian government has ultimately decided not to allow a women’s match between Alexa Bliss and Natalya to take place today at Super ShowDown.
The two sides had been in discussions for a while and at one point it seemed that the Saudis had agreed to the match. But something happened in the meantime and they pulled the plug on it. WWE officials were confident that the match was going to happen and flew both Bliss and Natalya all the way to Jeddah with the rest of the crew but it seems that the very long trip will yield no results for the two former women champions.
Bliss and Natalya have been accompanying their male counterparts around the city for community relations events with photos being posted on their social media.
The decision not to allow this first women’s match in Saudi Arabia to happen today must be a major letdown for those in the company and shows how strict the country continues to be when it comes to women’s rights.
In the two main title matches, WWE champion Kofi Kingston is 1/20 favorite against Dolph Ziggler who is at 8/1 while Seth Rollins is 1/9 to keep his Universal title against Baron Corbin who is at 5/1 for the upset. After saying he would be cashing in today, Lesnar is at 11/8 to walk out of Saudi Arabia as the new champion.
The 50-man battle royal currently has Ali who is at 11/8 favorite to win the whole thing, followed by Drew McIntyre at 3/1, and Brock Lesnar at 7/1. WWE has not announced who is officially in the battle royal yet.
In the only other title match of the night, Finn Balor is 1/10 favorite to retain the Intercontinental title over Andrade who is at 11/2. Balor will be donning his demon gimmick for this match.
Bets for other matches consist of Braun Strowman at 1/8 to beat Bobby Lashley who is 9/2, Lars Sullivan at a whopping 1/14 against Lucha House Party who are at a distant 7/1, Roman Reigns at 1/6 against Shane McMahon who is at 7/2, Randy Orton the slight favorite at 4/5 over Triple H who is at 10/11, The Usos at 8/15 to take the win over The Revival who are at 11/8, and the big match of the night, The Undertaker is 8/11 favorite versus Goldberg who is at 1/1.
Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, it’s time for the WWE PPV Pick’em Challenge! I am your host, the current WOPC Champion @TheMagnumDA. Today, I’ll be taking on our very Colin Vassallo in the Super ShowDown Pick’em Challenge! To the victor…the WOPC Championship. Here we go with the card!
Lars Sullivan vs. Lucha House Party
Colin: It’d be funny if Lars is punished for his lame remarks by making him lose to LHP. But it won’t happen. Lars wins.
Magnum: The push continues. Give me Lars Sullivan for the win. That promo Tuesday was brutal.
The Usos vs. The Revival
Colin: This could be a great match but I think it will probably be some comedic bullshit. Two of the best tag teams in the world today. They deserve better than this. The Usos win.
Magnum: I actually think this is going to be a good, classic tag team match. This will surprise some people. The finish won’t, though. Usos for the win.
Triple H vs. Randy Orton
Colin: What match is this one? #1,356,486 between the two? Something like that, right? I hope Triple H puts over Orton here. He doesn’t need to win and Orton could use a big win lately. Orton with the W.
Magnum: I don’t know if “(Wrestler) could use a big win lately” can apply here. I felt that way about Undertaker facing Triple H at Super ShowDown in Australia, but look how that turned out! I’ll take the H’s, many H’s.
50-Man Battle Royal: WINNING PICK WORTH TWO POINTS
Colin: The Greatest Greatest Royal Rumble, right? So dumb. Good way to get everyone on the card though. Probably even the sound guy will be in this one LOL! I’d say Drew McIntyre gets this one.
Magnum: Remember last year’s Rumble, when MANSOOR made his debut? Give me that dude all the way. Why not?
Goldberg vs. The Undertaker
Colin: Wow. This is 20 years or so late. Who the hell jobs in this one!? This would have been epic back in the day, but now it’s going to be probably brutal. Bet the entrances will be longer than the match. Taker will stick around longer so I say Taker wins.
Magnum: Epic. I wish this could be like Hogan vs. Rock, but it’s more likely to end up like Hogan vs. Andre from WrestleMania IV. I still think it’s going to be fun, and I think The Undertaker will step up to the plate and Tombstone the mighty Goldberg straight to HELL! Deadman wins.
Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley
Colin: My interest in this match is pretty low. It will probably be my bathroom break. Who wins? Who cares? But if you want my pick, it will probably be Braun.
Magnum: Wow. I really don’t care about this match. Unless he’s in the doghouse, Braun Strowman destroys Lashley.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Finn Bálor (c) vs. Andrade
Colin: Has Demon Finn ever lost? Probably not, eh? I can’t remember. But he sure as hell ain’t losing this one.
Magnum: I’ve actually enjoyed their series of matches, and they have been back-and-forth, in terms of booking. However, as Colin mentioned, this is definitely the Demon’s to lose. I’ll take Balor to retain.
Roman Reigns vs. Shane McMahon
Colin: Let’s make this clear. Roman Reigns is not The Miz. Roman Reigns will not do like The Miz. He will not lose twice to Shane McMahon. No. Way. In. Hell. Roman wins.
Magnum: Man, this whole thing of Shane being one of the top heels on SmackDown…it’s just putrid. Roman wins, but they’ll make it much closer than it needs to be, because Shane. Put this god-awful feud to rest and let Miz get his win back vs. Shane so we can be done with that Mean Street Pus…someone say cat?
WWE Championship Match
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Colin: I have a feeling this will be Dolph’s last match for a while as he will be back doing his comedy gigs. Been documented that he’s there to fill for Owens so Kofi retains.
Magnum: I love how Dolph just snuck in here and got to be the top challenger because KO refuses to participate in this event. What a consolation. This devalues Kofi’s run. Kofi retains – but he needs a big win vs. a fresh opponent soon. This is not that.
WWE Universal Championship Match
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Baron Corbin
Colin: Baron Corbin has less percentage winning this one that Dolph has of winning the WWE title. Which is zero. I hate that they keep pushing Corbin. He has that X-Pac “get the F off my TV” heat. Seth wins. No cash in.
Magnum: I have this feeling that the cash-in is going to happen. I will take Seth to retain in a dogfight (shouldn’t be, but whatever). But don’t be surprised if the night ends with Brock once again holding the Universal strap.
Alright, that’s going to do it for us! It’s going to be a close one – but remember…tie goes to the champ! Ask Ric Flair! WHOOOOOOOOOOOO! @TheMagnumDA signing off.
Live from the King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, WWE presents Super ShowDown on pay-per-view and WWE Network. The full card is as follows:
Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler for the WWE title; Seth Rollins vs Baron Corbin for the Universal title; Finn Balor vs Andrade for the Intercontinental title; The Undertaker vs Goldberg; Triple H vs Randy Orton; Roman Reigns vs Shane McMahon; Braun Strowman vs Bobby Lashley; Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party in a handicap match; 50-man over-the-top rope battle royal; and The Usos vs The Revival in the Kickoff show.
Super ShowDown will air live at 2PM ET in the United States with the Kickoff show starting at 1PM ET.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that Double or Nothing did better than expected when it comes to pay-per-view buys around the world.
In the latest estimates from data received, AEW’s first pay-per-view did between 98,500 and 113,000 buys two weeks ago, with approximately 71,000 of those coming from the United States. From U.S. pay-per-view orders, there seems to be a 50/50 split between traditional pay-per-view and streaming from B/R Live. Double or Nothing sold for $49.99 in the United States which translates to around $3.5 million in revenue. All that money doesn’t go to AEW though as PPV providers usually take a large chunk of that money.
Around the world, the show was sold for $20 on FITE.TV and £14.95 in the United Kingdom on ITV Box Office. In the UK, 75% of fans who ordered the show got it through ITV while the rest preferred the streaming option.
The insanity of the 24/7 title continued at 39,000 feet in the air aboard the Atlas Air Boeing 747 jumbo jet as R-Truth stepped in Saudi Arabia as the 24/7 champion after having lost the title on the tarmac before takeoff.
The title change happened somewhere “over the red sea” when Mahal decided to cover himself from head to toe and take a nap. Truth came down the aisle and uncovered every single Superstar who was sleeping with a blanket on and then when he found Mahal, he just covered him while he was sleeping as the referee counted to three.
When everyone realized what happened, Truth was chased throughout the plane. He eventually made it to the top floor of the 747 and you could hear the stewardess shouting, “Guys, guys, what’s going on?” as everyone ran behind the new champ. He eventually locked himself in the bathroom where he had a one-on-one talk with the 24/7 “European” title!
While the addition of a new title did not go over very well, skits like this one has been putting smiles on people’s faces according to the reaction online, thanks mostly in part to Truth’s comedic skills.
You can watch what happened below.
The Super ShowDown stage is fully done as the King Abdullah International Stadium has been transformed into a WWE arena.
The stage for this show resembles that of this year’s WrestleMania, with one big LED screen from one end to the other and the long ramp in its usual place. The light will be very heavy on purple as the color theme for this show is gold and purple.
The King Abdullah International Stadium holds over 60,000 fans and it hosted the Greatest Royal Rumble last year. That show introduced the plush sofas for ringside seats where members and friends of the royal family were seated.
You can see a photo of how it looks below.
R-Truth is no longer the 24/7 champion as Jinder Mahal managed to regain the title he won – and lost – on a golf course a few days ago.
This time around, instead of winning it in the ring – or golf course – the title changed hands on the airport tarmac as WWE Superstars headed to Jeddah for Super ShowDown. Truth was on the phone talking in front of the chartered Atlas Air plane when all of a sudden, Mahal comes down the stairs along with the referee, rolls up Truth from behind and pins him.
As you can imagine, Mahal was in a hurry to get back in the plane but did not want to climb back up the stairs before the referee made it official and lifted his hand up in victory!
AEW’s Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley will be taking part in the NJPW Dominion 6.9 show this Sunday at the Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka, Japan.
Chris Jericho will be in one of the main events as he will be taking on the reigning IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada. This match is for the title and Jericho could add his second IWGP title to his list of accolades after last year he won the IWGP Intercontinental title.
Meanwhile, the brand new IWGP United States champion Jon Moxley will be wrestling against Shota Umino in a non-title match. This is Moxley’s second match for NJPW. He won the title this week after he beat Juice Robinson at the Best of the Super Juniors finals at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo.
WWE returns to Saudi Arabia tomorrow for its third show in a 10-year agreement with the Saudi government. Super ShowDown, carrying the slightly differently-worded title as the Australian pay-per-view from last year, will be held in Jeddah where over 50,000 fans are expected to attend.
Today we will take a look at the betting odds of the top three matches of the card and tomorrow we’ll revisit each match and the latest odds.
In the WWE title match, Kofi Kingston is the overwhelming favorite to retain at 1/20 while his opponent Dolph Ziggler is at a distant 8/1.
Seth Rollins is 1/9 favorite to retain the Universal title against Baron Corbin who is at 5/1, and Brock Lesnar is at 5/4 to leave Jeddah as the new champion. Rollins is still favorite to walk out as champion.
And in the first-ever Goldberg vs Undertaker match, The Undertaker is the slight favorite with odds of 8/11 while Goldberg is at 1/1.
Smackdown drew 2,016,000 viewers this week, down 56,000 viewers from last week’s show despite appearances from Goldberg and The Undertaker. It was #1 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #8 in overall viewership for the night on cable. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Ryan Satin of ProWrestlingSheet.com is reporting that the reason why both Natalya and Alexa Bliss have traveled to Saudi Arabia is because WWE officials are hoping that a match between the two is green-lit by the government in time for Super ShowDown.
Apparently, WWE has been in advanced discussions with the Saudi General Sports Authority to push for a women’s match on the card and the company felt confident enough about the discussions that they decided to fly out the two women with the rest of the crew.
Having both Natalya and Bliss perform would be historic for WWE and a big win against the Saudi government which greatly opposes the inclusion of women in most activities.
As of right now, the Saudi Arabia GSA has not yet agreed to the match but there’s still time for negotiations.
Last year, Renee Young was allowed to travel and be a part of the broadcast team for Crown Jewel.
During their first show in Saudi last year, WWE ran a commercial in the stadium featuring the women dancing along with other male WWE Superstars. It got a big reaction from the crowd but the GSA was not impressed and issued an apology for WWE’s actions.
Mickie James will be out of action for nearly a year after she revealed she tore her ACL and will be requiring surgery.
James was injured during her match against Carmella last weekend and underwent an MRI on Monday which confirmed the bad news.
She added that she does not know when she will be undergoing surgery yet. Typical recovery for ACL injuries is between six to nine months.
The former champ has not been seen on WWE television since WrestleMania 35 and is now part of the Smackdown roster after she was moved during the Superstar Shake-up.
Former Impact World champion Eli Drake announced that he is now officially a free agent, two months after Impact Wrestling terminated his agreement.
In the beginning of April, Impact announced his departure on the heels of him refusing to wrestle Tessa Blanchard in a one-on-one inter gender match which was set for the company’s United We Stand iPPV.
“After 4 years with Impact Wrestling, some ups, some downs, I would like to thank them for the overall great experience,” Drake wrote. “Through those years, I had the fortune of carrying 3 different title belts, having my own talk show, and was always given the trust to craft my own promos, virtually from day 1.”
Drake added that he appreciates the chance that was taken on him and the friends and experiences he gained along the way. In closing, he thanked Impact and wished them “nothing but continued success and growth going forward.”
Drake had been working for Impact since 2015 and during his four-year stint there, he won the Impact World, Tag Team, and King of the Mountain and titles.
A large contingent of WWE Superstars and crew departed the United States yesterday to Saudi Arabia to participate in Friday’s Super ShowDown pay-per-view.
What’s interesting this time around is that not one, not two, but three women accompanied the male-dominated flight to Saudi. Last year, Renee Young was allowed to be the commentator on the show, becoming the first woman to be part of a WWE show in the strict country.
Now, judging from Instagram Stories posted, former champion Natalya also was on the flight to Saudi and Fightful.com is reporting that Alexa Bliss made the trip as well.
WWE received a lot of criticism for doing the shows in Saudi Arabia last year because while they were hard at work promoting the women’s evolution, they accepted money for shows inside a country where women are treated as third-class citizens. WWE often defended the move and said that to implement change, they first have to step foot into the culture and move on from there.
WWE did not announce any women’s match for Super ShowDown and it’s not known if this will be a surprise match between Natalya and Bliss or if they’re just helping out with the show in some other role.
Having a match between the two would certainly be a big win for WWE and one that will surely grab worldwide headlines, this time for the right reasons.
