It feels like the dust has barely settled on the last Royal Rumble event. But while the triumphant victory by Edge in Florida seems like it was just yesterday, it seems that many people are already prepping for the next Royal Rumble.
This massive wrestling event is still many months away, but a good number of the sportsbooks featured in the shortlist of wetten.com betting apps available in Canada are already putting on bets for Royal Rumble 2022.
It already promises to be a wrestling showdown with a difference. The event normally takes place in January, but it looks like the expansion of the NFL season could push next year’s Royal Rumble into February. This could have a knock-on effect of reducing the WWE preseason to just three weeks. So who do the sportsbooks think has the best chance of winning next year’s Royal Rumble?
Brock Lesnar in the spotlight
It’s not a huge surprise to find that Brock Lesnar is edging ahead in the men’s Royal Rumble odds. The 43-year old left WWE 2020 but the early signs are that he could be set for a major comeback next year. There are certainly plenty of fascinating feuds that Lesnar could pick up when he returns, and his comeback would certainly be the big wrestling story of the season.
However, few people would argue with the fact that Roman Reigns is best-placed to stop Lesnar making that glorious comeback. Much depends on how Reigns fares in his upcoming fight with Daniel Bryan, plus it’s worth noting that WWE organizers are tipped to put Reigns in action against Cesaro in the coming months. But in his current role as WWE Universal Champion, it seems that Reigns definitely has momentum on his side.
There’s also plenty of debate about where Big E would fit in Royal Rumble. Some sportsbooks have the 35-year old down as being the clear favorite, while others have the fighter down as an outsider. There is no doubt that Big E has been enjoying himself since he split from Kofi Kingston and Woods in the 2020 WWE Draft. With a seriously impressive Intercontinental Championship win, it’s little wonder that many people are tipping Big E to pick up the Universal Title this year. But whether the wrestler can go on to win the 2022 Royal Rumble is anybody’s guess.
It’s interesting to see that relatively few sportsbooks have Edge down to repeat his impressive Royale Rumble victory of 2021. Instead it looks like other wrestlers like Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley have a better chance. Plus with The Rock and Daniel Bryan in the running, it’s easy to see why it could be the best Royal Rumble yet.
Rhea Ripley on course for major win
After last year’s defeat in Wrestlemania, some people were writing Rhea Ripley off. But it looks like the wrestler has well and truly bounced back by becoming the first Australian to win the Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 37 last month.
As such, it’s little wonder that most sportbooks have Ripley to succeed in Royal Rumble 2022. But to do that, Ripley would have to somehow get past other hotly tipped contenders like Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Shayne Baszler.
We should note the fact that a few sportsbooks had Ronda Rousey tipped to succeed at next year’s Royal Rumble. But the wrestler has just announced that she’s expecting her first child. All of which shows that there are some things that can slow down even the most fearsome fighters.
The six individuals who will be participating in the number one contender’s match for the Impact World title were finalized yesterday on Impact on AXS TV.
In the qualifying matches that took place on the broadcast, Moose defeated James Storm, Chris Sabin beat Rhino, and Trey Miguel defeated Rohit Raju. The three will now join Sami Callihan, Matt Cardona, and Chris Bey at the Under Siege Impact Plus show on May 15 to see who will be taking on Kenny Omega, presumably at the next pay-per-view Slammiversary.
Speaking of Omega, the triple champ will be headlining Under Siege when he teams with The Good Brothers to take on the Impact Tag Team champions FinJuice and Eddie Edwards in a six-man tag team match.
The highly-anticipated Blood & Guts episode of Dynamite on TNT drew 1,090,000 viewers this week, up 201,000 viewers from last week’s episode. This was the third most-watched episode of Dynamite for 2021. The show did a 0.42 in the 18-49 demographic and for the first time ever it finished #1 on the top 50 cable chart. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Young Rock’s season one finale, titled Election Day, disappointed in the TV ratings and drew a season low of 2,363,000 viewers, down 33,000 viewers from last week’s show. The show was #4 in the 18-49 demo with a 0.52 rating. The series was picked up by NBC for another season.
WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon was honored by Variety in their 2021 New York Women’s Impact Report. The report highlights the talent, executives and producers that are making an impact on the entertainment industry and who have prevailed under often challenging circumstances.
Her profile on the Variety reports reads, “A fourth-generation wrestling promoter, McMahon has done it all for the WWE, starting off as a model, then writing, overseeing and acting in its storylines. Since 2013, she’s helped steer its business and PR strategies as chief brand officer. In January, she helped close a streaming deal with Peacock, but her biggest thrill came in April when the WWE held its first in-person event in more than a year, WrestleMania 37 in Tampa.”
The number one contender for Kenny Omega’s AEW World title will be decided next week on Dynamite.
The match will feature two of AEW’s most popular stars in Pac and Orange Cassidy, with both getting their first crack at the top AEW gold.
The winner of the match will get his shot at Omega at the upcoming Double or Nothing pay-per-view on May 30. The pay-per-view will be held in Jacksonville in front of a full crowd, the first for AEW since the pandemic started.
Meanwhile, AEW also announced that Hikaru Shida will be taking on Dr. Britt Baker at Double or Nothing for the AEW Women’s title. That’s the only other match announced for the show so far.
Episode 18 of season two of Miz & Mrs, titled Mizaninversary, drew a total of 693,000 viewers, up 23,000 viewers from last week’s episode. It did 0.22 in the 18-49 demo and placed #12 in the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The third season of Dark Side of the Ring premieres tonight on Vice with a highly-anticipated two-hour show on Brian Pillman.
The first hour of the Pillman episode was released by Vice earlier this week on digital but it will air on TV for the first time tonight starting at 9PM ET.
Season three will have a total of 14 episodes and will be split in two, with the second part airing in the Summer. Other episodes running in the first half of this season are WCW/NJPW Collision In Korea, Nick Gage, The Ultimate Warrior, Grizzly Smith and his family, and The Dynamite Kid. The second part will consist of the WWE steroid trial, FMW, Luna Vachon, WWE’s plane ride from hell, XPW, Johnny K-9, and Chris Kanyon.
All episodes will be narrated by Chris Jericho, who returns after he did the narration for the second season. Interviews conducted for these episodes included Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Jon Moxley, Mick Foley, Diamond Dallas Page, Eric Bischoff, Jim Ross, Jim Cornette, David Arquette, Antonio Inoki, Rob Van Dam, Terry Funk, and the former wife of Ultimate Warrior, Shari Tyree.
NXT this week drew 761,000 viewers, up 23,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. While the number is up around 100,000 from the average it had been doing against AEW, it’s down from the 800,000 number it did after two weeks with no AEW competition. The show did 0.18 rating in the 18-49 demo and landed #21 on the top 50 cable chart. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
AEW presented its first Blood & Guts match last night on Dynamite with The Inner Circle taking on The Pinnacle in a five-on-five match that saw a hell lot of blood. In fact, Dynamite kicked off with a parental discretion advisory, pretty much suggesting what was about to come.
It was The Pinnacle – the team of MJF, Wardlow, Shawn Spears, and FTR – who came out victorious in the match as they made Sammy Guevara surrender. Guevara only surrendered because MJF threatened to throw Chris Jericho – both of who were heavily bleeding – from the top of the cage and said that if no one surrendered, Jericho would take flight.
The young AEW star then surrendered, giving the win to The Pinnacle. “They saved Jericho,” Schiavone said. “Good God, thank God!”
But MJF lied as after the match was officially over, he still pushed Jericho from the top of the cage and the former AEW World champion landed on a very padded section covered with plywood that looked like metal.
Appearing on today’s Busted Open Radio, AEW President Tony Khan announced that the Double or Nothing pay-per-view in late May will have 100% capacity.
Typically held in Las Vegas, this year’s show will take place at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville and as things stand it will be the first AEW show to welcome a full house.
Apart from that, Khan also said that there will be a live Dynamite on TNT the day before the pay-per-view and during the day on Saturday there will be a fan interaction event.
There will be just under 2,000 fans in attendance for tonight’s Blood & Guts Dynamite which will be the company’s largest attendance since March of last year.
Double or Nothing will be held on Saturday, May 30.
Impact Wrestling today announced an agreement with Samsung TV Plus, giving viewers unprecedented access to Impact’s extensive library of premium professional wrestling content through both a dedicated Impact Wrestling Channel and on VOD.
Samsung TV Plus is one of the leading free ad-supported streaming services, offering viewers instant access to over 160 channels, packed with news, entertainment, and more. Samsung TV Plus comes pre-installed on 2016-2021 Samsung Smart TVs and is available on select Samsung Galaxy devices, making it even easier to watch live and on-demand TV anytime, anywhere. Samsung TV Plus users can enjoy Impact’s dedicated channel now, conveniently located on channel 1164.
“This new partnership presents an invaluable opportunity for us to bring Impact Wrestling’s exclusive premium content to even more viewers across the country,” said Jaime Pollack, Anthem’s Chief Revenue Officer for its Sports Media Group. “We are excited to share our deep, generation-spanning library with Samsung TV Plus’ audience—giving wrestling fans both old and new a chance to enjoy all of the larger-than-life personas, legendary matches, and gripping story-telling that IMPACT Wrestling is known for.”
AEW today announced the launch of their new global online shop for official merchandise at Global.ShopAEW.com.
The new store will allow fans from 224 different countries to order through the website and save up to 60% on shipping costs and reduced delivery times by up to 50%.
The merchandise will ship directly from AEW’s global distribution warehouses in six different countries – Canada, Mexico, Spain, Latvia, Japan, and Australia.
“We now have a world-class online shop to go with our world-class roster, and we’re thrilled to be able to share the hottest AEW merchandise with our fans around the globe,” said Dana Massie, Chief Marketing and Merchandising Officer at AEW.
One of the biggest Dynamites in history will take place tonight on TNT with AEW’s version of WarGames, Blood & Guts, dominating most of the broadcast.
Blood & Guts will have two rings inside a big cage with The Inner Circle – Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Ortiz, Santana, and Sammy Guevara – versus The Pinnacle – featuring MJF, FTR, Shawn Spears, and Wardlow.
The Pinnacle won the coin toss last week so they will have numerical advantage. The first two men will wrestle for five minutes and additional team members will enter at two minute intervals. Once all five members of each team are in the cage, the match officially begins and the only way to win is to make your opponent submit or they quit.
While originally this match was supposed to be the only one for the broadcast, AEW is hyping four other matches for the show. These matches are believed to be taped and only Blood & Guts will be live for fans in Daily’s Place.
These matches are Cody Rhodes vs. QT Marshall, Kenny Omega and MT Nakazawa vs Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston, SCU vs Jurassic Express vs Varsity Blonds vs The Acclaimed in a four-way tag team eliminator match, and Britt Baker will also be in action.
WWE is filming a documentary on The Nexus for an upcoming episode of Untold.
Fred Rosser, who performed in the WWE under the name of Darren Young, uploaded a photo being interviewed for the documentary. Rosser is shown sporting a NJPW jacket for his interview and wrote that he proudly wore his NJPW track jacket during the filming to represent “the best hour of pure professional wrestling on the planet,” referring to NJPW Strong airing on NJPW World.
The Nexus, made up of participants of the first season of NXT, made their debut on the June 7, 2010 episode of Monday Night Raw with a bang, and wrecked havoc inside and outside the ring. The group attacked John Cena and CM Punk who were wrestling the main event and everyone sitting around the ring. The segment ended up being the end of Daniel Bryan for a few months after he strangled Justin Roberts with his necktie during the attack and then spit in Cena’s face. By the time the segment was over, the whole ringside area and the ring were completely trashed.
The original group featured the leader Wade Barrett, Daniel Bryan, Darren Young, Skip Sheffield (Ryback), Michael Tarver, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, and David Otunga.
AJ Francis, who is part of the WWE Most Wanted Treasures series on A&E Network, made his NXT debut last night on USA Network, helping Isiah “Swerve” Scott win in the falls count anywhere match against Leon Ruff.
Francis interfered towards the end of the match and caught Ruff mid-air, slamming him onto the security wall outside. That led to Scott to hit his finishing move and pin Ruff to end the feud. On commentary, Vic Joseph said that Francis is part of Scott’s entourage.
The 30-year-old Francis is a former football player where he was part of the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins, and New York Giants, mostly with their practice squads.
He eventually signed with WWE in 2020 and has been training in the WWE Performance Center ever since. He was tasked with accompanying WWE Superstars and Legends on the Most Wanted Treasures show which is currently airing on A&E every Sunday night.
Best slots: from slot machines to the highest jackpot ever
The best slot machines. For some it’s the good old slot machines, for others the modern and 3D slots. Some people love progressive slots and are looking for the highest jackpot ever, while others love slot machines with a high payout percentage (RTP). Luckily, you can find it all online. To get you started, we’ve put together an overview of the best slot machines. That way, you’ll always be playing in pure class!
Tastes differ, also choice: Best slot machines
One day is not like another. Do you feel like trying your luck on one of the many slot machines today, tomorrow one of the progressive jackpot slots might attract more. In search of the highest jackpot ever. It’s cliché, but it also applies to the choice of best slot machines: it’s a matter of taste and highly subjective. And certainly also a snapshot in time. This applies not only to you, but also to us.
Our overview of the best slot machines, shown below, is therefore also subjective. Nevertheless, we tried to take into account as much as possible some important and objective factors in our choice: the reception online (popularity among gamers) and the RTP, because of course there must be enough to win. This has led to a very nice list of the – in our opinion – best slot machines of the moment, divided into several categories: fruit machines, progressive jackpot slots, most popular NetEnt slots, slot machines with the highest RTP, the coolest themed games and best games with both low and high volatility.
Overview: best slot machines of the moment
Fruit machines: to eat, so delicious!
‘Snack wisely, eat an apple’. It certainly doesn’t fall on deaf ears, because especially online, we like to indulge in fruit. Fruit machines, to be precise. Juicy fruits have been flaunting themselves on the reels ever since the advent of slot machines. Thanks to Herbert Mills who, in 1907, replaced the pictures on a classic slot machine with fruit symbols and thus created the fruit machine.
Since then, slot machines have become an integral part of the casino: both off- and online. For instance, on the World Wide Web you can find many digital slots that are inspired by old classics, the old school slot machines from the neighborhood pub for example. Think of Jackpot 6000 or Jackpot Jester 50,000. But nowadays you can also find a lot of fruit machines that have had an upgrade. The juicy fruits are still there, to satisfy the hunger, but they really splash off the screen. We have therefore included these modern games, such as Fruit Spin and Winterberries.
Progressive jackpot slots: win the highest jackpot ever!
Always dreamed of being a millionaire? At the controls of progressive jackpot slots you can not only keep this dream alive, but also realize it. The top prizes of these slot machines often run into the millions. This way you can turn your simple life into a luxurious one in no time. What more could you ask for?
To ask the question is to answer it. Hence, many casino enthusiasts also consider these progressive jackpot slots to be the best slots. And we don’t blame them. They’re fun to play and they’ll make you dream. Now if you want to know more about this amazing phenomenon and get to know the best slot machines of this type. Who knows, maybe you too will be chasing the big money in no time!
Most popular NetEnt slot: the best slots from the top producer!
NetEnt is one of the best known and most talked about game developers today. It owes this popularity primarily to the classic Starburst. Since its release, the out-of-this-world game grew at lightning speed to become a pure hands-off game. Thanks to the many innovative features and the very nice jackpot (up to $50,000).
But NetEnt is of course much more than just Starburst. It has a colorful collection of all kinds of games: from slot machines to slick slot machines with all kinds of original and different themes. But with one common similarity: they are all interesting games. The best slot machines are often also the most popular, so we have collected these in a separate article. Just click on the image below and read up.
Best slots with low volatility
Feel like just playing and having a good time? Then online slots with low volatility are just for you. This is because these slot machines carry little risk (of loss). Moreover, you can often play for hours on end with a (relatively) low stake because you win very often. The disadvantage is that it’s rarely a big fish. If you really want to make a financial hit, it is wiser to try one of the progressive jackpot slots or to go for an online slot with a high volatility.
Best slots with high volatility
Adventurous, not afraid of a gamble and looking for extreme prizes? Then online slots with high volatility are the best slots for you. On these particular slots games, the risk of losing is higher, but you can also cash out considerably more.
Thematic slots: inspired by anything and everything
Fairy tales, movies, imaginative universes, ancient civilizations. You name it, there’s a slot out of it. Game developers not only let their online slots be inspired by things in our current (pop) culture, but also regularly come up with their own creations. Everything must be distinctive, because originality scores. There are therefore quite a few thematic games on the market.
Checklist: Quickly to the best slot machines and slot machines
The above overview will of course help you in your search for the best slot machines, but we can imagine that you would also like to discover for yourself what the crème de la crème of online slots is. It remains subjective after all. That’s why we’ve put together a quick checklist. It’s a three-step process to determine which slot machine is the best for you today.
Get clear on what you want to play
This seems simple, but it is far from it. The sheer number of games on offer makes this more of a case of “easier said than done”. Still, there are a number of ways that can help. One way is to browse through the slot reviews, for example on this site, to get a clear idea of what type of slot and theme you prefer today. Moreover, it’s good to think about the reason why you want to play. Are you going for financial gain or a fun game? In the former case, progressive jackpot slots or games with high volatility are the best choice, while in the latter case, online slots with low volatility are interesting again.
Visit the online casino
Whether you succeeded at step 1 or not, it’s always a good idea to take a look at the various providers. In the game overview of the digital gaming houses you can easily search for options such as theme and type (jackpot, classic, etc.). This way you quickly find the game of your choice or finally find out what you really want to play.
Play and win!
Now that you have an idea of what you want to play and have found the right slot machine, let’s just play. Have fun, and above all, good luck.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Wrestling is reporting that Daniel Bryan is no longer under a WWE contract as his deal expired.
Bryan lost a Universal title match last Friday on Smackdown where the stipulation was that if he loses to Reigns, he would be banished from Smackdown. Following the loss, Bryan was moved to the Alumni section of WWE.COM.
Sapp adds that the company is really pushing hard for Bryan to sign a new WWE deal because as it stands, he could show up anywhere. Bryan has said lately that while he would like to remain part of the WWE, he also wants to wrestle in other promotions and is trying to get some sort of a hybrid deal where he’s allowed to do both, obviously with certain limitations. No one in WWE is allowed to wrestle for other promotions.
The former WWE champion has been part of the company since 2010.
Monday Night Raw this week drew an average of 1,872,000 viewers, up 98,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast.
The first hour started with 1,891,000 viewers and then increased to 1,979,000 viewers in the second hour, before dropping to 1,746,000 viewers for the third and final hour.
Raw was #1, #2, and #3 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic with 0.57, 0.54, and 0.47 ratings respectively. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Three matches are being advertised for tonight’s NXT on USA Network, including a title match.
The NXT Women’s Tag Team titles will be on the line in a street fight as the main event for the show with champions Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon defending the gold against Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell of The Way.
The other two matches announced are Isaiah “Swerve” Scott versus Leon Ruff in a falls count anywhere match and Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa take on Grizzled Young Veterans.
Also, former NXT champion Finn Balor returns to the broadcast for the first time since his title loss at Takeover: Stand & Deliver.
