SmackDown Live Preview 8/1/17

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH as the road to SummerSlam continues.

* John Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura to clash in dream match for SummerSlam WWE Title opportunity

* Kevin Owens challenges United States Champion AJ Styles

* Naomi & Becky Lynch join forces for tag team action

* Chad Gable looks to break out against Rusev

* Will The Fashion Police finally crack the case?

* Tyler Breeze posted this video from backstage at Monday’s live event in Ft. Wayne, Indiana:

GFW Live Events Update For This Weekend

GFW issued the following:

Global Force Wrestling Announces Updates To Impact Live Events In New York On August 4-5, Including Rare, 5-Pack Trading Card Set

NASHVILLE – The first-ever five-pack trading card set released by Global Force Wrestling (GFW) will be distributed to all fans attending the Impact Live Event this Saturday, August 5, in New York City – and collecting insiders have already said that the set will be highly sought-after, extremely rare and hard-to-find.

Saturday’s Impact Live Event action will be held at Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George, home of the Staten Island Yankees, starting at 6 p.m. ET, with the gates opening to the general public at 5 p.m. ET. An exclusive pre-show meet-and-greet with select talent kicks off at 4 p.m. ET for Price Level 1 and 2 ticket holders.

GFW officials announced today that the five-pack trading card set will include Bobby Lashley, EC3, “Cowboy” James Storm, Allie and unified GFW/Impact Tag Team Champions New York City’s Own The Latin American Xchange (Santana and Ortiz). All five cards will be must-have collectibles for wrestling fans, collecting insiders said.

The Impact Live Event tour kicks off in the New York Tri-State Area, the night prior – this Friday, August 4, at The Sports Arena in the town of St. James on Long Island, starting at 8 p.m. ET – marking the first-ever live events for the new-look GFW. The Friday night show also marks GFW’s Suffolk County Long Island debut. The pre-show VIP talent meet-and-greet for Price Level 1 and 2 ticket-holders starts at 6 p.m.

In addition, GFW officials confirmed that Lucha Libre AAA star John Hennigan (known as Johnny Mundo in Lucha Underground and formerly John Morrison in WWE) will compete at both shows in six-man Main Event match. Joining Hennigan as special guests for the New York live events are Taya Valkyrie, an international superstar who has shined in AAA, and Mexico’s own Drago. Both live events also feature GFW/Impact Wrestling mainstays, such as Lashley, EC3, Low-Ki, Cowboy James Storm, Unified GFW/Impact Knockouts Champion Sienna, Eli Drake, Eddie Edwards and many more.

“We are excited for the Impact Live Events this Friday and Saturday in the New York City area,” said Jeff Jarrett, GFW Chief Creative Officer. “I know the fans will be very excited to see the GFW stars in New York and also stars from around the world, including Mexico’s Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and Crash Lucha, plus local independent promotions. These Impact Live Events will truly be global events.”

The Impact Live Events in New York will also feature Impact Grand Champion Moose, reigning X-Division Champion Sonjay Dutt, and others, including Trevor Lee, Braxton Sutter, Mario Bokara, Fallah Bahh, New York’s own, KM, and more live in action.

Backstage News On WWE Cutbacks, More To Come

There are major cutbacks going on all over WWE right now, including the cancellation of WWE Network programs and no longer doing the pyro at shows.

Dave Meltzer stated on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE “promised everyone” they were going to have bigger profits in 2017 than they had in 2016 and they’re not anywhere close.

“So last year’s profits were about $30 million,” said Meltzer on the August 1, 2017 episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. “And this year we’re about halfway through and — I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me – but it’s like five or six million, which means there’s a lot of catching up to do.”

This is believed to be the reason why there is no longer a pyro at WWE shows and a lot of shows on the WWE Network are getting canceled, in an attempt to lower production costs.

“They’re not in any financial trouble but the Network subscriber number is a genuine disappointment,” explained Meltzer. “The growth coming out of WrestleMania that would have been expected wasn’t there.”

One thing that has not helped the growth of the WWE Network is doing brand specific pay-per-views for RAW and SmackDown but it’s not expected that WWE is going to go back to just one pay-per-view a month.

“The one thing that we have learned is that the two pay-per-views a month, that has not helped,” said Meltzer. “The Network number is not growing the way they expected it to so that’s been a bad situation. But I don’t think they want to drop one of the pay-per-views because I think that would hurt ratings a little bit.”

More cutbacks are expected in WWE and it’s one of the reasons why the company has been slow on the United Kingdom show. Dave Meltzer noted their tournament to crown a WWE United Kingdom Champion earlier this year cost a lot of money and the show will mean spending a lot of money for more tapings every month.

Source: WrestlingINC

NJPW G1 Climax 27 Results (Day 11)

Image result for NJPW G1 Climax 27

Earlier today was Day 10 in the G1 Climax 27 tournament, featuring Block A. You can watch all of the upcoming shows on NJPW World for about $9 a month. Here are the full results:

Tournament Matches
Yoshi-Hashi defeated Bad Luck Fale
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Togi Makabe
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yuji Nagata
Tetsuya Naito defeated Hirooki Goto
Kota Ibushi defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi

Non-Tournament Matches

Michael Elgin and Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Katsuya Kitamura and Shota Umino
Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, and Desperado defeated Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Hirai Kawato
Sanada and Bushi defeated Juice Robinson and David Finlay
EVIL and Hiromu Takahashi defeated Kenny Omega and Chase Owens
Kazuchika Okada and Toru Yano defeated Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi

Current Standings

Block A
Hiroshi Tanahashi 8
Tetsuya Naito 8
Zack Sabre Jr. 8
Tomohiro Ishii 8
Hirooki Goto 6
Bad Luck Fale 6
Togi Makabe 6
Kota Ibushi 6
YOSHI-HASHI 4
Yuji Nagata 0

Block B
Kazuchika Okada 10
Kenny Omega 8
EVIL 8
SANADA 6
Minoru Suzuki 6
Michael Elgin 4
Tama Tonga 4
Juice Robinson 2
Toru Yano 2
Satoshi Kojima 0

The next show is on August 2 at 5:30am ET, here is the full show:

* Kenny Omega vs. EVIL
* Kazuchika Okada vs. Tama Tonga
* Minoru Suzuki vs. Satoshi Kojima
* Michael Elgin vs. Toru Yano
* SANADA vs. Juice Robinson
* Jushin Thunder Liger and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. David Finlay and Togi Makabe
* El Desperado, Taichi, and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, and Tetsuya Naito
* YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto vs. Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, and Bad Luck Fale
* Hirai Kawato and Yuji Nagata vs. Tiger Mask and Kota Ibushi
* Shota Umino and Tomoyuki Oka vs. Ren Narita and Katsuya Kitamura

Source: WrestlingINC

Sting Says He Can Still Wrestle (But Not Going To), Reveals If He’s Interested In On-Air WWE Role

Sting recently experimented with Facebook Live on his official Facebook page. While his comments were brief, they were newsworthy nonetheless.

“I can still wrestle,” Sting said. “I can still wrestle! I’m just not going to.”

Sting worked his last match on September 20, 2015, where he was defeated by Seth Rollins at WWE Night of Champions. He suffered multiple neck injuries in the bout that were career-ending.

When asked if he would be open to an on-air role on WWE television, similar to what Kurt Angle is doing now, Sting responded:

“Yeah, I might consider something like that,” Sting said. “Good to see Kurt back by the way.”

Sources: Wrestling INC – Sting on Facebook

WWE On Historic WWE UK Title Defense, Pete Dunne On What’s Next, Post-Match Reactions (Videos)

WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne retained his title in a Fatal 4 Way at Insane Championship Wrestling’s “Shug’s Hoose Party 4” event this past Saturday night in Glasgow. Dunne retained over BT Gunn, Wolfgang and Trent Seven.

In the video above, Dunne says he beats people up, he hurts people and he collects titles, and he now owns ICW just like he owns WWE. In regards to where the title is going next, Dunne says he’s taking it to the top and keeping it as he captures title after title until everything is his.

The event also saw WWE cruiserweight Noam Dar return to the ICW promotion. WWE posted the following on The BruiserWeight and Dar working the event:

WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne retains title in historic defenseIn the first WWE United Kingdom Championship defense to take place in the U.K. outside of a WWE ring, Pete Dunne successfully retained the title Saturday night in Glasgow, Scotland.

The BruiserWeight defeated Trent Seven, Wolfgang and BT Gunn in a Fatal 4-Way Match at Night 1 of “Shug’s Hoose Party 4,” an event held by Insane Championship Wrestling at the O2 ABC. The sold-out event will be available for viewing on ICW’s on-demand service starting 24 hours after the show.

Following the match, the victorious Dunne, never one to mince words, said “ICW is one of the top promotions in the world, and I own it now … just like I own WWE.”

Also at “Shug’s Hoose Party 4,” Cruiserweight Noam Dar returned to action in ICW, which was one of his stomping grounds prior to joining WWE. Dar joined former Pinky Party tag team partner Sha Samuels in tag team action.

Now that Dunne has turned back three opponents in one fell swoop, who will be next in line to step to The BruiserWeight? This much is obvious: The brash but brilliantly dangerous Dunne is unlikely to back down from the challenger, whomever it is.

Source: WrestlingINC

Below are post-match reactions from Gunn, Seven and Wolfgang:

Matt Hardy Says He Feels ‘Woken’ Following Monday Night Raw (VIDEO)

woken matt hardy woke broken persona universe wwe video jeff

The Broken Universe may have become “woken” following Monday Night Raw … as Matt Hardy came the closest he’s been to his Broken persona in WWE during a backstage interview.

Hardy was featured in a Fallout video and said he felt “woken” after he and Jeff Hardy brawled with The Revival, using the same accent and crazy facial expressions from his days as Broken Matt.

As we previously reported, Reby Hardy said in an interview with The Sheet Podcast last week that negotiations with Global Force Wrestling over the Broken gimmick had stalled … but that hasn’t stopped Matt and Jeff from using familiar phrases like “obsolete mule.”

Matt posted the video on Twitter with the caption, “, IT’S HAPPENING. ”

Could “Woken” Matt Hardy be the compromise that finally allows something like the Broken Universe in WWE?

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Kairi Sane Sustained A Concussion During Mae Young Classic Tapings – SPOILER ALERT

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Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Kairi Sane is currently on the injured list after the recent WWE signee sustained a concussion during the Mae Young Classic tapings.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the wrestler formerly known as Kairi Hojo is also dealing with some neck pain … but officials expect her to be cleared for return in early August. 

It’s unclear which match the injury occurred during, or how exactly it went down.

 

 

(MAE YOUNG CLASSIC SPOILER ALERT)

Because officials have been told Kairi will get the green-light next month, the injury shouldn’t stop her from wrestling in September at the MYC finals in Las Vegas.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

John Cena Cast In Transformers ‘Bumblebee’ Spinoff

transformers john cena cast lead role bumblebee

The Decepticons are about to get an attitude adjustment … because John Cena has been cast as a lead in the upcoming Transformers spinoff.

THR reports that the sixteen time world champion is set to appear in the Bumblebee movie, which will be directed by Travis Knight and also star Hailee Steinfeld.

No word on Cena’s role, but the film will take place in 1987 and the synopsis explains: “Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small California beach town. Charlie (Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary yellow VW bug.”

Bumblebee is set to release on December 21, 2018.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

RAW Preview 7/31/17

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA as the road to WWE SummerSlam continues.

* Three’s a crowd – Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns

* Jason Jordan to speak out on “Miz TV”

* Brothers in arms: Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose

* Hardy Boyz and “good brothers,” meet Team Red’s “top guys”

* Bálor to Wyatt: “Let’s play”