TPIB

The inaugural WWE Super Show-Down will come to you, live on the WWE Network, on Saturday, October 6 at 5AM ET/4AM CT from the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne, Australia. Confirmed Matches/Events Last Time Ever: Triple H vs. The Undertaker WWE Championship: AJ Styles © vs. Samoa Joe 6-Man Tag: The Shield vs. Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, & Drew McIntyre Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz John Cena & Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens & Elias 6-Woman Tag: Ronda Rousey & The Bella Twins vs. The Riott Squad SmackDown Women's Championship: Charlotte Flair © vs. Becky Lynch SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The New Day © vs. Cesaro & Sheamus Asuka & Naomi vs. The IIconics Cruiserweight Championship: Cedric Alexander © vs. Buddy Murphy

Agreed. They might put them on the Kickoff at the last minute but, even so, it will still be lame. I find it interesting that they put the U.S. Title on Nakamura but haven't done anything with him since. They could have kept the title on Jeff and just not have it be on the line at Hell in a Cell. The fact that they didn't do that kind of fuels the speculation that Jeff is supposed to take some time off for back issues. I don't know if that is still the plan or not, but some sort of big spot in the Hell in a Cell match is a good way to do it. I wouldn't be surprised if they added Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Lashley on the Kickoff at the last minute or have some sort of match or segment with them on the main show. As for Finn Balor, they just kind of dropped that whole angle with him and Corbin. Corbin used his power as GM to get a win over Balor but that was it. Finn never tried avenging the loss or anything.

The tenth annual WWE Hell in a Cell will come to you, live on the WWE Network, on September 16 from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX. The official theme song for WWE Hell in a Cell is "Glory" by The Score, which is available now on iTunes and Spotify. Confirmed Matches/Events Universal Championship: Hell in a Cell Match: Special Referee - Mick Foley: Roman Reigns © vs. Braun Strowman Hell in a Cell Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton WWE Championship: AJ Styles © vs. Samoa Joe RAW Tag Team Championship: Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre © vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins Mixed Tag Match: Daniel Bryan & Brie Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse RAW Women's Championship: Ronda Rousey © vs. Alexa Bliss SmackDown Women's Championship: Charlotte Flair © vs. Becky Lynch SmackDown Tag Team Championship: Kickoff Match: The New Day © vs. Rusev Day

To your point, Babatunde apparently hasn't even debuted on NXT yet so The Greatest Royal Rumble was his television debut for WWE. Yeah, I read about Saudi Arabian authorities having a problem with that part of the show. It's one of those situations that I cannot agree with. I basically take the same stance that WWE takes with it; I'm not okay with it but you kind of have to accept it for the time being. I do find it interesting that Xavier Woods' trombone is named Francesca, which implies that the trombone is a female. This technically means that Francesca was the only female booked on the live show. I guess Saudi Arabian laws don't apply to inanimate objects. Yes, the deal is for 10 years and for a boatload of money (I read that the deal is an eight-figure deal). I think that WWE will chip away at the Saudi Arabian authorities over the next 10 years and we will slowly see women introduced to the show in one form or another. Speaking of which, I just read that the Twitter account of The Riyadh Report is saying that WWE will be holding another show in Saudi Arabia in November. This time, the show will be in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. WWE hasn't officially announced this November show yet but we still have a ways to go until November so I guess we will see. I'm kind of surprised WWE is going to do another Saudi Arabian show in 2018. I kind of expected it to be a once-a-year type of thing but who knows? Maybe the Riyadh show will be a non-televised house show and WWE will just make The Greatest Royal Rumble an annual pay-per-view. I'm sure Titus is mortified over that spill he took but, look on the bright side, Titus may have just extended his career in WWE. We know how much Vince McMahon loves that kind of humor so I wouldn't be surprised if Vince gives Titus a mini-push as a clumsy comedy character (which doesn't seem too far off from Titus in real life :lol: ) I forgot to mention it in my earlier post but how about that scary suplex Big Cass took from Bobby Lashley? It looks like Lashley dropped Cass right on his head. Cass got lucky as I saw that he briefly rolled out of the ring after the spot but was ultimately allowed to continue the match. If you're like me and love interesting statistics, here are some statistics about The Greatest Royal Rumble. Daniel Bryan beat Rey Mysterio's 2006 record for the longest time spent in a single Royal Rumble Match as Daniel was in the 50-Man Royal Rumble Match for 1 hour and 16 minutes, beating Rey's record of 1 hour, 2 minutes, and 15 seconds. Unsurprisingly, The Greatest Royal Rumble Match also set the record for the longest Royal Rumble Match in history, clocking in at 1 hour, seventeen minutes, and twenty seconds, beating the record set by 2011 Royal Rumble Match (which was a 40-Man Rumble), which lasted 1 hour, 9 minutes, and 49 seconds. With his performance in The Greatest Royal Rumble Match, Chris Jericho increased his own record for the longest cumulative time spent in the Royal Rumble Match as, in his WWE career, Jericho has now spent a total of 4 hours, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds in all of his Royal Rumble Match appearances. If Jericho spends just 30 seconds in another Royal Rumble Match, he will make it to an even 5 hours. Braun Strowman beat Roman Reigns' 2014 record for the most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble Match, scoring thirteen eliminations (Braun eliminated Babatunde, Dan Matha, Big E, Heath Slater, Titus O'Neil [slater Gator], Tye Dillinger, Curt Hawkins, The Great Khali, Shane McMahon, Bobby Lashley, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, and Big Cass). Mike Kanellis was the quickest elimination in The Greatest Royal Rumble Match, lasting only three seconds. Honorable mention goes to Tyler Breeze for lasting 16 seconds, Curt Hawkins for lasting 20 seconds, Tye Dillinger for lasting 29 seconds, The Great Khali for lasting 31 seconds, Hiroki Sumi for lasting 46 seconds, and Viktor for lasting 51 seconds.

As mentioned, Titus O'Neil really stole the show for all the wrong reasons (by the way, I never thought I would say that Titus O'Neil stole the show for any reason) and, as mentioned on commentary, it was very similar to Titus' trip doing the keg race back in his NXT days. It's no secret that Titus is a big, clumsy doofus and it's obvious that Vince McMahon loved Titus' fall more than anyone. I'm sure we will see six or seven more replays of it on RAW. I do feel a little sorry for the guy though. That had to be so humiliating. In hindsight, I should have done more skipping through the show than I already did. I skimmed through the matches that I didn't really care about like the Cruiserweight Title match, the U.S. Title match, and the two tag team title matches. The Ladder Match had the potential to steal the show but it fell way short in my opinion. The best part of that match was the ladder falling after Joe set it up in the corner. Also, I'm pretty sure that Finn Balor was bleeding because Seth Rollins accidentally whacked him with the belt when he was pulling it down. The way the Ladder Match ended made me wonder if it was supposed to end like that. Typically, we don't see someone win a match like that by pulling the title down right in front of one of his opponents. Cena vs. Triple H was a match that I thought could mirror their WrestleMania match from back in 2006 but it was also a disappointment. It was slow, it was predictable, and it just felt like they weren't trying to do anything spectacular. When it came to the RAW Tag Team and United States Title matches, WWE really kind of ruined who the winner would be by their decisions with the Superstar Shake-Up. It's obvious that neither of these titles were going to go to a different brand (what would they even call the RAW Tag Team Titles if they were on the same show as the SmackDown Tag Team Titles? I guess they would just go back to being the WWE Tag Team Titles but who knows?) but, considering WWE's pay-per-views are co-branded, they could have thrown in a shock title change in any of their title matches then just undo it at Backlash. At least that would have generated some additional intrigue in not only The Greatest Royal Rumble but Backlash as well. The Styles/Nakamura rematch was okay and I don't really mind the double count-out finish but I'm hoping that the rematch at Backlash has some sort of gimmick to it and I hope that the Backlash match can live up to the potential a match between these two has. Their WrestleMania match should have been a show-stealer but it was a let-down and the rematch wasn't really any better. I love heel Nakamura but they are starting to drop the ball on this feud (no pun intended). My favorite part of the Brock/Roman rematch was nothing to do with the match itself, but with how so many Roman Reigns fans are reacting on Twitter. I saw one fan had their Twitter name as "#JusticeForRoman" and I spent a few hours arguing with someone who kept trying to tell me that Roman won. She didn't say that it looked like Roman won, she said that he did win. I tried my best to explain to her and her friend the difference between a wrestler winning and it looking like a wrestler won but they of course didn't get it. It's also obvious how many uneducated fans are out there when I saw that "#SaudiArabiaScrewjob" was a thing on Twitter which, when you think about it, doesn't make sense when you think about what a screwjob in wrestling actually is. I was a bit surprised to see Paul Heyman getting physically involved in the match. I don't remember the last time he interfered in a match. As far as the finish goes, I think it was a good finish to continue the story between Brock and Roman but I hate how obvious they made it. You could tell by Roman's positioning when he went for the Spear that they were going to do the cage-breaking spot. Roman has always done the "ooh ahh" in the corner before doing the Spear but he opted to stand by the ropes and do it. Now, had he just went for the Spear without any lead-up, it probably would have worked better in terms of surprising me. I don't know if it was done intentionally that Roman's feet touched the floor first while Brock's body touched the floor first but it works for the narrative. The "controversy" of that finish will give Roman something to talk about for a while and I'm expecting to see Brock vs. Roman one more time at SummerSlam and it will probably be inside Hell in a Cell. Either that or they will wait until the actual Hell in a Cell pay-per-view itself. I know that Lesnar vs. Lashley was the original plan for SummerSlam but I also heard that idea was scrapped so I guess we will see. I had predicted that Daniel Bryan would win the Rumble Match itself but, once Big Cass came out, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Braun winning it was the right move to make even though he really just won a trophy and a title belt. I'm assuming that The Greatest Royal Rumble Championship isn't going to be a title that is actually defended or anything (unless, of course, they do The Greatest Royal Rumble again next year and Braun enters that one too, then he would technically be defending it) but it is nice that they gave the winner something besides a big, awkward trophy that will probably just go into storage or something. Booking Chris Jericho for the Royal Rumble Match was kind of a waste given the short amount of time he was actually in the match. He did more in his backstage promo than he did in the actual match. Overall, I would label The Greatest Royal Rumble event as a disappointment. With the exception of the 50-Man Royal Rumble Match, everything else felt like it belonged on a house show. Also, making this a five-hour show was so unnecessary, especially in hindsight. 'Taker/Rusev, the Cruiserweight Title match, and Cena vs. Triple H were all pointless matches to have on that show. You could also argue that the Styles/Nakamura rematch was a waste of time too since it ended in a double count-out. Another big mistake WWE made with this show is having it take place a little over a week before Backlash. WWE never seems to learn its lesson when it comes to booking their pay-per-views too close together.

WWE.com did :lol: They took him off of the list of confirmed participants.

When United States: LIVE, Monday Night, April 16, at 8/7c on the USA Network United Kingdom: Tuesday Morning, April 17, at 1AM on Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Arena Venue XL Center in Hartford, CT Confirmed Matches/Events Night One of the 2018 Superstar Shake-Up Sasha Banks vs. Bayley Tag Team Eliminator Match: "Woken" Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt vs. The Revival Build to Backlash

For some reason, Chris Jericho will be replacing Rusev in the Casket Match against The Undertaker. As a result, Jericho won't be a part of the 50-Man Royal Rumble Match after all. Their storyline reason is that Lana pulled Rusev from the match. So I guess Lana has more power than a GM or a Commissioner. Who knew?

All I could think of when I found about about the Casket Match was the symbolism of WWE booking Rusev in a Casket Match considering how they have taken every opportunity to bury Rusev Day on TV and on pay-per-view as of late. To me, this Casket Match is conveying what WWE creative wants and that is for the popularity of Rusev Day to die.

The fourteenth WWE Backlash will be a dual-brand pay-per-view and will come to you, live on the WWE Network, on May 6 from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. The official theme song for Backlash is "Champion" by Barns Courtney, off of the album "The Attractions of Youth", which is available now on iTunes and Spotify. Confirmed Matches/Events WWE Championship: No DQ: AJ Styles © vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass United States Championship: Jeff Hardy © vs. Randy Orton Intercontinental Championship: Seth Rollins © vs. The Miz RAW Women's Championship: Nia Jax © vs. Alexa Bliss SmackDown Women's Championship: Carmella © vs. Charlotte Flair Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn Kickoff Match: Bayley vs. Ruby Riott

When United States: LIVE, Monday Night, April 9, at 8/7c on the USA Network United Kingdom: Tuesday Morning, April 10, at 1AM on Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Arena Venue Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA Confirmed Matches/Events WrestleMania Fallout

Yeah. That was my first thought too. At least with the Intercontinental Title match, one of three people in the match will most likely be the Intercontinental Champion going into the match. They also kind of spoiled the returns of Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe as well since we can now assume that Jeff and Joe will be returning either at WrestleMania or the night after WrestleMania.

It will be airing on the WWE Network. Also, as mentioned, they are advertising seven title matches for the show as the Universal, WWE, Intercontinental, United States, RAW Tag Team, SmackDown Tag Team, and Cruiserweight Titles will all be defended.

Molly Holly will be inducting Ivory into the Hall of Fame, which is another appropriate person for the job. Hopefully, Molly gets inducted soon, as well. For that matter, let's get Christian in the Hall of Fame already. In my opinion, Christian deserves to go in on his own while both he and Edge deserve a tag team induction.

WWE will present The Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27 from King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The show will air live on the WWE Network at 12PM EST and will also air on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK. Confirmed Matches/Events First Ever 50-Man Royal Rumble Match Universal Championship: Steel Cage Match: Brock Lesnar © vs. Roman Reigns WWE Championship: AJ Styles © vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Triple H vs. John Cena Casket Match: The Undertaker vs. Rusev Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Seth Rollins © vs. The Miz vs. Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe RAW Tag Team Championship: Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Deleter of Worlds United States Championship: Jeff Hardy © vs. Jinder Mahal SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The Bludgeon Brothers © vs. The Usos Cruiserweight Championship: Cedric Alexander © vs. Kalisto Confirmed Greatest Royal Rumble Match Participants Daniel Bryan Braun Strowman Kurt Angle Chris Jericho Big E Kofi Kingston Xavier Woods Elias Baron Corbin Apollo Crews Titus O'Neil Chad Gable Shelton Benjamin Dolph Ziggler Goldust Sin Cara Mojo Rawley Bobby Roode Shane McMahon Kevin Owens Rey Mysterio The Great Khali Mark Henry