This weekend WWE attempts to make their annual Big 4 into a Big 5.
While once upon a time there was what was considered a “Big 4” among the WWE’s annual PPVs a lot has changed over the years. Some of the original 4 have faded in importance while others have risen to take their place. Top of the heap will always be Wrestlemania, followed closely by Summerslam which has in recent years grown to be nearly as big in scale and importance as Mania. Joining them traditionally has been Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble with this weekend’s Money in the Bank hoping to round out that trifecta for the 2nd tier of major PPV events. Only time will tell if they succeed.
Short term Rousey?
There’s a rumor that Ronda Rousey may only have signed a one year deal with WWE due to her desire to start a family. Given the amount of time and effort going into her training and promotion this hardly seems like enough time to fully capitalize on the investment, especially if the goal is for all of the MMA horsewomen to eventually be on the roster together. I can appreciate her desire to have children, but I’m taking this rumor with a very large grain of salt for now. In fact there are already conflicting reports which state she does indeed have a multi-year deal with the WWE and that her presence on the roster was crucial in the securing of some of the big new TV deals.
UK Tournament Updates
On day 2 of the Download Festival Jordan Devlin defeated Tyson T-Bone, Joe Coffey defeated Tucker, and Dave Mastiff defeated Kenny Williams to move on to the tournament quarterfinals at Royal Albert Hall. The final 1st round match between 205 Live regulars Drew Gulak and Jack Gallagher was posted on social media by WWE today. It appears to have been recorded at the most recent set of NXT tapings with Gentleman Jack getting the win. In other UK news, HHH told media this week that he sees current UK champion Pete Dunne as a future WWE World Champion. High praise for the rising young Brit.
Lesnar’s Record Title Reign*
Brock Lesnar has officially passed CM Punk to have the longest world title reign of the modern era but regardless of how WWE tries to hype that accomplishment most fans are going to view it as a record with an asterisk. Lesnar’s part time nature means that he’s only defended the Universal title 10 times during his lengthy reign while Punk defended 141 times over the same number of days. Brock’s run is also considered the 6th longest of all time. The legendary Bruno Sammartino will likely always hold the top spot all-time with his 2,803 day reign. Hopefully the rumors of Lesnar NOT yet being locked in for a Summerslam title defense prove false and he finally drops the Universal Title to a full time competitor at that event.
Mae Young News
The latest name rumored to be coming over for the next Mae Young Classic is Japanese veteran Meiko Satomura. She’s held championships for multiple companies in her homeland as well as being the founder of Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling.
Mama Mia!
Due to his commitments to Showtime Boxing, Mauro Ranallo will not be calling NXT Takeover on Saturday. 205 Live announcer Vic Joseph will be filling in for the night. It’ll essentially be the regular weekly announce team from 205 as Joseph joins regular NXT commentators Nigel McGuiness and Percy Watson. This familiar trio should do a fine job, but it is disappointing that Ranallo’s enthusiastic style will be missing from the Gargano/Ciampa street fight.
NXT Takeover Chicago
Final announced card:
NXT Title- Aleister Black(c) vs Lars Sullivan
NXT Womens Title- Shayna Baszler(c) vs Nikki Cross
NXT Tag Titles- Undisputed Era(c) (Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong) vs Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan
Street Fight- Johnny Gargano vs Tomasso Ciampa
Ricochet vs Velveteen Dream
Money in the Bank
Final Announced card:
WWE Title Match-Last Man Standing- AJ Styles(c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura
Raw Womens Title- Nia Jax(c) vs Ronda Rousey
Smackdown Womens title- Carmella(c) vs Asuka
Intercontinental Title- Seth Rollins(c) vs Elias
Raw Tag Titles- Destroyers of Worlds(c) (Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt) vs B Team (Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas)
Smackdown Tag Titles- Bludgeon Brothers(c) vs Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
Mens Money in the Bank- Braun Strowman vs Finn Balor vs The Miz vs Rusev vs Bobby Roode vs Kevin Owens vs Samoa Joe vs one member of the New Day TBA
Womens Money in the Bank- Ember Moon vs Charlotte Flair vs Alexa Bliss vs Becky Lynch vs Natalya vs Lana vs Naomi vs Sasha Banks
Roman Reigns vs Jinder Mahal
Daniel Bryan vs Big Cass
Sami Zayn vs Bobby Lashley
