SummerSlam takes place Saturday, August 3 from Cleveland Browns Stadium, marking the first time since August of 1996 that the premium live event will be held in Cleveland.
The press release also said that SummerSlam will start airing at 7PM ET, an hour earlier than regular WWE PLEs. WrestleMania also started at 7PM ET this year.
AEW is returning to Chicago at the Wintrust Arena for an episode of Dynamite on Wednesday, July 3.
Pre-sale for this show on the eve of Independence Day kicks off tomorrow, April 30, at 10AM using the code FIREWORKS on Ticketmaster.com.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Thursday, May 2 at 10AM.
AEW was at the same venue in November of last year on the eve of Thanksgiving in the same week that WWE held Survivor Series at the nearby Rosemont at the Allstate Arena.
AEW has hired Jeremy Flynn as their new Senior Marketing Director of Live Events. The news was announced by Flynn himself in a post on X.
“I am excited to start a new chapter as the Senior Marketing Director of Live Events for @AEW!” Flynn wrote. “There are so many amazing things happening here and I’m excited to be a part of the journey.”
Prior to joining AEW, Flynn held the same role for Professional Bull Riders LLC where he served for two years.
Kosha Irby, who is now AEW’s Chief Operating Officer, wrote that the team got better today and welcomed him “to the madness!” The two worked together at PBR where Irby was the Chief Marketing Officer.
The LDLC Arena has just 16 tickets left available for Backlash this weekend, all at ringside priced at 500 Euro each.
The floor had hundreds of tickets left last week due to high ticket prices but gold ringside tickets were then reduced to 500 Euro and silver ringside tickets were reduced to 300 Euro and were scooped up pretty quickly in a few days.
Just like the past few international PLEs, there will be no stage set up at the LDLC Arena to maximize capacity. Smackdown on the eve of Backlash is also taking place there and is very close to a legit sellout as well.
It’s unclear if any production seats will be released this week. The attendance from seats is now nearing 13,000.
Steven Muehlhausen, who ran the DAZN social media in years past, wrote on X that DAZN dropped out of their three-year TV deal with AEW after just one year.
Citing low PPV, Dynamite, and Collision viewership, DAZN exercised the option to end their partnership two years early.
DAZN aired AEW in countries which did not have a TV deal mainly in Europe.
The countries of Albania, Alderney, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Georgia, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Jan Mayen Islands, Jersey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Svalbard, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan now have no AEW TV coverage unless they pay for Triller’s AEW+ service.
In related news, TelevisaUnivision, which aired AEW on their VIX service, also dropped AEW after one year. VIX covered AEW in Mexico as well as countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Argentina, and many others.
All of Manchester City’s rivals are looking forward to meeting the leaders of Pep Guardiola’s side – defensive midfielder Rodri, forward Erling Haaland and playmaker Kevin De Bruyne. But in the new season, the Catalan coach singled out the achievements of other players who may feel overshadowed by the main stars.
Phil Foden, 23
The England winger won five championships, eight minor trophies and a Champions League title during his time at City. At the same time, he was able to replicate the statistics of Jude Bellingham, who became a star for ‘Real Madrid’ with 28 goals. Although Foden has not always been a starter for England due to competition from Bukayo Saka, he has always been a key player for the club. City’s Phil himself has already been given the nickname “El Wei” (“Dude”) in honor of being next to the team’s star. Phil has already scored against Manchester United this season and is a clear starter following Gundogon’s departure. Additionally, according to https://1win-korean.kr/, he may soon become one of the contenders for the title of best player in the world.
Julian Alvarez, 24 years old
The world champion is improving so quickly in Argentina that City are starting to fear he will leave for another club. Alvarez, 24, has eight goals and eight assists in the Premier League and four goals and one assist in the Champions League. Julian is in City’s top five for minutes played and regularly features in the rotation. Alvarez knows how to feel his opponent’s line, understand Guardiola’s plans and Holland’s way of thinking. Thanks to this, ‘City’ gained an advantage in the offensive line even without De Bruyne.
Jeremy Doku, 21 years old
The young Belgian winger quickly broke into Manchester City’s squad and forced the more experienced Jack Grealish onto the bench. The talented Doku added color to City’s attacking line, showing his outstanding one-on-one skills and outstanding sharpness. Despite his young age, the Belgian will have plenty of opportunities to help the team in important matches at the end of the season. After working with Guardiola, Doku was able to develop into a tactically astute player rather than a speedy winger.
All City players are versatile and can fill a variety of roles. In this way, Ederson often becomes the team’s first playmaker, speeding up attacks with long passes and accurate passes to defenders. Doku, on the other hand, combines the functions of a winger and a striker, allowing Haaland to play his usual role.
With a strong support group in Foden, Alvarez and Doku, and a mentor in De Bruyne, Erling will have ongoing help. Now City must test the effectiveness of their attacking system against their toughest opponents in the Champions League play-offs.
But let’s not forget the Citizens’ other creative player, Bernardo Silva. He is still underestimated by many, but his footballing arrogance makes him unique. Thanks to a strong squad and youth development, Manchester City are the obvious favorites for the upcoming major European cups.
Next week’s Rampage will be pre-empted on Friday again and will instead air immediately following the conclusion of Dynamite on TBS on Wednesday night.
The show did benefit from having an AEW show as its lead-in when it tagged along with both Dynamite and Collision so despite losing its Friday night slot, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
For Wednesday, Rampage will be live.
In other AEW-related programming, Collision will take a break next week and will not be airing on TNT on Saturday due to other sports programming on the schedule. The show returns the following week on May 11.
Darby Allin got hit by a bus in New York City while crossing the street, busting up his nose and face in the process.
“That awkward moment when your crossing the street in New York with a broken foot and get hit by a bus…” Allin wrote in a post on Instagram, sharing two photos, one especially up close of his busted up face.
That did not stop him from watching a Broadway play though, despite his unpleasant encounter with the bus.
The daredevil was supposed to climb Mount Everest but after months of intense training, he broke his foot in Sting’s final match at Revolution and had to postpone the climb to a later date.
Nic Nemeth’s post-WWE career continues to climb to new heights as he won the vacant AAA Mega Title last night against old rival Alberto El Patron during the Triplemania XXXII show.
Nemeth won the match after a low blow and a Zig Zag finisher. The man formerly known as Dolph Ziggler is also the current IWGP Global champion and missed out on the chance to win the TNA World title at Rebellion last week.
After the match ended, Nemeth was presented with the title by Marisela Pena, the promoter of AAA.
The show was held at the Mobil Super Stadium in Monterrey, Mexico and their match opened the broadcast.
Nemeth, as Ziggler, cashed in his WWE Money In The Bank briefcase on El Patron back in 2012 on the Raw After Mania, with the two creating one of the biggest moments in Monday Night Raw history with an electric crowd on hand.
With his contract expiring in a couple of weeks, Drew McIntyre has put pen to paper and is staying put in WWE.
The news was revealed by…The Final Boss in a post on Instagram, who gifted McIntyre a beautiful Scottish Claymore, surprising him while he was having dinner.
“Man of my word…as you’re a man of yours,” The Rock posted on Instagram. “Congratulations @dmcintyrewwe on signing your new @wwe deal.”
There was also a video of staff members coming to deliver a note to McIntyre while another one held the Claymore.
“As we talked about after your #WrestleMania match, I know this Scottish Claymore represents everything that you, your family and your country embody,” The Rock continued. “As you know, I wanted to personally hand deliver this gift to you at your meeting with Nick Khan, but I had warm cheat meals and chilled tequila waiting for me!”
The Rock congratulated McIntyre for his hunger, passion, climbing that mountain, and always entertaining the fans.
The video shows McIntyre reading the note, and then handing it over to his wife, telling her that he’s a man of his word. He then stands up to accept the gift, looks at the camera, and says, “Thank you brother, man of your word.”
Tony Khan came out before the show. In a neck brace. And thanked the fans. And promised they’d give an update on his status during the show proper. He also promised an ‘awesome’ show with the world’s best wrestlers. More specifically, he said the world’s best wrestlers were backstage. So I guess he wasn’t technically lying 😉.
*****
Right to the show, no intro, Swerve out. Schiavone lied and said they had a ‘phenomenal crowd.’ Very few folks here again. Lights low, noise too.
Nana introduced him as the ‘Boss of Bosses, the Anointed One, one hell of a wrestler,’ and the AEW Champ. Fans chanted ‘Thank you Swerve.’ Can you just listen to the dude?
Swerve ran down what happened in the past week – Willow winning, Ospreay/Danielson and etc. And then… ‘Jack Perry’ took out Tony Khan, ‘a man who put all his faith in me.’ (Guess you could write off that ‘faith’ as him signing Swerve to AEW but that sounded very much like this is all fake and Tony picked him to be the champ.) And the Elite too. He again mentioned he’d done some ‘horrible things’ but four elite athletes taking out a non-fighter ‘sounds like a bitch move to me.’
But the most important thing this week was Swerve Strickland becoming the new champ. Yes, he used the third person. He said the real best in the world is whoever holds the AEW belt. The night he won the title, his oldest daughter said she was proud of him but didn’t know him. Due to missed birthdays, games and etc.
He can’t make up for the lost time but he can blaze a trail and make sure it was all worth it.
He knocked down everybody AEW put in front of him. So he wants to defend the title tonight. But only against somebody who really wants to fight. He was leading a ‘Whose house?’ chant when Claudio came out.
They went face to face, Claudio grabbed the mic Swerve was holding and said ‘You’re on.’ Swerve started leading another chant when Claudio snatched the mic back and said it would be his house. So, pointless match, obvious finish, title matches are cheap and the BCC are heels again. At least for the next two hours.
Really wish Swerve’d stop mentioning the ‘horrible things’ he did.
*****
To the announcers, Schiavone played up how disgusting what happened to Tony Khan was before sending to a package documenting things. From the Elite arriving at the start of the night to the attack at the end of it.
Schiavone said Khan suffered multiple head and neck injuries. He’s been advised not to travel but will run the company from Jacksonville while they go on the road. Nigel asked what’d happen if something went wrong on the road, speculating that the EVP’s would be forced to step in.
Don’t really like him not being in worse shape just a few days later but I guess it was hard to pretend when he appeared during the NFL draft.
But…. What about fines? Suspensions? Firings? Anything? They just showed us Punk getting fired for shoving somebody and grabbing a front facelock.
Action Andretti & Top Flight vs Bullet Club Gold (Trios Titles)
Backstory: NONE
We ‘might have seen’ Jay White’s challenge for this match on ‘social media’…
White and Dante to start. Headlock, whip, White shoulder block, Dante to the corner, ducking out, dodging and striking until a White dragon screw. Chops in the corner, Colten in. Schiavone’s word of the night is ‘phenomenal,’ since it apparently describes Colten’s singles career. Seriously.
The heels cornered Martin, quick tags, Colten floatover suplex for two. Nigel said the Elite hadn’t faced punishment for Weds because they’re EVPs. Already cutting corners, doesn’t bode well.
Darius in to run wild, bulldog through the ropes, Andretti took out Colten via tope con hiro. Darius got two on Austin via flatliner. But was drilled by a White lariat outside then front-suplexed onto the apron.
Ads.
The heels cut the ring off on Darius, working him over, mocking the other faces. Darius tried to fight back, landed an enziguri, both down. But the Gunns came in to cut the ring off. But some heel buffoonery allowed the tag.
Andretti in with a bag full of lariats, handspring double back elbow, split leg missed but he rolled through to hit an enziguri on Colten then Spanish fly on Austin for two. Very nice hot tag. Dante then took out all three heels via tope con hiro.
Top Flight did their double team tornado ddt off Darius’ chest, standing moonsault for two. Andretti and Austin were left, Action to the top, Colten took the ref, White crotched him, Dante saved Action from a Bladerunner; took a uranage and 3:10 to Yuma.
Action landed on his feet out of a sleeper suplex, shotgun in the corner, to the apron, springboard 450 missed, handspring caught into a Bladerunner, win.
Nothing about the presentation here suggested Jay White is anything special or there are any plans for him. Fun, fast opener but nothing more than filler.
Winner: Bullet Club Gold
Clips of the tag title match from Dynasty. Until showing Jack Perry (complete with massive crowd pop from the Dynasty crowd – this is your new nasty heel). The announcers breezed over FTR being out but said they’d be back soon (Dax has a concussion, which they didn’t mention).
Oh yeah and Rey Fenix is back next. As is Rush later on. Must be biiiiiig stars right to get such a buildup?
*****
House of Black spooky promo aimed at Adam Copeland. They accepted the Cope Open as a trio. But Copeland won’t know who he’s facing till Wednesday. Fairly sure he can narrow it down to two anyway.
Rey Fenix vs the Beast Mortos
Backstory: Nil
Remember when Rey vs Kenny was a Dynamite main event? More people than are currently watching certainly do.
Fighting to the corner, Mortos walked through chops and landed his own and a big open hand, Fenix slumping. Caught out of a springboard cross body, Rey slipped out, they did lots of gymnastics into a Mortos powerslam.
Mortos then aimed a spinning dive through the ropes (we only caught the end of it due to the way it was filmed). Cool move; this is the total opposite of how you make a returning wrestler feel a big deal.
Mortos easily fought off Rey again back inside, bulldog, weak armdrag, Rey down again. Very delayed pin still got two so Rey basically lost. Mortos began targeting the hip injury Rey’s returning from. Fenix screaming in a leg grapevine until getting the ropes then rolling outside.
Getting Billy Gunn/Jay White flashbacks now: Mortos drubbing Rey around ringside. Then trying to remove the mask inside. Then smashing Rey down again. Then going after the mask again.
Rey struggled to his feet then was smashed back down via shoulder block.
Ads.
Rey finally got some offense: rebound heel kick, roundhouse and thrust kicks with Mortos on his knees, Rey hit a twisting chestbreaker but went down selling his own knee. Looked very strange. Got two, went to the corner, ran up Mortos to stomp his head/shoulders, like he was damn River dancing on dude’s head. Mortos hit back via spear.
Both down.
Mortos then just sprang himself outside off the buckle. For some reason. Rey followed via tornijo from the top. Fans into Rey here. Miraculously after how he’s been booked. Mortos countered a piledriver into a lungblower. Then hit a weird behind-the-back kneebreaker(?), didn’t really understand how it was supposed to hurt Rey. He kicked out at two.
Fenix popped up to hit a trio of thrust kicks, rope-walk punt, thrust kick, to the top, frogsplash for two. Rey then got a cazadora for the win. Baffled.
This was so AEW. Good action. But which highlighted a guy I’d never heard of till 20mins ago. And had one of their established guys return from months away to take a beating then sneak a win over said no-name.
Winner: Rey Fenix
Package pushing the Trent/Chuck match for Rampage. Man that feud’s had some tv time this week.
Some woman backstage was interviewing Orange as the audio went wrong again. Schiavone said her name during the following match. But I couldn’t pick it up.
Rush vs Martin Stone
Backstory: Nada
Rush is back, so within thirty seconds he was running Stone around ringside. And Rush is back, so he totally dominated his opponent. As someone who’s supposed to be a star should on their return.
Bull’s Horns within a couple of minutes. He hit another after the bell then posed. Stone earned his scrilla here.
Winner: Rush
The new girl was with Serena Deeb. Who referred to Toni Storm as someone ‘who everybody loves.’ So presumably Storm is a babyface?
Deeb said it’s time to accomplish something she hasn’t done before, become women’s champ. She told Toni ‘This isn’t a movie sweetie, this is real life.’
Not a clue who is what here.
Toni Storm vs Anna Jay
Backstory: The very heelish babyface Jay attacked Mariah May to boos after losing clean Wednesday; the very babyface heel Storm saved the day to cheers
Or here.
They even sent to this as Storm seeking ‘retribution’. That’s what babyfaces do when they’ve been wronged. Nigel said Mariah May is the rare woman who drives both men and women crazy.
They started by working for control, each working the arm, standing switches, headlocks, into a Storm takeover, break, reset. Jay hit a spinning leg lariat in the corner then hit Toni with her ass. Storm responded with ‘almost like a Thesz Press’ as Tony always calls it. Nigel had to tell him.
And claimed Toni learned it first hand from Lou.
Jay went to the apron, Mariah went to talk trash and Toni hip attacked Jay into her. But then helped May up. Leaving Toni open to a Jay draping neckbreaker upon re-entry.
Ads. Easily the most interesting thing on the show so far since there’s an actual story.
Jay hit a hook kick and Gory special for two. Toni fought off a uranage and landed a sky high for the same. Jay hooked the Queen Slayer after an awkward takedown, May leading the fans in clapping for their champ.
As Storm climbed to her feet out of the hold, Jay on her back, before planting her down, Jay ending up in the corner, hip attack, Storm Zero, win. Short as it was, really enjoyed this. Good from start to finish and the fans actually cared. And there were story developments.
Winner: Toni Storm
Chuck Taylor asked Orange not to interfere tonight. No matter what happens. Man that feud’s had some tv time this week.
Ads.
The Acclaimed vs Grizzled Young Veterans
Backstory: Niente
Caster said they’d injure the GYV necks like Tony Khan and send them packing back to the Impact Zone. Soooo… some babyfaces are making fun of the babyface owner being spiked on his head? Caster’s raps are weird.
Bowens blind tagged in to hit a nice neckbreaker/backbreaker combo with Caster. Then slugged it out with Drake. Gibson in for a double-team lariat. Bowens blocked a suplex, hit one of his own, tag to Caster, combo boot to the gut/swinging neckbreaker, barely two.
Gibson got a boot up in the ropes, another blind tag as Drake in, using his partner to spring onto one of the faces.
Ads.
Gibson dragged Caster outside, Drake came diving onto him. Caster sent back in, battling for a tag, finally making it, Bowens all chops, strikes and thrust kicks. Leaping fameasser. Caster blind tagged – the Acclaimed hit scissor me timbers, or ‘Shiver me timbers!’ as Schiavone yelled.
Gibson kicked out of a double team at two. Caster was distracted and left in a heap outside.
GYV hit a combined dropkick from the top across the ring/lungblower for a near fall. And of course it’s all about Billy Gunn so he ripped off his shirt, distracted the GYV, allowing the Acclaimed to hit their usual finishing combo.
I don’t like the Acclaimed and don’t know the GYV, nor did AEW trouble themselves to tell me. So could not find a reason to care about this match.
Winner: The Acclaimed
They started showing Shane Taylor Promotions beating down Shibata two weeks ago but had to cut it short to go to Shibata with the new girl. He used his phone to say he’d fight Jericho Wednesday and STP on Rampage.
Daniel Garcia came in to offer help. His speaking and presence is improving.
The new girl’s fairly wooden (btw not trying to be disrespectful, would love to put her name, they haven’t said it enough for me to pick it up). But it’s her first week so we’ll give her a chance. Nothing if not benevolent.
Swerve Strickland vs Claudio Castagnoli
Backstory: See start of show
Nana brought Swerve out again. Looking like a drunken uncle at a wedding. Putting Swerve in front of a crowd like this for his first title defense does him no favors.
This started with Swerve trying to target the legs but being taken down. Front facelock into a pin. Swerve kicked free, they did a gymnastics routine, wrists clasped, up to their feet. Until Swerve broke the grip. Claudio offered a hand and Swerve accepted. So the Swiss is now a babyface again.
Claudio got a rollup for two then plucked Swerve out of the air into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker the way you or I might do a football. Looked so easy. They brawled up the ramp to the stage and hit a rana, Swerve sent Claudio back in, cross body off the top.
Swerve got two swinging neckbreakers, maintaining his grip through both into a third against the middle rope.
Exchange of forearms, Claudio on the apron, Swerve inside, Claudio snapped Swerve across the top rope but took a punt as he tried to re-enter. But blocked an apron pump kick, muscling Swerve into a military press and dumping him down at ringside.
Running uppercut to follow, ads. You would have no idea the world champion is wrestling for the world championship based on this atmosphere.
Claudio bridged to the apron, tripped and superkicked off, Swerve pump kick from the apron, diving elbow to the spine, stupid dance. Allowing Claudio to land an uppercut then mock the dance and tell the crowd up yours. So now he’s a heel again. Swerve hit his leaping flatliner for two.
Claudio blocked a brainbuster, Swerve rolled through a Ricola Bomb attempt, Claudio bailed outside. Claudio wandered to the barricade for no particular reason, Swerve took ages then ran at him and was propelled up onto the stage, coming off with a moonsault which looked dangerous as hell.
Claudio flung back in, 450, Claudio out at two. The crowd hadn’t chanted anything was awesome yet tonight so figured they’d better get it in while they could.
Claudio hit a leaping stomp with Swerve sat on the mat. They exchanged uppercuts, Swerve shots to the gut, spinning roundhouse; Claudio shook it off to lariat him down. This has gone so damn long.
Swerve muscled Claudio up into a brainbuster, to the top, Claudio not only sat up like a good boy but dragged himself into receiving distance. Then kicked out of the Stomp. The announcers went mental as if Kyle Fletcher hadn’t done the same the other day.
Claudio caught a house call into the swing. So now he’s a babyface again. The swing went for ages. Into the sharpshooter. Again for ages. Transitioning into a crossface. Nigel had to cover for the crowd being dead by saying ‘everyone’s stunned.’
H&A, Ricola Bomb coming, Swerve dead weighted him but took a running lariat. For two. They’re going for long and dramatic. But there’s no drama.
Swerve hit a ddt after slipping behind out of a suplex. Then dragged himself up the buckle and tried a Stomp with Claudio stood upright. It was supposed to be countered into an uppercut but they didn’t pull it off. Claudio got a near fall anyway.
They again tried to cover for the crowd being dead – ‘mesmerized.’ Claudio continued to beat on Swerve until Swerve got two via backslide, avoided a corner charge, German, Claudio totally ignored a pump kick, propelled Swerve up, the champ came down via Stomp, house call, win.
Hell of a finish. But the total lack of atmosphere for both shows this week – due to so few people being motivated to buy a ticket – should tell AEW what fans really think about these very long ‘good matches.’
Claudio finished the match as a babyface (Big Show was getting worried), shaking Swerve’s hand as Nana danced like a total, total comedy goof behind the new world champ.
Storm/Jay – thank god for this, an oasis of characters and stories around a good match, on a show which seemed to confirm Storm as a good girl
Rey Fenix is back
They did show the Khan/Elite angle
*****
But didn’t create any hype around it for Wednesday – no promos from anybody involved, no promised repercussions, we didn’t hear how other wrestlers feel, there wasn’t even any tease/speculation of how Kenny Omega might feel
Rey Fenix was just thrown out there with no hype, as was Rush, as were a new tag team they told us nothing about, as was a new Mexican wrestler they told us nothing about, as was a world title match: there are tons of small things this company could do better, basic promotion might be #1, they’re abysmal at it
Highlighted best by not a single thing being advertised for next week
And a very weak lineup tonight – between it and the crowd, this felt like a pandemic episode
No follow-up on Bryan Danielson – injured, pah, who cares!? There are matches to get to
Appreciate you reading. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
It’s another three-hour AEW block on TNT tonight and Collision should have one of the best viewership this year as the show will have the NBA Playoff match as its lead-in which will surely add thousands of extra eyeballs.
Scheduled for Collision are The Acclaimed vs The Grizzled Young Veterans, AEW Women’s champion Toni Storm vs Anna Jay, and a match for the Unified AEW Trios titles featuring Bullet Club Gold vs Top Flight and Action Andretti. Plus, new AEW World champion Swerve Strickland will have his first interview as champion.
Rampage will follow right after Collision and will have a parking lot brawl between Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor and Thunder Rosa vs Deonna Purrazzo.
With one month to go, AEW’s next pay-per-view Double or Nothing is tracking to be the least-attended of the series so far.
According to the latest figures released by @WrestleTix, AEW has distributed just over 5,500 tickets so far for the show, with the MGM Grand Garden Arena currently set up for just under 7,000 seats.
A typical wrestling setup at the MGM Grand can sit up to 12,000. Last year’s Double or Nothing had 10,500 at the nearby T-Mobile Arena.
Despite the low attendance so far, AEW has surpassed the last time they were there on May 24 of last year where around 4,500 saw Dynamite before Double or Nothing 2023.
Tickets start from $31.25 including all fees and are available now at AXS.COM.
Three more matches were added to the Backlash premium live event for next weekend in Lyon, France.
The tag team of Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair will get a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles as they face The Kabuki Warriors, Bayley will defend her WWE Women’s title against Tiffany Stratton and Naomi in a triple threat match, and Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga of The Bloodline battle Kevin Owens and Randy Orton.
These three matches join Cody Rhodes vs AJ Styles for the Undisputed WWE title and Damian Priest vs Jey Uso for the World Heavyweight title.
Backlash will have a special start time of 1PM ET next Saturday.
CM Punk was indeed at Smackdown last night but did not appear on camera, however he did show up after the broadcast ended its live broadcast on FOX.
Punk said he felt compelled to come out and say hello to his friends in Cincinnati and on behalf of everyone backstage, he thanked the fans for the packed house.
The former champion also provided a little update on his injury, saying his tricep is not at 100%…yet.
“But I am on track and I promise soon, I will be back and competing with all the tough badasses backstage,” Punk said to a big cheer from the crowd.
Punk then talked about how Cincinnati’s own Pete Rose should be in the baseball Hall of Fame but was rudely interrupted by Chad Gable and the rest of Alpha Academy. Gable called Rose a cheater and deserved everything he got for being a fraud.
Gable called Cincinnati a pathetic city and then got in the ring along with Otis to rough up Punk. Punk said he’s injured and one-armed but he happened to know a guy who was recently cleared to compete.
Sheamus then came out for the post-show dark match as Punk headed to the back.
Here’s CM Punk full promo in better quality, including the rest of his confrontation with Chad Gable and interaction with Sheamus ❤️ pic.twitter.com/trDOSSG0i8
The 2024 WWE Draft started last night on Smackdown with 16 picks on live television and a couple of more held afterward on social media.
Triple H, Cody Rhodes, Michelle McCool, Tori Wilson, Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Teddy Long, and JBL did the picks on the show.
In round one, Smackdown picked Bianca Belair and Carmelo Hayes, in round two it went to Randy Orton and Nia Jax, in round three LA Knight and The Bloodline – minus Roman Reigns – stayed on Smackdown, and round four AJ Styles and Andrade were picked.
For Raw, round one went to Jey Uso and Seth Rollins, round two got them Bron Breakker and Liv Morgan, round three featured Ricochet and Sheamus, and round four had Alpha Academy and Kiana James.
In the post-show picks, Smackdown also secured Baron Corbin, The O.C., and Cedric Alexander and Ashante “Thee” Adonis. Raw got Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn, Ivar, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark.
Prior to the start of Friday Night Smackdown, Paul Heyman announced that Roman Reigns was withdrawing himself from being eligible to be drafted as he is not returning in the immediate future.
Heyman said that this is not a negative, but it was a way not to hog the number one draft pick spotlight.
Reigns has not appeared on WWE TV since his loss to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania and is not expected to return for several months. The Bloodline storyline will continue, with his input in creative on the faction, and will eventually lead to his big return later this year.
Paul Heyman was interviewed by Kayla Braxton, and he said Roman Reigns withdrew his eligibility for the draft which starts tonight because he is not going to return in the immediate future.
Jackie Remond is at the Performance Center and will be there to interview anyone drafted tonight.
Corey Graves opens Smackdown in the ring with tables set up in the middle of the ring as he is going to moderate the contract signing between AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes.
AJ is out first and as Cody comes to the ring AJ is sitting and reading the contract. AJ starts and after talking about LA Knight, AJ says that he respects Cody, and they traveled the same roads and had to prove themselves outside of WWE. Dusty gave AJ a lot of advice and he was a good man.
AJ signs the contract and Corey hands it to Cody and of course before he signs it, he asks Cincinnati what they wanted to talk about. Cody says the locker rooms all respect AJ and he is the modern-day excellence of execution. Cody says no matter how phenomenal you are, and this is not a dream match for me, it is a must win.
AJ tells Cody it was wonderful to watch him finish the story but it’s too bad his title reign is already going to end at Backlash. They shake hands and AJ leaves the ring.
As Cody is leaving the ring The Game’s music comes on and Triple H is out to announce a draft pick after he shook Cody’s hand and raised his arm.
Champions are protected so Cody is staying on Smackdown so Cody will read the Smackdown picks, and Triple H will read the Raw picks.
Smackdown picks Bianca Belair first.
Raw picks Main Event Jey Uso.
Smackdown picks Carmelo Hayes.
Raw picks Seth “Freakin” Rollins.
Carmelo Hayes comes out and he tells Cody he always says you come for the king you better not miss, and Melo don’t miss and there is no better way to shoot his shot than against you. Cody tells him he is on tonight, and they shake hands.
Angel & Humberto VS. Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee
Lee hits his finisher project Dragon for the win.
Winners: Rey Mysterio & Dragon Lee
Santos Escobar comes out and says he is a lot of things, but a liar is not one of them and he meant he did not attack Dragon Lee before WrestleMania. They show a video of Carlito attacking Dragon Lee.
Carlito then shoves Lee into Rey and hits a backstabber on Lee and runs through the crowd.
Bron Breakker VS. Cedric Alexander
Cedric started with chops but a reversal into the ropes leads to a spear and a quick win for Breakker.
Winner: Bron Breakker
Nick Aldis is with Tiffany Stratton, and he told her he almost sent her home last week but Bayley changed his mind so she will face Naomi and the winner will face Bayley at Backlash for the title.
Michelle McCool will announce the next round of Smackdown picks and Tori Wilson is here to announce Raw’s next picks.
Smackdown picks Randy Orton.
Raw picks Bron Breakker.
Smackdown picks Nia Jax.
Raw picks Liv Morgan.
Car pulls in and Paul Heyman is waiting for it, and he starts yelling sorry, and Solo gets out and Paul says he is sorry he always got the door for Roman and Solo asked about the draft and Paul said not yet.
Solo tells Heyman he needs him to tell him one more time and Tama Tonga comes out and stands by Solo and then they get attacked by Kevin Owens.
Kayla Braxton interviews Bianca Belair. She says Jade Cargill is the perfect partner to end this problem with Damage Control and when they win the titles at Backlash, Damage Control will have no need to show up on Smackdown ever again. The Kabuki Warriors come out and Jade Cargill quickly follows and as they argue the fight between Tama Tonga and Kevin Owens spills into the arena.
Solo and Tama bear down Kevin and throw all the officials and security out of the ring, but Randy Orton comes out and chases off Solo and Tama.
Bubba Ray Dudley to announce the next round of Smackdown picks and Devon Dudley will announce the next round of Raw picks.
Smackdown picks LA Knight.
Raw picks Ricochet.
Smackdown picks Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga and Paul Heyman “The Bloodline”.
Raw picks Sheamus.
Tiffany Straton VS. Naomi with winner facing Bayley at Backlash
As the match is going on, Nia Jax comes out and attacked Bayley and Naomi tries to help Bayley but is hit by Nia.
Tiffany throws both Naomi and Bayley in the ring and hits the prettiest moonsault ever.
Winner: No Contest
Byron Saxton interviews The Street Profits and B-Fab and they will challenge A-Town Down Under for the Tag Team championships.
A-Town Down Under comes in and trash talk until Bobby Lashley comes in and tells them to get going.
Teddy Long is here to announce the next round of Smackdown picks and JBL will announce the next round of Raw picks.
Karrion Kross says there is more random acts of violence and AOP are beating Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne.
Smackdown picks AJ Styles.
Raw picks Chad Gable, Otis, Maxxine Dupri, and Akira Tozawa – Alpha Academy.
Smackdown picks Andrade.
Raw picks Kiana James.
Jackie Redmond interviews Kiana James. She said she is ready and was surprised and Shawn Michaels comes in to congratulate her.
Kayla Braxton interviewed Nick Aldis. He announces that there will be a triple threat match Bayley VS. Tiffany Stratton VS. Naomi. And he let Teddy Long announce Kevin Owens & Randy Orton VS. Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga.
Carmelo Hayes VS. The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes
Great match but it was Rhodes with the Crossroads to gain the victory.
Winner: The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes
After the match Cody helped Hayes sit up in the ring and said something to him.
As Cody got off the ropes from celebrating, he turned around right into AJ Styles. The two went face to face and shook hands again as Smackdown went off the air.
Tonight’s Smackdown will kick off the 2024 Draft and will also welcome Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes as a full-time member of the blue brand roster.
Rhodes, who missed last week’s show due to being part of the Euro tour, will be meeting AJ Styles in the ring to sign the contract for their Backlash match.
The only match announced for the show so far is Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee taking on Angel and Berto.
Oh, and CM Punk is also scheduled to be part of the show in some fashion.
The Draft tonight will have four rounds for a total of 16 picks and Smackdown will make its first pick.
Those who are available to be drafted tonight are (in alphabetical order) AJ Styles, Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn, Alpha Academy (Chad Gable, Otis, Akira Tozawa, and Maxxine Dupri), Andrade, Bianca Belair, Bron Breakker, Cedric Alexander and Ashante “Thee” Adonis, Ivar, Jey Uso, LA Knight, Liv Morgan, Nia Jax, Randy Orton, Ricochet, Seth Rollins, Shayna Baszler, Sheamus, The Bloodline (Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Paul Heyman), The OC (Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Michin), and Zoey Stark.
According to a report on JohnWallStreet.com, WrestleMania XL had $38.5 million in gate money over the two nights, smashing all WWE gate records.
The report said that the revenue from ticket sales was a 78% increase from WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and 147% increase over WrestleMania 38 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Those figures put the gate revenue for those two events at $21.6 million and $15.6 million respectively.
WrestleMania XL broke all kinds of WWE records including merchandise, viewing, social media, etc. This year’s event outpaced last year’s show by 41% in terms of viewers.
WWE has yet to announce the location of WrestleMania 41 and according to rumors, it’s between Minnesota and Las Vegas. WWE President Nick Khan said that the show will not go against the NCAA Final Four and will be held later in April or in May. While there have been WrestleManias which were held in March, April is usually the month for the show of shows. There has never been a WrestleMania held in May.
