Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) has announced the first bout for their Uprising 2018 event. The British Tag Team Championship will be on the line at Bethnal Green’s York Hall.

Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki of Suzuki-gun defend against Aussie Open on the night. ZSJ and Suzuki have been Champions since January when they defeated Moustache Mountain. Aussie Open are the current Number 1 contenders to the titles.

Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) will also be heading to FreeSportsUK this Friday. The UK based company will be using the nationwide channel as the home for their new TV show. FreeSportsUK made the announcement back in August via Twitter where the channel announced that the show initially would be airing “later in September.”

You can check out the exclusive interview we conducted with Rev Pro owner Andy Quildan here. When we discussed the timing of the new show Andy confirmed that “WoS had no impact on our decision. In all honesty whilst I watch as much product as possible from WWE, ROH, NJPW, CMLL to all the indies here in the UK, aside from learning best (or at times worst) practice I try not to let what others are doing dictate the way I choose to run my business.”

Friday November 9th. The Undisputed British Tag Team Championships will be on the line when champions ZACK SABRE JR & MINORU SUZUKI combine to take on number 1 contenders MARKS DAVIS & KYLE FLETCHER: AUSSIE OPEN!

Tickets: https://t.co/F56sIkq9lO#Uprising2018 pic.twitter.com/dD8sGUWmBr

— Revolution Pro (@RevProUK) October 18, 2018

New UK promotion Fight Forever has announced the new main event for their first ever show. The company will be heading to the PRYZM Nightclub in Birmingham on December 6th. NJPW star Will Ospreay was expected to be taking on the Cody Rhodes in a huge international bout. Unfortunately Ospreay had to pull out of the bout due to a rib injury. This was sustained at Rev Pro’s Global Wars event.

The company has confirmed that El Phantasmo will be taking on Cody at ‘Phenomena.’ Phantasmo recently won the Rev Pro British J Cup and is a star on the rise. This will be one of his biggest tests to date when he faces the ‘American Nightmare.’

Fight Forever will be announcing a second main event this coming Friday.

Brandi Rhodes will also be taking on Bea Priestley as part of the debut show. Priestley is one of the stars of the WoS/World of Sport re-boot alongside her partner Will Ospreay. Priestley has been on the UK scene for a number of years working as a top star in promotions such as Pro Wrestling: EVE. Brandi has been building her own brand over the last year with several high profile bouts and appearances alongside Cody Rhodes.

You can purchase tickets for Phenomena and all upcoming events over at fightforeverwrestling.com. Fight Forever will also be heading to London on December 7th with a co-branded show alongside ‘Something to Wrestle’ starring Conrad Thompson and Bruce Prichard.

?Breaking Main Event News?

The American Nightmare @CodyRhodes vs El Phantasmo @elpwrestling is one of your main-events for Phenomena on December 6th at PRYZM Nightclub Birmingham ??

A second huge main-event will be revealed this Friday!

Tickets ?https://t.co/iiSo2g80eA pic.twitter.com/cAsD4BVm8O

— Fight Forever Wrestling (@fightforeveruk) October 17, 2018

NXT UK will be debuting on the WWE Network this week. The long awaited show has several shows taped and many were waiting for WWE to pull the trigger and release the content. NXT UK stars Eddie Dennis, Isla Dawn and Jinny recently spoke to The Mirror on the new series.

Eddie Dennis

Eddie Dennis is a former school headteacher turned full time professional wrestler. One of the core parts of PROGRESS, Dennis has been engaged in a year long feud with 205 Live Superstar Mark Andrews. The ‘Pride of Wales’ stated that “We want to make NXT UK the unmissable hour of wrestling on the WWE Network.” Dennis also commented on being given the chance to perform for WWE, stating that “It blows my mind when I consider having a connection with WWE fans. It’s been really humbling in terms of the reaction that I have received from people, and I am often told that by following my dreams I am inspiration to people not just in wrestling, but for people chasing all types of goals.”

Isla Dawn

Isla Dawn is one of the top Women’s competitors for Pro Wrestling: EVE and PROGRESS. The Scottish star discussed her relationship with NXT competitor Nikki Cross; “I’m really close to Nikki Cross, and I remember at one point I think it was just her and two other girls that were wrestling in Scotland.” Dawn elaborated further stating that “There were hardly any shows that had even just one match for a girl. They had a tough time getting the experience, and they had to work extra hard.” Dawn also described being given the opportunity to perform for WWE: “to be able to come in (to WWE) at a point where there are so many girls to wrestle, and so many places to learn, and so many opportunities for us, it’s amazing. I don’t think people would have believed this could have happened for the women 10 years ago.”

Jinny

Jinny is the reigning PROGRESS Women’s Champion and was part of this year’s Mae Young Classic. The ‘Fashionista’ discussed how important the build of Women’s wrestling in the UK played a part in NXT UK. “All the women, whether in the present or the past, have worked incredibly hard to pave the way for us, so just because women’s wrestling is enjoying a fantastic time right now, it doesn’t mean that we have to take it easy.” Jinny finished by stating that “it means that we have to try even harder, and take it further, to make sure that we continue to forge the path that’s been made for us.“

You can read the full article here

Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) will be heading to FreeSportsUK this Friday. The UK based company will be using the nationwide channel as the home for their new TV show. FreeSportsUK made the announcement back in August via Twitter where the channel announced that the show initially would be airing “later in September.”

Interestingly WWE announced that the NXT UK brand would be airing tonight (Wednesday). The timing of the long awaited show in intriguing considering Rev Pro’s impending debut on UK television. Many believed that WWE were initially waiting for WoS to make their next move in relation to a second series.

You may remember FreeSports as the channel that hosted the ill-fated 5 Star Wrestling earlier this year. Rev Pro is an extremely well established promotion comparatively and will relish the opportunity to be available in UK homes.

You can check out the exclusive interview we conducted with Rev Pro owner Andy Quildan here. When we discussed the timing of the new show Andy confirmed that “WoS had no impact on our decision. In all honesty whilst I watch as much product as possible from WWE, ROH, NJPW, CMLL to all the indies here in the UK, aside from learning best (or at times worst) practice I try not to let what others are doing dictate the way I choose to run my business.”

World of Pro Wrestling starts this week on @FreeSportsUK ?

Don't miss the madness. This Friday at 9:00PM! ?#WOPW pic.twitter.com/FSzWTpfnma

— FreeSports ? (@FreeSports_TV) October 16, 2018

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s October scheduling is usually dominated by the POWER STRUGGLE shows – and 2018 is no different. This year’s lineup of shows will of course feature the ‘Road To’ shows, some of which will be available on NJPWWorld.

The headline grabbing bouts revolve around the continuation of the Super Jr Tag League. Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger will be taking on Shingo Takagi and BUSHI. ACH and Ryusuke Taguchi will also be taking on El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

Jay White and Gedo continue their ongoing war against Kazuchika Okada in the main event tag bout. Okada will be teaming with SHO, YOH and Rocky Romero. White and Gedo will be teaming with Robbie Eagles and Taiji Ishimori.

Here’s the full card for the October 19th show in Hiroshima:

• Yota Tsuji and Shota Umino vs Yuya Uemura and Ren Narita
• Toa Henare, Chris Sabin and KUSHIDA vs Soberano Jr, Ayato Yoshida and Volador Jr
• Chuckie T, Beretta and Hirooki Goto vs Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale
• Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii vs TAKA Michinoku and Minoru Suzuki
• Tomoaki Honma and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi
• Super Jr Tag League 2018 Match – Tiger Mask and Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger vs Shingo Takagi and BUSHI
• Super Jr Tag League 2018 Match – ACH and Ryusuke Taguchi vs El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
• SHO, YOH, Rocky Romero and Kazuchika Okada vs Robbie Eagles, Taiji Ishimori, Gedo and Jay White

PROGRESS Wrestling has announced a top international star for Chapter 78. wXw Unified Champion Ilja Dragunov will be heading to the O2 Ritz on November 11th.

Former promoter of Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) Christian Michael Jakobi appeared during PROGRESS Wrestling’s Super Strong Style 16 event earlier this year and challenged the reigning WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne to a bout against the wXw World United Heavyweight Champion. This match took place at Wembley Arena and Dunne was victorious via submission.

Un-Be-Sieg-Bar. @UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR will be in action at #Chapter78 as PROGRESS returns to Manchester but who will be his opponent?
Tickets -> https://t.co/JPEzaQGHPf pic.twitter.com/XyX8Jkgt5E

— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) October 17, 2018

We recently spoke to former PROGRESS World Champion Mark Haskins. The UK star has been a huge part of the revival in the region and recently appeared at PROGRESS ‘Hello Wembley’ against Matt Riddle. Here’s the full interview:

Matt Riddle’s Final Indie Opponent

SEScoops: You recently joined PROGRESS at their biggest ever show in Wembley Arena. You started for PROGRESS way back at the Garage and now you’ve faced Matt Riddle in front of nearly 5,000 fans…did you ever expect that U.K. wrestling would reach these heights again?

Mark Haskins: No. When I broke in the scene was in a completely different place to where it is now and I never expected it to gain the momentum it has in recent years. It’s a testament to a lot of passionate people’s hard work coming together and I hope the scene continues to blossom.

SEScoops: You main evented the first of PROGRESS’ ‘September Supershows’ against Tommy End/Aleister Black and Marty Scurll winning the World Title and had to vacate shortly after. Is the World Title in PROGRESS a belt that you are gunning for in the near future?

Mark Haskins: Yeah, I want my belt back.

Moving Further Afield

SEScoops: You appeared for ROH earlier this year, are there any companies further afield in the States or Japan like NJPW, NOAH or MLW that you’d like to appear for? Maybe a return to IMPACT or Dragon Gate?

Mark Haskins: Who knows what the future holds? I’d love to go back to Japan at some point as I’m a very different performer now to what I was back then. I think that would be a lot of fun.

Vicky Haskins

SEScoops: Your partner Vicky Haskins is an extremely important part of your character’s presentation now. When did the idea come about to have Vicky accompany you to the ring?

Mark Haskins: About 2-3 years ago. I’d been pushing for her to come in to Progress 18 months before it actually happened. I think a lot of people don’t realise she’s been a manager for years, she knows what she’s doing and she got signed to FCW before it became NXT back in 2010. I think it was something that people would only understand once they’d seen it happen, and when it did people realised there was something there.

Dream Indie Opponent

SEScoops: Who would be your current dream opponent on the independent scene?

Mark Haskins: Penta El 0M. Rey Fenix would be another. There’s a lot of talents I want to tear it up with. WALTER also being one of them.

SEScoops: We’ve just had the 10 episode run of WoS and the NXT U.K. division starting next week. The two big names that weren’t part of either show were arguably yourself and Jimmy Havoc. Was it a conscious decision to not take part in either and remain completely independent?

Mark Haskins: Not really, I think both company’s have an idea of what they’re looking for and that’s not us. We live in an age though where you can become a star without having to sign to a major organisation and that’s creatively refreshing. I feel like in a lot of cases Wrestling has become very repetitive and it could open up a new era of fans by doing something genuinely different to the norm. It just needs some one to push boundaries and try something new and everyone would realise they don’t need to get signed to a company to be a success.

You can follow Mark on Twitter @ThisIsHaskins. We’d like to take this time to thank Mark again for his time.

Charlotte Flair recently spoke to the New York Post. The interview covered a variety of topics including WWE’s Crown Jewel and Evolution events.

When asked about the Crown Jewel event Charlotte stated that “We have Evolution to think about, so I’m not really even thinking about the boys traveling overseas because I’m like, ‘I got the first-ever women’s pay-per-view match coming up.‘” It has been well documented that the female talent are not permitted to perform in Saudi Arabia.

Charlotte was also asked about the concussion injury sustained by Liv Morgan on WWE RAW. This occurred following an accidental run of ‘Yes’ kicks from Brie Bella. Flair reportedly stated that “she hadn’t heard the criticism of Brie Bella. Charlotte also added that she “is glad Morgan is OK and said “accidents happen.‘”

Charlotte also discussed the difficultly of playing a ‘babyface’ role in her feud against Becky Lynch. Flair said “because I think the go-to for me [as a heel] is easy that I always just go, ‘People just assume it’s because of my dad and that’s very easy to play off of.” Flair embellished on this by saying “to me that’s the easy way out, but since I’ve come to SmackDown and being in this new role, it’s having to show so many different layers and working from underneath as the bigger guy has been a great opportunity for me to work on things.”

You can read the full interview with the Post here

Former WWE Women’s Champion Jazz has confirmed that she won’t be part of the Evolution event on October 28th.

Jazz responded to a fan question on Twitter where she outright stated “Not Happening!! Sorry.” The fan’s tweet was in response to Jazz confirming that Sasha Banks would be her “perfect” opponent for a WWE return.

Sasha Banks https://t.co/hoBNfnAPHR

— Jazz “Female Fighting Phenom” (@Phenom_Jazz) October 9, 2018

Jazz is currently the NWA Women’s Champion and is scheduled to defend the title on October 21st. The former WWE Superstar will be facing Penelope Ford. The bout will be taking place at the NWA 70th Anniversary show in Nashville, Tennessee.

Jazz had her big start in ECW back 1999/2000. She was part of the Impact Players stable alongside Jason Knight, Lance Storm, and Justin Credible. Following ECW’s closure Jazz signed with WWE and move to OVW to train for 6 months in 2001. Jazz remained in WWE up until late 2004 and began her career on the independent scene in 2005.

Not happening!! Sorry https://t.co/MVFvZ41mZ3

— Jazz “Female Fighting Phenom” (@Phenom_Jazz) October 9, 2018

Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) has announced a huge International match for their Fear & Loathing XI event. Former TNA World Champion James Storm will be taking on Grado.

Insane Championship Wrestling has also announced that British Strong Style will be heading to ‘Fear & Loathing XII.’ This will be first time that the BSS stable has appeared as a unit in ICW. Trent Seven is a former ICW World Champion. More interesting is that Pete Dunne actually defended his WWE United Kingdom Championship in the company previously. British Strong Style are arguably the most popular stars from the thriving UK scene. All three are featured heavily on the WWE UK brands and NXT television.

Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) has also announced a huge Women’s Championship match for their Fear & Loathing XI event. Women’s Champion Viper will be facing challenger Kay Lee Ray. Both stars are considered to be amongst the World’s best and have been a featured part of the weekly WoS programme on ITV/STV.

Fear & Loathing XII will be taking place on December 2nd at the SSE Hydro. If you’re an ICW fan you know that the ‘Loathing event is ICW’s biggest in the calendar year and last year’s iteration featured Rey Mysterio, Kevin Nash and Rob Van Dam amongst the homegrown talent.

Tickets are available to purchase via Ticketmaster now.

https://twitter.com/InsaneChampWres/status/1051398542852587521

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle recently took part in a Facebook Q&A. The Olympic Gold Medallist answered questions on his most iconic catchphrase, how he broke his neck in 1996, his craziest Vince McMahon story and more.

“It’s True, It’s True”

When asked about his “it’s true, it’s true” catchphrase Angle stated that “I came up with ‘it’s true it’s true’ when I started in the business and I would make fun of the city that was hosting our WWE Show. Angle clarified further by saying that “I would say something bad about their sports teams. It was always negative but it was also true because the teams would be struggling at that time. So when the crowd would respond to me with “Booooos”. I’d say “But it’s true. It’s true.”

Angle also fleshed out the story of when he broke his neck in 1996, saying that “I broke my neck when I was thrown on top of my head during a match. It broke 4 vertebrae. Another time, I broke my neck when I was hit very hard on top of my head with a chair. Brock Lesnar “brought it” pretty hard that night. I don’t wish that on anyone.”

When asked what his craziest Vince McMahon story was Kurt came up with this gem. “When he and I wrestled on a plane during an international flight. I didn’t want to do it, but Vince was in a crazy mood. So we’d wrestle for a while and stop. Then Vince would attack me again. Then he’d stop. Over and over. I just wanted to sleep. The flight attendant told us to stop, but Vince wanted to wrestle, so we wrestled…. for 4 hours. Lol.”

Kurt was also asked about his return to WWE, Angle appeared on RAW in a Conquistador outfit and claimed that “it sucked. I felt like I was squeezed into a big condom…lol, but it was fun.“

WWE Women’s Division Superstar and veteran Mickie James recently spoke to The Hype Magazine. James gave some interesting comments on RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey and her WWE progression thus far.

The WWE legend stated that “I think she’s come a long way since she debuted on WrestleMania. It’s tough because you go from being in the ring with Kurt Angle, Triple H, and Stephanie [McMahon]. Stephanie has so much heat. Fans love her and hate her and want to love to hate her.” James clarified her comments further by claiming that “you’re in there with the best of the best and then go from that platform into the women’s division, which is a whole other animal of the family.”

Adapting To The Locker Room

James also discussed how Ronda has adapted to the road and locker room, stating that “In terms of the locker room and on the road together and us always working together to create these moments and matches. While trying to understand that cycle, but I think she’s working hard and she’s trying hard.” Mickie also felt that “it’s a different world for her and I think it’s a different dynamic in the sense of that we’re all competitive, clearly, but we’re also all a family and we all must work together. You are only as good as the person in there lets you be at the end of the day. Hopefully, they are professional enough to let you do that.”

Comparing MMA to Pro Wrestling

James also compared Ronda’s career in Mixed Martial Arts to Pro Wrestling, saying that “I think that’s probably the biggest difference for her, that and to understand that nobody is out to get her.” I think that she’s trying hard and I’m sure that it’s a different world for her to get adapted to and she’s recognizing that this is a whole different animal. I think she loves it here in the WWE.”

H/T to Wrestlinginc for the transcription

PROGRESS Wrestling has announced that LAX will be heading to the company in December. The company will be holding a weekender of events on Saturday December 8th and Sunday December 9th.

This will be the UK PROGRESS debut for the team. Santana and Ortiz had an incredible bout against Chris Brookes and Jon Gresham as part of the United States Coast to Coast tour back in August. The New York City stop of the tour featured the match that many fans have described as the best ever tag bout in PROGRESS history.

Chapter 80: Gods And Monsters and Chapter 81: Pour Some Progress On Me will be two of the biggest outside London for the company this year. The company recently held a mega event in Wembley Arena that drew the biggest crowd in English wrestling for 30+ years. Headlined by an incredible bout between Tyler Bate and WALTER for the PROGRESS World Championship which is available to view online in its entirety for free.

After participating in possibly the finest tag-team match in our company's history, we can't wait to have #LAX with us in Manchester and Sheffield. Few tickets remainhttps://t.co/k9jcAjxzBa pic.twitter.com/xp7pSYqRtf

— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) October 9, 2018

DEFIANT Wrestling has announced WALTER’s opponent for the Fight or Flight PPV. The DEFIANT Internet Champion was due to face Chris Ridgeway, the UK based grappler unfortunately has to pass up on the title shot due to illness. DEFIANT sent out the following regarding the situation:

“Chris Ridgeway has unfortunately withdrawn from this Thursday’s Fight Or Flight in Sheffield due to illness. Ridgeway had been scheduled to compete for the Defiant Internet Championship against current champion Walter at the event. General manager Primate has announced that the Internet will now decide who faces Walter. You can cast your vote below until 7pm on Tuesday, with the winner subsequently announced on Twitter.”

The company decided to run a poll for the next challenger. Aussie Open’s Mark Davis will be taking on the Austrian heavyweight. Both Davis and WALTER are masters of the open hand strike, this will not be a bout for the feint of heart.

Here’s the full card for Fight or Flight:

• Rampage vs Gabriel Kidd – World Championship
• Will Ospreay vs El Phantasmo – Internet Contenders
• Joe Hendry vs Martin Kirby – No DQ, No Countouts
• Roxxy vs Lana Austin
• Omari vs John ‘Bad Bones’ Klinger
• Alpha Bad vs Hunter Brothers
• Jimmy Havoc & Mark Haskins vs Anti-Fun Police

The show takes place on October 11th and will be available to view via Access DEFIANT.

https://twitter.com/DEFIANTwres/status/1049717809016696832

Triple H defeated The Undertaker in the main event of WWE Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia. The Deadman finally fell after two Sweet Chin Music superkicks from Shawn Michaels and a Pedigree from ‘The Game.’

After the match ‘Taker and Kane stood with their arms raised alongside Triple H and Michaels. All four men appeared to be celebrating the ‘end of an era’ (again). Fireworks going off around the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the show appeared to be over. Both Undertaker and Kane then attacked the D-Generation X founders. Michaels was taken out of the ring and thrown through the announcer’s table.

We reported back in September that Shawn Michaels was preparing for a bout at the Crown Jewel event. It now looks as though the proposed tag team bout between the Brothers of Destruction and DX will now be coming to fruition in Saudi Arabia.

As we mentioned before this will be Michael’s first bout in 8 years. HBK lost in a retirement match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26 and he has vowed to honor that stipulation. The exact monetary offer for Michael’s was not revealed however Brock Lesnar will perform at the show for a 7-figure sum, so the potential payday is lucrative. The actual revenue that WWE could be potentially gaining from the Saudi Arabia shows is huge. The exact number will not be available until the fourth quarter earnings are revealed in January/February but it is believed to be in the $40-45 million dollar range.

WWE has confirmed the WWE Championship match for November 2nd in Saudi Arabia. WWE Champion AJ Styles will be defending against Daniel Bryan at ‘Crown Jewel.’

Bryan defeated The Miz at WWE Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia earlier today. The match was unexpectedly short, Bryan took the win with a quick roll up very early on to a stunned reaction. WWE confirmed shortly after that Bryan would be heading to Saudi Arabia for the title match shortly after.

Daniel Bryan appeared for the bout with his mid-section taped. There did not appear to be any obvious signs of injury during the contest so it may have been cut short due to time restrictions. With the show being a WWE Network event it would be odd for a time cut but at the time of writing the Undertaker vs Triple H match had not yet occurred and may be going long.

AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan are two of the most well respected Superstars in the industry. The two former independent stalwarts have tread much the same ground in Ring of Honor, New Japan et al. This could be a potential match of the year candidate if the match is given adequate time.

The Shield were victorious at WWE Super Show-Down against Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman. The story heading into the bout revolved around Dean Ambrose and whether he would turn on his long time stablemates, ala Seth Rollins’ original heel turn back in 2014.

There was a big tease during the bout that may have seen the ‘Lunatic Fringe’ finally turn heel. Ambrose has been portraying a babyface/tweener since late into the Shield’s initial run. Many fans are anticipating a change of pace for the character in the near future.

• WWE Super Show-Down Results

This came when Roman Reigns inadvertently hit Dean Ambrose with a Superman Punch. Ambrose was on the apron when Reigns attempted to hit his signature move on Drew McIntyre when the Scottish Superstar ducked out of the way. Ambrose was sent flying and reappeared several minutes later.

Later in the bout Reigns and Seth Rollins were surrounded by Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre. Ambrose then appeared and took several moments to enter the ring and help his Shield brothers.

In an interesting twist Roman Reigns hurled himself into a charging Strowman on the outside through the barricade, thus ‘saving’ Ambrose and allowing him to enter the ring and hit his Dirty Deeds finisher on Ziggler for the three count. The move from Reigns got a big pop from the crowd and when the three men celebrated post match.

John Cena appeared as part of the WWE Super Show-Down event in Melbourne, Australia. The 16-time WWE Champion teamed with Bobby Lashley in a winning effort against Kevin Owens and Elias. Cena hit his new ‘Sixth Move of Doom’ on Elias to take the win.

• Complete WWE Super Show-Down Results

Michael Cole also repeatedly called Cena the greatest of all time, the latest indication that Cena is in fact in the twilight of his career.  We recently reported that John Cena had got fans talking with a cryptic tweet that may have been referring to the 16-time champ potentially retiring. After the bout Cena, took took the microphone and addressed the WWE Universe.

“WWE has always been my home and will always be my home.” Cena then went on to say that “I have no idea what the future holds so I’m focusing on the now, and right now I’m standing in front of 70,000 plus people saying ‘what!?’ 70,000 people making some noise.”

Cena also thanked the fans in attendance for allowing him to come to Australia and perform at such an epic event. Michael Cole again referred to Cena’s legacy as he left the ring alongside Lashley to head to the back.

John Cena has been spending more time in China. The 41-year-old WWE legend has been filming a movie with Jackie Chan over the past three months and recently spoke to WWE.com regarding his experience.

Cena stated that “I feel adjusted, things are still new and fun and I don’t quite understand everything. I think it would probably take a few years, but it’s amazing how much more comfortable I became after about a month and a half.”

Becky Lynch defended her WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair in the second bout of WWE Super Show-Down. The event in Melbourne Cricket Ground is currently ongoing and you can check out our full coverage and results here.

Lynch was heavily cheered by the crowd in Australia. Late in the bout Flair had Lynch in a Boston Crab which Becky had to break by grabbing the ropes. The ‘Lass Kicker’ then grabbed her title and attempted to leave the match, Charlotte grabbed her and took her back to the ring.

Flair then hit Lynch with her second spear of the match. Flair then applied a Figure-four bridging into the Figure Eight. Lynch hit Flair with the Smackdown Women’s Championship to retain via disqualification.

Check out how we fared by checking out the SEScoop staff predictions for Super Show-Down here

Here’s the full card for the event:

• WWE Title Match: No Count Outs, No Disqualifications
  Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
• SmackDown Women’s Title Match
  Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch
• WWE Cruiserweight Title Match
  Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander
• SmackDown Tag Team Title Match
  The Bar vs. The New Day
• #1 Contenders Match for a Future WWE Title Shot
  The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan
• Triple H with WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker with Kane
• John Cena and Bobby Lashley vs. Elias and Kevin Owens
• The Shield (Dean Ambrose, WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns) vs. Braun Strowman, RAW Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre
• The Bella Twins and RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan)
• Asuka and Naomi vs. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce

The Smackdown Tag Team Championship match opened WWE’s Super Show-Down event earlier tonight. Champions The New Day retained against Sheamus & Cesaro. Cesaro rolled Xavier Woods up for a two count as Kofi Kingston made the save from outside the ring. Kofi then hit Sheamus with a Trouble in Paradise out on the floor before tagging in. Woods hit a Backstabber on Sheamus before Kofi hit a double stomp off the top rope to secure the three count.

You can follow our full ongoing results for the Super Show-Down here

Check out the SEScoop staff predictions for Super Show-Down here

Check out the latest betting odds for Super Show-Down here

Here’s the full card for the event:

• WWE Title Match: No Count Outs, No Disqualifications
  Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
• SmackDown Women’s Title Match
  Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch
• WWE Cruiserweight Title Match
  Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander
• SmackDown Tag Team Title Match
  The Bar vs. The New Day
• #1 Contenders Match for a Future WWE Title Shot
  The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan
• Triple H with WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker with Kane
• John Cena and Bobby Lashley vs. Elias and Kevin Owens
• The Shield (Dean Ambrose, WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns) vs. Braun Strowman, RAW Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre
• The Bella Twins and RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan)
• Asuka and Naomi vs. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce

Check out the SEScoop staff predictions for Super Show-Down here

Check out the latest betting odds for Super Show-Down here

WWE’s Super Show-Down event from Melbourne, Australia is the first ever live broadcast from ‘down under.’ The show starts with a Smackdown Tag Team title bout between Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston of New Day and The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro).

Michael Cole revealed the attendance as the show began, citing a number of 70,309. WWE COO Triple H tweeted yesterday that the expected attendance would be “over 65,000.” ‘The Game’ tweeted the following “Dropped by the Melbourne Cricket Ground this afternoon on the way to speak at Bastion Collective in Melbourne. This city is abuzz about #WWESSD. Spoke with the Herald Sun about what it’ll feel like with over 65,000 fans in the stadium … tomorrow night is gonna be LOUD.”

Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest Australian Football League ground by capacity, the stadium has a maximum capacity of 100,024. The actual highest attendance set for an event came in the 1970 VFL (Aussie Rules Football) Grand Final, with 121,696 fans in attendance.

The number touted by WWE may of course be inflated. Numerous occasions in history have seen actual attendance numbers questioned, including WrestleMania 3’s 93,173 reported number. The actual number for the third ‘Mania show is believed by many to be around 78,000. Another disputed number is WrestleMania 32’s reported gate. WWE  announced the number as 101,763, but according to local police 80,709 fans went through the turnstiles.

WWE will be presenting their Super Show-Down event tomorrow night from the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia. WWE has been taking more ‘Network Special’ events across the globe to build their audience and this mega show in Australia is stacked with some top-tier talents.

Triple H took to Twitter earlier today to reveal the anticipated attendance for Super Show-Down. ‘The Game’ spoke to Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper regarding the expected number of “over 65,000.” The Cerebral Assassin sent out a tweet stating, “Dropped by the Melbourne Cricket Ground this afternoon on the way to speak at Bastion Collective in Melbourne. This city is abuzz about #WWESSD. Spoke with the Herald Sun about what it’ll feel like with over 65,000 fans in the stadium … tomorrow night is gonna be LOUD.”

Here’s the full card for the event:

• WWE Title Match: No Count Outs, No Disqualifications
  Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
• SmackDown Women’s Title Match
  Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch
• WWE Cruiserweight Title Match
  Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander
• SmackDown Tag Team Title Match
  The Bar vs. The New Day
• #1 Contenders Match for a Future WWE Title Shot
  The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan
• Triple H with WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker with Kane
• John Cena and Bobby Lashley vs. Elias and Kevin Owens
• The Shield (Dean Ambrose, WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns) vs. Braun Strowman, RAW Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre
• The Bella Twins and RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan)
• Asuka and Naomi vs. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce

Check out the SEScoop staff predictions for Super Show-Down here

Check out the latest betting odds for Super Show-Down here

Dropped by the @MCG this afternoon on the way to speak at Bastion Collective in Melbourne. This city is abuzz about #WWESSD. Spoke with @theheraldsun about what it’ll feel like with over 65,000 fans in the stadium … tomorrow night is gonna be LOUD. pic.twitter.com/XsDSfSszQJ

— Triple H (@TripleH) October 5, 2018

WWE will be presenting their Super Show-Down event tomorrow night from the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia. WWE has been taking more ‘Network Special’ events across the globe to build their audience and this mega show in Australia is stacked with some top-tier talents.

Here’s the Worldwide start times for Super Show-Down:

• Eastern – 5am
• Pacific – 2am
• India (New Delhi) – 2:30pm
• Japan (Tokyo) – 6pm
• Germany (Berlin)
• Australia (Melbourne) – 7pm
• Brazil (Rio De Janiero) – 6am
• UK Time – 10am

Here’s the full card for the event:

• WWE Title Match: No Count Outs, No Disqualifications
  Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
• SmackDown Women’s Title Match
  Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch
• WWE Cruiserweight Title Match
  Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander
• SmackDown Tag Team Title Match
  The Bar vs. The New Day
• #1 Contenders Match for a Future WWE Title Shot
  The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan
• Triple H with WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker with Kane
• John Cena and Bobby Lashley vs. Elias and Kevin Owens
• The Shield (Dean Ambrose, WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns) vs. Braun Strowman, RAW Tag Team Champions Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre
• The Bella Twins and RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan)
• Asuka and Naomi vs. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce

Check out the SEScoop staff predictions for Super Show-Down here

Check out the latest betting odds for Super Show-Down here

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville made a surprise appearance at Tuesday’s Dragon Gate live event from Japan. He previously worked for the company between 2007-2012 under the name PAC.

PAC’s appearance in-ring at Dragon Gate’s to join heel group RED was his first since Sept. 26, 2017 on 205 Live, he defeated Ariya Daivari on that occasion.

Reaction from 205 Live Star

The return of PAC did not go unnoticed by at least one member of the WWE locker room. 205 Live competitor Akira Tozawa took to Twitter and simply wrote “PAC.” Tozawa himself had an impressive 12 year run in Dragon Gate where he held the Open the Brave Gate, Open the Twin Gate, Open the Triangle Gate and Open the Owarai Gate Championships.

In the past WWE stars have made cryptic comments on Twitter that possibly referred to events outside the company. There’s no two ways about this message though, Tozawa is clearly referring to his former colleague from both WWE and Dragon Gate.

We reported earlier this year that WWE and Pro Wrestling NOAH had a short term working relationship with Hideo Itami returning to the Japanese company to face Naomichi Marufuji.

More Working Relationships?

There are currently no announced plans for any further ‘outside’ relationships in Japan beyond the one off Marufuji/Itami match. What if…and this is a big what if, WWE and Dragon Gate had an understanding when it came to Neville appearing? It is clear that WWE are looking to expand globally, their work on the United Kingdom series and the confirmed relationship with Germany’s wXw promotion are just the start. Dragon Gate are currently one of the smaller, albeit it well respected, companies in Japan. New Japan Pro Wrestling is still the biggest player and NOAH/Dragon Gate will still be playing second fiddle for the time being.

Neville/PAC reportedly stopped responding to independent promoter’s messages just last week. There is a very good chance that this was just a rouse to give extra impact to his Dragon Gate return, but could this be linked to WWE? This might all sound a bit far fetched but with fans being more difficult to ‘work’ in 2018 what better way than to send one of your stars out to a different promotion? You can build anticipation for a return to the ‘big time’ later down the line.

The fact that Neville/PAC appeared for Dragon Gate and not New Japan speaks a lot of the performer. The former WWE Cruiserweight Champion returned to the place that helped build his career to the point of joining WWE, whilst many may have opted to make a huge return at the likes of ROH, Impact or New Japan.

Could his Dragon Gate return be linked to WWE? There’s a very good chance that is isn’t…but what if this was part of a bigger tactic to help push development for WWE into the Japanese market? We’ll have to wait and see.

PAC

— Akira Tozawa (@TozawaAkira) October 2, 2018