Greatest Royal Rumble
This is the current card for The Greatest Royal Rumble, which will be held in Saudi Arabia on Friday, April 27, 2018. It will air live on WWE Network at 12 PM EST, with a preshow beginning at 11 AM.:
WWE Universal Title Steel Cage Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns
WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz vs. Samoa Joe
WWE Raw Tag Team Title Match: The Bar vs. TBD
WWE Title Match: AJ Styles vs. TBA
WWE US Title Match: Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Randy Orton
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: The Bludgeon Brothers vs. TBA
John Cena vs. Triple H
50-Man Royal Rumble
Daniel Bryan, Kane, Big Show, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Chris Jericho, The New Day, Kurt Angle, Baron Corbin, Apollo, Shelton Benjamin, Sin Cara, Elias, Chad Gable, Golddust, Titus O’Neil, Mojo Rawley, Dolph Ziggler, and more TBA
Casket Match: The Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho
Backlash Card
These are the official matches thus far for Backlash, which will be held May 6, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey.
WWE Intercontinental Title Match
Seth Rollins vs. The Miz
Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe
Extreme Rules match revealed?
According to an advertisement for this year’s Extreme Rules pay per view, AJ Styles will be involved in a triple threat match against Shinsuke Nakamura and Baron Corbin for SmackDown World Title. Extreme Rules will be held on July 15 in Pittsburugh, Pennsylvania.
Jake The Snake vs. Harry Smith!?
Jake The Snake Roberts and NJPW star, Harry Smith were involved in an altercation at WrestleCon in New Orleans during Wrestlemania Weekend according to a report from PWInsider. According to a witness report, Jake was signing autographs at a table and Harry came to his table threw scalding hot coffee in his face. Security was called but Harry fled the scene before police could arrive. Harry Smith is the son of “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith.
Brock Lesnar’s contract and UFC status
Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar have both resigned with the WWE. Brock’s signing and the announcement that he and Roman Reigns will have a steel cage match at The Greatest Royal Rumble event was announced Monday on Twitter. According to Dave Meltzer, Brock’s contract is a short term one and would allow him to negotiate to fight in UFC. He’d have to wait since he’s still on the hook for his steroid violation against Mark Hunt at UFC 200. It’s still unclear as to how long the deal is but it is at a “higher rate” than before. The plan to keep Brock around was made on Raw just before WrestleMania.
Bellator star Chael Sonnen weighed in on Brock Lesnar’s possible return to UFC and on CM Punk’s upcoming fight on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast:
“He’s jammed up on that. I do not believe he can return to the UFC. He got popped and had to serve a year. To serve that year you have to stay in that pool. The last thing he wants is to be tested, particularly when he is not competing. He said that he was retired, so that took him out of the pool, but at the same time that stopped his suspension clock. So, let’s just say for math that he stayed for 4 months, he has a 12 month suspension, he stays for 4, great, when you want to come back you are going to serve your 8 months, and since you are a past offender you are going to give us 6 months of clean tests,” Sonnen said. “So, if Brock Lesnar comes back, and I don’t think Vince McMahon understands this, yes, having leverage in your negotiation is a good thing, as a matter of fact that is the only thing that helps during a negotiation, which is leverage. Dana White is more than willing to help him out on the off chance that Brock is serious. Dana White is a mark as well. The only real professional here is that if Brock were to come back, he’s going to have to sit for 14 months. You can’t sit and promote a guy that’s sitting for 14 months. Do you think Brock Lesnar is going to sit there and do nothing for 14 months? Not going to happen. If I’m not mistaken he is 40, 41 years old.”
On CM Punk:
“Let’s start at the beginning here, because this part of the story never gets told. CM Punk is going to come to UFC and what is he going to do? He’s going to do what Brock Lesnar did. He’s going to come in, take all the main event spots and go on with all this money and laugh at the rest of us. Well, not so fast. He dropped CM Punk and brought him in as Phil Brooks. Second, he committed everything to this. He left professional wrestling. I understand he had a few reasons to leave, but he locked himself in a gem with a room filled with killers, amongst the best coach in Duke Roufus, with an awesome facility. He cuts the weights, he gets disciplined, he gets the walk. That is something people in all walks of life should be able to relate to. Here is a bucket list item. Here is a guy who has the ability to pursue his dream and he has the courage and the balls to do it with his shirt off in front of the entire world and be able to pull it off. That was a very cool thing that he did, instead of course people teased him,” he said. “He didn’t leave with all the money, he didn’t hold Dana White over a barrel. He really wanted to do this. He wanted to prove to people that he can do this and wasn’t going to hold Dana White over for more money. The first contract he was offered, he signed. His heart was in the right place, As a competitor he did everything right. Then, he loses, so what does he do? He locks himself in the gym again, he begs again for another opportunity and he gets it. Quite frankly, the song is not going to end any differently than the first one, but if people can’t get on board, see him around town, or talk to him on social media and tell him that it was a cool, ballsy thing that he did, then I have no idea what is wrong with them. That is the bottom line. He did everything right. He did everything respectful, and he did help the boys. There was a little bit of jealousy when he came in because he can get on shows that some of the other guys couldn’t. He had a lot of buzz around him. Why is he sitting at ESPN and I’m not? Because ESPN can get ratings with him.”
WrestleMania 34 Bottom line
WWE announced that its digital streaming service, WWE Network, reached a record 2.12 million total subscribers following WrestleMania 34. This is a 9% increase from April 3, 2017, the day after WrestleMania 33. WrestleMania 34 broke the record for the Mercedes-Benz Superdome’s highest grossing entertainment event at $14.1 million, as a sold-out crowd of 78,133 fans from all 50 states and 67 countries attended the event.
The reason why the Iconic Duo is no more
The Iconic Duo made their main roster debut on this weeks’ episode of SmackDown with a new name, IIconics. According to Cageside Seats, the reason for Kay and Royce’s new team name stems from a company, Iconic Duo LLC, already owning the name.
Rey Mysterio comeback!?
According to a report from PWInsider, Rey Mysterio will appear at The Greatest Royal Rumble. Rey is still nursing a biceps injury that has hindered his NJPW wrestling matches but he and the WWE have been engaged in talks about his return. So far, the Rumble appearance is a one off.
Ronda Rousey’s Euro schedule
Ronda Rousey made a successful debut at WrestleMania 34 and is expected to be a part timer. WWE announced that she will work a handful of dates during their European Tour next month:
Weds., May 16 – Geneva, Switzerland
Thurs., May 17 – Vienna, Austria
Fri., May 18 – Turin, Italy
Sat., May 19 – Paris, France
