PWInsider.com is reporting that Paul “Triple H” Levesque tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend and will not be heading up tonight’s Monday Night Raw broadcast.
Levesque will surely be in direct contact with his team during the show but will be doing so from the comfort of his own home instead. PWInsider adds that the former champion feels well despite testing positive.
The CDC suggests that anyone positive for coronavirus should stay at home for at least five days. He was at Smackdown in New Orleans on Friday so if he tested positive on Saturday, technically he would be allowed back this Friday in time for Smackdown if he has no symptoms and no longer testing positive.
This will be the first time that he missed a show since taking over this past July.
Unexplained “legal issues” stemming from the post-All Out backstage brawl prevented Kenny Omega from participating in any way, shape, or form in AAA’s Triplemania XXX this past weekend.
Omega, who is the number one contender for the AAA Mega title, couldn’t even submit a video to be played during the show according to Kennan.
On his podcast Keeping’ It 100, Kennan said that he personally asked the former AEW and AAA champion to record a video but Omega said he couldn’t as there is some legal issue pending.
“He goes, ‘I still can’t because of legal issues.’ So there is something legal going on,” Konnan said. Konnan even said that Omega was originally scheduled to be on the show but the backstage fight changed everything.
Omega and The Young Bucks remain suspended from the company for their involvement in the backstage fight with CM Punk after the explosive post-show press conference. Punk’s status with the company also remains a mystery.
A 10-minute clip from Antonio Inoki’s wake and farewell ceremony was posted on Inoki’s official YouTube channel.
A ton of Japanese wrestlers were present for the ceremony, with Shinsuke Nakamura representing WWE. The traditional ceremony had Inoki placed in a white casket as everyone paid their respects. The casket was open with mourners placing flowers inside but cameras stayed away from getting images of Inoki inside the casket.
The casket was partially covered with a white flag featuring the logo of New Japan Pro Wrestling, the promotion he founded.
The Japanese wrestling legend passed away on September 30 at the age of 79 from systemic transthyretin amyloidosis.
WWE Hall of Famer John “Bradshaw” Layfield is believed to be appearing on several WWE television broadcasts, possibly starting from tonight’s Monday Night Raw.
The former champion and color commentator will have some on-screen role, possibly as a manager, aligning himself with Happy Corbin.
During an episode of Smackdown in late August, a white limousine similar to the one that JBL used during his time in WWE, approached Corbin after he lost to Shinsuke Nakamura and Corbin went inside the limo.
JBL was never mentioned but it looks like that was the first seed planted for JBL’s eventual return on television.
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is one of the main professional wrestling companies, and professional wrestling is incredibly well-liked all around the world. The physical characteristics of the men and women who compete in professional wrestling are undeniable, and like any sport, there are those who like to wager on the results of matches.
Daily sports betting attracts millions of people worldwide, but is wagering on wrestling common?
Is It Moral to Wager on Wrestling?
Prior to delving deeper, it is crucial to take into account the problems with wrestling wagering.
Professional wrestlers are incredible athletes, and they are capable of incredible things in the ring. The majority of major wrestling events, however, are orchestrated in some fashion, so the competitors are aware of the conclusion and the course of the match. Fortunately, the results of wrestling matches are strictly kept secret to preserve the authenticity of the sport.
Additionally, matches’ results might alter just before they start, sometimes even as the wrestlers are about to enter the ring.
How Many People Bet on Wrestling?
In comparisons to sports like basketball, football, and tennis, wrestling is still a niche activity. The major events continue to draw a sizable following, as seen by the packed arenas and the over 2 million viewers of the broadcasts throughout the United States alone. You have a sizable viewership when you include the Europeans who enjoy watching professional wrestling. Even if just 10% of all spectators are interested in betting on the fights, that still amounts to at least 200,000 individuals in the United States alone. Thus, despite wrestling not being as well-liked for betting as sports like football, tennis, and basketball, there seem to be obvious enough individuals interested in betting on the activity for bookmakers to create betting markets.
Even if only 20 people place an online wager on a major wrestling event, those 20 people might also wager on other sporting events or play casino games. Wrestling bettors might turn to gamble pokies, roulette, blackjack, or baccarat. Online pokies in Australia provide games themed on wrestling, and one of the slots is named after the illustrious Andre the Giant.
More Legalized Betting Market in the United States Boosted WWE Betting Popularity
Since 2018, sports betting has rapidly increased in popularity in the US, with 30 states currently participating in a legal market, 21 of which permit online gambling. With two broadcast deals totaling more than $2 billion for the period between 2019 and 2024, WWE has had similarly successful several years.
No matter how much WWE tries to provide the appearance of validity by leaning toward the sporting side of sports entertainment, you would not anticipate those two businesses to merge in any manner. However, there are legitimate ways to gamble on the results of WWE events, and the Royal Rumble, which kicks off annually, is the only event in the WWE universe that can satisfy the realm of betting props.
Due to severe restrictions on what can and cannot be wagered upon, you will not see these bets available at an American bookmaker anytime soon, but a number of overseas bookies and European bookies have been giving lines on WWE match results for the greater part of the last 10 years. Although the WWE is scripted, the possibility to alter results up to the time the wrestlers enter the ring (and occasionally even later) makes betting on the WWE feel different than betting on any other wager that might be considered an entertainment wager.
This does not alter the fact that a single or a small number of people decide how each game will turn out. There are currently the most betting possibilities available for the Royal Rumble at offshore online wrestling betting sites. More than 50 men and women can be typically picked to bet on to win the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble match, but it goes deeper than that. Like Super Bowl props, which have grown in popularity over the years, this year’s offers from those sites and a number of others include, among other wagers, odds on the amount of time spent in the Royal Rumble, the number of eliminations, and odds of making the final 4.
Betting Options for Wrestling
Match Win is the most popular wrestling betting market. It is as simple as placing a wager on the player or team you believe will prevail in the game. The Retain Title market is accessible at online sportsbooks because there is a chance that a contest could terminate without a winner if a title is on the line, but the holder preserves their title. In other competitions, like the Royal Rumble, there are more than two competitors, and you pick the one you believe will win. In the Royal Rumble, it is additionally possible to back teams of wrestlers, and these teams are typically divided into heroes and villains.
The industry for wagering on wrestling online is expanding. While wrestling may not be as well-known as other sports, there are still enough people interested in placing bets on wrestling matches for bookmakers to continue offering odds.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics is reporting that the WWE Day 1 premium live event has been canceled and is no longer taking place.
Day 1 was set to be held on January 1, 2023 live from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. The show was a big success this year and it was said that it would be an annual event moving forward.
But tickets, which were set to go on sale last month, were delayed and no information was given as to when they would be available.
The State Farm Arena website is still advertising the show as of today with a TBA date for tickets. Brock Lesnar was being used in marketing for tickets.
With Day 1 canceled, the Survivor Series will be the last premium live event until the Royal Rumble on January 28, 2023, giving WWE a two-month gap with no PLEs.
Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows will be having their first WWE match since March 2020 tomorrow on Monday Night Raw.
The Good Brothers will be taking on Alpha Academy in a match that was announced on social media. The last time that Anderson and Gallows wrestled in a WWE ring was on an episode of Main Event which aired on March 30, 2020 against Chase Parker and Matt Martel, now known as Angelo Parker and Matt Menard in AEW.
Gallows and Anderson made their surprise return to WWE on the last episode of Raw, coming to the aid of AJ Styles in his battle against Judgment Day.
Anderson is currently the NEVER Openweight champion for NJPW and is expected to honor any remaining dates for the promotion.
Impact Wrestling on AXS TV this week did 94,000 viewers, up 15,000 from last week’s broadcast. The show did a 0.03 in the 18-49 demo, up 0.02 from last week and placed #148 in the top 150 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Rhea Ripley returned to in-ring action for the first time in four months last night at a non-televised live event in Sioux City, Iowa, held at the Tyson Events Center.
Ripley teamed up with her Judgment Day partner Damian Priest to take on Dolph Ziggler and Nikki A.S.H. but it was Ziggler and Nikki who got the victory.
The 26-year-old former Raw Women’s champion last wrestled on the June 6 episode of Monday Night Raw in a fatal four-way match also involving Alexa Bliss, Doudrop, and Liv Morgan. Ripley was injured in that match and lost her place on the Money In The Bank event.
She returned on TV in late July at a Raw in Madison Square Garden, attacking the Mysterio family in a backstage segment.
Stu Grayson, the former member of The Dark Order, returned to AEW last night on Rampage.
Grayson was involved in a backstage segment, reuniting with Reynolds, Silver, Uno, and 10, and said that he wasn’t going to miss AEW’s arrival in Canada. Grayson is also Canadian.
The 33-year-old announced his departure from the company in May of this year after he couldn’t reach a new deal. It’s not known if Grayson is back under a new contract or if this was a one-off since they had the show in Toronto.
The new Bray Wyatt theme song which made its debut last night on Smackdown is titled Shatter and is performed by the American hardcore punk band Code Orange.
The band also performed the song Let Me In, which was used as the theme song for The Fiend.
When WWE tweeted “Bray Wyatt is BACK on #Smackdown,” the band replied that so are they and later replied to a fan that the name of the song is Shatter. In later tweets, the band said to “buy some shit” and they’ll drop the song, which hasn’t been released anywhere yet.
“This some blackmail but I’ll allow it,” joked one Twitter user, before someone else corrected him saying this was ransom, not blackmail. Another fan replied with a GIF of Batista saying “give me what I want” and another one with a GIF of a baby throwing cash with “here take my money!”
Former multi-time champion Sasha Banks continued her career in modeling, this time walking the runway during Los Angeles Fashion Week.
Banks wore Carmen Steffens at The Majestic Downtown two days ago on October 13 and yesterday, Banks also modeled for Diva Fashion Couture. She channeled Becky Lynch by coloring her hair orange for the two occasions.
Addressing the change in her color, Banks posted a GIF of Paramore with the lyrics from one of their songs writing, “Ain’t it fun now you’re one of us!”
Banks has not been seen on WWE television since mid-May when she and Naomi walked out of the company over creative differences.
The Smackdown brand has a new member on its roster in the form of Rey Mysterio! The former World Heavyweight champion officially moved to the blue brand after during the show, he told Triple H that he was ready to quit as he didn’t want to fight his son on Raw.
But Triple H invited Mysterio to his office to talk about it and later in the show, Mysterio replaced Karrion Kross in the fatal four-way match after Kross and Scarlett were involved in the show-opening car accident angle.
Mysterio ended up winning the fatal four-way match after hitting the 619 on Ricochet for the victory and now will be facing Gunther for the Intercontinental title at a later date.
On commentary, Michael Cole and Wade Barrett mentioned that Mysterio is now on the blue brand for good, separating him from his son Dominik and the rest of Judgment Day who have been tormenting him for weeks.
The Kingdom, the trio of Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, and Maria Kanellis, made their debut on AEW Rampage last night just days after their deals with Impact Wrestling expired.
All three have a common friend in AEW, Adam Cole, who was part of their faction in Ring of Honor several years ago.
The Kingdom targeted FTR in their debut and in a later backstage interview, Kanellis said that they came back to reclaim the ROH Tag Team titles. Taven and Bennett were the Impact Tag Team champions up until Thursday when they lost the titles to Heath and Rhino in their last appearance for the promotion.
There were rumors that Taven was on WWE’s radar lately but obviously now that seems out of the question with the trio making their AEW debut.
Bray Wyatt made a dramatic return on Smackdown last night, addressing the fans as his normal self before the broadcast was taken over by a mysterious figure to end the show on a big cliffhanger.
Coming out to a new theme song, Wyatt got a massive superstar reaction as expected. The house lights were off and only a blue/purple light lit up the ring. Dressed in regular clothes, Wyatt said he had a very challenging year, losing his career, self-confidence, and two really close people.
He then addressed the fans, saying that he thought whatever he did before in this ring didn’t matter, but everyone proved him wrong. An emotional Bray then went on to credit the fans for helping him when he needed help, finding him when he was lost, and lifting him when he was at his lowest point of his life.
Then the lights went completely dark and a mysterious figure with the mask that Wyatt wore at Extreme Rules showed up on the massive LED screen.
The mystery man told Wyatt that his life was done and to forget the past and the future and to go with him.
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with. But you will,” he said, as Smackdown went off the air with the Wyatt logo.
Liv Morgan will be appearing on an episode of Chucky, an episode which will air on October 26.
The former Smackdown Women’s champion told USA Insider that she turned into a horror buff as she got older and has been a fan of the Child Play’s franchise her entire life.
“I’ve seen every movie and Season 1 of Chucky was something that I just loved. My fandom for Chucky runs very, very deep — I have like, three Chucky dolls in my home,” she said.
Morgan said that she asked WWE for permission to see if she could be involved somehow in the series and the company got her in touch with the show’s creator.
“We jumped on a Zoom and he was able to write me into the script. It’s been almost a pipe dream come true. It started with an ask that turned into something unbelievable,” Morgan noted.
This is obviously not the first time that WWE and the Chucky TV series worked together. Last year, the Chucky doll appeared at NXT Halloween Havoc as a special guest.
Tonight’s Smackdown will be headlined by an appearance of Bray Wyatt, who will be making the first appearance since the awesome return at Extreme Rules last week.
Wyatt did not show up on Raw but there was another teaser and QR code to promote his appearance tonight. It will be interesting to see if Wyatt shows up alone or with the characters from the Firefly Fun House, who all had a cameo at Extreme Rules prior to his reveal.
A new number one contender for the Intercontinental title will be determined tonight in a fatal four-way match as Sheamus battles Ricochet, Karrion Kross, and Solo Sikoa with the winner taking on Gunther at a later date.
Also, Kofi Kingston takes on Sami Zayn and Mansoor wrestles LA Knight.
WWE Hall of Famer Edge has been cast in the upcoming Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians according to Variety.
Edge, credited under his real name of Adam Copeland, joined Suzanne Cryer and Jessica Parker Kennedy as the latest additions to the cast. The other series regulars are Walker Scobell, Aryan Simhadri and Leah Sava Jeffries.
Copeland will appear in a recurring guest star role as Ares, the god of War. Ares is described as “handsome in a wicked way and arrogant, despite not always being the sharpest tool in the shed. He loves conflict and acts as an agent of chaos wherever he goes.”
The synopsis for the series reads, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.”
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Wrestling is reporting through his Select service that Saraya talked to WWE about a potential return before signing with AEW.
Saraya had a meeting with Triple H, a meeting she confirmed later during an appearance on Chris Jericho’s podcast. Sapp says that Saraya was offered an on-screen GM role again and the possibility of returning to the ring if she ever wanted.
The previous regime in charge did not want to have her wrestle under no circumstances and eventually let her contract expire in July of this year.
But speaking to Jericho, Saraya said that after speaking to Triple H and spending so much time not being utilized there, she spoke with Jon Moxley, Britt Baker, and even Jericho himself and she was convinced that AEW is the place for her. A conversation with Tony Khan sealed the deal for her arrival.
“I haven’t felt excited about wrestling in a very long time so the first day of being here, it was awesome,” Saraya told Jericho. “Everyone is so nice. It’s crazy just how different it can feel.”
Despite leaving WWE, Saraya said she has no issues whatsoever with them.
“I don’t have issues with WWE. I just wish that some things were done differently, that’s the only thing I have against them,” she said.
This week’s Dynamite, the first one from outside North America, drew 983,000 viewers, down 55,000 viewers from the prior week. The show did a 0.32 rating in the 18-49 demo, down 0.01 from last week and placed #4 in the top 50 cable chart for the night. This was the least-watched Dynamite since the August 17 episode. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
