Fans in attendance at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot for last Friday’s “WWE SmackDown” and Saturday’s Backlash event certainly made a strong case for WWE to bring more major shows to San Juan, Puerto Rico in the future. According to PWInsider Elite, WWE performers are hoping that the promotion will make San Juan “a permanent home” for Backlash because of the crowd reactions received this past weekend. Wrestlers in the locker room felt the atmosphere was on a similar level to WrestleMania, which in turn made the first premium live event after “The Show of Shows” more significant than it had been in several years.
Wrestlers and fans took to social media to praise the crowd in San Juan following “SmackDown” and Backlash, including Damage CTRL’s Bayley, who also complimented the Paris, France crowd from a recent house show. She posted, “In just a one week span, #DamageCTRL performed in both Paris and Puerto Rico. Two of the absolute greatest crowds and shows I’ve ever been a part of and I am so proud of that. Thank you @ImKingKota and @Iyo_SkyWWE.”
Backlash was co-headlined by Cody Rhodes battling Brock Lesnar and Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny going up against The Judgment Day’s Damian Priest in a San Juan Street Fight. It was revealed yesterday that the premium live event had broken several records, including becoming the highest-grossing and most-viewed Backlash of all time. The first televised WWE events in San Juan since January 2005 – “SmackDown” and Backlash – drew a combined 34,800 fans.
One of the great things about, and pitfalls of, live TV is that anything can happen. And that was the case last night for Becky Lynch, who made her triumphant return to “WWE Raw,” only to find herself being interrupted by her own theme music while trying to cut a promo. Fortunately, Lynch dealt with the situation quickly backstage. Posting a video on her Instagram, the former WWE Women’s Champion was seen confronting the culprit who played her music too early. While the problem seemed resolved, an angry Lynch proceeded to nail the sound guy with a forearm, sending him flying back into his seat.
It’s understandable why Lynch was so upset, given that this was her first appearance on “Raw” in nearly a month. “The Man” hasn’t been seen since she was betrayed by Trish Stratus on April 10, following her and Stratus dropping the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship to Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Despite being champions with Lita, Lynch defended the titles with Stratus after Lita was unable to compete due to a backstage attack, which Stratus later confessed to. While Lynch has returned to TV, Lita has not been seen since.
Since the betrayal, Stratus has made several appearances on “Raw” making harsh comments towards Lynch, including last night when she brought up Lynch’s two-year-old daughter. While no match between Stratus and Lynch has been announced, it would appear the two are well on their way to colliding in the ring in the near-distant future.
WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network and emanate from the ystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, FL.
Fallout from Backlash
The launch of the new Raw roster, which was established in this year’s 2023 WWE Draft.
The World Heavyweight Championship tournament is set to begin. Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, The Miz, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Damian Priest will be featured in the tournament matches.
The social media storyline between Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville is expected to continue.
Possibly see more on the feud between Beck Lynch and WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus
We now know the 12 competitors who will be taking part in the upcoming WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament, which begins on tonight’s episode of RAW.
The tournament will feature six Superstars from RAW, and six from SmackDown.
SAN JUAN STREET FIGHT: Bad Bunny def. Damian Priest
Dominik Mysterio and Finn Balor got involved helping Priest. Bad Bunny got help from Rey Mysterio and the LWO along with legends Carlito Colon and Savio Vega
The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa , Jey Uso, and Jimmy Uso) (with Paul Heyman) def. Matt Riddle, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn
WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on FOX and emanate from the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Tonight’s SmackDown is the final show before Saturday’s Backlash.
FOX Entertainment and Eureka Productions sent out a press release today to announce a new unscripted reality series, which is titled Stars on Mars.
In the presser, it was announced that WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey will be featured on the show alongside Lance Armstrong, Natasha Leggero, Marshawn Lynch, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Adam Rippon, Tom Schwartz, Richard Sherman, Tinashe, Porsha Williams Guobadia, Tallulah Willis and Ariel Winter.
You can check out the official announcement below:
FOX LAUNCHES 12 CELEBRITIES TO THE RED PLANET ON THE NEW UNSCRIPTED SERIES “STARS ON MARS,” DEBUTING MONDAY, JUNE 5 ON FOX
The 12 Stars Are Lance Armstrong, Natasha Leggero, Marshawn Lynch, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Adam Rippon, Ronda Rousey, Tom Schwartz, Richard Sherman, Tinashe, Porsha Williams Guobadia, Tallulah Willis and Ariel Winter
FOX announces the 12 fearless celebrities who will pack their bags and prepare for launch to the red planet as crew members on Stars on Mars, an out-of-this-world new unscripted series, premiering Monday, June 5 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. This summer, professional athletes, reality world megastars, triumphant entrepreneurs, renowned television and film actors, uproarious comedians and trailblazing entertainers will colonize, compete and conquer “Mars” until there is one victorious space invader, who will claim the title of “the brightest star in the galaxy.” Celebrities will ditch their jerseys, business suits and red carpet gowns for the ultimate attire – an astronaut suit. Once on “Mars,” this group of stars will receive interstellar assignments from legendary actor and Star Trek icon William Shatner, who serves as Mission Control. Colonizing Mars could be our future… let’s send them first!
Meet the 12 crewmates joining Stars on Mars:
· Former Professional Road-Racing Cyclist and Investor Lance Armstrong · Comedian, Actress and Writer Natasha Leggero · Former Super Bowl Champion, Community Advocate and Entrepreneur Marshawn Lynch · Widely known Comedic Actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse · Olympic Figure Skater and TV Personality Adam Rippon · Professional Wrestler and UFC champion, Olympic Medalist and Actress Ronda Rousey · Television Personality and Restaurateur Tom Schwartz · Sports Analyst and Professional Football Player Richard Sherman · Multi-Platinum-Certified POP & R&B Disruptor, Singer, Songwriter and Dancer Tinashe · Television Personality, Actress and Author Porsha Williams Guobadia · Entrepreneur and Artist Tallulah Willis · SAG Award-Winning Actress and Producer Ariel Winter
This summer, adventurous celebrities prepare for take-off to the red planet, where they will live, eat, sleep, strategize and bond with each other in the same space station. During their stay, they will be faced with authentic conditions that simulate life on Mars, and they must use their brains and brawn – or maybe just their stellar social skills – to outlast the competition and claim the title of “brightest star in the galaxy.” The celebrities will compete in missions and will vote to eliminate one of their crewmates each week, sending them back to Earth. Cue the intergalactic alliances and rivalries. Stars on Mars will send these famous rookie space travelers where no one has gone before and reveal who has what it takes to survive life on “Mars.”
Stars on Mars is produced by Eureka Productions, a Fremantle company. Chris Culvenor, Paul Franklin, Wes Dening and Eden Gaha serve as executive producers, along with Charles Wachter, serving as executive producer and showrunner.
Stars on Mars is an original format created by Chris Culvenor of Eureka Productions. Fremantle has international distribution rights to the Stars on Mars format.
While taking questions during WWE’s first quarter 2023 earnings call today, Triple H wanted everyone to know that WWE is focused on character development at a time when the company is about to be acquired by The Endeavor Group. Here are the highlights:
What they’re doing to boost ratings:
“That really comes down to us just having assembled the right team. Across the board, we have world class superstars and that continues to grow every day through our developmental system, through NIL, through international and domestic recruit, so the pipeline coming in is very strong. You just saw that in the recent draft and the amount of talent we had to draft and coming up from NXT, and through that pipeline. The writing team is world class and Kevin Dunn’s production team, there’s nothing like it in the world.”
Focus on character development:
“As far as what we’re focused on, we’re focused on character development. I think you see that across storylines where our fans are super engaged in the talent. Let’s take Sami Zayn and the Bloodline over the last, couple of years really, but especially in the last six to eight months, where that story and the character development has reached a whole new level. It has our fans invested and excited in the content like they haven’t been in a long time. For us, extending the planning of the event horizon. Looking out year over year, where we want to be next year and then back tracking from there, so that we’re always ahead of the curve and always thinking ahead. That allows us to have better planning and then it’s just trying new things and getting outside of a box of what we do and seeing what works and what doesn’t. I don’t consider something not working a failure, I consider it learning. Really excited about the future and where we can take all of this.”
The WWE NXT Women’s Championship has been vacated.
During Tuesday night’s episode of NXT, Indi Hartwell came out during the main event segment to announce that there will be a tournament to crown a new champion now that she’s been called up to the RAW brand.
During her promo segment, Hartwell spoke about the importance of the NXT Women’s Championship, and went on to reveal that a tournament will begin next week. The finals will take place at NXT Battleground, which takes place on May 28 in Lowell, MA.
Hartwell’s title reign comes to an end at just 31 days. She is currently sidelined after suffering a high ankle sprain on last week’s episode of WWE NXT. Hartwell was also drafted to Raw during the first night of the 2023 WWE Draft this past Friday on SmackDown.
