The 2nd show from Impact Wrestling’s April TV tapings in Orlando aired last night. The main event saw Su Yung take on Rosemary in a match which would be invaded by an army of undead brides.

Also on the show, Matt Sydal defended his X-Division title against former champion, Taiji Ishimori, Brian Cage started his world tour and more.

Impact Wrestling Results (3/5/18)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjjrDwEBkNM

Eli Drake to Challenge Pentagon Next Week

• Drake cut an in-ring promo to start the show, stating he plans to challenge Pentagon Jr for the Impact World Championship next week.
• This brought out Pentagon, who informed Drake he has no fear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00-R6CSFvJg

1. OVE defeated KM and Fallah Bahh

• KM previously told Bahh he was sorry he fat-shamed him and now they are a tag team.
• oVe picked up the win despite a hot tag into Bahh which saw both KM and Bahh give steamrollers to their opponents.
• KM seemed to get mad at Bahh after the match but quickly apologized.

2. Taya Valkyrie vs Kiera Hogan went to a no-contest

• Kiera Hogan had a few choice words for Tessa Blanchard on a recent Impact Media conference call. Hogan is upset Blanchard chose her match at Redemption to come in and do commentary. Hogan and Blanchard then got into an argument backstage earlier in the evening.
• Taya lost a Knockouts Championship match last week to Allie. Previously, she had defeated Hogan at Redemption.
• Taya seemed to dominate early but just when Hogan was getting going, Blanchard hit the ring area and attacked her causing the ref to wave off the match.
• Blanchard laid out Hogan with a DDT to end the segment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeOBvMdS5VM

Brian Cage World Tour

• Impact Wrestling recently announced Brian Cage will be touring the world. Cage is scheduled for matches in Japan, Canada, and Australia which will air on Impact Wrestling.
• This week he was in Australia and defeated Mick Moretti, Brodie Marshall, and Slex in a fatal 4-way match.
• The match was hosted by World Series of Wrestling, an Australian based promotion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UarD0CpUKrE

3. DJZ, Dezmond Xavier, and Andrew Everett defeated Drago, El Hijo Del Fantasma, and Aerostar.

• In a fast-paced match featuring luchadors and the stars of the X-Division, Impact got the win over Lucha Underground here.
• DJZ picked up the win for his team after hitting the ZDT on Aerostar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymnck_Wvci8

4. X-Division Championship
Matt Sydal (c) defeated Taiji Ishimori

• The former champion, Ishimori, had a chance to regain the title in this rematch from Crossroads earlier this year.
• Sydal missed the shooting star press but followed it up with a variation on a pump-handle driver and got the pin.

5. Su Yung vs Rosemary – No Contest Due to Undead Bride Army

• Earlier in the show, Rosemary was shown telling Allie not to come to ringside for the match.
• Not long after the match started, the undead bridesmaids meandered down to ringside carrying a coffin.
• This brought out Allie to attempt the save. As the brides were attacking Allie, Rosemary grabbed a kendo stick and went after Yung.
• Yung sprayed mist in Rosemary’s eyes and gave her a driver through a table. She then made Allie watch as they put Rosemary in a coffin to close the show.

Tonight on Impact Wrestling the promotion airs their second show from the set of April TV tapings. The company held the tapings in Orlando in the days following their Redemption PPV on April 22nd, 2018.

An X-Division title match, 2 big Knockouts matches, and Brian Cage beginning a world tour all take place tonight on Impact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oYrgfCwfSk

Impact Wrestling Preview (3/5/18)

• X-Division Championship Match
  Matt Sydal (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori

  • The last time these two met with the X-Division title on the line, Sydal picked up the victory at Crossroads.
  • Now, the former champion, Ishimori, will look to regain his title belt.
  • Sydal most recently defended the title successfully against Petey Williams at Redemption.

• Rosemary vs Su Yung

  • Fans of Impact’s Knockouts division might be looking forward to this match more than anything else tonight.
  • The undead bride attempted to attack Allie last week, but the Demon Assassin, Rosemary, showed up to protect her bunny-loving friend.
  • This week the Undead Bride battles the Demon Assassin in one-on-one action.

• Taya Valkyrie vs. Kiera Hogan

  • In a rematch from Redemption, Kiera Hogan will look to avenge her recent loss to Taya Valkyrie.
  • After defeating Hogan at Redemption, Taya was given a title shot against Allie but was defeated last week. She might need a win here to get back into the title picture.
  • Hogan is moving up in the Knockouts division. She seemed to have some choice words for the debuting Tessa Blanchard recently as well.

• Brian Cage World Tour Begins

  • On a recent Impact Wrestling media call, Josh Matthews announced Brian Cage will be starting a world tour.
  • This could be wrong, but it sounds as though each week Impact will be airing a match of Cage’s as he travels to different promotions. The plans are currently for him to wrestle matches in Japan, Canada, and Australia.
  • Cage is still undefeated since arriving in Impact earlier this year.

• Drago, Fantasma, and Aerostar vs. DJZ, Desmond Xavier, and Andrew Everett

  • It’s Lucha Underground versus Impact Wrestling’s X-Division in this match.
  • Impact has also announced this match will be conducted under Lucha Libre rules, meaning teammates do not have to tag a partner in order to enter the match.

The last year has been an eventful one for Mike Bennett, aka Mike Kanellis. He recently celebrated the birth of his first child along with his wife, Maria. The 32-year-old has also been open about his recent battles with pain medication, however.

The former IWGP heavyweight tag-team champion recently posted the following message to his social media channels:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiSFyibhAnZ/?hl=en&taken-by=therealmichaelbennett

Mike Kanellis/Bennett

Mike and Maria Kanellis signed with WWE in 2017 and debuted at the Money in the Bank PPV that summer. Previously, Bennett and Kanellis had a brief stint in Impact Wrestling. Bennett won the X-Division championship during this time.

Bennett wrestled for several years in Ring of Honor, even winning the top prospects tournament in 2011. He would form a successful team with Matt Taven and win titles in both ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Bennett and Taven were involved in a memorable feud over the tag titles with Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows when Anderson seemed to fall hopelessly in love with Maria. Anderson’s infatuation with Maria allowed Taven and Bennett to defeat them for the belts.

Since debuting in WWE, Bennett has taken Maria’s last name.

At last week’s Greatest Royal Rumble, Bennett was eliminated in near-record setting fashion. While he didn’t last long in the actual match, he did get a few laughs for his entrance. Bennett opted to mime his normal entrance with Maria even though Maria was not there.

Earlier this year, Impact Wrestling announced the signing of the Great Gama Singh. The 63-year-old Indo-Canadian was arguably the most hated heel in the history of Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling territory.The plan is for Gama to lead a faction of Indian wrestlers in Impact named the Desi Hit Squad.

Desi Hit Squad member, Rohit Raju, revealed on a recent Impact Wrestling media call that the Great Gama will be present at the upcoming TV tapings in June.

“I can’t wait for the June tapings because that’s when myself, Gursinder (Singh), and Gama were going to be together,” Raju said. “I don’t know if everyone else will be there but at least us 3.”

Impact Wrestling’s next set of TV tapings will be held on June 1st and 2nd in Windsor, Ontario. The company is building towards their July 22nd PPV in Toronto.

“I’m headed up to Canada soon to learn from the Great Gama,” Raju stated.

The Great Gama and the Desi Hit Squad

“When Gama gets there, and Gursinder gets there, we plan on shaking things up a little bit” – Rahit Raju

The Great Gama Singh was arguably the most hated heel in the history of Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling territory.

In the 1980s, Gama formed “Karachi Vice”, a heel stable which feuded with the likes of the Dynamite Kid, Owen Hart, and other top babyfaces. Gama, who is Jinder Mahal’s Uncle, was so hated at times that he reported receiving death threats.

“Yeah man, I honestly hope we raise hell in Impact. I hope we are vile, villainous, disgusting, ugly individuals,” Raju exclaimed. “I know Gama has that in him and I know he can pull it out of us. So yes, I want to replicate Karachi Vice and I want to do all that stuff. I want to get down and dirty and put Impact upside down.”

“The Girl on Fire” Kiera Hogan is just 3 years into her wrestling career but is already being called the future of Impact’s Knockouts division by some of her fellow wrestlers.

The 23-year-old was featured on a recent Impact Wrestling media conference call. She spoke on several topics including her last name and Tessa Blanchard’s appearance at the Redemption PPV during her match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-85RlBhltk

Impact Wrestling’s Kiera Hogan

Hogan, who uses her real name as a performer, seems comfortable addressing her famous last name. She was asked if she had any reservations about entering the pro-wrestling world with the last name “Hogan”.

“I knew this question was coming,” Hogan joked. “My real name is Kiera Hogan, it’s on my license, it’s on my birth certificate, I’m a real Hogan.”

She continued to say that when she first started in the business she was a ring announcer and simply decided to go by her real name. When she began her in-ring career, Hogan decided she didn’t want to separate her announcer character and in-ring character so that she could show her evolution.

In an interview she gave to Interactive Wrestling Radio last month, Hogan was asked if she’d ever considered doing an angle where she portrayed Hulk Hogan’s daughter.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it. I’ve actually had a conversation with Brooke Hogan about it. She got a hold of me and was like, ‘We should be sisters or something!’ I was like, ‘That would be so cool!’ My real name is Kiera Hogan. That is my real real name. When I got into wrestling, I was like, ‘That works. I already am a Hogan!”

“I want to be the ‘Girl on Fire’ and set myself apart from Hulkamania and all that other jazz.” – Kiera Hogan

Kiera Hogan and Tessa Blanchard Rivalry Building?

As the conversation turned to other Knockouts in the division, a twinge of jealousy could be detected from Hogan. In particular, Hogan seems to feel disrespected that Tessa Blanchard stole the spotlight away from her at Redemption. Blanchard came in to do guest commentary during Hogan’s match with Taya Valkyrie.

“I was just so overwhelmed and then here comes 3rd generation Tessa Blanchard walking in,” Hogan said. “It did overshadow what I was doing, which she has accomplished way more than I have, I’ll definitely give it to her there, but it was my moment. I felt like this was my moment why did she have to come in and overshadow me?”

Blanchard recently gave an interview to ImpactWrestling.com, insinuating she plans to skip to the front of the line in the Knockouts division. Perhaps, we could see Hogan and Blanchard meet in an Impact ring sometime in the future.

“I have a few choice words for Ms. Tessa Blanchard,” Kiera hogan.

Kiera Hogan takes on Taya Valkyrie in a rematch from Redemption tomorrow night on Impact.

Tonight’s episode of NXT will be a taped show from Winter Park, Florida. 4 matches have been announced for the episode.

NXT May 2nd, 2018

• Pete Dunne vs Roderick Strong

  • Roderick Strong turned on Pete Dunne in the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Classic. In the process, Strong aligned with the Undisputed Era to turn the trio into a stable of 4.
  • Tonight, Dunne has a chance to get even with his former partner as the two collide inside the ring. It’s likely Strong will have his Undisputed Era teammates nearby, however.

• Kona Reeves Returns to the Ring

  • Vignettes featuring a new and improved version of Kona Reeves have taken place over the last few weeks. Tonight he makes his return to the ring.
  • The 25-year-old Hawaiian was trained by Afa at the Wild Samoan Pro Wrestling Training Center. He was signed to WWE in 2014.
  • The last time Reeves wrestled on NXT was over a year ago in a loss to Hideo Itami. He’s had 7 matches on NXT television, lost 6 of them and went to a no-contest.

• The Street Profits vs TM61

  • The last time we saw the Street Profits in action they lost a 2nd round match of the Dusty Rhodes Classic to the Authors of Pain.
  • The team had qualified for the 2nd round of the tournament by defeating Heavy Machinery.
  • TM-61 were also eliminated by the Authors of Pain in the Dusty Rhodes Classic but they went out in the 1st round.
  • Both teams will be looking to get into the thick of the title chase in NXT’s tag-team division with a win here.
• Bianca Belair vs Candice LeRae
  • Both of these two are undefeated in single’s matches on NXT television. Candice LeRae is 1-0, and Bianca Belair is 4-0.
  • Yet another wrestler from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Candice LeRae is looking to win her 2nd straight NXT single’s match. She defeated Zelina Vega on the April 11th edition of NXT.
  • As for Belair, she is a resident of Knox County, Tennessee and may have voted for Kane recently.

205 Live last night emanated from the Bell Center in Montreal following Smackdown. The show saw the return of a top cruiserweight to the division as well as a match in the burgeoning cruiserweight tag-team scene. The show’s main event featured Drew Gulak taking on Kalisto.

205 Live

1. 1. Jack Gallagher & the Brian Kendrick defeated Akira Tozawa & Hideo Itami
      • A GTS from Itami was responsible for Kendrick being out of action for several months in storyline but he was able to get a measure of revenge here.
      • Gallagher pinned Toazawa after a vicious headbutt to the chin.
      • After the match, Itami expressed frustration with his partner and shoved him to the ground before walking out of the ring alone. Tozawa looked despondent after.
      • Later in the show, it was announced that Kendrick and Gallagher will take on the Lucha House Party in tag action.

2. Buddy Murphy defeated Liam Louie

• It was announced before the match that Murphy successfully made weight. 3 weeks ago he’d had a title match rescinded as a result of failing to make the 205lbs weight limit.
• 205 Live GM, Drake Maverick, still has not announced if Murphy will receive a title shot against Cedric Alexander or not.
• Murphy had this match won at several points but opted not to finish his opponent. The referee finally stepped in and called the match.
• The commentators mentioned this was a new and more vicious Buddy Murphy.
• Cedric Alexander came out to confront Murphy after the match.
• The two ended up brawling on the entrance ramp before officials broke it up.

3. Drew Gulak defeated Kalisto

• Earlier on the show, Gulak cut a promo on Kalisto about how the luchador couldn’t get it done in Saudi Arabia.
• Kalisto earned his GRR title shot by winning a gauntlet match on 205 Live. The last competitor he eliminated was Gulak, who had eliminated 2 other competitors by that time.
• Gulak was able to lock in the Gu-Lock and get the tap for the victory.

New Japan Pro Wrestling will present two big shows over the course of the next two days. The promotion will be inside the Fukuoka Convention Center May 3rd and 4th this week.

The Bullet Club civil war will take place on both shows as the Japanese version of the faction (Bullet Club OGs) square off against the ROH version in several matches. Additionally, Kazuchika Okada has a chance to set the record for most title defenses in a single reign on Friday.

Wrestling Dontaku Night 1 (May 3rd) Lineup

1. Yota Tsuji & Shota Umino vs. Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi
2. Ren Narita, Tomoyuki Oka, Yuji Nagata vs Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, and Jushin Liger
3. Sho, Yoh, and Rocky Romero vs. Takashi Iizuka, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Lance Archer
4. Toa Henare, Michael Elgin, Togi Makabe, David Finlay and Juice Robinson vs Yoshi-Hashi, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Jay White, and Hirooki Goto
5. NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships
   Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga, and Bad Luck Fale (c) vs Marty Scurll, and the Young Bucks
6. Hiromu Takahashi, Bushi, Sanada, EVIL, Tetsuya Naito vs El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr, and Minoru Suzuki
7. KUSHIDA and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada
8. Kota Ibushi vs Cody
9. Kenny Omega vs Hangman Page

Wrestling Dontaku Night 2 (May 4th) Lineup

1. Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger vs Yuya Uemura, Ren Narita, and Shota Umino
2. Tomoyuki Oka and Yuji Nata vs Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi
3. Sho, Yoh, Rocky Romero vs Taka Michinoku, Taichi, Takahashi Iizuka
4. Toa Henare and Togi Makabe vs Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii
5. Michael Elgin, David Finlay, and Juice Robinson vs Yoshi-Hashi, Jay White, and Hirooki Goto
6. Hiromu Takahashi, Bushi, Sanada, Evil, Tetsuya Naito vs El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr, and Minoru Suzuki
7. Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa vs Marty Scurll, the Young Bucks, Hangman Page, and Cody
8. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
   Will Ospreay (c) vs Kushida
9. IWGP Heavyweight Championship
   Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

Tessa Blanchard made a surprise appearance at the Impact Wrestling “Redemption” PPV on April 22nd, 2018. She did guest commentary alongside Josh Matthews and Don Callis for the Taya Valkyrie vs Kiera Hogan match.

Recently, ImpactWrestling.com conducted an interview with Blanchard, who believes she is the hottest free agent available right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mh7wy_ITbw

Tessa Blanchard in Impact Wrestling

“I came to the Knockouts Division because it’s no secret that the past six months or so IMPACT’s been making strides. The hottest free agents out there – Pentagon, Fenix, Brian Cage – IMPACT has locked them down,” Blanchard explained. “When it comes to the Knockouts Division, I’m the hottest free agent out there right now!”

The Knockouts division in Impact is pretty crowded at the moment but Blanchard believes she’s earned the right to skip the line.

“I’m not looking to work my way up. I feel like I deserve a shot at the Knockouts Championship. On the independent circuit, I’ve traveled the world, I’ve won championships, I’ve won tournaments – I’ve defeated some of the best out there so I feel like I am one of the best.”

It seems as though Blanchard is gunning straight for the Knockouts champion, Allie.

“I’m coming here and I want to be the top dog, I’m going to go after whoever has the Knockouts Championship – and right now that’s Allie. I’ve got my sights set on Allie and if any of the Knockouts get in my way I’ll run right through them.”

Blanchard also spoke on what it is like to carry on the Blanchard name.

“Carrying on the Blanchard name is a huge honor for me because my grandfather, my father and my step-father – they’ve all put a lot into their legacy and for me to carry that on, it’s a lot of weight on my shoulders. I put pressure on myself to be the best and to carry on the Blanchard name with dignity and with pride.”

“That’s gotta be Kane!” – Vince McMahon

Glenn “Kane” Jacobs is declaring victory in the Knox County Republican Mayoral Primary, although his victory is still not assured. In a neck and neck race, Jacobs received 14, 633 votes, good for 36% of the vote.

His two opponents were both favored over him in the race. Brad Anders received 14, 616 also good for 36% and trailed Kane by 17 votes. Bob Thomas trailed both with 11, 296 votes for 28%.

Kane’s victory isn’t official yet, however. There are 43 provisional ballots which have to be reviewed before they can count. These are cases where a person may have forgotten their ID or there was no record of voter registration. Once it is determined how many, if any, of the 43 provisional ballots will count then a winner can be officially declared. So long as Anders does not receive 17 more votes than Kane out of the provisional ballots, Kane will be declared the victor. It is expected an official announcement will be made next week.

Kane and his team Tweeted out several messages late last night:

Thanks to everyone who helped win this historic victory!! The people who cast a ballot for me, my great team, my wonderful volunteers. Looking forward to VICTORY in the general election!

— Glenn Jacobs (@GlennJacobsTN) May 2, 2018

Glenn, along with his family, volunteers and supporters declare victory in a hard-fought Knox County Mayoral race this evening. Together we won! Tomorrow, we move forward.

— Glenn Jacobs (@GlennJacobsTN) May 2, 2018

Glenn “Kane” Jacobs in Politics

Kane has long been active in politics. He publicly supported Ron Paul in his 2008 run for the Presidency. Kane also used to keep a blog on his libertarian political views.

In addition to wrestling, Kane and his wife, Crystal Maurisa Goins, own an Allstate insurance branch in Knoxville. He officially announced his decision to run for the Knox County Mayoral seat in March of 2017. He set Jim Ross on fire in 2003.

Provided the election results hold up through the counting of the provisional ballots, it could mean the end of Kane’s in-ring career as he prepares for the General Election. The 51-year-old has wrestled less frequently in recent years. He did not participate in last week’s Greatest Royal Rumble event from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but has been involved in storylines involving Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman in recent months.

205 Live tonight will emanate from the Bell Center in Montreal. Last week on the show, Kalisto won a gauntlet match to earn the right to challenge Cedric Alexander for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at the Greatest Royal Rumble.

205 Live GM, Drake Maverick, recently sent out the following:

https://twitter.com/wwemaverick/status/991293674767216640?s=21

WWE.com is also advertising we should find out more about Alexander’s next title challenger tonight.

205 Live

Cedric Alexander defeated Kalisto in Jeddah in what was his first televised defense of the Cruiserweight title. He defended the title successfully 4x against Drew Gulak on a recent tour of South Africa, however.

Also waiting in the wings for Alexander is Buddy Murphy. After failing to make weight on a recent episode of 205 Live, GM Drake Maverick rescinded a title match he had preivously earned. We should find out more tonight regarding if Murphy’s title shot will be rescheduled at any point. Murphy will need to successfully make the 205lbs weight limit first, however.

While it still has yet to be acknowledged on WWE programming, 205 Live is also preparing to introduce tag-team titles. Teams such as the Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado, Gran Metalik, and Kalisto) and Hideo Itami & Akira Tozawa are beginning to become established. Other teams, such as Jack Gallagher & the Brian Kendrick could also be added to a Crusierweight tag-team division.

Also building on 205 Live at the moment is a potential feud between former allies, Tony Nese and Drew Gulak.

Following their appearance at the Greatest Royal Rumble on Friday in Saudi Arabia, it will be interesting to see if the Daivari brothers make an appearance in Montreal tonight. The younger Daivari brother issued an apology recently on Twitter to anyone who was offended by his segment at the Greatest Royal Rumble. The Daivari brothers played up their Iranian heritage to generate heat with the Saudi Arabian crowd. It was the first time the two brothers had been in a WWE ring together.

https://twitter.com/AriyaDaivariWWE/status/990000210813313031

A recent video appears to have given names to the spiritual beings which occupy the vessels named Bray Wyatt and Matthew Hardy.

The ominous backstage promo by Wyatt and Hardy was released through their social media channels yesterday:

https://twitter.com/wwebraywyatt/status/991100882384248833?s=21

Who Are The Spiritual Beings Controlling Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt?

“I promise you if you could see the creature that lay behind these eyes, you wouldn’t be standing in front of me. You would be kneeling before me in a puddle of your own piss.” – Bray Wyatt

REUNITED.

ZENITH and SAMAEL #RAW pic.twitter.com/0X3l3sPjRc

— MATT HARDY (@MATTHARDYBRAND) April 30, 2018

During the video, Bray Wyatt reveals that Sister Abigail is no longer controlling him. Now, Wyatt is occupied by a being other than Sister Abigail. Wyatt revealed to the camera that this spiritual being’s name is Samael.

“To me, Abigail was a delicious poison. An intoxicating, overwhelming, poison, but Abigail don’t live here no more. I am Samael” – Bray Wyatt

In Judaism, Samael is the name of the Angel Of Death or sometimes the name given to the devil. In other religions, the name is also associated with demons, though sometimes it is a name just given to angel of high-ranking. There is also a theme of blindness related to the name. The Sethians used the name Samael to describe “the Blind God”.

“Samael and my essence, Zenith, have been together since the Genesis. And now, Samael is no longer suppressed by Abigail!” – Matt Hardy

The word “Zenith” is normally used to describe the highest point of something. As in, if you climbed to the top of Mount Everest, you reached the mountain’s zenith.

Hardy and Wyatt have been given the tag-team name “Deleter of Worlds” and are now the new Raw tag-team champions. The immortal duo of time-travelers defeated the Bar at the Greatest Royal Rumble to win the vacated titles. The belts had previously been held by Braun Strowman and Nicholas.

205 Live Superstar, Ariya Daivari, has released an apology for his segment during the Greatest Royal Rumble on Friday. Ariya Daivari, along with his brother, Shawn Daivari, appeared in a segment featuring 4 WWE prospects from Saudi Arabia.

Daivari recently took to his social media accounts to remind fans he is only portraying a character on television.

https://twitter.com/AriyaDaivariWWE/status/991177802299961344

For those unaware, Iran and Saudi Arabia have a contentious relationship with one another. The rift between the two countries is related to interpretations of Islam, competition for oil exportation, and relationships with Western countries.

Shawn Daivari (34), returned to WWE at the Greatest Royal Rumble event on Friday. He is the older brother of Ariya, who has been competing on 205 Live and WWE’s cruiserweight division since 2016.

Unfortunately, Ariya Daivari also revealed he has received death threats as a result of the segment in Saudi Arabia.

https://twitter.com/AriyaDaivariWWE/status/991181198880894976

Ariya Daivari on 205 Live

It’s not clear if Shawn Daivari will be making a full-time return to WWE or not. He currently runs a wrestling school in Minnesota along with former WWE wrestler, Ken Anderson (FKA Ken Kennedy).

The 29-year-old Ariya Daivari wrestled on the idependent scene for 10 years before signing with WWE in 2016. He had been used as enhancement talent on WWE programming in 2013 but wasn’t signed after attending a tryout. The company signed him in time to compete in the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic, however. He was eliminated in the 1st round by Ho Ho Lun, a Hong Kong based wrestler who has since returned home to care for his sick mother.

Daivari was briefly associated with Enzo Amore’s “Zo Train” during his time as Cruiserweight Champion. For the most part, however, Daivari has played a low card heel on the show under the gimmick of a wealthy Arabian aristocrat.

In addition to Shawn Daivari returning to WWE recently, his old ally, Muhammad Hassan, also made a return. Hassan wrestled his first pro match in over 13 years this weekend.

Titus O’Neil tripped on his way to the ring last Friday at the Greatest Royal Rumble. The moment caused the commentary team to break out in laughter and the production team to play multiple replays from several different angles.

It took WWE just 3 days to get a T-shirt commemorating the moment up on WWE Shop. O’Neil took to Twitter recently to announce his new “Rumble, Stumble, or Slide… Do It Worldwide” merchandise.

Tomorrow morning you can all #WORLDSLIDE over to @WWEShop and pickup a sweet #TitusWorldWide TShirt to Rock with @WWE #WWEGRR History ?Rumble,Stumble or Slide…Do it #WORLDWIDE pic.twitter.com/eKqlyeSGtd

— Titus O'Neil (@TitusONeilWWE) April 30, 2018

Titus O’Neil in WWE

O’Neil’s unintended comedic antics from Saudi Arabia caught the eye of new Raw Superstar, Baron Corbin. The Lone Wolf is in the beginning stages of a rivalry with recent call-up, No Way Jose, but took the time to belittle O’Neil last night in a backstage segment on Raw.

Later in the evening, O’Neil slid down to ringside for the Corbin vs No Way Jose match.

The 41-year-old O’Neil might be hoping the recent attention turns into a push. O’Neil and Apollo Crews had a bit of a run earlier this year when they defeated the Bar in multiple non-title matches before losing a championship match to the team the night after the Royal Rumble. The wins over the Bar are the only televised victories O’Neil has had in 2018.

The last time Titus O’Neil won a single’s match on WWE programming was almost a year ago. He defeated Kalisto on the May 29th, 2017 episode of Raw from Greenville, South Carolina.

O’Neil has been with the company for 9 years, having signed in 2009. Prior to signing with the company, he had been playing in the Arena Football League where he ended up after a successful college career with the University of Florida. Despite his lengthy run with the company, O’Neil has only ever held a championship once. As one half of the Prime Time Players with Darren Young, O’Neil won the WWE Tag Team Championships in 2015.

WWE is adding more content to their “Vault” library next week. On Monday, May 7th, WWE Network is expected to add a number of episodes of Sunday Night Heat according to a recent report from WWE Network News.

The exact number of episodes to hit the Network on Monday is still unclear but its likely to follow the same pattern as WCW Thunder or WCW Saturday Night. A large chunk of episodes will be available immediately with the remaining to be released over time.

Sunday Night Heat to the WWE Network

In total, Sunday Night Heat aired 513 episodes over the course of its 9-year run. While Heat was generally considered a B-show akin to Main Event these days, several big angles and matches took place on the show.

The most noteworthy episode of Heat was titled “Halftime Heat” and took place during halftime of Super Bowl XXXIII. Mankind defeated the Rock for the WWE Championship in an empty arena match that night. Not long after, however, Rock would regain the WWE Championship in time to walk into WrestleMania 15 as champion. He would lose the title to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin that night, however.

While episodes of Sunday Night Heat would air on Sundays, they would normally be filmed before Raw and air six days later. The final episode of Heat took place on May 30th, 2008. Rather than air on a network, however, the final addition of Heat aired exclusively on WWE.com. In many markets, the show was replaced by WWE Vintage from 2008 onward. In October 2000, the show briefly ran on MTV with Rebecca Budig and DJ Scribble serving as hosts.

While Sunday Night Heat does not have the best of reputations, several talented performers ran fun angles under-the-radar while on Heat. Tommy Dreamer, Raven, and D-Lo Brown all had storylines which were specifically confined to episodes of the show.

After two weeks without airing an episode, Bullet Club’s “the Elite” released a short mini-episode earlier this evening. The title-less episode is under two minutes long and asks more questions than it answers.

In the closing moments of this episode, Flip Gordon announces to the camera that it’s time to reunite the boys. He then unnecessarily jumped over a guardrail before walking towards the Bucks.

Bullet Club OGs versus the Elite

It’s been an interesting 2018 for Bullet Club.

The previous Being the Elite episode was titled “Finale” and ended with Cody alone in the Bullet Club dressing room. Cody had defeated Kenny Omega but his friends had all deserted him and there was no one to celebrate with. It was later revealed on the show that Marty Scurll had signed a recording contract and would be leaving the show to perform in a pop band.

Further dissension between Marty Scurll and Cody was shown at the Ring of Honor shows this weekend. Cody attempted to hold the ropes open for Scurll but Scurll made a point of entering on another side of the ring. Scurll is owed a title rematch with Dalton Castle after winning the Defy or Deny 4-way match recently. Meanwhile, Cody still has yet to cash-in his rematch clause for another shot at Castle. It appears there could be some jealousy brewing between the two title contenders.

Two big matches take place this week in Japan regarding the Bullet Club civil war. Marty Scurll will team with the Young Bucks to challenge Bad Luck Fale & the Guerillas of Destiny for the NEVER Openweight 6-man titles on Thursday. Meanwhile, Cody will wrestle Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega will wrestle Hangman Page to co-main and main event the show respectively. Friday’s NJPW show will feature Bad Luck Fale, the Guerillas of Destiny & the Golden Lovers taking on Marty Scurll, Hangman Page, Cody, and the Young Bucks.

The performer behind the controversial Muhammad Hassan character from 2004-05 is returning to professional wrestling. 36-year-old, Marc Copani, made his return to the ring over the weekend, once again wrestling as the Hassan character. It was his first match in nearly 13 years.

Hassan defeated Papadon at the Dynasty King of Thrones event this Saturday.

Muhammad Hassan on Smackdown

In 2004, Hassan along with his ally, Khosrow (Shawn) Daivari, debuted on WWE programming in late 2004. Several vignettes were shown featuring Hassan and Daivari talking about the discrimination they receive as a result of stereotypes and prejudices.

At WrestleMania 21, Hassan and Daivari were involved in a segment with Hulk Hogan which led to the pair feuding with Hogan and Shawn Michaels.

The peak and beginning of the end to the storyline occurred on a taped episode of Smackdown from July 4th, 2005. Hassan was building towards a match at the Great American Bash with the Undertaker at the time. Undertaker defeated Daivari on this episode of Smackdown. During the match, however, Hassan appeared on the entrance ramp and gestured as if he was praying. Several men dressed in ski-masks then came out and attacked Undertaker. The men then lifted Daivari up over their heads and led him out of the arena while Hassan gave Taker the Camel Clutch in the ring.

The London Bombings took place 3 days after the tapings but before the Smackdown episode aired. Afterward, UPN put pressure on WWE to remove the Hassan character from their programming. Copani was released in 2005 and subsequently retired. This weekend was the first time Hassan wrestled a pro-match since losing to the Undertaker at the Great American Bash in 2005. It has since been revealed that WWE wanted to push the character to the moon. Had UPN not put pressure on WWE to drop the character, Hassan was planned to win the WWE Championship.

James Ellsworth and Chelsea Green (FKA Laurel Van Ness) are calling out “Blackcat Events” for non-payment. The company booked several talents for Meet and Greets over WrestleMania weekend but at least two of them are now claiming the company never paid up.

The promotion Tweeted out the following a couple of weeks ago which only recently caught the eye of one of the performers who is claiming the company never paid them.

https://twitter.com/BlackCat_Events/status/986254290548330496

LOL BRO! The truth came out. You’re a fraud and we’ve made sure the wrestling community knows that!

Goodluck surviving in this industry. https://t.co/5YVZP9opEW

— CHELSEA GREEN (@ImChelseaGreen) April 29, 2018

Green’s real-life boyfriend, Zack Ryder, also commented on the situation.

FRAUD. THIEF. LIAR. ETC. https://t.co/bor0GeLgI7

— Matt Cardona (@TheMattCardona) April 29, 2018

James Ellsworth also chimed in to mention he has not been paid and his phone calls are not being returned:

Truth is, you still owe me, @ImChelseaGreen and other $$ and you won’t return calls, texts and have us blocked on all your social media, and will have me blocked after this tweet, loser https://t.co/USGGNfgsjn

— James Ellsworth (@realellsworth) April 29, 2018

This then set the operator of the Black Cat Events Twitter account off. They posted several Tweets claiming Zack Ryder committed libel against him.

https://twitter.com/BlackCat_Events/status/990719607878103040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightful.com%2Fwrestling%2Fchelsea-green-james-ellsworth-call-out-blackcat-events-not-paying-them-and-other-wrestlers&tfw_creator=fightfulonline&tfw_site=fightfulonline

https://twitter.com/BlackCat_Events/status/990718988719149057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fightful.com%2Fwrestling%2Fchelsea-green-james-ellsworth-call-out-blackcat-events-not-paying-them-and-other-wrestlers&tfw_creator=fightfulonline&tfw_site=fightfulonline

Green retorted that they have proof to back-up the claims made by Ryder, which would negate any possible suit for libel.

https://twitter.com/BlackCat_Events/status/990727093255360512?tfw_creator=rdore2000&tfw_site=sportskeeda&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportskeeda.com%2Fwwe%2Fwwe-news-zack-ryder-james-ellsworth-other-in-twitter-war-with-independent-promotion

Black Cat Events Versus Wrestling Community

According to Black Cat Events in the above Tweets, the company attempted to run an event over WrestleMania weekend. Evidently, the event did not go ahead as planned.

In a later Tweet, Green revealed that Rikishi was another talent which did not get paid by the promotion:

Yes, he screwed over @TheREALRIKISHI and some others.

— CHELSEA GREEN (@ImChelseaGreen) April 29, 2018

If Black Cats is claiming the event never went forward, talent is still owed their deposit unless specifically mentioned in the contract. In this case, however, it looks as though Green did not get her deposit ahead of time. She posted an exchange she had with the promoter online:

Here ya go! I believe this goes under the category of “LIAR”… or “FRAUD” if you’d rather that? @BlackCat_Events this was right before you ghosted, and right after your third excuse for not paying us. pic.twitter.com/Y0wCoc4MIr

— CHELSEA GREEN (@ImChelseaGreen) April 29, 2018

The Black Cats page then made some very derogatory comments about Green. One comment, which has since been deleted, was captured via screenshot by a quick-thinking Chelsea Green fan:

https://twitter.com/KiingDeno/status/990733334752804864

Chelsea Green finished up with Impact Wrestling at the promotion’s January tapings in Orlando.Lately, Green has been wrestling for Shimmer and Wrestle Circus.

Today is Jay Lethal’s 33rd birthday and he couldn’t have celebrated it any better over the weekend. On the 2nd night of Ring of Honor’s 2-night tour of Florida, Lethal brought out a special guest before his match with Shane Taylor.

Lethal introduced the brother of “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “The Genius” Lanny Poffo. To the delight of the live fans, the smooth voice of Poffo delivered the same poem he delivered during Savage’s coronation as the Macho King. Poffo also gave Lethal a pair of Macho Man’s famous sunglasses. After putting them on, Lethal transformed into the Black Machismo character once more.

Lethal has always been a huge fan of “Macho Man” Randy Savage. This was most apparent in TNA Wrestling where Lethal famously portrayed his alter-ego of “Black Machismo”. The character, which was an homage to Savage, was widely praised even by the original Macho Man himself.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiKo3iUgw8s/?hl=en&taken-by=thelethaljay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nebjw0L2KaQ

Jay Lethal Chasing Ring of Honor World Championship

Jay Lethal is a perennial contender for the Ring of Honor World Championship. His only run with the belt thus far lasted for 427 days between June 19th, 2015 and August 19th, 2016.

In his most recent title match, Lethal was unsuccessful in de-throning Dalton Castle at the ROH 16th Anniversary show on March 3rd, 2018 from the Hammerstein Ballroom. Lethal also lost a World Title match to Cody back in December. That match took place on a Revolution Pro show from London.

Last weekend in Columbus, Lethal defeated “the Octopus” Jonathan Gresham at ROH’s Masters of the Craft 2018. Lethal then went 2-0 this weekend on the promotion’s weekend tour of Florida. He defeated Scorpio Sky in West Palm Beach on Friday and then defeated Shane Taylor on Saturday from Lakeland Florida.

The event in Lakeland was the last for ROH until they begin the War of the Worlds tour in Lowell on May 9th.

Tetsuya Naito has won back the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. This is Naito’s second reign with the title after his first run with the belt almost ended in the title’s destruction.

The title change happened yesterday in Kumamoto, Japan. New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Hinokuni 2018 show featured several matches with wrestlers from Los InGobernables de Japon (LIJ) taking on members of Suzuki-Gun. In the end, it would be LIJ who would get the better of the evening, successfully defending the heavyweight tag titles and winning the IC title in the night’s main and co-main event.

Naito originally won the title from Michael Elgin on September 25th, 2016. As part of his Tranquilo perspective, Naito developed a disrespectful attitude towards the belt itself. After each title defense, Naito began chipping away at the title and breaking off pieces. He defended the title against Jay Lethal, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, and Juice Robinson before losing it to Tanahashi at Dominion 2017 in Osaka, Japan. Naito had said if he defeated Tanahashi on that night, he would have destroyed the title belt completely.

Minoru Suzuki’s reign with the title did not last long. After defeating Tanahashi for the belt at the New Beginning in Sapporo, Suzuki was able to defend it successfully against Togi Makabe in March. His match against Naito yesterday was just his second scheduled title defense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYfReYe94II

NJPW Wrestling Hinokuni 2018 Results

Martin Stone, better known to NXT fans as Danny Burch, has signed a full-time contract with WWE. He lost his last match for Beyond Wrestling over the weekend to Josh Briggs.

We shall fight on the beaches.
We shall fight on the fields and in the streets.
We shall fight on the hills
We shall never surrender pic.twitter.com/WJCJXdZuDv

— Danny Briggs ???? (@strongstylebrit) April 27, 2018

Burch had previously been signed to WWE from 2011 to 2014. He was used primarily as enhancement talent on NXT. Burch was released from his WWE contract in 2014 but would be back with the company the following year. He would wrestle as enhancement talent for another 3 years in NXT before reportedly signing a full-time WWE contract yesterday.

Danny Burch in WWE

One possible reason WWE has re-signed Burch to an exclusive deal is the upcoming World of Sport television tapings planned for mid-May. If Burch was a free agent, he would be free to wrestle on the World of Sport television tapings. While Burch is likely available for non-WWE shows in Europe provided they are not televised, his new deal likely prevents him from appearing for World of Sport.

Burch has wrestled 25 WWE televised matches in his career. Aside from his loss in the opening round of the United Kingdom Championship tournament, all of Burch’s televised matches have taken place on NXT. He currently has a 1-24 record. His one win came against his frequent tag-team partner, Oney Lorcan. Most recently, Burch and Oney were eliminated by Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong in the 1st round of the 2018 Dusty Rhodes Classic.

In 2014, Burch competed on the TNA British Bootcamp show. While he was successful on the show, he would not earn a spot on the Impact Wrestling roster through the show. The wrestler now known as Tanga Loa was victorious on the One Night Only: Gut Check PPV and earned a spot on an episode of Impact as a result.

Burch made his pro-wrestling debut in 2003 after having been trained by the Dropkixx Academy as well as the Frontier Wrestling Alliance.

Impact Wrestling aired the first episode from their most recent set of TV tapings last night. The promotion has remained in Orlando’s Impact Zone this week following their most recent Redemption PPV. The show opened with Austin Aries addressing the Impact roster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHzQFiTEhfk

• Austin Aries Addressed Impact Wrestling Roster

  • After losing the Impact World Championship to Pentagon on Sunday, Austin Aries addressed the Impact locker room in the opening segment.
  • Aries, with his arm and a banana in a sling, claimed he was still the promotion’s World Champion as he still holds the Grand Championship and whatever belt he holds is the most important in the company.
  • He also mentioned that he is not a guy who makes excuses but if he was he’d point out that he wrestled 2 challengers instead of just one. This was mentioned a few times.

• Brian Cage defeated Trevor Lee

  • Cage continues to roll over his opponents on Impact.
  • At Redemption, Cage also picked up a victory in the 6-way match.
  • It might not be long until the Machine finds himself in title contention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sURSXE6NH0

• Eddie Edwards Has Been Driven To the Brink

  • At Redemption, Edwards was so preoccupied with getting revenge on Sami Callihan he didn’t notice his wife was standing behind him. As Edwards swung the cane behind him it clipped his wife. She had to be taken to hospital.
  • Edwards was shown entering the arena. Tommy Dreamer attempted to tell him to go to the hospital and be with his wife but his comments fell on deaf ears.
  • Edwards challenged OVE to come out (which they do) but as he’s fighting them off, a video airs on the screen. Sami Callihan is shown in Alisha Edwards’ hospital room and tells her “he just wants to talk” before the screen cuts out.

The classic match of the week featured the Steiner Brothers against Team 3D.

DJZ, who suffered a serious injury in Mexico last year, was featured in a vignette. The X-Division star talked about how difficult it was to return from the injury.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFENlK9-i0I

• Moose defeated Braxton Sutter

  • After the match, Moose cut a promo referring to himself as Mr. Impact Wrestling. He said he’s going to be the one to take the title from Pentagon.
  • Sutter announced on Twitter yesterday he’s leaving the promotion.

While Matt Sydal was being interviewed in the back, cameras cut to a shot of someone unconscious on the ground. It might have been Jimmy Jacobs but it was hard to tell. Jacobs and Kongo Kong have a rivalry building with Johnny Impact.

A segment featuring Santana and Ortiz from LAX was shown. They were wondeirng where Konnan was and why Homicide hasn’t been answering his phone. They decide to focus on getting the tag titles back first, however.

• Knockouts Championship
  Allie (c) defeated Taya Valkyrie

  • Allie beat Lucha Royalty in a good match to defend her title. It’s a little surprising they beat Taya with little build-up, however.
  • After the match, a flock of undead brides ominously walked a coffin to ringside.
  • Su Yung blindsided Allie and looked to shove her in the coffin.
  • The lights went out and Rosemary made the save for Allie.
  • The lights went out again and Su Yung was gone.

• Eddie Edwards Attacked Sami Callihan

  • Edwards arrived at the hospital and attacked Sami Callihan in his hospital room.
  • Josh Matthews later revealed on commentary that Edwards had been arrested. Callis was not surprised by this.

• Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championships
  Eli Drake & Scott Steiner (c) defeated LAX

  • Steiner cut a promo before the match saying Konnan missed Redemption because he was at Taco Bell.
  • After picking up the win in the tag match, Eli Drake cut a promo mentioning he still has the briefcase which contains a contract for a World Title shot.
  • Austin Aries came out and referred to his Grand Championship as the real world’s title. Pentagon then came out and a fight broke out between Aries & Pentagon against Drake and Steiner.
  • After Pentagon and Aries cleared the ring, Aries handed the Impact World Championship belt to Pentagon but continued to hold on after Pentagon grabbed it. They stared each other down and then Aries left Pentagon in the ring to close the show.

According to WWE, there are only 23 officially announced participants in today’s Greatest Royal Rumble match. This leaves 27 entrants still to be named (math credit: Scott Steiner).

Here are the officially announced participants:

1. Daniel Bryan
2. Braun Strowman
3. Kurt Angle
4. Shane McMahon
5. Chris Jericho
6. Mark Henry
7. Rey Mysterio
8. Elias
9. Kevin Owens
10. The Great Khali
11. Bobby Roode
12. Baron Corbin
13. Big E
14. Kofi Kingston
15. Xavier Woods
16. Apollo Crews
17. Shelton Benjamin
18. Sin Cara
19. Chad Gable
20. Goldust
21. Titus O’Neil
22. Mojo Rawley
23. Dolph Ziggler

There are 24 wrestlers competing on the card but not in the Rumble match itself. Additionally, Hornswoggle and Shawn Daivari have been spotted in Saudi Arabia. Even if all of those names are in the Rumble match as well, it still leaves one spot open. This could be covered by Sunil Singh who presumably has travelled to Jeddah in order to be in Jinder Mahal’s corner for his match against Jeff Hardy.

THIS FRIDAY: It will truly be the GREATEST #RoyalRumble match EVER as 50 MEN compete for ultimate supremacy at #WWEGRR! #RAW pic.twitter.com/BZttYkMtcg

— WWE (@WWE) April 24, 2018

Jerry Lawler insinuated on his podcast that he would like to be included in the match. He also mentioned he is on WWE’s “No Touch” list as well, however. This fact makes it unlikely he is included in the Rumble today.

Other members of WWE’s extended roster, backstage producers/agents, commentators, and even Vince McMahon himself could possibly be entrants today.

Final Lineup For Today’s Greatest Royal Rumble

• John Cena vs Triple H
• Casket Match
  the Undertaker vs Rusev
• Universal Championship Match
  Steel Cage 
  Brock Lesnar (c) vs Roman Reigns
• WWE Championship Match
  AJ Styles (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura
• Intercontinental Championship Match
  Ladder Match
  Seth Rollins (c) vs Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe vs The Miz
• United States Championship Match
  Jeff Hardy (c) vs Jinder Mahal
• Raw Tag Team Championships
  The Bar vs Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt
• Smackdown Tag Team Championships
  the Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs the Usos
• Cruiserweight Championship
  Cedric Alexander (c) vs Kalisto

After successfully defending his IWGP United States Championship against David Finlay on Tuesday, Jay White already knows who will challenge for his belt next. Ring of Honor announced today that Punishment Martinez has been granted a title shot at the May 11th War of the Worlds show from Toronto.

White and Martinez previously engaged in a feud on ROH programming last year. They wrestled each other 3x during White’s 2017 summer excursion to ROH. Martinez won 2 of the 3 matches including the Las Vegas Street Fight at Death Before Dishonor XV.

IWGP United States Championship 
“Switchblade” Jay White vs. Punishment Martinez

White is just the 2nd ever holder of the IWGP United States Championship. The title was introduced last year at NJPW’s Long Beach shows.

Kenny Omega defeated Tomohiro Ishii in the finals of the 2-day tournament to crown an inaugural champion. He then defended the title 4x successfully with wins over Juice Robinson, Yoshi-Hashi, Beretta, and Chris Jericho. Omega then dropped the title to White at the New Beginning in Sapporo on January 28th, 2018.

After winning the title from Omega, White successfully defended it against Hangman Page at Strong Style Evolved in Long Beach. His win over Finlay on Tuesday main event’ed the Road to Wrestling Dontaku show from Korakuen Hall.

As for Punishment Martinez, the 36-year-old is someone ROH has kept strong ever since his arrival in 2015. He won the Survival of the Fittest tournament in 2017 but dropped his World Title match to Dalton Castle. Martinez lost a #1 contenders match to Marty Scurll at the ROH 16th Anniversary show on March 9th this year. He later defeated Tomohiro Ishii at Supercard of Honor XII.

The IWGP United States Championship is defended on both ROH and NJPW shows, though this will be just the 2nd time the title will be up for grabs on an ROH show. Kenny Omega defended the title against Yoshi-Hashi at War of the Worlds: Chicago last year.

Two former WWE Superstars have been spotted in Saudi Arabia and are presumed to be involved with tomorrow’s Greatest Royal Rumble event in Jeddah.

According to a report from PW Insider, Hornswoggle and Shawn Daivari have both been spotted in Saudi Arabia.

Shawn Daivari and Hornswoggle Returning To WWE?

It wouldn’t be a surprise if both wrestlers are returning to the company. Hornswoggle, 31, had a nearly 10-year run with WWE from 2006 to 2016. He was released on May 6th, 2016 after not having appeared on television since a Wellness Policy violation the previous September.

Swoggle was said to have been popular with kids during his run with the company. This fact may have led to his inclusion in the D-Generation X reunion storyline from 2009-2010. Real name Dylan Mark Postl, Swoggle also played the role of the Anonymous General Manager, Vince McMahon’s son, and Fit Finlay’s leprechaun. El Torito and Hornswoggle also wrestled in a well-reviewed “WeeLC Match” at Extreme Rules 2014. Recently, Swoggle has been a regular for Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion and competed in a tournament to crown an inaugural TV Champion.

Shawn Daivari was with WWE from 2004 to 2007. His most famous role was when he was aligned with the controversial Muhammad Hassan character from 2004 to 2005. Daivari would later align with the Great Khali as well. The Great Khali has been confirmed for the Greatest Royal Rumble match on Friday, so Daivari’s role on the show might be related to him.

The 33-year-old Daivari wrestled for TNA, ROH, and Lucha Underground after being released from WWE. In TNA, Daivari is a former X-Division champion. He was released from the company in 2009, however, when his Feast of Fired briefcase contained a pink slip.

Shawn Daivari’s younger brother, Ariya Daivari, has been wrestling in WWE’s Cruiserweight division on 205 Live since its inception. Ken Anderson and Shawn Daivari currently run “The Academy: School of Professional Wrestling” out of Minnesota.