Former NFL player Pat McAfee signed a new multi-year contract with WWE. The news was given by McAfee himself during his latest podcast titled The Pat McAfee Show.
McAfee has been appearing on the NXT Takeover Kickoff panels this year, having already done Takeover: New Orleans, Chicago II, Brooklyn 4, and WarGames. He said that WWE offered him a contract and he accepted. “They just want me to come make some content…and we’ll see where it goes,” McAfee said during the show when he revealed the news, adding that it’s a dream come true for him and is very looking forward to it.
McAfee played for the Indianapolis Colts for eight years but retired at the age of 29 in February of last year. Following his successful NFL career, McAfee joined Barstool Sports as a contributor but left the company in August of this year after he said that there is lack of transparency on how the company runs. He joins the FOX Sports family in a few days and will be doing NFL broadcasts as well.
Christmas Day Smackdown did 1,904,000 viewers, down 310,000 viewers from last week’s show and the least-watched show since the December 31, 2015 episode.
The low number was expected since it was on Christmas Day but Smackdown beat Raw in the ratings this week. Smackdown was #5 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #5 as well in overall viewership for the night on cable. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Former WWE Cruiserweight champion Enzo Amore did a Q&A at the West Side Comedy Club in New York on Wednesday and explained his actions at the Survivor Series, where he caused a scene after he was spotted sitting ringside.
Asked why he went to the Survivor Series incognito, Amore said that he knew Vince McMahon would hate it but then again he would respect “the f**k” out of the bold move. “That’s why I did it,” Amore said, adding, “Because it was about one person, and that was it. Because I proved to him that I could beat him at his own game of statistics and numbers.”
The former champ claimed that he paid $2,500 for the VIP ringside ticket and his name was even on the ticket so if they wanted they could have found him. “I broke no laws, I bought a ticket,” Amore said.
He also discussed the plan for exiting the building but that was kinda sidetracked by WWE’s security person Lisa. As Lisa grabbed his shirt, Amore told her that he’s a good person and she knows it but she told him that Vince wanted to see him. He told her that he doesn’t work here anymore so there’s no reason for him to see Vince and then cops showed up from every angle. “I told her I deserve better and she slowly let go of my shirt,” Amore said, who then sprinted out of the arena to an Uber waiting for him outside.
Following his appearance at the comedy club, Amore went outside Madison Square Garden where WWE held the non-televised show on the same day and took photos with the fans.
WWE will be taping Raw and Smackdown of next week this weekend to again allow its Superstars and crew to enjoy the holidays coming into the new year.
Monday Night Raw is being taped tonight at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The event is almost sold out with only a few tickets remaining in the upper levels.
Smackdown will take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania tomorrow night at the PPG Paints Arena with John Cena’s first televised appearance in a few months. The show has a few more tickets available than tonight’s Raw, including floor seats but mainly upper level seats as well.
The last events for 2018 will be on Sunday, December 30 with shows in Tampa, Florida and Buffalo, New York. Normal touring schedule resumes on January 4, 2019.
As expected, the Christmas Eve episode of Raw pulled in the lowest number in Raw history, with an average of only 1,642,000 viewers tuning in, down 770,000 viewers from last week. Just as a comparison, when Raw aired last on Christmas Eve in 2012, the show did 3,150,000 viewers.
Hour one started with 1,752,000 viewers, then it went slightly up to 1,789,000 viewers, and then 1,784,000 viewers for the third and final hour.
Raw was #4, #5, and #6 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #4 in overall viewership for the night on cable. Next week’s show is expected to pull in similar numbers on New Year’s Eve. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The Bumblebee movie with John Cena finished the Christmas 5-day weekend in #3 with a total of $34,253,863 in box office revenue nationwide. It beat estimates by around $2 million so all in all it was a good Christmas for the 16-time former champion.
Bumblebee had strong competition from Aquaman and the Mary Poppins Returns movies which took the #1 and #2 spot respectively. This was the first major motion picture which Cena had a leading role in, playing an agent of Sector 7, a secret American government agency which deals with extraterrestrial technology and threats.
The movie retains a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 78% positive audience rating which might indicate that it will have a long run in theaters similar to what Jumanji did for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Up until Christmas Day, Bumblebee had a total of $65,353,863 in worldwide box office revenue although the number does not factor in three days of international box office receipts.
John Cena is now taking a short break from his Hollywood career to resume his in-ring work for WWE where he will be appearing in 13 live events, three of which will be televised appearances starting with the New Year’s Day Smackdown tapings on Saturday.
Cena made his return to Madison Square Garden yesterday, his first WWE match since Super Show-Down in October in Australia. His return will not be for long though as he flies to Vancouver later in January to start filming his new movie on January 20. The odds of John Cena being in the Royal Rumble are not looking good although he did promise he will be at WrestleMania in New York.
WWE held a non-televised live event at Madison Square Garden yesterday for the now-annual post-Christmas show.
Vince McMahon made a surprise appearance and cut off Baron Corbin who was there ready to wrestle the still-injured Braun Strowman. McMahon told Corbin that his forfeit win will not stand and then introduced John Cena as his opponent. This was Cena’s first match in months and obviously won.
Apollo Crews became the new number one contender for the Intercontinental title after he won a battle royal. It was not announced when he would be getting the title shot.
Another interesting fact was that Ronda Rousey main evented her first Madison Square Garden show, winning her match against Nia Jax. The steel cage match between Ambrose/Rollins was advertised as the main event originally but it was changed to give Ronda her first headliner credit.
In the other matches from the show, Sasha Banks and Bayley defeated Alicia Fox and Mickie James; Ricochet, Aleister Black, Matt Riddle, Pete Dunne, and The Velveteen Dream defeated Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, and Kyle O’Reilly; Elias defeated Bobby Lashley; Ember Moon and Natalya defeated Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan; Finn Balor defeated Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match; Bobby Roode and Chad Gable defeated The Revival and The Authors of Pain in a triple threat match; and Dean Ambrose defeated Seth Rollins in a steel cage match.
The Cruiserweight title will be on the line at the Royal Rumble in a fatal 4-way match as Buddy Murphy’s challenge to keep the title just got a little bit more harder.
The three opponents that will face Murphy will be decided via three qualifying matches that will take place on 205 Live over the next two weeks. The qualifying matches are Kalisto vs Lio Rush, Akira Tozawa vs Drew Gulak, and Cedric Alexander vs Hideo Itami. The first two matches will air next week while the other one will air the week after. The winners of those three matches will join Murphy at the Royal Rumble.
The Australian Murphy has been holding on to the Cruiserweight title since October when he won the title at the Super Show-Down pay-per-view in his home country.
WWE resumes its touring today with the now-annual tradition of the post-Christmas show at Madison Square Garden in New York. The show will feature the return of 16-time champ John Cena although there’s no match advertised for him yet. Cena is expected to wrestle in all his upcoming non-televised appearances.
The card has a main event of Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental title in a steel cage match. Other matches on the show are Ronda Rousey vs Nia Jax for the Raw Women’s title, Lashley vs Elias, Bobby Roode and Chad Gable vs AOP for the Raw Tag Team titles, Drew McIntyre vs Dolph Ziggler vs Finn Balor in a triple threat match, The Riott Squad and Mickie James vs Sasha Banks, Ember Moon, Bayley and Natalya, and more.
There will also be a 10-man tag match featuring NXT’s top stars. It will be Pete Dunne, Ricochet, Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream, and Matt Riddle vs Tommaso Ciampa and The Undisputed Era.
Do you know that WWE is a scripted match in which the participant that is going to win and lose is fixed? Only a few selective folks are aware of the final results before even the match starts. These folks couldn’t reveal the information to any third party. Despite the fact that everything is predetermined, WWE matches allow users and fans to place their bet on their favourite wrestler. Let’s go through some more details about the WWE event and tips to bet.
What exactly is the WWE?
World Wrestling Entertainment, which is considered to be the world’s biggest wrestling platform, was founded by Jess McMahon in the year 1950. The program is based on multiple characters that go up and fail as fighters. As the entire show is staged, everything happens as per the wish of the writer. Thus, all that you got to do is: predict what is going in the head of the writer, which next move would he take, and etc to earn a significant profit through your bet. In order to win, wrestlers have to hold their opponents down to the canvas until the referee counts 3. But when it comes to WWE matches, there are a lot more entertaining activities such as cheating on the opponent, which tempt fans to keep their eyes set on the TV and watch until the show ends. The WWE is full of suspense and thrill as you never get to know what is going to happen in the next moment. With so many twists, the game worth your while.
Benefits of betting on WWE events in 2019
A majority of the casinos limit the amount the enthusiasts can bet which consequently limits the total amount you can earn if you win the match. Implementing a limit to the total amount of your bet is clear evidence of the fact that casino is accepting they’ll perhaps put bad lines. If you can take benefit of this limitation, you can definitely make significant money. What’s more? This limitation in the betting amount also limits the amount you might lose (if you bet on the wrong player). Hence, with limited risk and too much enthusiasm, betting on the WWE event is going to be a fun time.
What strategy on the WWE betting can make you win?
As discussed above, the WWE matches are fixed so how should you formulate your strategy? And which specific plan is going to work here? Note that the more advanced and sharp betting you place, the higher are the chances of you winning the bet. For instance, While you’re placing a bet on a football game, you consider previous matches to discover who could be the winner this time. You collect all the past game details, check performance and skills of the athlete, and make your predictions regarding what can be the results in the next game.
In WWE, the concept is almost similar to the other matches. However, as everything is predetermined here, you don’t have to make predictions considering the skills of your favorite wrestler. Instead, you need to read the mind of the writer of the show. Watch all the previous seasons of the game to determine how writers treat different wrestlers, what all surprises they showed up in the past season, and what is the possibility of them repeating their previous strategies?
So why wait? Keeping the above-listed points in mind, you’re all set to make your first bet. What’s more exciting is some casinos allow fans topay using phone creditwhile placing a bet. So be ready to place bets on your favorite wrestler and earn a considerable winning.
Rusev became the new United States champion after he defeated Shinsuke Nakamura last night in the main event of the Christmas Day episode of Smackdown Live.
The match was the main event of the show and it was built over the past few weeks. Rusev won the match after Nakamura tried to hit the Kinshasa but Rusev countered with a big clothesline and then delivered the Machka Kick for the pinfall as Lana went crazy celebrating on the outside.
In a post-match interview, Rusev said this was a dream come true to win this on Christmas Day with his wife by his side and on his birthday. Lana said that it has been a great 2018 for them and they have a lot to be thankful for and this was one of the best Rusev Day ever.
This is Rusev’s third run with the United States title. He won the first one in November 2014 on Raw from Sheamus but lost it to John Cena at WrestleMania 31. His second reign came at Extreme Rules in 2016 after beating Kalisto but he lost it to Roman Reigns in September that year at Clash of Champions.
AJ Styles attacked Vince McMahon backstage during the Christmas Day episode of Smackdown Live last night.
Taped last week, the backstage segment did not air for the crowd in the arena and it was the closing angle of the show.
McMahon kept pressing Sytles’ buttons, riling him up to get a response. Vince told Styles that just like him, there is an “animal” inside of him that is “begging” to be freed.
The Chairman and CEO then decided to slap Styles in the face and if McMahon wanted a reaction…he got one as Styles punched McMahon in the face, dropping him to the floor.
WWE officials then entered the room and took Styles out as they tended to Vince on the floor.
Just like last night’s episode of Raw, tonight’s Christmas Day Smackdown was taped last week.
In total there are four matches that will air today: SAnitY vs The Usos vs Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in a triple threat match; Mustafa Ali vs Andrade “Cien” Almas; Samoa Joe vs Jeff Hardy; Shinsuke Nakamura vs Rusev for the United States title; Plus The MizTV with Shane McMahon.
The New Year’s Day episode of Smackdown is being taped on Saturday.
Despite interviews saying that he would not be appearing on television when he returns starting tomorrow, WWE Superstar John Cena will be showing up on both Raw and Smackdown in three weeks that he is back with WWE.
McMahon announced Cena’s televised return in the same backstage segment where he announced the creation of the Women’s Tag Team titles.
Cena resumes his in-ring WWE career tomorrow at Madison Square Garden and will be participating in 12 other shows across the months of December and January 2019. The original calendar of events showed Cena appearing at the Smackdown Live tapings on December 29 in Pittsburgh, Raw in Orlando on January 7, and Raw in Memphis on January 14.
His involvement at the Royal Rumble is highly unlikely though as Cena will be traveling to Vancouver following his WWE dates to begin filming a new movie on January 20.
Dressed as Santa Claus in a backstage segment on last night’s Raw, WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon announced that the Women’s Tag Team titles will finally be introduced in 2019.
The titles have been long rumored and there was speculation that they would be introduced during the Evolution pay-per-view back in October but that did not happen.
With the women’s roster not that deep enough yet, the belief is that there will be only one set of Women’s Tag Team champions who would be appearing on both brands.
These will be the 10th titles on the main roster. There are seven more across NXT and NXT UK.
NXT commentator Mauro Ranallo was involved in a horrible car accident last night but thankfully he came out fine.
Ranallo posted four photos on his Instagram showing two cars completely totaled, one of which was his. “An Angel was looking over me last night,” Ranallo wrote. “A car lost control and smashed into me at full speed. Happy to report that no one was seriously injured. I’m still in shock. I guess my work here isn’t done yet. #ChristmasMiracle”
Bumblebee, the movie with John Cena in one of the leading roles, finished the weekend in the #3 spot on the box office chart with $21 million. Aquaman and Mary Poppins Returns took the #1 and #2 spot for the Christmas weekend.
The latest flick in the Transformers franchise also did an additional $31.1 million in worldwide box office revenue, sending its total to $52,100,000. Bumblebee opened in around 600 less theaters than any other Transformers movie as well as the two movies which took #1 and #2 in the chart this week.
Bumblebee is expected to finish the five-day Christmas weekend with around $32 million in the United States alone.
The Christmas Eve edition of Monday Night Raw was recorded last week in Sacramento, California, with seven matches taped.
It has been several years since WWE taped a Raw episode so much in advance but the correct decision was taken to give everyone time off to spend time with their loved ones.
The matches set to air tonight are Elias vs Bobby Lashley in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight; The Revival vs Bobby Roode and Chad Gable; Sasha Banks, Bayley and Ember Moon vs Mickie James, Dana Brooke and Alicia Fox; Dolph Ziggler vs Drew McIntyre vs Finn Balor in a triple threat match; Ronda Rousey vs Natalya for the Raw Women’s title; Jinder Mahal vs Heath Slater; and Seth Rollins vs Baron Corbin. The one and only Paul Heyman will also be appearing.
WWE announced the 2018 Year End Awards on social media, using Instagram Stories as the method of delivery. With no Slammy Awards to go around this year, WWE used the power of social media to gauge who was the best over the past 12 months.
In total there were 15 categories. The top three categories, Male, Female, and Tag Team of the Year were won by Braun Strowman, Becky Lynch, and The Bar respectively.
Other categories had Elias winning the Breakout Star, Naomi the Most Underrated, Dean Ambrose got Return of the Year, Paul Heyman won Best on the Mic, Lesnar vs Reigns won Rivalry of the Year, Diss of the Year went to Ronda Rousey’s promo where she described The Bella Twins as DNB, Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair at Evolution won Match of the Year, Paige got Best GM of the Year while Baron Corbin got the Most Hated of the Year, Randy Orton driving a screwdriver around Jeff Hardy’s earlobe got the Most Shocking Moment of the Year, Titus O’Neil’s Worldslide at The Greatest Royal Rumble won Funniest Moment of the Year, and surprise surprise…Raw was Brand of the Year!
The website PWInsider.com is reporting that the newest WWE 24 documentary will air immediately following the Royal Rumble on the WWE Network.
Premiering on Sunday, January 27, 2019, WWE 24: Ronda Rousey will take a look at the historic year that the current Raw Women’s champion had in WWE. Rousey made her official WWE debut at the 2018 Royal Rumble, coming out at the end of the show for a face-off with Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and Rumble winner Asuka. She pointed towards the WrestleMania sign and as they say, the rest is history.
Rousey went on the silence her critics over the past 12 months, having pretty good matches, an impressive WrestleMania debut, appearances almost weekly on Raw, and a title reign that is in its fourth month. Rousey is still undefeated in the WWE.
This will be the 18th episode of the highly-regarded series and the first one since the Hardys special in June.
