UFC Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier called out Brock Lesnar after his dominant win against Derrick Lewis last night at Madison Square Garden at UFC 230.
Cormier, who is supposed to fight Lesnar early next year for the title, told Lesnar to bring his WWE title with him next time. “Brock Lesnar, next time you come, bring that brand new WWE title too cause I feel like a WWE champion too! Let’s go! Let’s go Brock,” Cormier said while he held his two UFC titles.
Lesnar did not show up at UFC 230 so it will be interesting to see what the next step in this feud will be. Cormier is also auditioning for a WWE commentary job in a few weeks time at the WWE Performance Center.
His comments to Brock is getting a lot of media attention so you gotta wonder if this was all planned by WWE to have Brock win the title figuring out the free advertising they will get over the next few months!
UFC will present UFC 230 tonight headlined by UFC Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier versus Derrick Lewis and the big question is, will Brock Lesnar show up at Madison Square Garden?
Lesnar, who yesterday won the WWE Universal title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is supposed to be fighting Cormier early next year for the UFC Heavyweight title if Cormier makes it past Lewis tonight. The champ made his presence felt at UFC 226, storming the cage and getting into it with Cormier.
UFC President Dana White said that Lesnar will not be at UFC 230 and there are rumors that the New York State Athletic Commission did not want Lesnar in the building to prevent an ugly situation from taking place under their watch.
Jon Jones, another UFC fighter who will be returning to the Octagon at UFC 232, has said this week that he still wants a fight with Lesnar next year.
Total Divas episode seven of season eight titled Chase Your Dreams drew a total of 385,000 viewers, down 5,000 viewers from last week’s episode. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia was just day one of a 10-day international tour that will take both Raw and Smackdown brands around Europe with 17 shows across six countries.
Today there are two shows, one at the WiZink Center in Madrid, Spain, and the other at the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales. On Sunday there is one show at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain, and another one at the BHGE ARENA in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Monday Night Raw tapings will be held on November 5 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England while the Smackdown brand will be at the Arena Birmingham in Birmingham, England. Smackdown Live will be taped on November 6 at the Manchester Arena as well while the Raw brand on Tuesday will be at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England.
The tour continues on Wednesday, November 7 with one show at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, and one at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England. On November 8 it’s one show at the Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany, and one at The SSE Arena Wembley in London, England.
On Friday, November 9, WWE travels to Bologna, Italy for a show at the Unipol Arena and the other show is at the Brighton Centre in Brighton, England. On November 10, it’s one show at the Palalottomatica in Rome, Italy, and another one at the Butlins Arena in Minehead, England.
The tour wraps up with the Smackdown brand on Sunday, November 11 at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
Speaking to Pittsburgh’s CBS affiliate KDKA2, former Impact Knockout champion Madison Rayne explained why she thinks she did not end up in NXT full time following her Mae Young Classic tournament debut and instead opted to sign a one-year deal with Ring of Honor.
Describing the year 2018 as an “unexpectedly exciting year” for her, Rayne said the freedom she had allowed her to go to different places and be a part of “huge, monumental things like Mae Young Classic and like All-In.”
Rayne said that all the discussions she had with WWE were always positive and got great feedback from her Performance Center tryout last year and this year on the Mae Young Classic. However she made it clear from day one that Columbus is her home and it would remain her home, dashing any hopes that she would be moving to Orlando if she were offered a deal.
“I understand that they have a system that they put their talent through, regardless of whether you’ve never taken one bump, or you’ve been wrestling for many years, and that system starts in Orlando. While wrestling is still very, very important to me, being a mother and being a wife, those two things are greatly more important,” Rayne said.
While she added that WWE never formally offered her a deal, the fact that she was upfront about not willing to relocate, probably wiped any hopes of receiving a contract offer.
WWE completely avoided mentioning the words Saudi Arabia yesterday during the whole Crown Jewel broadcast on the WWE Network, and only wrote Riyadh as the location of the show on the on-screen graphics.
Unlike at The Greatest Royal Rumble, where the actual country and the “progress” that is being made under the Prince was shown to the whole world, this time around there were no propaganda videos promoting Saudi Arabia or the Saudi Vision 2030, a plan to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation and tourism.
One big win WWE had this time around though was that Renee Young, the first Raw full-time female commentator, was allowed to work the event and sit ringside for the show alongside with Michael Cole and Corey Graves. Unlike previous unfounded rumors that Young had to wear a hijab for the broadcast, the Canadian didn’t have to wear one but was covered fully from her neck down in regular clothing.
The status of the relationship between WWE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains unknown at this point and it will be interesting to see if this 10-year deal will go forward as intended once 2019 rolls on.
The newly-crowned WWE Universal champion will be working his next match at the Survivor Series as WWE announced that Brock Lesnar will be taking on the WWE champion AJ Styles in a few weeks time. This match will be a non-title one and it’s a repeat from last year’s Survivor Series where Lesnar and Styles also had a match which Lesnar won.
Also announced was Intercontinental champion Seth Rollins wrestling the United States champion Shinsuke Nakamura. Just like the Lesnar/Styles match, this will be a non-title match.
With these two matches, there are three so far on the card as Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey in another non-title match was already announced for the Survivor Series.
Impact Wrestling on POP yesterday pulled in 105,000 viewers, up slightly from last week’s record-low of 98,000 viewers. This was the second week that the show aired in its new 10PM EST time slot. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Triple H is going from in the ring to under the knife as the former champion requires surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle he suffered during the match with Shawn Michaels against The Undertaker and Kane.
WWE.COM confirmed the injury saying that Triple H will undergo surgery as soon as he returns to the United States from Saudi Arabia. Recovery time is unknown as WWE didn’t reveal what grade the tear is and it could be from anywhere from three to six weeks for a partial tear to months for a full tear.
Here are the results from the Crown Jewel pay-per-view which took place earlier today from the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Rusev to retain the United States title in the Kickoff match; In the World Cup quarter finals, Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton, The Miz defeated Jeff Hardy, Seth Rollins defeated Bobby Lashley, and Dolph Ziggler defeated Kurt Angle; Sheamus and Cesaro defeated The New Day to retain the Smackdown Tag Team titles; In the World Cup semi finals, The Miz defeated Rey Mysterio, and Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins; AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe to retain the WWE title; Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman to become the new WWE Universal champion; Shane McMahon, replacing The Miz, defeated Dolph Ziggler in the World Cup tournament final match; Triple H and Shawn Michaels defeated The Undertaker and Kane.
There is a new WWE Universal champion in town and his name is Brock Lesnar!
Lesnar, who lost the title at SummerSlam to Roman Reigns after 504 days as champion, regained the title following five big F5s to Braun Strowman, four of which were delivered on the floor.
The result of the match came as a big surprise to everyone as WWE found another way to swerve everyone with Lesnar, who is currently training for a UFC return.
Lesnar works on a pay-per-appearance deal as he is no longer under a WWE contract and was expected back only for this show. His suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission runs till the beginning of January 2019 after which he is free to return to the Octagon.
WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan made his return to the company today at Crown Jewel amidst several fireworks and was introduced as the host of the show.
Hogan has not appeared on WWE television since June 2015 after he was fired for the several racist remarks he made years earlier which were captured on tape and then leaked to the National Enquirer. Hogan was a judge on the Tough Enough reality TV show on USA Network when he received his marching orders.
Since then, WWE basically eliminated Hogan from their history, removing him from the Hall of Fame and any mention of him, including his footage from video packages, intros, etc. It was only this year that the relationship between the two parties got warmer and WWE then invited Hogan to come backstage at Extreme Rules and apologize to the whole WWE locker room. Hogan was reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame but the company made it clear that he was not on their books…yet.
His return was widely expected and several weeks ago the Saudi GSA chairman tweeted a photo of Hogan while promoting Crown Jewel, confirming the rumors that he would be indeed making the trip.
What is Hogan’s future in the WWE remains to be seen after Crown Jewel comes to a close.
Hey everybody! It’s @TheMagnumDA with yet another installment of the PPV Pick’em! This time, we’re returning to Saudi Arabia, THE LAND OF THE PLUSH FLOOR SEATS, for Crown Jewel, the second show in a ten-year deal between the Saudi Sports Group and WWE. As citizens of the world, we completely understand fans’ outrage towards this show.
There’s a lot of controversy with the ongoing business deals between WWE and the Saudis, but we’re not here to report the news. We’re simply here to deliver the picks…and tonight, we could blow the door wide open on this Pick’em Season.
Here’s the scores so far in the 2018 WWE PPV Pick’em Season (after Evolution):
Heel Turn Tom: 70 (+6) = 76 Points
MagnumDA: 69 (+6) = 75 Points
Colin: 70 (+3) = 73 Points
Tricky Don: 69 (+4) = 73 Points
What makes tonight extra special? The WWE World Cup, a one-night ‘King of the Ring’ style tournament to determine ‘the Best in the World.’ This is, in no way, shape, or form, a knock on CM Punk…right? 😀 Anyways, the tournament is special because we have the following points format laid out for each round:
Each First Round Correct Pick – 1 Point
Each Second Round Correct Pick – 2 Points
Pick the Winner of the Tournament – 4 Points
So basically, if you go 7-for-7 on your bracket, you can win up to 12 Points! YUGE!
Here’s how the Crew thinks the World Cup will shake out:
FIRSTROUND
Tom’s First Round:
Seth Rollins d. Bobby Lashley, Kurt Angle d. Dolph Ziggler, The Miz d. Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio d. Randy Orton
Magnum’s First Round:
Seth Rollins d. Bobby Lashley, Dolph Ziggler d. Kurt Angle, The Miz d. Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio d. Randy Orton
Colin’s First Round:
Seth Rollins d. Bobby Lashley, Kurt Angle d. Dolph Ziggler, The Miz d. Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio d. Randy Orton
Don’s First Round:
Seth Rollins d. Bobby Lashley, Dolph Ziggler d. Kurt Angle, The Miz d. Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton d. Rey Mysterio
SECONDROUND
Tom’s Second Round:
Seth Rollins d. Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio d. The Miz
Magnum’s Second Round:
Dolph Ziggler d. Seth Rollins, Rey Mysterio d. The Miz
Colin’s Second Round:
Seth Rollins d. Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio d. The Miz
Don’s Second Round:
Dolph Ziggler d. Seth Rollins, Randy Orton d. The Miz
FINALROUND
Tom’s Final Round: Seth Rollins d. Rey Mysterio
Magnum’s Final Round: Rey Mysterio d. Dolph Ziggler
Colin’s Final Round: Rey Mysterio d. Seth Rollins
Don’s Final Round: Randy Orton d. Dolph Ziggler
REST OF THE CROWN JEWEL CARD
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship
The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) (c) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and/or Xavier Woods)
Tom: They won’t flip the titles so soon. Also I wonder if they have plans for the New Day as single stars. The Bar holds on to the titles.
Magnum: I like The Bar retaining here and moving on to their next program. I had a feeling New Day wouldn’t hold on to the titles long, and I was right. They won’t win them back anytime soon. The Bar retains.
Colin: Again. And again. I’m sick of seeing the same tag matches on every show. Lost interest in this program. The Bar retains.
Don: I am trailing in the points, so I am going to have to put on the killer bee mask and make the hot tag to BIG Patt. All of the predictions are courtesy of BIG Patt. This match will be a match that gets the people standing on their feet and chanting New Day Rocks. Big Show will interfere and The Bar will retain. The Bar wins.
D-Generation X (Triple H & Shawn Michaels) vs. The Brothers of Destruction (Undertaker & Kane)
Tom: I see Kane taking most of the brothers’ bumps. I see Shawn Michaels looking great in the match and getting another match or two. Probably one against HHH. DX wins.
Magnum: I remember when I was 14…this would have been a marquee matchup when I was that age. At 34? It’s kinda surreal to see HBK back in the ring, but hey…$$$ talks, doesn’t it? Since DX got the win last time, I’ll take Kane and The Undertaker this time around.
Colin: Eh, tough one. Will HBK lose on his return to the ring? Very unpredictable match. Thinking that HHH had the win last time in Australia, I’m inclined to say that the Brothers of Destruction will win this one. If Taker/Kane lose, I see Kane doing the job because, well, he’s going back to his mayoral job. But I don’t know. I’m undecided…..Screw it, Taker and Kane win.
Don: My prediction is the entire match Kane and Taker will have the advantage then Michaels and Triple H will get the win. After that both teams are going to show a lot of respect, but as we all know this will lead to a feud with HBK and Taker. Maybe at the Rumble 20 years after Taker retired HBK for the 1st time. Tonight, DX wins.
WWE Championship match
AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe
Tom: Great matches in the past but no story for this match. AJ Styles retains.
Magnum: No story?! Samoa Joe was downright CREEPY on SmackDown Live when he was trespassing on AJ’s personal property. There’s plenty of history between these two, but the program ended sometime back. I don’t see anything picking back up, or any major shocker here…so I’ll take AJ to retain.
Colin: AJ Styles is close to 365 consecutive days as champion and while I certainly think that Samoa Joe deserves a run with the title, it won’t come at Crown Jewel. Too bad we didn’t get a proper AJ/Bryan match at the pay-per-view, but this match should be great as well, judging by the chemistry these two have. AJ to retain the title.
Don: After seeing AJ’s luck lately, I feel like WWE is trying to let AJ have the title for a whole year. Samoa Joe will get himself disqualified during the match, allowing AJ to retain. AJ Styles wins by DQ.
WWE Universal Championship match
Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman
Tom: I do see Brock going to an ‘Undertaker Schedule’ and showing up to big money shows and WrestleMania. So Braun ‘gets these hands’ on the WWE Universal Championship. Strowman wins.
Magnum: This one has “Suplex Through The Ring Ending in a No-Contest” written all over it. However, since that doesn’t really net any points for me, I’m just going to take the obvious pick and run with Braun.
Colin: I would be very, very, very, very, VERY surprised if Brock Lesnar wins here. Unless he’s in it for the long haul, WWE should keep him away from that title. He had his run, now it’s time for someone else. While I am picking Braun Strowman for the win here, I’m more interested on how the finish will be.
Don: I feel like this is finally Braun’s time to hold the title since Brock held it for so long. Braun will beat Brock because Heyman will betray Brock and Braun will win the title. Strowman (with his new manager Paul Heyman) becomes champion.
Live from the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, WWE presents Crown Jewel on WWE Network and pay-per-view. The show starts at Noon EST, 9AM PST, and 4PM GMT. The full card is as follows:
Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman for the vacant WWE Universal title; AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe for the WWE title; Triple H and Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker and Kane; Sheamus and Cesaro vs The New Day for the Smackdown Tag Team titles; Plus the quarter final matches of the World Cup tournament featuring Seth Rollins vs Bobby Lashley, Kurt Angle vs Dolph Ziggler, Jeff Hardy vs The Miz, and Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton; And the semi final and final matches of the World Cup tournament; Shinsuke Nakamura vs Rusev for the U.S. title in the Kickoff show.
Crown Jewel is free for first-time subscribers to the WWE Network. Simply go to http://w-o.it/wwentwrk to start your 30-day trial.
The Crown Jewel pay-per-view takes place tomorrow night in Saudi Arabia and today we present you the preliminary odds for the top three matches on the show. Full betting odds will be published tomorrow as the show gets closer to bell time.
In the Universal title match, it seems that Braun Strowman’s time has come as the “monster among men” is 1/3 favorite to walk out of Saudi with the WWE Universal title while Brock Lesnar is at 9/4. A win for Lesnar would be as controversial as the event itself!
AJ Styles is the overwhelming favorite to retain the WWE title with his odds at 1/8 while the new number one contender, Samoa Joe, s at 9/2 for the upset. Styles is just over a week away from holding the WWE title for a full calendar year.
And in the tag team match of DX versus Brothers of Destruction, the team of Triple H and Shawn Michaels are currently 4/6 favorites to win against The Undertaker and Kane who are at 11/10 in the odds.
Smackdown did a total of 2,110,000 viewers this week, up 23,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The show was #1 on the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic but #9 in overall viewership for the night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin has narrated a special show open for NBC Sports’ NASCAR Playoff coverage this weekend.
The recording will be used before Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at the Texas Motor Speedway and while this is no “Austin 3:16” do-over, Austin lends his iconic and unique voice to capture the magnitude of this event.
Austin is certainly not the first professional wrestler to have such an assignment as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has also been hired several times to do voice-overs for opening videos before big sports events. You can check out a preview of Austin’s work below.
Saudi Arabia’s General Sports Authority, the government organization responsible for bringing WWE to the country, is busy promoting WWE’s Crown Jewel pay-per-view on its social media accounts, featuring interviews with several WWE Superstars.
Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kurt Angle, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, and Lashley, are featured in separate interviews on the GSA Twitter account. All men met with the press and Ziggler and McIntyre even had a meet and greet with the excited Saudi fans which looked like it was very well-attended.
They also had photos and a video of the Superstars arriving in the airport with Rey Mysterio, The Undertaker, The Miz, Randy Orton, Big Show, Michael PS Hayes, Big E, and many others all shown on camera.
Hulk Hogan, who is expected to be hosting the event, was not shown in any of the videos. The WWE Superstars arrived yesterday in preparation for tomorrow’s event. You can see some of the content from the GSA Twitter below.
Total Divas returns on the air tonight with episode seven of season eight titled Chase Your Dreams.
The synopsis for tonight’s show reads, “While training for Money in the Bank with Bryan, Lana seeks advice from Brie and Nicole when Rusev announces he wants to have a baby. Nicole goes against Brie’s wishes and plans a surprise party with Rusev for Birdie’s first birthday all the while Paige and Nia battle it out to see who could get a real job outside of WWE.”
Brock Lesnar was drug tested twice in the month of October by USADA, the administrators of the UFC Anti-Doping Program as he continues to serve the remaining six-month suspension stemming from the UFC 200 fight.
Lesnar was tested for the fourth time in mid-September and then USADA returned twice in October for unscheduled drug tests. Ever since Lesnar went back in the USADA drug testing pool in early July, he was tested six times.
The former WWE Universal champion has until early January with his suspension and then can resume his UFC career. Lesnar returns to wrestling this Friday at the controversial Crown Jewel pay-per-view against Braun Strowman for the vacant Universal title.
