Randy Orton is denying MGK’s story that the two had a confrontation at WWE SummerSlam.
The rapper made the claim during an episode of Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast, telling Paul that it happened in the ring on the day of SummerSlam.
When I was in the ring [at SummerSlam] just coming to say what’s up to Logan and see what we could work out for the show, I saw Randy Orton, and I remember seeing Randy Orton talk s*** about me. And I was like, there’s a point where I’m gonna practice a new version of myself. And then, three, two, one, I’m like, f*** that, hey man, f*** you.
Paul asked if that actually happened. MGK said it did, though he didn’t know where Paul was at the time the confrontation took place.
I remember all my boys were sitting there like, is this real, is this part of the script? I don’t know what’s happening. The amount of people that pin me as the aggressor in every situation that I’m in are so wrong.
On X, Orton responded to MGK’s claims by posting a lying face emoji:
MGK responded by posting “camera’s were rolling tell WWE put that out” and “you have my number, and you know why you have it btw but i won’t even put you on blast for that. check your texts.”
camera’s were rolling tell WWE put that out 🤷🏼♂️🧐🤥
Paul lost the WWE United States title to LA Knight at SummerSlam. MGK played a part in the match by handing Paul brass knuckles, but the plot failed, as Knight immediately recovered after being struck and won the match with the BFT.
As a personal friend of the late Kevin Sullivan, Les Thatcher shares a few thoughts about Kevin and his legendary career. We also look at where WWE is headed after SummerSlam, plus a very eventful Raw and the next steps on AEW’s road to Wembley Stadium.
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site right now featuring two very in-depth stories:
Judge Richard Boulware refuses to accept the $335 million TKO settlement in the Cung Le case, why, lawyers react, lots of inside ramifications of the case, how different settlements would work out for the biggest name fighters and the average fighters and what comes next and why they still can’t risk a trial.
AEW rights fees talks and what they mean, how much talent earns by percentage of revenues compared to other sports, estimating annual income at different rights points, cutbacks why the deal length is so important, noticeable TV cutbacks and ROH potential going forward.
SummerSlam preview, ticket sales, secondary market, expectations for finishes and favorites.
All In, update on new matches being teased, ticket sales, can they reach the next goal, PPV thoughts and promotion of the event.
Update on the G-1 Climax tournament
UFC 304 full coverage, what’s next for the fighters, new storylines, business notes, match-by-match rundown
What matches you need to see from G-1
A look at the retirement and career of Meiko Satomura
A detailed look at ROH Death Before Dishonor and the ROH brand
The life and career of longtime prelim wrestler Pete Sanchez/Gino Caruso
The most detailed look at the ratings from the past two weeks including where the top shows placed, breakdown on who is watching and changes, how badly the Olympics changed viewership and much more.
Death Triangle go to the hottest arena in the world and how the crowd reacted
One of the best high flyers in the world is almost ready to return
A look at two Stardom PPV shows and major title changes
Oldest male wrestler ever to do a match
Marigold tag team title decided and Grand Prix singles tournament
Death of former Crockett wrestler who had a short career but was in with the biggest names in wrestling at the time
Modern legend retirement tour first main event announced
Dijak and MJF to RevPro
Bloodsport with talent from WWE, ROH and TNA
Update on PPV numbers from WWE, AEW, TNA and Diaz-Masvidal and Paul-Perry
Tony Khan and Shane McMahon
Top star returns to AEW
Lots of injury updates
Bill Goldberg talks Tony Khan
Merch sales
Highest ticket prices ever for an MMA event at The Sphere
Updates on Brock Lesnar
This Week’s Wresting Observer Newsletter Back Issue
We have two weekend shows up on the site right now. My show with Garrett Gonzales on the week’s news including a talk with John Nash about the Cung Le vs. TKO lawsuit is up along with last night’s show with Bryan talking SummerSlam, G-1, MJF at Arena Mexico, UFC, and lots of other WWE and AEW news.
Regarding the injuries last night, we don’t have any updates past that Jacob Fatu was supposed to be selling the leg after the splash, to keep him away from any confrontation with Roman Reigns. He was in a walking boot last night and people were talking about an ankle injury but nobody in WWE at the top level who would know has confirmed to us the nature of any injury or if it was just the planned angle. Logan Paul was injured in some form.
The show set all kinds of records and was the biggest money WWE event aside from a WrestleMania in history. Except for total attendance, where the largest SummerSlam was the 1992 show at Wembley Stadium, it was the second biggest ever. Wrestletix has it at 55,858. It wasn’t sold out as readers noted the South side of the highest deck was tarped and some other sections were tarped where tickets were sold and people were given lower and better tickets that hadn’t been sold. But in no way was this anything but an excellent crowd.
There was nothing of note at the press conference. There were no questions about Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon or anything, although there was one on Stephanie McMahon, who was there and shown during the show in the front row. Paul Levesque said she loves wrestling but has no official role in WWE and basically gave a you never know type answer regarding the future. Brandon Thurston was there but wasn’t called on for a question to Levesque. There were fans allowed in but they were not allowed to ask questions. There were a number of reporters also not allowed in due to space limitations with John Pollock being among them.
We’re looking for your thoughts on the show. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Announced for Raw tomorrow night in Baltimore, which is basically sold out, is Sheamus vs. the returning Ludwig Kaiser, Miz & R-Truth vs. Austin Theory & Grayson Waller, New Day vs. AOP, Dakota Kai vs. Sonya Deville and Wyatt Sicks vs. Chad Gable & The Creeds. Obviously the show will be built around follow-ups from the Judgment Day and CM Punk-Seth Rollins angles. The show is basically sold out.
Bron Breakker was acting as a babyface in his post-show interview. Drew McIntyre said that he was done with Punk, which means he’s not. Coming off the show I could see Gunther vs. McIntyre for Berlin, as Gunther has to be in the main event, and he’ll likely be a babyface in Germany. That’s just speculation as we’ll have a better idea after tomorrow night’s show.
A&E bios tonight are Trish Stratus at 8 p.m. and Becky Lynch at 9 p.m.
Tony Ferguson, at one point among the most popular fighters in the UFC, hinted at retirement after losing yesterday. Ferguson submitted in the first round yesterday against Michael Chiesa on the UFC show in Abu Dhabi, hinted at retirement. He left one glove in the ring, but not the other. It was his eighth straight loss
Terrence Crawford who appeared on Smackdown twice in recent weeks, defeated Israil Madrimov at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on scores of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113. A lot of the rounds were close. We don’t have a breakdown but many had Madrimov as the winner.
Olympic wrestling will be all over Peacock over the next week. They have a session from 9-11 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning for women’s freestyle and men’s Greco Roman. Amit Elor of the U.S., a medal favorite and multi-time world champion, has her first match in that session. Tuesday has stuff from 5 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. and again from 12:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. There will be wrestling every day through next Sunday.
NOAH’s N- 1 tournament started today in Yokohama. Titus Alexander beat WWE’s Tavion Heights, who returned to Japan where he competed in the 2021 Olympics, while Josh Briggs beat Ryohei Oiwa. NOAH’s top star, Kaito Kiyomiya, lost in the main event to former Open the Dream Gate champion Luis Mante of Dragon Gate.
Mina Shirakawa at last night’s Stardom show said that she would be leaving for a while to the U.S., so that would indicate maybe being back with AEW.
Tuesday 10/8 will be a major night for pro wrestling as Dynamite and NXT will go head-to-head. Dynamite is being moved that week. We don’t know the reason but it’s presumably the baseball playoffs. The last time this happened, both companies loaded up and I’m sure that will happen again.
G-1 continues with Tuesday & Wednesday shows at Korakuen Hall.
The final day of the TMart Charlotte wrestling convention is today with tons of major names including Mick Foley, Masahiro Chono, Jerry Lawler, Missy Hatt, Kevin Von Erich, Paul Wight, Sid Vicious, Nasty Boys, Al Perez, Jimmy Valiant, Velvet Sky, Angelina Love, Ken Resnick, Bill Irwin, Tommy Young, Len Denton and Thunderbolt Patterson.
There was a show last night at The Gathering before about 400 fans: Justin Kindred b Jovannsi, Big Vito b Andy Anderson, Psycho Boy Fodder & Angelina Love b Bozworth & Samantha Starr, Colby Corino b Movie Myx, Ricky Morton b George South with Tommy Young as referee (South apparently cut some hilarious promos on the fans) Marti Belle & Allysin Kay b Emily & ?, Pitbull Gary Wolfe b CW Andeson, Nate the Great b Kerry Morton, Court Montgomery and Bam Bam Bundy for the TMart promotion championship when Nate speared Bundy. Nate seemingly retired after the match. (thanks to Jamie Combs)
Bryan Danielson vs. Jeff Jarrett will be a no time limit no DQ match with Ricky Steamboat as a special guest at ringside on Wednesday. No time limit is notable because that would indicate the match will be of some length.
Troy Waugh, an MMA referee from 2008 to 2014 who worked on UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator and World Series of Fighting shows in that period , passed away over the weekend due to brain cancer.
Earlier in the week, Sheamus and Sonya Deville were at Major League Soccer’s All-Star Skills Challenge in Columbus, OH and presented the Crown Legacy’s Chituru Odunze with a title belt for winning the Goalie Wars competition. (thanks to Brian Henke)
The King Bees defend the NWA women’s world tag titles at the NWA 76th anniversary show on 8/31 in Philadelphia against Ella Envy & Ms. Starr.
Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling from Friday night in Newark, CA, which was sold out: Kaka Meng b Dom Cirrus, Ishmae Vaughn b Jiah Jewell, Toa Liona (AEW) b Juicy Finau, Journy Fatu and Lossefa Parisi in a South Pacific War party match featuring lots of chair smashing, Starboy Charlie b Lince Dorado, Too Fresh b Vinnie Massaro & Levi Shapiro, Viva Van b Jada Stone, Marcus Lewis & Big Fonz b Aaron Solo & Robbie Eagles. Lewis vs. Solo will headline the building for the BTW title on 10/18 (thanks to Jim Davis).
James Storm and Marti Belle appeared on Saturday’s Memphis Wrestling TV show.
ESW Keystone debuts on 8/17 at the Saga Club in Erie PA with Spencer Slade vs. Channing Decker as the main event.
Wrestler Bulldog Dan Hansen passed away on Thursday due to kidney failure. The CAC reported his death yesterday.
The Original Tribal Chief made his return at SummerSlam in the Undisputed WWE Championship match main event.
Roman Reigns made his first WWE appearance since losing the Undisputed title to Rhodes at WrestleMania 40 at Saturday’s SummerSlam event in Cleveland, attacking Solo Sikoa and helping Cody Rhodes retain the WWE title.
Rhodes defeated Sikoa in a Bloodline Rules match in the show’s main event, a bout that included interference from Sikoa’s version of The Bloodline, Kevin Owens, and Randy Orton.
Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, and Tonga Loa all interfered on Sikoa’s behalf, including Fatu putting Rhodes through the announce desk with a top rope splash. Owens and Orton interfered on Rhodes’ behalf, but were neutralized by The Bloodline.
All of this led to the return of Reigns, who hit Sikoa with a superman punch and a spear, allowing Rhodes to finish off Sikoa to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Reigns wore a shirt with “OTC” on the chest, a reference to his status as the Original Tribal Chief.
McIntyre pinned Punk at WWE SummerSlam in Cleveland Saturday in a bout where Seth Rollins served as special guest referee.
The bout was built around the conflict between all three competitors, including multiple spots where Rollins could have given either competitor an advantage. Instead, Rollins called the bout down the middle.
The finish came after Rollins put on the friendship bracelet that McIntyre took from Punk in the course of their feud. Punk had McIntyre set up for a GTS, but abandoned the attempt when he saw Rollins with the bracelet.
McIntyre responded by shoving Punk into Rollins. With Rollins out of the ring, Punk hit McIntyre with the GTS, but Rollins was late counting. Punk then hit Rollins with a GTS.
With the referee down, McIntyre hit a low blow on Punk and connected with a Claymore Kick. Rollins was revived and counted the pin, and McIntyre posed with his foot on Punk’s chest.
The bout was filled with homages to the SummerSlam 1997 bout between Bret Hart and The Undertaker where Shawn Michaels was the guest referee, from Punk’s ring attire, to Rollins stopping McIntyre from using a chair on Punk.
Nia Jax is the new WWE Women’s Champion after defeating Bayley for the title at SummerSlam on Saturday.
Jax pinned Bayley following two Annihilators and a distraction from Money in the Bank contract holder Tiffany Stratton to win the title on Saturday night in Cleveland at SummerSlam.
Bayley had kicked out of one Annihilator when Stratton’s music hit and the MITB holder ran to the ring with a referee. Bayley cut Stratton off before she could cash in, but the distraction allowed Jax an opportunity to get back into the match and hit her finisher twice and win the title.
WWE recognizes the current Women’s Championship as having the same lineage as the WWE Women’s title introduced in 2016, making this the second time Jax has held this particular title, and the first time since 2018 that Jax has held a singles championship.
Bayley’s title reign ends at 118 days, with the former champion having won the title from IYO SKY at WrestleMania 40 in April.
Breakker captured the Intercontinental title from Sami Zayn at SummerSlam. The match only lasted about five minutes, with Zayn gaining control early after dodging a spear, sending Breakker into the turnbuckle. However Breakker bounced back and hit two spears, winning the title for the first time.
This ends Zayn’s run with the title after 119 days, defeating Gunther at WrestleMania 40 and ending his own historic reign with the title after 666 days. Gunther had been the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion.
Breakker’s father Rick and uncle Scott Steiner, as well as Diamond Dallas Page, were seen in the crowd celebrating following his win.
After failing to win the title at Money in the Bank last month, Breakker at first acted like he had no reason to deserve a rematch. However, that turned out to be a ruse as Breakker jumped Zayn following a confrontation on Raw, indicating he wasn’t done. On the July 22 edition of Raw, Breakker became number one contender again after defeating Ilja Dragunov.
Dirty Dom and Mami Rhea are kaput, and Liv Morgan is still the WWE Women’s World Champion.
Dominik Mysterio turned on Rhea Ripley in the SummerSlam opener Saturday to allow Liv Morgan to retain the Women’s World title, and Morgan and Mysterio kissed afterwards to cement their new alliance.
After months of are they or aren’t they, Mysterio interfered on Morgan’s behalf in the Women’s World title match at SummerSlam to confirm that he has been in cahoots with Morgan since helping Liv win the Women’s World title from Becky Lynch at King and Queen of the Ring in May.
Mysterio both stopped Ripley from hitting Morgan with a chair during the bout, then took the referee to allow Morgan to hit Ripley with Oblivion on the same chair to secure the victory and win the title.
The opening of Friday’s SmackDown saw WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and challenger Solo Sikoa meeting face-to-face in the ring. When Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, and Tonga Loa came in through the crowd, Sikoa issued the Bloodline Rules challenge. Rhodes said it wouldn’t be the smartest idea, but he accepted the new stipulation for Saturday’s match.
Bloodline Rules was first brought up as part of WrestleMania 40’s storyline. The Rock & Roman Reigns faced Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins with the stipulation that if Rhodes & Rollins lost, Bloodline Rules would be in effect the following day when Reigns defended the WWE title against Rhodes. The Rock won the match for his team, setting up the stipulation the following day.
Despite interference from The Bloodline, including Rock, appearances by John Cena, Seth Rollins and The Undertaker allowed Rhodes to pin Reigns, ending his 1,316 day reign as champion.
Here is the updated card for SummerSlam:
Bloodline Rules: WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes defends against Solo Sikoa
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damien Priest defends against Gunther (Seth Rollins is special guest referee)
WWE Women’s Champion Bayley defends against Nia Jax
WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defends against Rhea Ripley
WWE U.S. Champion Logan Paul defends against LA Knight
WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn defends against Bron Breakker
CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre with special guest referee Seth Rollins
WWE has entered into a partnership with Wingstop that will see the restaurant chain’s logo featured on the SummerSlam mat.
On Thursday, WWE issued a press release announcing Wingstop as the presenting partner of SummerSlam 2024. The sponsorship deal includes two Wingstop logos being placed on the SummerSlam corner mat. That’s in addition to the Prime logo that’s featured in the middle of the ring at every WWE PLE.
SummerSlam is taking place from Cleveland Browns Stadium this Saturday (August 3). The Associated Press notes that there will be 12 totals sponsors for the event. WWE told the AP that sponsorship revenue is up more than 60 percent from last year’s SummerSlam, which generated $7 million in sponsorship revenue.
Wingstop will also sponsor WWE’s fan kickoff event in Cleveland this Friday. Plus, the deal includes a customized Wingstop video campaign with Rey Mysterio and Braun Strowman that will air across WWE programming this summer.
Bayley and Drew McIntyre will take part in a meet and greet at the Wingstop on 439 W. Bagley Road in Berea, Ohio from noon to 2 p.m. Eastern time this Friday.
The SummerSlam main card airs live on Peacock/WWE Network starting at 7 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa for the Undisputed WWE Championship is among the matches slated for the show.
After an injury put him on the shelf for six months, CM Punk is excited to finally be back in action.
Punk will make his return to the ring at SummerSlam this weekend, facing off against Drew McIntyre in a grudge match. It’s the first time Punk has wrestled since suffering a torn triceps in the Royal Rumble this January. He underwent surgery shortly after the injury and confirmed last week that he’s now been cleared to return.
SummerSlam is taking place from Cleveland Browns Stadium on Saturday. In advance of the PLE, Punk appeared on ESPN’s First Take and expressed how much he’s looking forward to competing again.
“I’m extremely pumped,” Punk said. “It’s been a long road to get back to WWE. We obviously have had our problems, I’ll say. And then to come back and then get injured in January was pretty crushing. But it gave me a lot to do with the rehab and being able to refocus and really kind of seize the opportunity that I’ve been given.”
SummerSlam will be Punk’s first televised one-on-one match for WWE since walking out of the company in 2014.
Seth Rollins, who in storyline has had issues with both Punk and McIntyre, will serve as the special guest referee for their match at SummerSlam. There was a segment on Raw last night where Rollins laid out his referee instructions for the match.
Punk’s full interview on First Take is available to watch below:
More plans for this Saturday’s SummerSlam have been detailed.
The Miz announced during Raw on Monday that he will be hosting this year’s event, which will take place in Miz’s hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. During the segment R-Truth came in and told a few jokes, thinking that when Miz said “his house”, that WWE was bringing back their old In Your House events. Miz’s announcement ended with the promise that he’d bring the hors d’oeuvres.
It was also announced the Countdown pre-show event prior to the SummerSlam main card will be three hours, starting at 4 pm ET. It will go head-to-head with AEW Collision, which is airing at an earlier time of 5 pm ET.
Bron Breakker is getting another Intercontinental title match.
Breakker defeated Ilja Draungov on Monday’s Raw to become the new number one contender for the title, earning a title match against Sami Zayn for SummerSlam on August 3. The finish had Dragunov attempting a strike off the apron, but Breakker countered with a spear in mid-air. After checking on Dragunov, the referee stopped the match and awarded the bout to Breakker.
The very end of Raw saw Breakker spear Zayn after he and Jey Uso defeated World Tag Team Champions Finn Balor & JD McDonagh.
After losing to Zayn at Money in the Bank, Breakker has continued to seek another title match. On last week’s Raw, he attacked both Dragunov and Zayn during their title match, ending the bout prematurely.
It was also announced on Raw that music star Jelly Roll will be performing at SummerSlam. An exchange between Jelly Roll and Triple H on X last week teased a possible appearance.
Here’s the current SummerSlam card with both official and expected matches based on recent TV:
WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes defends against Solo Sikoa
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damien Priest defends against Gunther
WWE Women’s Champion Bayley defends against Nia Jax
WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defends against Rhea Ripley
WWE U.S. Champion Logan Paul defends against LA Knight
WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn defends against Bron Breakker
CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre with special guest referee Seth Rollins
CM Punk is cleared, and will wrestle at SummerSlam.
On Raw, Punk announced that he was cleared and wanted to fight Drew McIntyre right then and there. McIntyre came out but wasn’t interested in fighting Punk. As Punk attempted to attack McIntyre, Adam Pearce interrupted and said that the match would take place at SummerSlam. Seth Rollins then came out and announced he would be the special guest referee for their match on August 3 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Punk had been out of action since undergoing surgery for a triceps injury that took place during this year’s Royal Rumble. Despite being sidelined, Punk continued his storyline with Drew McIntyre. After McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins to win the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 40, Punk attacked McIntyre after he spent most of the post-match berating Punk, allowing Damian Priest to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the title.
After McIntyre lost his rematch against Damian Priest at Clash at the Castle thanks to Punk’s interference, McIntyre brutally assaulted Punk on an episode of SmackDown, leaving him a bloody mess. Punk returned at Money in the Bank, costing McIntyre another chance at the World Heavyweight title after winning the Money in the Bank briefcase and cashing in, making the Rollins/Priest title match a three-way.
Also announced for SummerSlam is Sami Zayn defending the Intercontinental title against Bron Breakker. It was also confirmed that music star Jelly Roll would be performing.
Here’s the current SummerSlam card with both official and expected matches based on recent TV:
WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes defends against Solo Sikoa
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damien Priest defends against Gunther
WWE Women’s Champion Bayley defends against Nia Jax
WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defends against Rhea Ripley
WWE U.S. Champion Logan Paul defends against LA Knight
WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn defends against Bron Breakker
CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre with special guest referee Seth Rollins
