Paul Levesque discusses possible returns of Sasha, Strowman, Wyatt, and The Rock

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09/03/2022

During the final segment of his interview with Ariel Helwani, Paul Levesque was quizzed on four WWE Superstars and their status. These four are some of the most talked-about individuals and Triple H did not shy away from answering without giving too much away.

Asked about Sasha Banks, Triple H says there was a breakdown in communication and time will tell if she returns. He said that resuming communication was easy, but what follows can be a process. He added that it really boils down to Sasha and what she wants to do at this stage in her career as she’s an all-around Superstar and not just in WWE.

“She’s an unbelievable performer that I believe in with everything I have,” Levesque said.

The next star he was asked about was Braun Strowman. Since the interview taped it has been revealed that Strowman will be on Raw this coming Monday and signed a new deal.

Triple H called Braun a “polarizing” character but one hell of an athlete that brings a lot to the table. He recounted how when he saw Strowman the first time, he had no in-ring experience and was just a strongman and loved everything about him.

“I would like nothing more than to give him another shot,” Triple H said.

Next on the list was Bray Wyatt. Choosing his words carefully and making sure to say he means this in the best way possible, Triple H described Wyatt as one of the craziest, most creative people he’s been around. He said that Wyatt’s mind never stops spinning and unless he’s roped in and someone serving as guidance, he would be all over the place.

“He’s a victim of his own mind and creative, but I love working with him,” he continued.

And last but not least, The Rock. Is he coming back for WrestleMania? Triple H said that The Rock is the busiest man on the planet and he hopes that he can settle things and make space for one last meaningful run in WWE. He said he knows that there’s a fire burning inside The Rock and he wants that one more match but he’s gotta do it quick because the clock is ticking, referring to him getting older.

He said WrestleMania in Los Angeles would be the perfect place for The Rock to come back to and they’re hopeful he’ll do it.

Full betting odds for Clash at the Castle

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/03/2022

It is finally here, after 30 long years, WWE is back in the United Kingdom for one of the biggest events of the year. Live from Cardiff, Wales, it’s Clash at the Castle and over 60,000 fans will jam pack the Principality Stadium.

We will take a look at the final betting odds thanks to casino-utan-svensk-licens.info, which are valid by the time this goes to print. Remember, odds will likely change throughout the day so be careful when decided to splash real money.

In the main event, the Undisputed WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns remains the favorite, but not by a huge margin. Reigns is set at 8/11 while Drew McIntyre is currently the underdog with 1/1 odds.

Smackdown Women’s champion Liv Morgan looks like she will be walking out of Cardiff still champion as her odds put her 4/11 favorite against her challenger Shayna Baszler who is 2/1.

Gunther and Sheamus are putting the Intercontinental title back in the spotlight and the Austrian former NXT UK champion is 2/7 favorite to retain the title while Sheamus is 5/2 to finally hit that grand slam.

Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle will go one-on-one in what could also be the match of the night. Rollins is 1/2 favorite at the moment while Riddle is 6/4.

Edge and Rey Mysterio team up to take on Finn Balor and Damian Priest of Judgment Day. As things stand right now, Judgment Day are favorite with 8/13 odds while Edge and Mysterio are 6/5.

And finally it’s the six-woman tag match between Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka vs Bayley, Dakota Kai and IYO SKY. The heels remain favorite from the early odds with 2/7 while the trio babyface team are 5/2 underdogs.

IC title match to feature on major event for first time in over 500 days

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/03/2022

The Intercontinental title has been one of the main titles in WWE for decades but lately, the belt has taken a step back in importance, especially when it comes to being defended on a premium live event.

Gunther vs Sheamus for the Intercontinental title today at Clash at the Castle will be the first time that the title will be defended on a major show since WrestleMania 37 in 2021. Yes, that’s a total of 16-month absence!

Since April 2021, there have been zero IC title defenses on WWE premium live events, with Apollo Crews vs Big E in a Nigerian Drum Fight being the last one to showcase the title on the big stage.

The Intercontinental title is a title that Sheamus has never won in his career and it’s the one left to become a grand slam champion.

Clash at the Castle on Peacock and WWE Network from 1PM ET

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/03/2022

Live from the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, WWE presents Clash at the Castle on Peacock, WWE Network, and BT Sport 2 in the United Kingdom. The full card is as follows:

Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Universal title; Liv Morgan vs Shayna Baszler for the Smackdown Women’s title; Gunther vs Sheamus for the Intercontinental title; Seth Rollins vs Matt Riddle; Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka vs Bayley, Dakota Kai, and IYO SKY in a six-woman tag team match; and Edge and Rey Mysterio vs Finn Balor and Damian Priest.

The premium live event will start at 1PM ET or 6PM local time. A one-hour Kickoff show starts at Noon ET and is free to watch on all WWE social media properties as well as on Peacock and WWE Network.

WWE likely to target attendance record at Clash at the Castle

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/03/2022

WWE had high hopes that Clash at the Castle would sell out instantly considering there were over 100,000 pre-registrations several months ago when the event was announced.

But super expensive tickets put the brakes on sales, pricing out many fans who hoped to be able to attend the show. Over the last few weeks, WWE did slash the prices by half and more, making it more affordable to go but for many, it’s now a little bit too late. Traveling to Cardiff is not the easiest either so that adds to the logistical headaches.

Despite all this, over 60,000 fans will be in attendance tomorrow afternoon and in terms of attendance numbers, Clash at the Castle surpassed each WrestleMania night in actual figures.

But come showtime, you know WWE will probably inflate whatever actual number they have by at least 10%, a common practice which happens at all stadium WWE events.

The biggest attendance for any event at the Principality Stadium saw 74,645 fans watch Wales’ Six Nations decider with Ireland in 2009. Several other rugby matches drew over 70,000 fans over the years. The highest concert audience at the stadium was 73,354, and that was for a concert by the popular band U2 in 2009.

You can probably guess that WWE is going for that indoor attendance record tomorrow at the Principality Stadium even though the real attendance will be around 10,000 less than the number announced.

Paul Levesque takes a dig at AEW “winning the war” during interview

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/03/2022

Triple H took a dig at AEW during his interview with Ariel Helwani after he was asked if the NXT rebrand was due to him eventually failing to beat AEW during the much talked about Wednesday night war but he responded with a solid ‘no.’

Levesque said that “it was never” a war and there was never pressure from the top that they have to beat AEW weekly, just to put the best product they could.

“First of all, they beat our developmental system…good for them,” Levesque said with a smirk on his face.

He admitted that everything on TV is competition to them, including AEW, and he is, to a degree, aware of what is happening in AEW, but does not watch it on a week-to-week basis or pay his full attention to it.

Later in the interview he said that everyone could be a professional wrestler, but not everyone could be a WWE Superstar and described Raw and Smackdown as the NFL while NXT is collegiate football.

Smackdown TV report for 09/02/2022

By

Joe Adams

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09/03/2022

Arena: Little Caesar’s Arena
City: Detroit, MI

This Smackdown was previously recorded so the stars could travel for Clash at the Castle.

Viking rules match is first.

The Viking Raiders VS. The New Day

Both teams beating each other with kendo sticks, chairs, tables anything they can get their hands on.

Several near falls by both teams, the Raiders then double chokeslam Woods through two tables set up on top of each other after hitting Kofi with a shield while flying off the ropes and the Raiders win.

Winners: The Viking Raiders

Sami Zayn is all dressed up in the locker room and the Usos walk in. They are planning Roman Reigns’ two years as champion celebration.

Kayla Braxton interviews Shayna Baszler about her match against Liv Morgan at Clash at the Castle. Shayna says she is going to tear Liv apart limb by limb. Liv comes in and says she will not give up she will rip her arm off and Shayna says I would love to see you try. Liv says watch me.

Karrion Kross is shown, talks about both Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns and says tick tock.

Karrion Kross VS. Drew Gulak

Drew quickly taps out to Kross’ choke/sleeper hold lock

Winner: Karrion Kross

Ronda Rousey comes out next with what looks like a letter in her hand. She said she has an official statement from WWE headquarters, and she wants Adam Pearce to come out and read it. Adam comes out and says there is nothing personal. Ronda tells him to read it out loud. He states over the past few weeks Rousey’s behavior has never reached the level of criminal. And she will remain on probation but will return to action.

Pearce then says if he was in charge, he would have fired her for attacking the referee and security. Pearce then goes on a rant and calls Rousey a bitch and Rousey attacks Pearce.

In the back, Sami Zayn receives a delivery for Roman Reigns, a bouquet of black roses and finds a note that says tick tock. Zayn sits them down and says we will not use those.

Hit Row VS. Maximum Male Models

MMM was double teaming Adonis until Top Dollar gets tagged in and they quickly pin Mansoor.

Winners: Hit Row

Los Lotharios, who came out earlier in the match, comes in after Hit Row and MMM join in attacking Hit Row and the Street Profits come out for the save.

Kayla Braxton interviews Happy Corbin who says he is going to issue an open challenge and whoever answers that challenge will have to crawl back to the back.

Happy Corbin VS. Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura catches Corbin with Kinshasa

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura

Butch VS. Ludwig Kaiser

After a fantastic back and forth match, Butch counters cracking Kaiser’s fingers and hitting the Bitter End for the win.

Winner: Butch

Sheamus then gets in the ring with Gunther who will face off for the Intercontinental Title at Clash at the Castle. Kaiser kept Gunther held back and pushed out of the ring.

Sami Zayn and the Usos are in the ring, they all introduce Roman Reigns who is shown getting out of the back of a car and is greeted with a Claymore right into the car. As the Usos and Zayn stand in shock in the ring, Drew McIntyre comes to the ring. Zayn is out of the ring and Drew gets in the ring and begins fighting with the Usos. McIntyre then dives over the top rope onto Zayn and the Usos who are reunited on the floor. Zayn back in the ring and hits Drew with a chair who gets a Claymore. Drew then slams Jimmy through the announce table. Jey is outside the ring struggling to get to his feet as Drew sets up for a spear through the barricade.

Drew gets the microphone and says he will never stop.

New WWE regime receive salary bumps for promotions

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

In the company’s latest 8-K Form filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, it was revealed that WWE’s newest regime in charge all got a bump in their salary after their promotions following the resignation of Vince McMahon.

Chairwoman and co-CEO Stephanie McMahon had her salary increase nearly double, going from $730,000 to $1.35 million per year plus a $750,000 guaranteed minimum as an on-screen talent.

Co-CEO Nick Khan will have a small bump from $1.2 million annually to $1.35 million.

Chief Financial Officer Frank A. Riddick III has also been promoted to President and his salary increased from $850,000 to $950,000 annually.

Paul Levesque, whose new title is now Chief Content Officer, has gone from $730,000 to $900,000 plus a $1 million guaranteed as on-screen talent.

Ariel Helwani meets Triple H for 75-minute one-on-one interview

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

WWE’s new man in charge, Paul Levesque, sat down for a 75-minute interview with Ariel Helwani for BT Sport ahead of tomorrow’s Clash at the Castle in a new Ariel Helwani Meets episode.

During this wide-ranging interview, Helwani asks all the hot questions that the world wants answers to, including taking over from Vince McMahon, his new role in the company, his health scare from last year, NXT, going head-to-head with AEW and losing “the war,” his career, and what’s next.

It is a fantastic one-on-one interview where Helwani gets all the pressing questions and Levesque held nothing back in his replies.

Roman Reigns two-year championship celebration on Smackdown

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

With many of the WWE Superstars already in Cardiff for tomorrow’s Clash at the Castle event, tonight’s Smackdown was actually taped last week in Detroit.

Tonight’s broadcast is headlined by The Bloodline holding a two-year anniversary celebration of Roman Reigns as champion. The Head of the Table has been Universal champion since August 30, 2020 when he won the title at Payback and then added the WWE title to his collection at WrestleMania this year.

In addition, five matches have been taped, including Karrion Kross vs Drew Gulak, Hit Row vs Maximum Male Models, Happy Corbin with an open challenge, Ludwig Kaiser vs Butch, and The New Day vs The Viking Raiders in a Viking Rules match.

Early betting odds for Clash at the Castle

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

WWE is back in the United Kingdom for the first stadium show in 30 years tomorrow but as of press time, only six matches have been announced for the show which is expected to run around three hours.

Today we bring you the early betting odds for all the matches courtesy of bonusxpert.dk and tomorrow morning we’ll update with the latest numbers. Remember, bet responsibly if you are using real money and know that odds can change at any time.

The main event will pit the WWE Undisputed Universal champion Roman Reigns defending his titles against Drew McIntyre. A lot of the publicity is obviously surrounding McIntyre since he’s back “home” in the United Kingdom but Reigns remains the favorite to retain with odds of 8/15 while Drew has odds of 5/4.

Liv Morgan will be defending the Smackdown Women’s title against former NXT Women’s champion Shayna Baszler. Morgan is currently favorite at 4/11 to retain while Baszler is 2/1 to get the gold.

Gunther vs Sheamus for the Intercontinental title will probably be the most physical match on the card and the Austrian is 2/9 favorite to keep his IC title tomorrow with Sheamus at 5/2. Sheamus needs the IC title to complete his grand slam, a title which has evaded him over the years.

Things escalated to personal between Seth Rollins and Riddle, who got his first name back this week. Rollins is 1/2 favorite to come out victorious tomorrow while Riddle is 6/4.

The trio of Bayley, Dakota Kai, and IYO SKY will battle Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka in a six-woman tag team match. The heels, who returned at SummerSlam, are 1/3 favorites while the faces are 9/4 for the win.

And last but certainly not least, Finn Balor and Damian Priest of Judgment Day are 4/6 favorites to beat the team of Edge and Rey Mysterio who are 11/10.

NXT Halloween Havoc 2022 to be a premium live event

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

PWInsider.com is reporting that the NXT Halloween Havoc show in October will be a premium live event and will not be a special on USA Network as it has been for the past couple of years.

The date which the show will take place on is set for Saturday, October 22. This will be a stand-alone show and will not be piggy-backing on another main roster premium live event that weekend.

No location has been announced but NXT has only traveled out of the WWE Performance Center once since March 2020 and that was in Dallas during WrestleMania weekend for Stand & Deliver.

WWE revived the Halloween Havoc show, made famous by WCW, in 2020 and made it an NXT exclusive along with WarGames.

Tony Khan defends way how Thunder Rosa got treated compared to CM Punk

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

During a conference call with the press ahead of this Sunday’s All Out, Tony Khan was asked about how the company handled the announcements of their two main champions and the subsequent news of the interim titles.

Earlier this week, a user on social media posted a side-by-side video of CM Punk announcing his injury and the news of the interim AEW World title and that of Thunder Rosa and her injury announcement and change to the interim AEW Women’s title.

Punk’s in-ring promo went to over eight minutes long while Rosa was relegated to a backstage interview and was done in a minute or so.

Khan went on the defensive and said that they were not similar situations at all, adding that Punk and his promo was a better draw in ratings than Thunder Rosa. He also noted that he was told about Rosa’s injury just a few hours before Dynamite went on air so there was not enough time either.

The AEW President probably continued to get on Thunder Rosa’s bad book after he claimed that the four-way match between Toni Storm, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, and Hikaru Shida for the interim AEW Women’s title has more interest from fans compared to Rosa vs Storm which was the original planned match at All Out. Ouch!

Tyson Fury to sit ringside at Clash at the Castle

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

Boxing champ Tyson Fury will be sitting at ringside at Clash at the Castle but it’s not known if he will be part of the show in a more physical role.

A few months ago, Fury said that he was talking with Vince McMahon and WWE to see if they could work something out for the show but Fury was not involved in any buildup for the event.

Recording a video which WWE pushed through social media, Fury said he was really excited for this first premium live event in the United Kingdom in 30 years and he will be sitting at ringside to watch.

Fury, who recently announced his retirement from boxing, is rumored to be fighting Oleksandr Usyk in the next few months. Retirements in boxing are pretty much similar to retirements in professional wrestling!

ROH Women’s champ Mercedes Martinez injured

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

ROH Women’s champion Mercedes Martinez is out with an injury and AEW President Tony Khan said that he expects her to return soon.

Martinez was last seen in ROH at the Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view in July where she successfully defended her title against Serena Deeb. She then wrestled one more match a day later and has been out of action ever since.

Khan did not elaborate on what injury Martinez is suffering from, continuing a trend of not revealing details on his stars’ injuries unless they choose to do so themselves.

Dynamite rating for 08/31/2022

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

The All Out go-home episode of Dynamite drew 1,020,000 viewers, down 29,000 viewers from last week’s show. This is the second week in a row that Dynamite pulled in over a million viewers, something that hasn’t happened since January of this year. In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite drew a 0.35, up 0.01 from last week and placed #2 in the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Road closures in Cardiff for Clash at the Castle

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/02/2022

As you can probably imagine, the city of Cardiff will be a very busy one tomorrow with over 60,000 wrestling fans descending on the streets for Clash at the Castle.

There will be several road closures tomorrow as city officials prepare for the arrival of the fans, with a full city center road closure in place starting from Noon to Midnight. No cars will be allowed in or out on health and safety grounds to ensure people can safely enter and leave the stadium.

Meanwhile, those using cars to go to the show should note that access to certain roads will be closed from 7AM to ensure vehicles do not park in the road closure area.

Trains will be running a full timetable on Saturday although as you can probably imagine, they will be packed. There is a train station right in front of the stadium so fans can use that for arrival and departure.

For more information on road closures and train schedule, visit VisitCardiff.com and tfw.wales.

Former WWE Performance Center creative producer Ryan Katz returning

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/01/2022

Former WWE creative producer Ryan Katz is returning to the company and resuming his work with NXT. Katz, a member of Triple H’s original black and gold team, was released in January of this year after seven years working in NXT helping to build the brand.

Katz confirmed the news himself during the Oh, You Didn’t Know podcast with Road Dogg and as a result of his return, he is also leaving the podcast he co-created with James.

James, who was also recently re-hired to serve as VP of Live Events, said that both of them got released on the same day and now they are returning almost together.

Katz said that he still is not sure what his title will be or what his role will be moving forward but all he knows is that he’s back and was supposed to start today, but that got pushed back for a few.

The 45-year-old former wrestler joined WWE in May 2015 as Creative Producer at the Performance Center.

Bobby Fish departs AEW, now a free agent

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/01/2022

Multiple insiders reported today that Bobby Fish has finished up with AEW and his contract ran out yesterday.

Fish is one of those whose contract was not renewed by the company and effectively ends the reDRagon team with Kyle O’Reilly.

The former NXT Tag Team title holder arrived in AEW in October of last year and then joined his former Undisputed Era leader Adam Cole. The two were eventually joined by another former UE member, Kyle O’Reilly.

Fish has not been used much lately and the injury to Adam Cole didn’t help things. He has not wrestled since July on an episode of Dark Elevation and last appeared on TV on August 3.

He is one of the many former NXT talent who were signed to AEW after getting cut from WWE in 2021.

WWE signs major broadcast TV and Network deal in the Caribbean

By

Colin Vassallo

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09/01/2022

WWE and C&W Communications today announced a major broadcast partnership that will see Flow TV – the leading TV service in the region – become the new home of WWE Network across the Caribbean.

The partnership includes all WWE Premium Live Events, kicking off with Clash at the Castle this Saturday, available for customers subscribed to the Flow Sports packages on Flow Sports Extra Channel 4. WWE Network’s full library of original and archived programming will be available to stream on-demand via Flow TV VOD to all CWC Flow TV subscribers.

Additionally, linear channel Flow 1 will continue to broadcast live weekly episodes of Raw, SmackDown and NXT 2.0 to all CWC Flow TV and BTC TV subscribers.

“We are excited to expand our successful partnership with CWC into the future,” said Matt Drew, Senior Vice President, WWE International. “By delivering our Premium Live Events starting with Clash at the Castle, as well as WWE’s massive content library, we believe it will be easier than ever for fans across the region to enjoy everything that WWE has to offer.”

Britta Reinhardt, Chief Commercial Officer, Consumer Markets said, “Flow/BTC is delighted to be the new home of WWE in the region. This partnership is exciting news for our customers and will deliver thousands of hours of premium entertainment content across our markets. WWE has consistently ranked amongst the most watched content by our subscribers and now with additional access to WWE Premium Live events promises to deliver even greater value for our Flow/BTC customers.”

All WWE live programming, Premium Live Events, original shows and archived content will be available through the Flow Sports App, in a dedicated WWE Network section, later this year. Fans will enjoy the very best of WWE alongside Flow Sports content from UEFA Champions League, Europa League, Bundesliga, IPL, West Indies Cricket (away series), International Cricket, Diamond League, and Championship Boxing.