WWE has announced the full bracket for the Intercontinental Title tournament.
There will be 8 competitors in the tournament. The winner of the tournament will be crowned the new Intercontinental Champion.
AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Drew Gulak, Elias, Jeff Hardy, King Corbin, Sheamus, and Shinsuke Nakamura were confirmed as competitors. You can see the matches here:
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus
Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak
Elias vs. King Corbin
WWE booked Elias vs. King Corbin and Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak on Friday Night SmackDown this week.
WWE has yet to confirm when the tournament finals of this tournament will take place.
This tournament came about due to WWE stripping Sami Zayn of the title earlier this week. The reason for this booking decision was due to Zayn being off of television.
While not confirmed, there\’s a belief that Zayn has decided against wrestling during the COVID-19 outbreak due to concerns he has with getting it.
Zayn won the championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event back on March 8. It should be noted that WrestleMania 36, which saw Zayn defend against Daniel Bryan, marked Zayn’s first and only title defense since winning it.
It was revealed earlier this week that WWE released NXT Rachael Ellering, Rachel Evers in WWE NXT, back in April as part of the mass talent and staff cuts due budget cuts.
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Ellering talked with WWE officials about having issues with the medical team as well as medical procedures a few months back.
At the time, Ellering got reconstructive knee surgery and was recovering from it. Per the report, her complaints about the medical team and their procedures were not received well, which ultimately led to her departure.
She was given two options a few weeks back, but what those options were wasn’t mentioned. However, both of them had her get released in the end. It was noted that she chose one of the options before getting released.
The former NXT star has made it known in interviews that she was interested in leaving WWE on her own before the release.
Evers, the daughter of the legendary manager Paul Ellering, worked the first two Mae Young Classic tournaments. She signed with NXT in January 2019.
The Undertaker will be 70-years-old the next time that his contract with WWE expires. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, The Undertaker signed a 15-year contract extension with the company last year.
This comes after it was noted last August that the former WWE Champion is considered to be a WWE lifer after he signed a big-money deal with WWE in early 2019.
Per the report, the deal came together when WWE Chairman Vince McMahon angrily reacted to the non-WWE dates Taker was booking.
McMahon made an offer to Taker that couldn\’t refuse financially in August that led to him signing the deal. At the time, there weren’t many details about it aside from the fact that Taker could no longer work the non-WWE signing dates that he had started to book.
Taker was pulled from the Starrcast II convention, which ran on the same weekend as AEW\’s Double or Nothing after he had already been announced to appear.
When Taker’s previous deal expired last year, he started to agree to do appearances and then broke character by joining social media platforms. McMahon reportedly got so mad that Taker would actually take non-WWE bookings that he made him a big-money offer.
While McMahon was upset with Taker, the lucrative contract was offered once things calmed down between the two. Going back to 2018, it was reported that Taker was charging $25,000 per hour for non-WWE signing appearances.
Matt Riddle recently did an interview with Fansided where he spoke about a wide range of topics including the potential match against Brock Lesnar.
Riddle has made it known for years that he wants a match against the former WWE Champion with the desire for it to serve as Lesnar’s retirement match. He has called out Lesnar through interviews and on social media.
While Riddle understands that the chances of this match happening aren’t looking good, he will continue to pursue it.
“I shook the 8-ball and it’s not looking good, it’s not looking good (laughs). I’ll be honest. Am I going to stop? No. I really want the match, even if he takes some of the things I said wrong or personal. I get it, I guess.
I mean I don’t, but whatever. At the end of the day, I think I’m going to become valuable enough where he’ll want the match. When I do that and that day comes, I’ll get my dream match. But that’s a lot of work and I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.”
The NXT star thinks the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida would be the perfect place for this fight to take place as he considers it a safe place.
He added that he thinks the match would be good as their styles of a smaller wrestler vs. bigger talent makes for a good clash.
The former NXT Tag Team Champion added that his call outs aren’t something to be seen as disrespectful.
Viewership data is in for this week’s battle in the WWE NXT vs. AEW Dynamite Wednesday Night War.
AEW won the night in total viewers and in the key 18-49 demo, but both shows were down. Here is the breakdown of the live and same-night DVR viewership, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:
WWE NXT Viewership
NXT on the USA Network averaged 604,000 viewers, down from last week’s 663,000 In the 18-49 demo, they drew a 0.15 rating, down from 0.18 last week.
The episode featured Finn Balor vs. Cameron Grimes, Imperium’s Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner vs. NXT Tag Team Champions Matt Riddle and his temporary partner Timothy Thatcher, and more.
AEW Dynamite on TNT was watched by 654,000 viewers, down from the 732,000 viewers last week. In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite pulled in a 0.23 rating, down from the 0.28 rating that the show did last week.
AEW Dynamite featured bouts such as Matt Hardy and Kenny Omega vs. Santana and Ortiz, Chris Jericho, and MJF in action, Hikaru Shida vs. Penelope Ford vs. Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander, Brodie Lee vs. Christopher Daniels, and Jurassic Express vs. Best Friends.
WWE is bringing back the “In Your House” name for its next NXT TakeOver event.
WWE had WWE Hall of Famers Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and \”Road Dogg\” BG James appear in a segment on Wednesday’s episode of NXT where they announced that this event will air on Sunday, June 7 on the WWE Network.
WWE did not mention where this show will take place. The company has been taping NXT television in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University while airing PPV events in addition to their other weekly TV shows from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center.
As seen above, WWE is using the original In Your House logo. Triple H mentioned in his announcement that the idea behind this special is due to superstars and fans spending time at home as of late due to the coronavirus outbreak.
WWE teased in the announcement on their website, “What will be in store when the black-and-gold brand puts its own spin on the iconic event?”
Thursday marks the 25th anniversary of WWE\’s first In Your House event. In Your House 1 took place on May 14, 1995 from Syracuse, NY WWE Hall of Famer Diesel (Kevin Nash) retained the WWE Title over Sycho Sid in the main event.
As of this writing, matches for the show will be announced in the coming weeks.
The May 13, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from the Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University.
The show was headlined by Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher in a singles match after working the opening contest.
WWE NXT Results (5/13)
Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) def. Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher for NXT Tag Team Titles
Tegan Nox def. Indi Hartwell
Jake Atlas def. Tony Nese
Cameron Grimes def. Finn Balor
Kayden Carter defeated Aliyah
Matt Riddle def. Timothy Thatcher.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Rhea Ripley Speaks
Rhea Ripley
WWE had Rhea Ripley do a promo on this show about her issues with NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair.
This is where she did backstage and talked about how she has been thinking about dropping the title to Flair since it happened and it makes her sick. She said that Io Shirai didn’t get the job done and that she considers herself as the person to do it.
Ripley said that she’s willing to beat that belief into Io. He ended the promo by stating that the title belongs to her.
This segment comes after Ripley’s return to NXT television on last week’s episode of NXT when Charlotte Flair put the NXT Women’s Title on the line when she defended it against the #1 contender in Io Shirai.
Flair hit her with a kendo stick, which led to a post-match attack, and Ripley making the save. Up until this point, Ripley had been off WWE programming since dropping the title to Flair at WrestleMania 36.
Triple H and Shawn Michaels returned to SmackDown this week
On Wednesday, WWE had WWE NXT General Manager William Regal to appear on WWE The Bump digital show to announce that there will be a major announcement on NXT.
It was later revealed that WWE Hall of Famer Triple H and Shawn Michaels would make the announcement. So what was the announcement?
It turns out that WWE had Road Dog Triple H and Michaels in the control room where they announced that on June 7 on the WWE network there will be an NXT TakeOver: In Your House special. This will be to celebrate the 25 Anniversary of the first In Your House PPV event.
Road Dog kept bringing up Triple H working the first WWE In Your House PPV event against Henry Godwin. This was supposed to be a comedy segment.
A cool announcement but from right now, WWE has less than a month to build up to this special event even though they just had a stacked card last week with their top two programs for the top two titles on the brand.
Imperium\’s Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner vs. NXT Tag Team Champion Matt Riddle and partner Timothy Thatcher took place with the titles on the line.
This was one of the top matches advertised in advance for the show but served as the opening contest.
It was a fine match with all four stars working hard and putting on an entertaining bout. Thatcher got accidentally kicked in the head by Riddle so he walked out on Riddle. The finish saw Imperium hit their finisher for the win and to win the NXT Tag Team Titles.
WWE had set up this contest a few weeks ago during a segment with Riddle and Thatcher, who were doing a date show parody in order for Thatcher to get to know Riddle better now that he’s filling in for Pete Dunne as Dunne is stuck in the UK due to the virus.
Riddle and Thatcher got into a scuffle backstage that led to them working the main event.
Finn Balor vs. Cameron Grimes in a singles match is in the books after a one-week build.
Grimes actually won the contest thanks to a distraction from Damian Priest. After the match, Priest beat Balor down. Priest revealed that he was the one who attacked Balor three weeks ago.
WWE was still playing up the angle of who attacked Balor up until now. Balor did a great promo last week about wanting to find the attacker. When Grimes popped off in a promo moments later about how he would slap Balor, the former NXT Champion took him out.
The belief was that WWE would be stringing fans along to find out who the actual attacker is. However, that’s the case.
Priest just got done with a program with Keith Lee so pushing him right to Balor shows how highly NXT officials think of him.
AEW made three announcements regarding its Double or Nothing pay-per-view event including a special appearance by the one and only Mike Tyson.
\”Iron\” Mike has made headlines in recent weeks by posting videos of him training for a return to boxing. The 53-year-old Tyson has been teasing the possibility of fighting some exhibition bouts for charity, but his return to pay-per-view will happen under the All Elite Wrestling banner.
The boxing legend is slated to present the AEW TNT Title to the winner of Cody Rhodes vs. Lance Archer.
Right after the announcement was made, Rhodes took to his official Twitter account to comment on the news by writing the following:
“It’s been a privilege to compete in this tournament. It’ll be an honor to finish it. The King of PPV, The Baddest Man On The Planet, Iron Mike Tyson to present the @tntdrama CHAMPIONSHIP.”
Stadium Stampede
Also, a new match was made official. After Chris Jericho beat Suge D on Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite, he issued a match challenge. The Inner circle vs. The Elite in a Stadium Stampede contest.
Finally, Best Friends vs. Private Party to determine the number one contenders for Kenny Omega and Hangman Page\’s AEW World Tag Team Titles has been revealed as the pre-show match.
The threat of #PineapplePete has been vanquished! Now onto more significant tasks – Enter the first-ever STADIUM STAMPEDE at Double or Nothing on Saturday, May 23rd. pic.twitter.com/w8GSWmm08o
AEW Double or Nothing takes place on Saturday, May 23rd in Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place. The following matches are now confirmed for the pay-per-view:
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley vs. Brodie Lee
Cody Rhodes vs. Lance Archer – AEW TNT Title Tournament Finals With Mike Tyson Presenting The Title
Jungle Boy vs. MJF
Darby Allin vs. Colt Cabana vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Fenix vs. TBA – Casino Ladder Match for future AEW World Championship shot
AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose vs. Hikaru Shida
The Inner Circle vs. The Elite – Stadium Stampede Match
Best Friends vs. Private Party – #1 Contenders Match (Pre-Show)
There is a new #1 contender to the AEW World Title held by Nyla Rose and that’s Hikaru Shida.
During Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT, All Elite Wrestling held a #1 Contender’s Match that saw Shida vs. Penelope Ford vs. Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander battle it out in a Fatal 4-Way contest.
As seen on the show, Shida ended up winning it. As a result, Shida has earned the right to challenge Jericho for the AEW Women’s Title at the Double or Nothing PPV event.
The AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view event will take place on Saturday, May 23, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place and will be held in front of no fans on a closed set. Here is the updated card:
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley vs. Brodie Lee
Cody Rhodes vs. Lance Archer – AEW TNT Title Tournament Finals
Jungle Boy vs. MJF
Darby Allin vs. Colt Cabana vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Fenix vs. TBA – Casino Ladder Match for future AEW World Championship shot
AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose vs. Hikaru Shida
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner did so when they defeated Matt Riddle and temporary partner Timothy Thatcher on Wednesday’s episode of WWE NXT in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University on the USA Network.
This served as the opening contest of the show. The finish saw Riddle accidentally kick Thatcher in the head when going for a monkey flip out of the corner. This led to Thatcher walking out and to the backstage area.
Riddle tried to fight them off by hitting some signature moves while alone inside of the ring but the NXT UK tag team managed to get the upper hand. Imperium hit their finisher on Riddle for the win and to win the NXT Tag Team Titles.
After the commercial break, Riddle and Thatcher got into a scuffle.
Thatcher had been serving as Riddle’s partner to defend the gold due to Pete Dunne being stuck in the United Kingdom due to the coronavirus outbreak.
What are your thoughts on Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner beating Timothy Thatcher & Matt Riddle for the NXT Tag Team Titles? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
Vince McMahon has fired back in a lawful manner at former XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck, who is using the owner of the sporting league.
In April it was revealed that Luck is suing for money that he was guaranteed upon accepting the position to run the league in May of 2018. His XFL contract was believed to be worth $20-25 million over 5 years.
On Wednesday, the Sports Business Journal provided some more details on the situation. The firing took place four days before it shut down operations.
McMahon\’s legal team noted in the pre-trial filings that the reasons of Luck’s firing were due to the \”gross neglect of his job during the COVID-19 pandemic\”, \”personal use of a league-assisted cellphone\”, and the signing of a former NFL receiver with previous legal issues despite McMahon previously telling him that he was against the signing.
McMahon also claimed in the filings that Luck left the XFL\’s Connecticut headquarters for his home in Indiana and \”disengaged\” from the league\’s operations.
The lawsuit also noted, “Put simply, at the very moment when his leadership as CEO was needed most, Luck did not devote substantially all of his business time to the XFL, as required by his contract.\”
Daniel Cormier recently did an interview with Sports Illustrated to talk about WWE releasing Cain Velasquez.
The former UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Champion is good friends and a former training partner of Velasquez at AKA.
“It makes me sad for Cain,” said Cormier. “I know how much he enjoys wrestling. I know that he’s going to land on his feet. There is no person in the world I am more confident that will come out of whatever situation in a positive light than Cain Velasquez.”
Cormier was then asked if the release of the former UFC Champion has changed his desire of wanting to work for WWE.
Cormier stated that everyone should consider the circumstances that the world is in right now due to the coronavirus with any moves companies or organizations. He stated that it’s not normal right now nor something any of us have ever seen before.
He noted that to say that it would make you only want to do a one-off as opposed to a contract is a little much. He added that everybody’s doing exactly what they’re doing because of the pandemic.
Velasquez\’s AKA coach has stated in the past that he plans to continue in the pro wrestling world.
Viewership data is in for Monday’s WWE RAW and Friday’s SmackDown. Here is the breakdown of the live and same-night DVR viewership, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:
RAW Viewership
Monday’s edition of WWE RAW averaged 1.920 million viewers, which is up from the 1.686 million viewers last week, the lowest viewership in the 27-year history of the program.
Here is the hourly viewership breakdown:
Hour 1: 1.993 million, 0.59 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.961 million, 0.58 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.802 million, 0.53 in the 18-49 Demo
RAW featured the returns of Edge and Randy Orton in the final segment as well as the opening segment that saw Becky Lynch award Asuka the RAW Women’s Title as she announced she is pregnant. Bobby Lashley vs. Humberto Carrillo, Drew McIntyre vs. Andrade, The IIconics vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross, Aleister Black & Rey Mysterio vs. Murphy & Seth Rollins, and Shayna Baszler vs. Natalya also took place.
SmackDown averaged 2.025 million viewers on FOX in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center. This is up from the 1.885 million viewers that the show did for the previous week’s episode of SmackDown.
The show averaged 2.040 million viewers in the fast nationals, which was up from the 1.919 million viewers a week ago. This number measured the top metered markets.
The first hour drew 2.087 million viewers while the second hour did 1.992 million viewers. For comparison, the first show of last week’s show did 1.941 million viewers while the second hour did 1.896 million viewers.
SmackDown pulled in a 0.50 rating in the 18-49 demos, the same from the 0.50 rating as last week’s show.
Former WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch spoke with People.com following the big news she shared on Monday’s episode of RAW.
Lynch had to vacate the championship because she is pregnant with her first child. She’s been engaged to Seth Rollins since August.
In this interview, Lynch said she learned she was pregnant in April and that the baby is due in December.
Lynch also stated that she won’t be making a decision regarding her in-ring future yet
“It’s just such a joyous time and then such a sad time too. I loved this and I’ve given my life to this. I’ve achieved everything that I want to achieve in this business,” she explained.
“I don’t know what the next chapter is because I only know what it’s like to think for myself when I’m by myself,” the WWE star continued. “So I don’t know what it’ll look like and how my priorities shift and what I’m going to want in the future. So, everything’s open.”
Lynch also talked about how she went through a number of pregnancy tests in April because the first test came out negative. However, she had believed that she might be pregnant and bought more until a digital test that confirmed what she suspected.
Lynch recalled being with Rollins when she took the test and he just threw his hands up in the air as he was excited.
EC3 was back at it again with another warning video posted on his official Twitter account.
This is where he pledged the destruction of his former self, meaning WWE character, and not be the corporately made persona anymore. He also talked about how he’s not reliant on the authority to make out right and wrong as well as finding freedom.
This is all part of his new gimmick that he came up with following his WWE release. He has changed his look by cutting his hair shorter and growing a goatee. You can check out his latest warning video here:
EC3 was just one of many talent and staff who was released by WWE last month due to budget cuts as a result of the financial impact of the coronavirus.
Just a few days ago, EC3 cut a promo in a video shared on Twitter where he put over The Revolt, the tag team formerly known as The Revival.
Just like all that were released by the company, his non-compete clause is slated to expire in July. Until then, he won’t be able to sign with any promotion nor can they legally make him a contract offer or appear on its programming.
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch had a major announcement to make and she did just that.
During Monday’s episode of RAW in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center on the USA Network, Lynch walked out to the ring for a promo while carrying the Money in the Bank briefcase.
This is where she announced that she has to go away for a while. Asuka walked out to the ring and yelled at her for having the MITB briefcase, which had the RAW Women’s Title inside.
Lynch said that the Women\’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match was actually for the RAW Women\’s Title. She gave her the title before telling Asuka to go be a champion because she is going to be a mother. Thus, Lynch announced her pregnancy, and Asuka was awarded the title.
Lynch is engaged to former WWE Champion Seth Rollins. Congratulations to the expecting parents.
Originally, WWE promoted that Lynch would confront Asuka on the show after Asuka won the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match on Sunday at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event
Becky’s last match took place at WrestleMania 36 in April against Shayna Baszler that saw Lynch successfully retain the title.
WWE is set to address the status of a championship that is held by a certain star this week.
According to a report by POST Wrestling, the company will do so later this week, which is likely to be Friday’s episode of SmackDown on FOX since it has to do with the Intercontinental Title.
The championship is currently held by Sami Zayn. The reason for the address is due to Zayn being off of television.
In fact, he last worked a match for WWE last month when he successfully retained the Intercontinental Title over Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 36.
Last month, Zayn revealed in a post on Twitter that recently had his wisdom teeth removed. At the time, people believed that this is the reason for his absence from television.
However, there’s also the belief that Zayn has decided not to wrestle during the COVID-19 outbreak due to concerns he has with getting it. Thus, he has not worked the recent tapings at the closed-set Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
This came at a time where WWE reportedly told employees what they did not have to work during the coronavirus pandemic should they choose. They were also told that if they didn’t work the tapings then it would not be held against them in the future.
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon has decided to shake things up again with his weekly television shows – Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown.
According to a report by POST Wrestling, McMahon plans to move away from the full brand split in order to allow some stars from each show to make appearances on the rival show. This would allow some stars to crossover, which is similar to the Wild Car Rule.
It was noted in the report that the introduction of the new rule will be made during Monday’s episode of RAW.
However, it was noted that the new ruling for the brands is expected to keep talent crossovers to a minimum, which is why it’s supposed to be different from the Wild Card Rule.
With ratings for Monday Night RAW hitting an all-time low and Smackdown seeing week over week declines, the crossover came at the request of FOX and the USA Network.
The company came up with the idea for the Wild Card Rule last year. This is a rule where members of RAW and SmackDown can appear on the other brand.
As time went on, WWE made changes to it by the week regarding how many stars are allowed to appear on the two weekly television shows.
WWE would later drop it and as they did another brand extension once SmackDown went to FOX.
Otis can now call himself Mr. Money in the Bank as he won this year’s Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match.
He beat AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Baron Corbin, Aleister Black, and Rey Mysterio at the WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday night. Just like the women’s match, the contest took place at corporate headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
The match started on the ground floor with Superstars fighting their way to the roof. The briefcases were suspended above a rooftop ring. The men started in the gym and brawled.
They went past the bathroom with Brother Love coming out. Styles was frightened by a poster of The Undertaker before walking into a room where it had blue lighting and a casket. Otis went into the cafeteria and was looking at a pie. John Laurinaitis came driving through on a scooter but Otis threw a pie into his face.
Bryan and Styles brawled into the office of Vince McMahon, who was sitting at his desk, and he told them to get out. They did but had to fix how the chairs as they moved them coming in. McMahon applied some hand sanitizer and went back to work.
Corbin tossed Rey and Black over the side of the roof. WWE had it set up with a barricade that looked like the edge of the roof. The finish came when Elias hit Corbin in the back with a guitar, which forced Corbin to drop the briefcase, which was caught by Otis.
Now, Otis will have a contract that he can cash-in anytime that he wants within a year from this pay-per-view event.
Asuka won this year’s Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match as she beat Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, and Carmella at the WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday night at corporate headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
Just like the men’s contest, Asuka will have a contract that she can cash-in anytime that she wants within a year from this pay-per-view event.
The began started on the ground floor of WWE’s HQ with stars battling their way to the roof as the briefcases were suspended above a rooftop ring. The match started with Asuka diving off a platform onto the other stars.
Brooke went into a conference room and grabbed a briefcase. She thought she had won but Stephanie McMahon walked in and told her that the real briefcase was on the roof. Carmella hit Brooke over the head with a photo.
Paul Heyman was in front of a ton of food with everyone passing him and he tried to calm down the situation. However, Evans ran in and knocked the food out of Heyman’s hand and onto Otis, who threw a serving plate into the face of Heyman.
This led to a food fight breaking out. The finish saw Asuka kick Baron Corbin off a ladder and grabbed the briefcase.
Drew McIntyre is still the WWE Champion after a hard-fought battle in just his second title defense.
McIntyre, who has become the new top star on the RAW brand, successfully retained the championship against Seth Rollins at the WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view event on the WWE Network. This served as one of the top matches on the card.
It was a back and forth affair with Rollins working over the leg knee of the champion. In the end, McIntyre hit a Claymore Kick for the win. Post-match, McIntyre gave him a pep speech and they shook hands.
The program was started on the April 20th episode of RAW when McIntyre opened the show with an in-ring promo about Rollins’ attack. He issued a challenge for a WWE Championship Match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event.
Later in the show, Rollins cut an interesting promo about how he accepted McIntyre’s challenge. He also vowed that he would take the title from McIntyre. WWE made the match official on the April 27th episode of RAW by having a contract signing.
Time will tell whether WWE continues this feud or goes into a different direction heading into the next few weeks.
Braun Strowman successfully retained the WWE Universal Title in his first defense of the championship.
Strowman did so when he beat Bray Wyatt in one of the top matches at the WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view event on the WWE Network.
There had been speculation that Wyatt may be wrestling the match as himself instead of The Fiend. He dressed like his character that appears during the Firefly Fun House segments.
The finish of the match saw Strowman wear his old sheep mask. Wyatt said that he told him that he would find him and that this time it would be perfect. Strowman did the Wyatt pose in front of him and they hugged. However, Strowman took off the mask then stomped on it and hit his powerslam finisher for the win.
The company made the match official on the April 17th episode of SmackDown. Since that time, WWE has been airing Firefly Fun House segments on the show to further promote this contest.
In fact, there was some acknowledgment to their past as Strowman made an appearance on the Moment of Bliss segment where Wyatt gave him a gift, which was Strowman’s old sheep mask that he used to wear while a member of The Wyatt Family.
Looks like @WWEBrayWyatt had a friend unexpectedly show up at ringside! ?
Alberto Del Rio has found himself in a serious situation after being arrested last week.
The former WWE star was involved in an incident on May 3rd that ultimately led to him going to jail. News 4 in San Antonio reported that Del Rio became angry with a woman and assaulted her. The victim had multiple injuries to her body.
Per the report, the victim is alleging that Del Rio slapped her across the head and then asked her what she was doing. She stated to the police that he slapped her again across the head.
Police were told by the victim that they walked downstairs and this is where Del Rio forced her to put on a dress and dance for him. When she told him that she didn’t want to do this, Del Rio allegedly said he would take her son and drop him off in the middle of the road somewhere if she didn’t and also told her not to cry while doing it.
It was also noted that the arrest affidavit did detail the incident and has photographs of the victim’s injuries. This report also states that Del Rio sexually assaulted the victim.
As of this writing, Del Rio has yet to comment on the alleged situation.
Back in March, Del Rio claimed in an appearance on Nos Cayó La Noche in Mexico that he was in talks with WWE about a potential return to the company and thought a deal could be reached sometime in 2020.
It was later reported that there were no talks between WWE and Del Rio regarding him potentially making a return to the company.
Lio Rush has broken his silence on being released by WWE.
The former NXT Cruiserweight Champion was just one of many talent and staff who were cut from the company last month due to budget cuts caused by the coronavirus.
Rush took to his official Twitter account where he issued a statement. Rush also mentioned his new album, which releases on Monday, as it’s titled “Ever After.” He wrote,
\”Three weeks has passed since the news of my release and in this moment…I\’m overwhelmed with emotions, but mostly gratitude.
\”Thankful for the opportunities that I\’ve had and moments I\’ve experienced with the WWE. Whether that was competing in-ring or managing on the outside, I\’ve had a blast. The past three years has been quite the ride! From the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows. I\’ve been tested and I\’ve had to battle my demons like never before. I\’ve dreamed of becoming a WWE Superstar since I was five years old and I\’ve accomplished that at such a young age.
\”Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and with sadness in my heart, I\’m afraid this is it. My story isn\’t over though. Another chapter just needs to be written. I love you guys and I\’m beyond grateful for the love, support, and understanding over the years. A 22 year old kid coming in and a 25 year old man coming out with my head held high. I\’ve always been a dreamer and you better believe that I\’m dreaming big.\”
Lio Rush then announced that his first album is being released on Monday. He called it his \”FIRST MAJOR PROJECT SINCE THE RELEASE.\”
He finished by telling fans he\’d love nothing more than their continued love and support.
Last year, there were several reported issues involving Rush that had apparently led to him getting backstage heat and being removed from television.
Before being removed from television, he was serving as Bobby Lashley’s manager. He returned to TV last September in NXT where he would later win the NXT Cruiserweight Title.
The final betting odds for all of the matches that will take place at the WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event have been released.
The card for the show that takes place tonight (Sunday, May 10, 2020) from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center has been finalized as only matches have been announced.
Make sure to join us tonight for match recaps and our takeaways from this latest pay-per-view event held by WWE.
Money In The Bank Betting Odds
The favorites to win are listed as – while the underdogs are listed with +. Odds call for all three titles to change. Here are the final betting odds courtesy of BetOnline:
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre is favored (-700) to retain against Seth Rollins (+400).
Bray Wyatt (-130) is favored to defeat Universal Champion Braun Strowman (-110)
AJ Styles (-125) is favored to win the Men\’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Rey Mysterio is considered the least likely to win (+1200).
Shayna Bazsler (-145) is favored to win the Women\’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Carmella (+1000) is considered the least likely to win.
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley is favored (-550) to retain against Tamina (+325).
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day (-100) are favored to retain in the Fatal 4 Way tag team match.
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