WWE has officially announced a new strategic partnership with Italian football giants Juventus FC.
The website announcement reveals that the collaboration is aimed at creating content, original fan experiences and cross-promotional initiatives that bring together the world of football, sports entertainment and global fan culture.
“Juventus and WWE today announced a new strategic partnership designed to develop original experiences, content and activations that bring together football, sport, entertainment and global fan culture.”
“WWE Clash in Italy, held this past weekend in Turin on Sunday, May 31, marked the first tangible moments of collaboration between the Juventus and WWE worlds. Across the weekend, multiple touchpoints brought the two fan communities together including: co-created content between Juventus mascot Jay and WWE Superstar Jey Uso; social coverage of Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes receiving a custom Juventus jersey; and the availability of the previously revealed WWE x Juventus Championship Title Belts at merchandise stores around the Inalpi Arena.”
“As part of the ongoing partnership, Juventus and WWE will explore a wide range of opportunities, from co- branded merchandise and cross-promotional activations to crossover content, cross-promotional partner activations, creator-led storytelling and the integration of WWE and Juventus talent into key cultural moments. The collaboration will also extend to fan experiences, events and international activations, alongside campaigns designed to reach new audiences. At its core, the partnership establishes a long-term vision focused on building recurring cultural moments that connect football, entertainment and the next generation of fans.”
This partnership comes after WWE hosted Clash in Italy on May 31, the company’s first Premium Live Event in the country.
WWE is in the midst of their WWE European Summer Tour kicking off from May 28 until June 24 across Italy, Spain, UK, France and Portugal.
– The show started with a Dolph Ziggler promo video. He told Shinsuke Nakamura that this was the big time and that it wasn’t NXT or Japan.
– Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Dolph Ziggler
Nakamura got a loud pop for his entrance and all of his moves. Ziggler got booed a lot and played up his heelishness to the crowd. Nakamura ended up winning with the Kinshasa. I’ve heard that Nakamura doesn’t work very hard at house shows in the United States from a lot of people, but this was a standard TV match.
– Breezango & Tye Dillinger defeated The Ascension & Aiden English
Dillinger was massively popular and got the biggest pop. The match had a lot of comedy spots and the wrestlers looked like they really enjoyed themselves. There was a lot of crowd interaction as well, especially with English telling the audience to shut up when they were cheering for Dillinger and Tyler Breeze. Breeze ended up getting the pin with a roll-up.
– Luke Harper defeated Erick Rowan
Harper was the fan favorite and played to the crowd a lot, flexing his arms and such. They had a good big-man match, with Harper getting the win.
– SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch defeated Tamina, Natalya & Carmella (w/ James Ellsworth)
Lynch and Charlotte got big reactions. Natalya did most of the work for the heels, with Tamina barely in the ring and Carmella not doing much when she was in. Ellsworth provided comedy from outside of the ring by reacting to crowd chants and such.
It devolved into a brawl after the heels worked on Lynch. Naomi hit the Rear View on Carmella to get the win after the ring was cleared.
– United States Champion Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn to retain his title
Both guys got big reactions. I had high expectations for them given their past matches together, but they never quite hit the big notes (probably to be expected at the end of a long tour).
Owens stalled at the beginning, leaving the ring and doing all that he could to delay the start of the match. He later took his belt and tried to walk away while Zayn had the upper hand, but Zayn caught him on the ramp and got him back in the ring.
Owens was able to eventually pick up the win. He cut a promo after talking about how hard the tour had been before turning on the crowd and calling everybody garbage.
– Baron Corbin defeated Mojo Rawley
Outside of a few people in the front row who really liked Rawley, the crowd was completely dead for most of this. Corbin won in a squash.
– SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defeated American Alpha and The Colons to retain their titles
The Usos and American Alpha got big ovations from the crowd, but the Colons didn’t really get much. The Usos and Colons teamed up early on, which led to friction when one of the Colons tried to pin Chad Gable. An Uso tagged himself in by slapping one of the Colons, leading to an extended comedy segment of the two tagging each other in with harder and harder strikes.
Gable did his face-in-peril thing for a really long time as the heel teams took turns beating on him. He eventually got the hot tag to Jason Jordan to a huge pop. Jordan cleared house and they were setting up a Colon for their finisher when the Usos interfered and got the pin to retain.
American Alpha got a big applause at the end when they were the only ones left in the ring.
– WWE Champion Randy Orton defeated Jinder Mahal (w/ The Singh Brothers) and AJ Styles to retain his title
Orton and Styles got big pops. Mahal got a lot of boos. He dominated a large stretch of the match after Styles had been dumped outside of the ring. The three guys took turns being on the outside, so the match flowed more like a normal singles match.
Styles had gotten back in the ring towards the end and gained the upper hand on Mahal. Mahal fought back, got Styles outside on the apron, and focused on him. The Singh Brothers tried to warn him that Orton was back in the ring, but he turned around into the RKO and Orton got the pin to retain.
After the match, Styles came back into the ring, picked up the belt, and stood with it for a long time without saying anything. He eventually gave it to Orton and raised his hand.
