Dakota Kai had very little time to make it for her SummerSlam cameo.
Kai took to Twitch to detail her SummerSlam experience, where she showed up to congratulate Damage CTRL member IYO SKY after she won the WWE Women’s Championship. She found out that she was wanted for the show at 1 pm Saturday afternoon, the day of the show.
“It’s my sleep in day,” she said. “I’m gonna chill, not even gonna set my alarm. My phone was on ‘Do Not Disturb’…I wake up, my phone is blowing up. My anxiety was just through the roof, I saw all of these missed calls, all these texts…and [Bayley’s] like ‘We need you here!’.
Kai said that there was only one flight that would get her to the pay-per-view on time, Spirit Airlines, an airline that he had never traveled with before. After a flight delay due to mechanical issues, she managed to land in Detroit during the pay-per-view.
“Whatever match was after Shayna and Ronda, we landed,” Kai estimated on when she landed. “And thank goodness, they sent car service to come and get me and then they also had a makeup lady in the car…yes, lucky [SKY winning the title] was semi-main because I definitely wouldn’t have made it, I don’t think.”
At the SummerSlam press conference that took place following the event, Kai said that she was “a ways away” from returning from her torn ACL injury that took place back in May.
AEW signings Kenny Omega, Young Bucks and Adam Page, lots behind it with comments from any going into details on the reason the decision was made, their pact to stay together and far more
WWE financials for quarter two, including why the next TV deal is taking longer to negotiate, how every sector of business is doing, USA Network with and without WWE and looks to the future
SummerSlam, why matches were changed, the huge Saturday night of events, ticket sales and more
Updating All In, where it stands on all-tie records, two straight weeks of PPV shows, the last time it happened and the history, rumored matches and more
G-1 Climax, what everyone needs to advance to the final eight, cards for the rest of the tournament and running down the shows from the past week
UFC 291 coverage, the stories behind the stories, what is next, business notes
NXT Great American Bash notes with full coverage
The life and times of Adrian Street, his death, his start, the famous photo, his U.K. heyday, why he came to the U.S., thinking wrestling was real, meeting Linda and his life after wrestling
The most detailed look at the television ratings for all the pro wrestling and MMA shows, including what the numbers mean, rankings, segment-by-segment and how shows are doing compared with one year ago.
Promotion shooting new star to the top
One of the best matches of the year in Mexico
Top pro wrestler worked as an Uber driver during the pandemic
Why Stardom is bringing back 80s and 90s legends
Wrestle Kingdom notes
Minoru Suzuki match in a unique location
Second generation star celebrates his 50th birthday on show this past week
Update on the number of homes and carriage rates for the shows that carry wrestling and MMA
More on a new television wrestling promotion starting in the fall
More matches on All In weekend in London
Who Giulia is likely defending her New Japan Strong title against next
Men’s All Japan Strong title match in Defy
Business of AEW and its value
Tony Khan talks business growth
Update on WBD business
Health updates on AEW & WWE wrestlers out of action
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Sunday Update
Our weekend show covering SummerSlam. Collision, G-1 and more is up on the site now with Bryan. Our weekly Observer and news review with Garrett is also on the site right now. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night after Raw.
Steve McMichael’s family said that the sepsis that hospitalized him is gone, but he’s still battling pneumonia. Best of luck to McMichael.
Kairi still has a few Japanese dates left to fulfill before she starts back with her new WWE contract.
WWE will be sending out a press release in the morning. I believe it will list the SummerSlam gate and whether it broke the domestic non-Mania gate record ($7.3 million) or the overall non-Mania gate record ($8.1 million at Clash of the Castle last year). Either way it was super successful and would be either 10th or 11th place all-time depending on if it beat the Clash of the Castle number.
Dakota Kai is not close to ready to return. She was brought in to congratulate Iyo Sky on winning the WWE women’s title.
We’re looking for your thoughts on SummerSlam, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Konnan said that the rules for the four-way with Rush, Psycho Clown, LA Park and Sam Adonis as the TripleMania main event for this coming Saturday in Mexico City at Arena Ciudad will be a first person getting pinned or submitted losing his hair or mask.
The one thing about the Paul Brothers is that their actual fights, as opposed to Logan’s pro wrestling matches, do garner a lot of interest. It doesn’t always translate to PPV buys but as far as curiosity goes, last night Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz fight was the biggest thing by far of the week as far as Google searches with five million. For a comparison, SummerSlam had 200,000 which on the surface sounds very low (it’s the usual number for a WWE major event) but with the way they’ve been tabulating it’s not as concerning. SummerSlam was sixth for the Friday/Saturday weekend. lBut it does tell you just how much more general public interest there was in the fight. The UFC show had Tatiana Suarez at No. 9 and Cory Sandhagen at No. 11 yesterday. The other pro wrestling, boxing or MMA related stuff that placed this ast week were Steve McMichael at No. 12 on Friday, Diaz vs. Paul at No. 4 on Thursday and Vince McMahon (for being investigated) at No. 6 on Wednesday.
Nick Diaz issued a challenge to either of the Paul Brothers after Nate’s loss to Paul.
As mentioned on the show last night, Brock Lesnar will be off for a while. We’re not clear when he’s scheduled to return but that was not his farewell. For Ronda Rousey, that was her farewell at least for now. She’s not expected back at any specific date and that’s why she did that finish with Shayna Baszler where she got choked out.
Also looking for reports from the N-1 tournament earlier today in Yokohama. The first night of NOAH’s version of G-1 saw:
Shuji Kondo & Seiki Yoshioka & Stallion Rogers b Anthony Greene & Yo-Hey & Tadasuke
Manabu Soya b Katsuhiko Nakajima
Jack Morris b Yoshiki Inamura
Lance Anoa’i b Yuma Anzai
Yuki Yoshioka b Masa Kitamiy
Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Kotoge & Hi 69 b Kazuyuki Fujita & Amakusa & Junta Miyawaki
El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. b Daiki Inaba
Adam Brooks b Kenoh
Go Shiozaki b Saxon Huxley
Jake Lee b Timothy Thatcher
The show aired live on Wrestle Universe and the first three bouts are on YouTube.
WrestleTix has the attendance for SummerSlam at 51,477. It was crazy to see that Nick Khan said 43,000 tickets were sold on Wednesday at the investors call and while they did move a few thousand in the last few days, then announcing the 59,000+ number a few days later.
All In’s ticket advance yesterday surpassed the final number of the famous Hogan vs. Andre WrestleMania III attendance at the Pontiac Silverdome. It is now fourth place on the all-time list of paid shows, six if you include the two shows in North Korea.
The G-1 Climax tournament has the C block final day on Tuesday. The C block winner faces Will Ospreay in the first round of the playoffs on Thursday in Funabashi. The second place finisher in C block faces Sanada in the first round of the playoffs.
Because I was watching Collision and SummerSlam and then did a show, I haven’t watched G-1 yet this weekend, but we got a lot of feedback from people raving about Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo generally calling it the match of the weekend.
Dennis Condrey was at Collision yesterday in Greenville, SC, and after the show was over, FTR and C.M.Punk brought it up and they brought Condrey in the ring. Punk also put over Ricky Steamboat and Condrey. Dax Harwood said Condrey changed the course of tag team wrestling and how because Condrey worked 300 days a year to get tag team wrestling over, he can be home with his family five days a week. Condrey said that FTR was the best tag team in the world and thanked FTR for keeping their name alive and having the similar music.
Fast nationals for Collision were 388K/0.12. Actual numbers won’t be out until Tuesday but it does show that SummerSlam likely drew a very large percentage of the usual AEW audience. UFC and Paul vs. Diaz didn’t help, but it does look like AEW is going to be hurt once a month on Saturdays against WWE major events.
Tom Lawlor vs. Shigehiro Irie will be on Saturday’s Defy show at Washington Hall in Seattle.
LuFisto, who deleted her Twitter after negative feedback to her comments on the AEW women’s locker room, which saw a lot of the AEW women respond denying it, has pulled out of her next Sunday Americanrana show in Worcester, MA. They are looking for an opponent for Dan Barry, who she was scheduled to face.
Adam Wilcox noted to us that he purchased both All In and All Out from FITE (which handles the overseas PPV) and didn’t get any FITE credits for early purchases. He asked and was told that FITE no longer offers FITE credits for those who buy PPVs in advance as they previously had.
Capital Championship Wrestling ran last night in Paulsboro, NJ at the Monster Factory. The Renegade Twins who were in a tournament pulled out because they were booked for last night’s ROH tapings and another wrestler pulled out to work the WOW tapings in Los Angeles: Harleen Lopez b Damaris Dawkins, JC Storm b Clara Carreras, Sara Leon b Miranda Vignette, Ultra Violette won four-way over champion Christina Marie, Delmi Exo and Jade to win the CCW women’s title. (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
DOA All Women’s show from last night in Portland, OR with Queen of Thorns tournament bouts: Amira b Bambi Hall, Nicole Matthews b Murphy Madsen, Abigail Warren b Tara Zep, Liiza Hall Izzy McQueen, Amira b Nicole Matthews, Abigail Warren b Liiza Hall, Rebel Kel b Shazzma McKenzie to keep the Grand championship, Nick Radford b Kel to win the title, Amira b Warren to win the tournament.
GCW on Friday night in Detroit: Jordan Oliver won over Adrian Alanis, Caleb Konley, Jimmy Lloyd, Shane Mercer and Rico Gonzalez, Masha Slamovich b Alec Price, Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku b Ciclope Miedo Xtremo, Sawyer Wreck b Parrow, Komander b Joey Janela, John Wayne Murdoch & Reed Bentley b Mance Warner & andes, Cole Radrick b Crazy King, Effy & Allie Katch b Davey Bang & August Matthews, Blake Christian b Mike Bailey to retain the GCW title (thanks to Leonard Brand)
WWE will be looking to continue its trend of well-reviewed big shows at tonight’s SummerSlam.
This is a notable time for WWE PLEs/PPVs. We seem to have entered an era where every big monthly event on the schedule feels special and unique. SummerSlam from Detroit’s Ford Field will likely be no different.
Over the last year, WWE has either run stadium shows for top-tier events (WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble), or a show from an underserved market (Backlash, Money in the Bank, etc.). They are events with either huge crowds of 40,000+ people or the rabid audiences of under 15,000 we’ve seen in Puerto Rico, Montreal, and recently, London.
The events from Saudi Arabia have also begun to feel less like spectacle one-off shows and more integrated into WWE’s long-term storytelling.
All of that is to say that if recent trends continue, SummerSlam (8 PM Eastern on Peacock/WWE Network) is going to be an important and entertaining show.
However, one reason tonight might feel a touch bigger and more important than Backlash, Night of Champions or Money in the Bank is that Roman Reigns will be defending the WWE Universal Championship on the show. Not counting recent house shows in Mexico City and Cincinnati, it will be his first title defense since defeating Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania. Going four months between championship defenses on WWE programming is an excellent way to make every title match feel important.
Below are previews and predictions for each match at WWE SummerSlam 2023.
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against Jey Uso in a Tribal Combat match
Reigns is a -5000 favorite to retain.
The betting world is not giving Uso much of a chance to dethrone his cousin at SummerSlam. However, stranger things and bigger upsets have happened before.
While much of The Bloodline angle’s success has come from the drama within the group and Uso’s conflicted facial expressions, the entertainment value of Reigns’ title reign cannot be understated either. I don’t think it’s coming to an end just yet.
He has defended his title five times since becoming a double champion by beating Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam last year. WWE successfully built up the belief that Reigns could have lost three or four of those matches as well. Many thought Drew McIntyre would win the title at Clash at the Castle last year, quite a few fans then believed Sami Zayn could beat him in Montreal, and still more fans were left flabbergasted when Rhodes didn’t walk away from WrestleMania as the champion.
The game plan might be to keep building fans up into thinking they will finally see the fall of Reigns, only to yank it away from them after a series of intense near falls.
The most likely endgame for his title run is another clash with Rhodes at WrestleMania 40. However, I’m not even certain he’ll lose the belt there. Maybe Rhodes’ story is that he tries and fails multiple times before finally winning the title when he’s 50.
Jey Uso isn’t going to win this match, but the story told should be excellent. It’s SummerSlam so expect a big “happening,” including the possibility of a new Bloodline member debuting.
Prediction: Reigns retains
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar III
Rhodes is a -1500 favorite to win.
Rhodes’ story continues at SummerSlam as his program with Lesnar, which started the night after WrestleMania, likely concludes in Detroit.
Lesnar is 46 and in a perpetual state of near retirement. At this stage in his career, it’s about him making others look strong. He spent a year doing that for Reigns and now he’s spent the last four months doing the same for Rhodes. After this, Lesnar will probably take a vacation until the Royal Rumble.
Rhodes, the true babyface, will overcome his injured arm, Lesnar’s size advantage, and likely several other factors as well to come out the winner. I’m expecting this result to be more definitive than his win at Backlash, too.
I do believe the story is eventually to get back to Reigns vs. Rhodes at WrestleMania again. Rhodes’ story might be similar to that of Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito or others who lost in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom before finally winning the biggest match of their life. The idea is the fans see the protagonist fail at first, but then they train harder, find something deep within themselves, and come back even stronger the next year. The message of the morality play is to never give up, even when you are seemingly outmatched. If done well, it could be the best WrestleMania to WrestleMania story WWE has ever done.
Prediction: Cody Rhodes
Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
Paul is currently a -700 favorite to win.
As of this writing, there is currently some “funny business” going on with the betting odds here. Multiple sites have different odds listed and BetOnline has Paul at a -700 favorite and has locked bets being placed on Ricochet. What any of that means, if anything, is unclear.
While the strange odds fluctuations are interesting, I don’t see why WWE would have Ricochet go over Paul here. Dave Meltzer reported that the idea was for Paul to have an “in-ring showcase” match at SummerSlam, so the idea here is to create viral moments and highlights that will spread on social media to an audience not necessarily familiar with WWE.
Paul really needs a win. He hasn’t gotten one since defeating The Miz at SummerSlam last year. In the year since, Paul has failed to get his hand raised against Reigns in Saudi Arabia, in the Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank, or against Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. At some point, he’s going to need to start winning matches.
Prediction: Logan Paul
Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler in an MMA rules match
With Rousey rumored to be leaving WWE, at least for the time being, it looks like it’s going to be her longtime friend and training partner who she puts over on her way out.
The videos airing on Raw detailing the history between the two friends have been excellent. They actually contain some very interesting philosophies on life and friendship.
Baszler feels like Rousey used her, only letting her live with her for free so she would have a training partner available 24/7. Baszler’s motivation to attack and challenge her former friend is that Rousey didn’t reciprocate the help she gave her. Rousey, on the other hand, explained her feelings by reciting a fable that may or may not actually exist (I searched and couldn’t find it).
In the former UFC star’s tale, a king is saved by a stable boy. The king is grateful so he gives the boy anything he wants to repay him. The king made sure that the boy had all the best accommodations, much like she gave to Baszler, the best food, got him jobs, and more, all similar to Ronda’s relationship with Shayna. The fable continues that one day, the stable boy began to feel entitled to the gifts and decides to overthrow the king and take everything from him. Rousey/the king is crushed because she thought the stable boy/Baszler was loyal to her.
“I wanted to be Shayna’s friend so badly, I gave her everything to the point that she hated me for it,” Rousey said in the promo.
“The thing is, I’ve given Ronda everything a friend should give and she’s never given it back,” Baszler stated.
This match might not be that great because neither is a perfect wrestler, but it will be special to both of them and will tell a deep story, likely with a few Easter eggs and callbacks to previous moments from their careers.
Prediction: Shayna Baszler
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins defends against Finn Balor
Currently, both wrestlers are listed at -120 to win.
The betting world doesn’t know if Balor or Rollins is going to walk away from SummerSlam with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I do, though: Rollins.
The success of The Judgment Day has revitalized Balor, but he’s not going to beat Rollins for the title. The drama with Balor right now is the growing tension between him and Money in the Bank winner Damian Priest.
Balor was distracted by Priest’s presence at ringside with the briefcase when he wrestled Rollins at Money in the Bank, so I’d be surprised if they repeat the same finish. Perhaps this time, Balor does something to prevent Priest from cashing in. Dom Dom and Mami will be crushed.
It should be a great match, but I have little doubt Rollins will still be champion when it’s over.
Prediction: Seth Rollins retains
WWE Intercontinental Champion Gunther defends against Drew McIntyre
Gunther is a -600 favorite to retain.
What happens here depends on what’s going on between McIntyre and WWE as of late. The most recent reports regarding his status with the company have his deal up in early-2024. Unless he’s signed an extension or a new deal that nobody knows about, I wouldn’t expect him to beat a guy like Gunther right now.
Gunther is less than two months away from breaking Honky Tonk Man’s record for the longest single reign with the Intercontinental Championship. He’s not going to lose it until he breaks that record or if HTM makes a shocking return, hits Gunther with a guitar, and performs a full version of ”Hunka Hunka Honky Love,” costing the champion his title in the process.
Prediction: Gunther retains
WWE Women’s Champion Asuka defends against Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair in a triple threat
Asuka is a -140 favorite to win. Flair is listed at +175 and Belair is at +350.
This title is eventually going to find its way back to Flair; it’s just not certain when exactly that will happen. It will be soon, though, and I think most likely, it happens tonight. The triple threat rules allow Asuka to retain while keeping the other two strong, but that’s not necessarily what they will do.
Asuka could retain and then drop it to Flair in the coming months, but SummerSlam is the big show and it makes sense for Flair to win it on a big stage.
Prediction: Charlotte Flair wins the title
25-man battle royal presented by Slim Jim
No odds are currently available, but I think we can all agree LA Knight is a top pick to win.
As of Friday night, Santos Escobar, Butch, Ridge Holland, Grayson Waller, The Miz, AJ Styles, Karrion Kross, Luke Gallows, Sheamus, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tommaso Ciampa, Chad Gable, Otis, Matt Riddle and LA Knight were the announced participants.
How WWE moves forward with Knight should be very interesting. It’s hard to deny how much live crowds love the guy, but what really matters is how much confidence Vince McMahon has in him. If someone isn’t Vince’s chosen guy, it’s going to be quicker to pull the rug out from under him.
Although, with WWE’s Executive Chairman having undergone spinal surgery recently, it’s not really clear who is in charge of Knight’s professional life at the moment.
Assuming WWE does recognize fans want Knight in a bigger role, he should win this match. If Knight then went on to recreate all the famous Randy Savage Slim Jim commercials from the 90s as well, few would complain.
Robert Roode is reportedly in Detroit for WWE SummerSlam.
According to a report from PWInsider, the 47-year-old is set to work as a producer backstage at the show. He is also expected to work Monday’s Raw taping from Minneapolis in the same role. However, it is not clear if this is a tryout or the start of a permanent position for him.
Roode underwent two spinal surgeries in a five-month span recently. He had fusion surgery on his C5 and C6 vertebrae last December and had the same procedure done for his C4 and C5 vertebrae in May. Roode hasn’t wrestled in over a year. His last match took place on a house show from Amarillo, Texas on June 25, 2022, where he lost to Omos.
PWInsider is also reporting that Randy Orton is in Detroit for SummerSlam, although it is not clear if he will be involved in the show at all. The 43-year-old hasn’t wrestled since May 20, 2022, when RK-Bro lost the Raw tag titles to The Usos.
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Monday Update
WWE
The company donated $20,000 to three Detroit youth groups ahead of Saturday’s SummerSlam.
AEW Games thanked fans on X following its one-month launch anniversary. “AEW: Fight Forever celebrated its one-month launch anniversary last Saturday! On behalf of the teams at @AEW and @THQNordic, we wanted to extend a THANK YOU FOR PLAYING to our passionate community. Your FUN is our TOP priority and we’re listening to all of the feedback you’ve provided! The dev team at YUKE’s Co. Ltd. is working tirelessly to continuously improve the Fight Forever experience with future updates and new content releases. Stay tuned to @AEWGames for all OFFICIAL announcements regarding updates and content in the coming weeks! Stay tuned!”
Screenrant has an interview with Danhausen and Brody King from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
AEW has a video package of all of the debuts and title changes on AEW Dynamite in 2019 and 2020 ahead of the show’s 200th episode on Wednesday.
Samoa Joe spoke to PopCulture about his role in Peacock’s Twisted Metal series.
PWInsider reported that Tammy Sytch will face trial for her DUI manslaughter charge on August 21. It had originally been set for September 18, but was moved up several weeks.
After weeks of build, Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus will not take place at WWE SummerSlam, but on an episode of Raw next month.
As announced during Monday’s Raw episode, Lynch vs. Stratus in a Night of Champions rematch is set for the Monday, August 14 Raw in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
In a bout where Lynch would earn a rematch with Stratus if she beat Stark, Lynch defeated Stark on last week’s Raw. The Lynch vs. Stratus rematch did technically take place on this week’s episode, with Lynch defeating Stratus in seconds after Stark immediately interfered to cause a disqualification. In a follow-up backstage segment, on-screen authority figure Adam Pearce made another rematch for August 14, with Stark banned from ringside.
Lynch and Stratus met for the first time at Night of Champions on May 27 in Saudi Arabia. Stratus won the first bout with an assist from Zoey Stark, and the program continued through July’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view and on Raw in the ensuing weeks.
The Stratus vs. Lynch feud was set in motion on the April 10 Raw show, where Stratus teamed with Lynch in defending the Women’s Tag Team titles. After they lost the match, Stratus turned heel on Lynch to set up the Night of Champions bout.
A new stipulation has been added to the Shayna Baszler vs. Ronda Rousey bout for WWE SummerSlam this coming Saturday in Detroit.
After two video packages aired on Monday’s Raw detailing the feud between Rousey and Baszler, it was announced that the match would be held under MMA rules. What exactly that entails isn’t currently known. Baszler has emphasized since issuing the challenge to Rousey that she didn’t want a match, she wanted a fight.
The video packages that aired detailed the story between Rousey and Baszler, dating back to when Rousey selected Baszler for her team during their season of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Baszler said she gave everything to Rousey while Rousey gave nothing back. Rousey said she gave everything to Baszler to the point where Baszler now hated her. Baszler ended the promo saying that the worst thing is that Rousey’s daughter is her goddaughter, and her goddaughter will never forgive her for what she will do to her mother.
Here is the updated lineup for SummerSlam this Saturday:
WWE SummerSlam, Saturday, August 5, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Tribal Combat match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and title of Tribal Chief: Roman Reigns defends against Jey Uso
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins defends against Finn Balor
WWE Intercontinental title match: Gunther defends against Drew McIntyre
Triple threat match for the WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka defends against Charlotte Flair & Bianca Belair
LA Knight will compete in the newly-announced WWE SummerSlam Battle Royal.
WWE announced the Battle Royal on Friday’s SmackDown episode with Slim Jim as the presenting sponsor.
LA Knight was one of two competitors announced for the match, with Sheamus of The Brawling Brutes also set to compete. Those two will square off in a singles match on the August 4 SmackDown, the go-home show for the August 5 pay-per-view.
The SummerSlam Battle Royal will feature wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown.
The updated SummerSlam lineup:
WWE SummerSlam, Saturday, August 5, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Tribal Combat match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and title of Tribal Chief: Roman Reigns defends against Jey Uso
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins defends against Finn Balor
WWE Intercontinental title match: Gunther defends against Drew McIntyre
Triple threat match for the WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka defends against Charlotte Flair & Bianca Belair
Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
SummerSlam Battle Royal: LA Knight, Sheamus announced
WWE runs what will be the biggest SummerSlam show in recent history on 8/5 at Ford Field.
The show will be the biggest in a few ways. It’s a virtual lock that, given the growth of Peacock and the growth of WWE popularity this year, will be the most number of people watching in North America or any SummerSlam show in history. It will be the second largest attendance (it won’t beat the 1992 show at Wembley Stadium) and will likely be the largest gate for any non-WrestleMania show ever in the U.S. (the target is $7.3 million based on how gates are usually measured and $7.7 million that WWE announced for Royal Rumble including Ticketmaster fees).
They’ve peaked big as well with the main event, with the Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso match not only being for all three belts that Reigns & Paul Heyman carry around as Universal champion, but even more significant in the storyline, the lei Reigns wears which makes him Tribal Chief. The match is being billed as Tribal Warfare, another name for an anything-goes, no DQ weapons match.
Roman Reigns will defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Jey Uso at WWE SummerSlam, putting his Tribal Chief title on the line as well.
Reigns vs. Uso was made official in the show-closing segment of this week’s WWE SmackDown with Reigns and Uso eschewing a traditional contract signing in favor of a handshake to seal their agreement to face one another at SummerSlam under Tribal Combat rules.
As explained on commentary by Michael Cole and Wade Barrett, the Tribal Combat stipulation entails Reigns putting his title of Tribal Chief up in the match in addition to the Universal title. Additionally, the match will be anything goes.
Reigns vs. Uso is now the fourth match official for SummerSlam. Earlier on Friday, WWE officially announced a triple threat match for the WWE Women’s Championship with Asuka defending against Bianca Belair & Charlotte Flair.
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar, plus Seth Rollins defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Finn Balor have previously been announced for the show.
Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler, plus Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch also appear set for the show, but have yet to be made official.
The updated lineup:
WWE SummerSlam, Saturday, August 5, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Tribal Combat match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and title of Tribal Chief: Roman Reigns defends against Jey Uso
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins defends against Finn Balor
Triple threat match for the WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka defends against Charlotte Flair & Bianca Belair
WWE has officially announced two matches for SummerSlam set for Saturday, August 5.
As revealed during Monday’s Raw show, Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes III is set for SummerSlam at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. After a show-opening promo from Rhodes on Raw, Lesnar attacked Rhodes and left him laying in front of his family, focusing his attack on the left arm of Rhodes that Lesnar broke in storyline earlier this year.
The World Heavyweight Championship will also be on the line at SummerSlam, as Seth Rollins will once again defend his title against Finn Balor. Rollins defeated Balor in their title match at Money in the Bank earlier this month, but they set up a rematch in a backstage promo segment during this week’s Raw.
Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso for the Undisputed Universal Championship, Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler, Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch, and Ricochet vs. Logan Paul have also been heavily teased for SummerSlam, but only Lesnar vs. Rhodes and Rollins vs. Balor have been officially announced to this point.
The current official lineup for SummerSlam:
WWE SummerSlam, Saturday, August 5, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes
World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins defends against Finn Balor
The first steps towards SummerSlam took shape on Friday’s WWE SmackDown.
On Sunday morning’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales ran down the show, including the opening segment that featured the trial of Roman Reigns. After a swerve, Reigns and Solo Sikoa attacked The Usos, sending Jimmy to the hospital. The end of the show saw Jey Uso issue the challenge to Reigns.
“I thought the best part was the end,” Gonzales said. “Jey had a ton of emotion in his face and his body after challenging Roman. It did feel long, I thought the first segment felt like it slightly overstayed its welcome. But at the same time, so many people are into that, I don’t know if they would have felt the same way I did.”
SummerSlam is shaping up to be a big card, both in terms of match quality and business.
“This is a pretty loaded SummerSlam lineup and they’re already at 42,000 tickets in,” Meltzer said.
Some of the matches being built to include Drew McIntyre vs. Gunther, Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler, and a three-way for the WWE Women’s Championship.
“They’re doing Asuka and Bianca to set up Asuka, Charlotte, and Bianca three-way for SummerSlam,” Meltzer added.
Matches involving Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Logan Paul, and Cody Rhodes are currently planned for next month’s WWE SummerSlam.
According to our Dave Meltzer, the following six matches are planned:
Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch
Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair
Gunther vs Drew McIntyre
Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
Additionally, Logan Paul is expected to wrestle at SummerSlam. Meltzer wrote that the plan is for Paul to have an “in-ring showcase” but it’s not clear who he will be facing.
From Meltzer:
Logan Paul is on the show. As of yesterday, he was not planned to face LA Knight as the plan was to give him an opponent for a showcase in-ring match. Just coming off TV, I figured Knight made the most sense and nothing is official until it’s announced. That still leaves openings for people like Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn and probably Edge, who returns on Friday night in MSG.
Paul went shoulder-first through a set of tables during the men’s MITB match on Saturday. He and Ricochet struggled to complete a Spanish Fly to the floor after both got tangled in the ring ropes. They ended up landing on the tables at an awkward angle and Paul later posted photos of the injuries he sustained.
The 36th annual SummerSlam takes place on Saturday, August 5th at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. It is the first time the event has taken place in the city since 1993, which was headlined by Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna, The Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez, and Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler.
*Update with more details on the proposed new AEW television show and if it happens, probable time slot, potential issues, and how the roster will be handled.
*Update on AEW at Wembley Stadium, different standards of numbers to break, ticket pricing, AEW’s goals for the show, signups and how that compares to Clash at the Castle and what it means.
*Sanada wins the IWGP title after a character change and the questions that opens up, plus notes on the next several months of New Japan major events, including G-1, Dominion and Forbidden Door.
*Full coverage of the Sakura Genesis show
*Full coverage of UFC 287, what happens next for the headliners, business note and fight-by-fight coverage
*Major article on the life and career of The Sheepherders/Kiwis/Bushwhackers with the death of Butch Miller. We follow Miller’s life both in and out of wrestling, the territory days, fan attacks, crazy angles, their days of bloodbath matches and the 180 at the end of their careers that made them the most famous. We go through everywhere from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Oregon, Southwest, Stampede, Mid South, Puerto Rico and of course WWE, the politics, the craziness and Miller’s later fights for his life.
*WWE attempts once again to get the MLW lawsuit thrown out. A look at their response and strategy in the case
*The most detailed look at the ratings for all the pro wrestling shows of the past week, what the ratings mean, placings, yearly trends, and how different segments did.
*Update on the Champion of Champions tournament.
*The celebrity angle that fell apart in so many ways and a look at why.
*Notes on the next season of Dark Side of the ring.
*NWA PPV coverage.
*The story behind Bob Backlund becoming WWF champion.
*How wrestling ratings will be affected the next two months and why
*Lots of injury updates.
*International TV ratings and streaming numbers.
*Ticket sales for all the upcoming WWE & AEW events.
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Monday Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking all the latest wrestling news , as well as Raw, previewing upcoming shows and talking SummerSlam, Cody Rhodes and other topics. If you have questions for the show you can send to [email protected]
WWE reported 32,000 tickets sold for SummerSlam and Sports Business Journal reported it as the largest day-one sale for any stadium event outside of WrestleMania in company history. Not to minimize this because it is a great number, but it is actuality the largest first day in the U.S., but it is the third largest on a worldwide basis.
There is no All Access this week after Dynamite and Dynamite airs three hours earlier than usual on the West Coast due to TBS not having a West Coast staggered feed on Wednesday. On the West Coast it goes right from Dynamite at 5 p.m. to U.S. vs. Mexico soccer at 7 p.m.., with the East Coast times being 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The meeting noted on Friday that was scheduled with Chris Jericho, C.M. Punk, FTR and Tony Khan has not taken place yet.
Former pro wrestler Jerome Robinson, real name Jeremy Hardy was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of oral copulation of a person under the age of 16 and two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior in a child 14-15. The alleged incident took place in 2015 and he was arrested in 2018. Hardy was an independent wrestler and a teacher at Riverside Prep High School. The story was reported to SoCal Uncensored.
Raw is tonight in North Little Rock, AR at the Simmons Bank Arena. Becky Lynch sent out a tweet that she won’t be at the show tonight, which is an angle. Announced for the show is Austin Theory vs Bobby Lashley, and they did two matches over the weekend to get ready doing DQ finishes, Seth Rollins vs. Miz and Trish Stratus is to explain her actions. Plus Brock Lesnar will be there to set up his upcoming match with Cody Rhodes. They had about 7,300 tickets out for the show as of this morning.
We’re looking for reports from Little Rock tonight with Main Event matches, any other dark matches or anything else not on television to [email protected]
The War Chamber match will headline tomorrow night’s MLW Underground show on REELZ The match is Alex Hammerstone & The Second Gear Crew vs. Raven’s Calling group.
New Japan Pro Wrestling will be running shows on 8/19 and 8/20 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. The 8/19 show will be the All Star Junior Festival featuring top junior heavyweights from multiple companies. The 8/20 show will be a joint show with Impact and New Japan. Tickets go on sale for 8/19 at midnight tonight.
Bill Algeo said that his promo on Saturday’s UFC show in Kansas City was a tribute to Ric Flair.
On NXT tomorrow night, Nathan Frazer will be debuting a new segment plus they’ve added a Gigi Dolin vs. Cora Jade match.
Other Notes
Devon “Crowbar” Storm, 49, did a leg drop off the top of a 15 foot high steel cage on Rick Recon through a table on the ISPW show in West Milford, NJ. The two will have a cage TLC match on 4/28 in Avernel, NJ at the First Presbyterian Church Hall.
Cage Fury Fighting Championships runs 6/16 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City on the boardwalk. C.M. Punk calls the action.
Former WWE announcer Jonny Loquasto is the voice of Shazam! in two new DC Comic Kids Motion comics called “Monster Society of Gotham.”
The front-runner to host Summerslam next year has reportedly been revealed.
According to a report from Fightful Select, WWE is looking to bring the event to Detroit, Michigan in 2023. A deal has not been finalized, however.
Summerslam was also held in Detroit in 1993. Lex Luger defeated Yokozuna via count-out in the main event that night. Other notable matches on the show included Undertaker defeating Giant Gonzalez, Jerry Lawler defeating Bret Hart via DQ, and Shawn Michaels defeating Mr. Perfect via count-out.
Other notable WWE events held in the city include WrestleMania 23, Survivor Series 91, Survivor Series 99, Royal Rumble 2009, and Hell in a Cell 2017.
WrestleMania III took place in nearby Pontiac, Michigan on March 29, 1987. The main event saw Hulk Hogan defeat Andre the Giant to retain the WWF Championship. Other matches on the show included Ricky Steamboat defeating Randy Savage to win the Intercontinental Championship, and Roddy Piper defeating Adrian Adonis.
