Fans are criticizing the upcoming Crown Jewel PPV for multiple reasons, and one of them is the inclusion of stars from only Unites States into the announced World Cup for the show.
Rusev who lost to Miz in a World Cup qualifying match during SmackDown 1000 episode took on his twitter after the show and joked about this situation:
Sorry world i tried to represent you in the #WWEWorldCup
With WWE already being in a tight spot for moving ahead with the show, it’s easy to imagine that Officials will not be very happy about these tweets from Rusev and we’ll have to see if the Bulgarian Brute is punished for them in some way.
Matt Riddle Makes On Screen In Ring Debut For NXT
Matt Riddle made his WWE debut during the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn IV event in August this year. Now he has made his televised in-ring debut for the company as well.
Riddle wrestled his first televised match for the company during the recent NXT tapings. He faced Luke Menzies in his debut match for the brand.
This bout is expected to be aired on the October 31 Halloween episode of the show. You can check out some photos from Riddle’s NXT debut in the tweets below:
Rusev, Sheamus, and Lana all participated recently in the WWE 2K19 roster reveal. During their live stream of the roster reveal, Sheamus took a crack at Total Divas. He said something to the effect of “we’re not watching that s**t!”
Evidently, Rusev and Lana asked Sheamus to housesit for them recently. Sheamus posted the following to his Instagram followers, insinuating he’s changed his mind about the show.
Former WWE Champion, Sheamus, is currently part of the Bar with Cesaro. The team recently celebrated their 2-year anniversary, having wrestled their first match together on September 16th, 2016. Originally, the team was a mismatched pair, as fans would cheer for Cesaro and boo Sheamus. Over time, however, they just became a regular team.
Now known as the Bar, Cesaro and Sheamus are 4x former Raw Tag Team Champions. They have yet to win the belts since moving to Smackdown, however. They will have their chance to earn gold for the first time on the blue brand in Australia at Super Show-Down, however. The Bar will take on current champion, the New Day.
Sheamus has had enough of Total Divas. SmackDown Live star Rusev was recently doing an Instagram Live feed on his wife, Lana’s, account. Sheamus could be heard nearby in the background. Rusev joked that they were about to rewatch Total Divas together.
The Irishman didn’t like that at all. He responded by yelling “No, we’re not watching that s**t! We’re not watching that anymore! I just sat through the f**king – the episode.” Sheamus’ reaction is hilarious, and it doesn’t sound like he’s exaggerating at all. Check it out in the player below:
Total Divas has been airing on E! since 2013. Several women of WWE have been featured on the show over the years. It gives you a peek into the lives of WWE’s female talent, and their significant others, away from the ring. Also, the program’s success has led to a few spin-offs, including “Total Bellas” and “Miz & Mrs.” on the USA Network.
Currently, the show stars the likes of Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Natalya, Alexa Bliss, Lana, Rusev, and many more. However, male talents such as John Cena, Sheamus, Rusev, R-Truth, Daniel Bryan, and more have appeared regularly and sporadically over the years.
Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair will clash tomorrow night for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. According to Lana, she hopes to one day be in the same position.
Lana recently spoke to Hollywood Life and the topic of her starting a family with Rusev came up.
“Rusev always puts on the pressure,” Lana said. “He’s like, ‘I want babies!’ But right now I’m very focused on my career. There’s a lot I want to achieve. I feel like I’m finally starting to get more momentum in the ring and getting more opportunities. There’s a lot I would love to do still — being Smackdown Women’s Champion is obviously a dream of mine.”
Lana On Competitiveness in WWE
Lana also spoke about the competitiveness which can exist in the locker room.
“I’m very competitive,” Lana continued. “We love each other and are supportive and all want the best for each other. We have an incredible locker room and support system, but at the end of the day, we are there to win and there to compete.”
Lana and Rusev will once again form a team in the Mixed Match Challenge this year. It was in the tournament last year that Lana picked up her first ever win on the WWE main roster. Rusev and Aiden English will challenge New Day for the Smackdown Tag-Team Championships tomorrow night at Hell in a Cell.
The above image is not of Lana in a match, however. The image is from a WWE photoshoot from earlier this year. The photoshoot involved Superstars recreating current movie posters. Lana was portraying the lead role of “I, Tonya”.
UPDATE: It now appears Lana is aware of the “I, Tonya” photo 2K used. She responded with the following:
Things are going slightly better on Smackdown for Rusev Day. The team of Aiden English and Rusev will face the Bar on Tuesday night with the winner earning a tag-team title opportunity.
Lana and Rusev are also once again entered into the WWE Mixed Match Challenge. In the inaugural tournament, Lana was able to score the first victory of her career on the WWE main roster.
Miroslav Barnyashev traveled to the United States from Bulgaria with a dream to become a professional wrestler. However, the road to becoming Rusev was filled with plenty of detours along the way. Rusev’s wife Lana believes his ‘Coming to America’ story deserves to be told on the big screen.
“He followed his dream to Hollywood,” Lana said about her husband when speaking to “Open Late” with Peter Rosenberg. “I want to make a movie out of your story, it’s so great. It’s literally a Hollywood movie and it’s like Oscar winning.”
According to Rusev, before he finally started attending classes a professional wrestling school in San Diego, he had just about every job imaginable while trying to make ends meet.
“Work here and there, worked a whole bunch of different places,” Rusev said. “I was doing a taxi job, I was security at a strip club, I was doing construction.
“Most of the time, I had two or three jobs at a time because I had to survive.”
It wasn’t until the WWE came to San Diego almost exactly a decade ago that Rusev finally took the initiative to pursue his ultimate goal to become a professional wrestler.
“I was living in Los Angeles and in San Diego they had a WWE pay-per-view like Great American Bash, I think it was 2008. After leaving the show, I saw a flier on my car it said ‘professional wrestling school’,” Rusev stated.
“I was like ‘oh great, it’s only a two hour drive, I’ll make the drive and I’ll start learning what I actually came to America to do’.”
Rusev then began training under former WWE superstars Gangrel and Rikishi before making his debut in late 2008. The rest, as they say, is history — and Lana believes it’s the perfect story that would fit a Hollywood movie detailing Rusev’s rise to fame.
Would you like to see Rusev have his life story translated into a major motion picture?
Many fans have been wondering if Rusev is frustrated with his position in WWE.
Although he has received a WWE Title shot recently, albeit an unsuccessful one, a lot of fans feel he is being underutilized. Rusev got himself over with the innovation of “Rusev Day.” The chant has ran rampant in the professional wrestling world.
In fact, chants of “Rusev Day” even rang out at non-WWE events. Fans even chant it randomly when they’re bored with what’s going on in the ring. Wrestling fans would very much like to see Rusev receive a bigger push on SmackDown Live.
Last night, he was on the SummerSlam Kickoff Show, teaming up with his wife Lana to take on Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega. Rusev and Lana were unsuccessful in picking up a win at “The Biggest Party Of The Summer.”
Prior to the event, Rusev did an interview with The Gorilla Position to talk about the show. During their conversation, Rusev was asked if he’s frustrated with his current situation in the WWE.
Is Rusev Frustrated?
“The Bulgarian Brute” said he can’t control the way he’s booked. Whether he’s the first match on the card, or the last, all he can control is his performance:
“I have no control over any of that,” Rusev said. “I’m there to perform to the best of my abilities and whether I’m first on the card or last, champion or not, I mean I’m just gonna be me and keep doing what I do best.
“Eventually, one day you know cream rises to the top. So you know I’m waiting… I’m waiting for the rise.”
Discussion: How do you feel about the way Rusev is being used by WWE? Do you think he’s frustrated? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
Posted August 20th, 2018 in WWE, News. Tagged: Rusev.
He took to Twitter to apologize to fans and said he is already in talks with the UK promotion about rescheduling:
“Sorry to announce to the Uk fans about my withdrawal from this weekends @RevProUK Shows. I was really looking forward to coming back to the Uk. We are in talks about about rescheduling a future booking for @kelitesquad@inc_kes to the UK.”
Sorry to announce to the Uk fans about my withdrawal from this weekends @RevProUK Shows. I was really looking forward to coming back to the Uk 🇬🇧. We are in talks about about rescheduling a future booking for @kelitesquad@inc_kes to the 🇬🇧 👍🙏 pic.twitter.com/kgRcN4OHg9
— Harry Smith, “Davey Boy Smith JR” (@DBSmithjr) August 14, 2018
Aiden English’s Message To Rusev & Lana
On last night’s episode of SmackDown Live, Aiden English lost his match against former NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas. Almas will team up with Zelina Vega to take on Rusev and Lana in a Mixed Tag Team match.
After his loss, English was interviewed by WWE cameras backstage. He apologized to Rusev and Lana for his shortcoming against Almas, saying “I tried”:
Rusev is preparing for the biggest match thus far in his career with the WWE.
The SmackDown Live star is slated to challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Title at the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view event on Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the PPG Paints Arena that will air on the WWE Network.
In an interview with Planeta Wrestling, Rusev brought up that he’s learning how to counter the move set of Styles while preparing for this match at Extreme Rules. He noted that he has his own training setup to find those little things and finding every transition or reversals for every move that Styles has so he can be ready for it.
Rusev also talked about his journey to the WWE and noted that it all started as a dream when he was watching as a kid and seeing Hulk Hogan and other stars on television. He noted that he always wanted to be a wrestler but didn’t know how to do it.
“So when I was twenty I went to The [United] States and started working different jobs. Finally found a school and signed up. It was something that I loved and I never thought about actually going to the WWE I just loved to wrestle because I wanted to wrestle. I was doing that for about two years or three years, whatever it was. I had two or three jobs at the same time just I could afford myself and pay rent and school.”
Rusev continued by stating that he had a tryout with WWE and got signed right away. He continued by stating that he could have never thought that somebody like him from the small country of Bulgaria could make it in WWE.
H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes.
Posted July 13th, 2018 in WWE, News. Tagged: Rusev.
What started as a catch-phrase has turned into an officially celebrated holiday. Rusev Day has been officially declared in Knoxville, TN.
With his first-ever WWE Championship match upcoming this Sunday at Extreme Rules, the declaration couldn’t have come at a better time. Not surprisingly, it was a town with a connection to wrestling which announced the holiday.
Rusev spoke with ESPN earlier this year about how “Rusev Day” has taken off.
“I had no idea this was going to happen,” Rusev said to ESPN. “This was supposed to be a one-time ‘Rusev Day’ thing. I never thought in a million years it was going to be what it is today. It was something we planned to do, but just for one day. But it just caught on fire ever since then. Nobody expected that.”
While he might not have expected, Rusev says this has been the greatest part of his career.
“I’ve just been enjoying it,” Rusev said. “I’ve been booed out of the building for the past four years. So finally the people now appreciate me. But I’m just having fun, I’m just doing me. Every bad guy or good guy, we all enjoy the crowd reaction, so I’m just going with it.”
Rusev says he is even enjoying this period of his WWE run more than when he was undefeated and rode a tank to the ring at WrestleMania.
“By far it’s the most fun I’ve had in my career,” Rusev said. “I mean, I loved WrestleMania 31 with the tank — that was amazing, of course. But now I’m showing everybody that you don’t have to be stuck being a foreigner bad guy. Being a foreigner bad guy doesn’t have to be my destiny, and I can be much more than that.”
On Sunday Night, Rusev will receive his first WWE World Championship opportunity. The 32-year-old has held the United States on 2 occasions but has never challenged for either WWE-recognized World Championship.
Rusev sat down with ESPN recently and spoke about what the match means to him.
“Becoming heavyweight champion and holding the top title is on my bucket list,” Rusev said. “That spot is always getting tighter and tighter, but why not? A man can always dream.”
Few are picking Rusev to defeat Styles on Sunday but that does not mean a future World Title run for him is out of the question.
“I’ve been focused and I’m in the zone,” Rusev continued. “I’ve been training harder than any other day.”
After being signed to the company in 2010, Rusev would debut on the main roster in 2014.
“It’s great,” Rusev said. “Finally being able to climb up all the way to the top. I’ve worked hard enough and done everything I’ve needed to do. It just feels good that I have this opportunity, and I’m not going to waste it.”
Rusev earned his title match against AJ Styles by winning a Gauntlet match on the June 19th edition of Smackdown. After his victory, Rusev spoke to WWE.com correspondents.
“I’ve never had an opportunity before for a World Heavyweight Championship,” Rusev explained. “I couldn’t miss the chance. Aiden was there the whole way and Lana, of course, helping me morally in everything.”
After his victory, Aiden English taunted Styles and got punched for his efforts. Rusev also spoke to WWE.com regarding what he and English feel was a cheap-shot on the champion’s behalf.
“We’re trying to have this feel-good moment, all fun and games, and all of a sudden (Styles) just punches him,” Rusev said. “I thought it was the wrong move.”
Hearing the truth from the horse’s mouth always give light to the situation. Rusev gives his side of the story of what happened for the match against Undertaker at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
Bury Me Softly…
With news of the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia that took place last April, one of the many matches on the card included Rusev vs Undertaker in a casket match.
Rusev took it upon himself to tweet the following:
Speculation ran wild and WWE officials felt it was a disrespect to the deadman himself. WWE even went as far as to pull Rusev from the card and replace him with Chris Jericho.
Rusev would later be put back on the card to face Undertaker and would lose to the deadman in the casket match.
The Ride Along Truth
In a recent episode of Ride Along on the WWE Network, Rusev explains the whole predicament:
It seems that not only did Rusev produce a disrespectable tweet, he laughed in the Chairman’s face once he learned about the news.
The prince of Saudi Arabia wasn’t going to have it, so he insisted that Rusev be reinserted in the match and thus we got Undertaker’s second win of 2018.
WWE Champion AJ Styles is slated to make his next title defense against Rusev at the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view event on Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the PPG Paints Arena that will air on the WWE Network.
As noted, Rusev earned this title shot after beating Big E, Daniel Bryan, The Miz, and Samoa Joe in a Gauntlet Match to become the #1 contender on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Toledo, OH at the Huntington Center on the USA Network. Styles sent out the following tweet to mock Rusev:
“Excited to face @RusevBUL for the #WWEChampionship and I know many are as well. And just for you and the little songbird next to you, I’m gonna make #RusevDay #Phenomenal. #AndStill.”
Excited to face @RusevBUL for the #WWEChampionship and I know many are as well. And just for you and the little songbird next to you, I’m gonna make #RusevDay#Phenomenal. #AndStill
WWE has sent out this promo on their official YouTube channel hype Mae Young Classic tickets being on sale now. As noted, the sports entertainment company will be taping the tournament on August 8th and August 9th from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida and will air later this summer on the WWE Network.
What are your thoughts on this match between Styles and Rusev?
SmackDown Audience Increases For Second Week In A Row
The SmackDown audience was up for the second week in the row and this week’s episode posted its best numbers since the May 1st edition of the Blue Branded Show.
The episode featuring the #1 Contenders Gauntlet Match to determine AJ Styles’ next challenger in the main event, averaged 2.315 million viewers which was up 6% from the previous episode.
Though not everything was well as the show was down eight percent year-over-year and the Blue Brand was only able to retain 80% of the Raw’s viewers from Monday Night.
Rusev And Lana On Rusev’s Victory
As seen on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live, former US Champion Rusev earned his first ever one on one WWE Championship opportunity after winning the Gauntlet match.
Rusev won the bout which also involved Daniel Bryan, The Miz, Big E and Samoa Joe and the former NXT Star will now face the Champion AJ Styles at the upcoming Extreme Rules PPV.
After the show, both Rusev and Lana commented on the Bulgarian Brute’s victory via their twitter accounts with Rusev being happy on this ‘Rusev Day’ and Lana explaining that hard work pays off:
As Rusev let go of the Accolade (camel clutch) last night following his victory in the Gauntlet match, the emotion on his face was visible. The 33-year-old has been with the company since September 2010. He will wrestle in his first ever WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules next month.
WWE.com caught up with Rusev and Aiden English following last night’s Smackdown.
“I’ve never had an opportunity before for a World Heavyweight Championship,” Rusev explained. “I couldn’t miss the chance. Aiden was there the whole way and Lana, of course, helping me morally in everything.”
Rusev vs AJ Styles at Extreme Rules 2018
Rusev and Aiden appear upset that Styles took a shot at Aiden last night. Following Rusev’s victory in the Gauntlet match, Styles came to the ring. While Styles and Rusev would shake hands, Aiden pulled his hand away from Styles just before they could shake. Styles then decked Aiden and knocked him to the ground for his trouble.
“We’re trying to have this feel-good moment, all fun and games, and all of a sudden (Styles) just punches him,” Rusev said. “I thought it was the wrong move.”
Rusev and AJ Styles have met twice in single’s competition. Both matches took place this year and both matches ended in DQs. Styles defeated Rusev via DQ on the March 13th, 2018 edition of Smackdown via DQ and again on the April 17th, 2018 version of Smackdown.
Rusev has won his last 2 single’s matches. He defeated Samoa Joe on the June 12th, 2018 edition of Smackdown. His match before then he defeated Daniel Bryan to successfully qualify for the Money in the Bank match. His only other single’s match since WrestleMania, however, was a loss to the Undertaker. Rusev was defeated by the Deadman in a Casket Match from the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The WWE Smackdown crews’ stay at the Memphis Sheraton earlier this week did not go smoothly. Rusev, Lana, and Paige have all reported they had items stolen during their stay.
Despite public Tweets from Rusev and Paige criticizing the hotel, Sheraton has chosen not to respond. Looking at their social media accounts, it’s evident the Sheraton has a policy of only responding to positive comments.
Rusev made further comment on the matter today after the Pro Wrestling Sheet stated the Sheraton was not interested in speaking to them.
Dig in. I’m prosecuting. Especially after the head of security said it’s my fault for living my stuff in the room. https://t.co/VFXa5P3bL0
Drake Maverick has not made further comment on his Mac.
Paige has not made any further comment on the matter either. Lana does not appear to have commented publicly.
Memphis Sheraton Hotel
The Memphis Sheraton is a 600-room hotel located just off highway 40. It is often used for conventions and big events held in the city.
Previous news reports concerning the hotel also include a shooting which took place there in September and a couple being attacked while walking to their car in October. Following the two crimes, the city has been looking into hiring a safety consultant to discuss a plan to make the downtown area safer.
“A security consultant in crowd dynamics should take a look at the look at street before the task force makes its formal recommendations to city council,” said Berlin Boyd, the city taskforce chairman in a statement.
Earlier this month, the city began reviewing recommendations made to them by the task force. In general, it seems city council believes over-crowdedness is leading to a surge in crime in the area and they are looking at ways to address this.
WWE Smackdown General Manager, Paige, was not pleased with her stay at the Memphis Sheraton Hotel last night. She expressed her discontentment with the hotel in a recent post to her social media followers.
“If you’re in the Memphis area don’t EVER stay at the @SheratonMemphis,” Paige Tweeted. “it’s literally the worst. Things stolen, bad customer service and room service takes two hours just for a salad and WE are the inconvenience. Ugh. The worst.”
Apparently, all the GMs stay together, as Paige’s Tweet concerned 205 Live General Manager, Drake Maverick. He Tweeted out the following:
There has been no update on Drake Maverick’s Mac or mind as of this writing.
Rusev Complains About Sheraton in Memphis Too
Paige is not the only member of the Smackdown roster to complain about the hotel situation in Memphis. Rusev was also staying at a Memphis area Sheraton and also complained of items stolen and bad service.
Thank you @sheratonhotels Memphis for “cleaning” the room and stealing my wife camera and my money from my wallet
Rusev was in Memphis on Monday after the Smackdown crew had a house show in Mississipi on Sunday. It’s likely that some from the Smackdown roster would have gone straight to Memphis following the Mississipi house show.
Sheraton Hotels has not made any comment publicly regarding the complaints from either Paige or Rusev.
Rusev defeated Samoa Joe in single’s action on Smackdown last night. The Miz was the special referee and caused Joe to become distracted with him thus allowing Rusev to hit the Matchka kick for the win. Rusev, Joe, and the Miz will all take part in the men’s Money in the Bank match on Sunday from Chicago.
As for Paige, she hosted a women’s Money in the Bank summit to start last night’s show. The segment broke down, however, and resulted in the 10-person tag-team main event match to close the show. She’s been working as the Smackdown General Manager since the Smackdown after WrestleMania 34.
According to a report from 411Mania, WWE Champion AJ Styles missed WWE Live events over the weekend. Styles hasn’t wrestled in almost three weeks. His last match was a dark match against Shinsuke Nakamura after the May 22nd SmackDown Live tapings.
The Phenomenal One’s last match on WWE TV occurred on a May 15th episode of SmackDown Live. He lost a non-title bout to Shinsuke Nakamura for the right to select the stipulation for their match at Money In The Bank (MITB). Styles is scheduled to return to the ring this Sunday against Nakamura at MITB for the WWE Title in a Last Mat Standing match.
Lana & Rusev Burglarized In Hotel Room
Rusev took to Twitter to Tweet at the Sheraton Hotels, claiming that the people who “cleaned” he and Lana’s hotel room stole his wife’s camera and money out of his wallet:
Thank you @sheratonhotels Memphis for “cleaning” the room and stealing my wife camera and my money from my wallet
Rusev recently opened up about his life both in and outside of the WWE.
When speaking about Rusev, you have to bring up his wife due to her being such a big part of his life and career. Lana signed with WWE in June of 2013 and was sent to their developmental branch NXT. Rusev, on the other hand, signed with WWE in September of 2010 and was assigned to WWE’s Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental territory in Tampa, Florida, where he adopted the ring name Alexander Rusev. She debuted on the October 23, 2013 episode of NXT by scouting Alexander Rusev. The following month, WWE put her as Rusev’s manager on television.
They had a short run while in the developmental brand before being called up to the main roster and have been paired with each other on/off again several times since then.
Rusev was interviewed by TV+ while in Bulgaria last week and during the interview, he was asked about how he met Lana. “I got to meet her since day one when I started in WWE. After that, Dusty Rhodes, god rest his soul, who was at working as a creative director at that time, put us together because of her speaking perfect russian. She used to live in Latvia for 12 years and she is very beautiful. That’s how we got to start working, training and spending a lot of time together. Things just happened naturally.”
Rusev’s next big match is at the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view event where he is slated to compete in the Money in the Bank Ladder match. If he ends up winning this match then he that would allow him to cash it in for a WWE Title match.
Also in this interview, he was asked if there is another promotion he would join if he decided to every depart the WWE. “I love the place I’m in right now and I don’t consider anything else .. except a Bulgarian movie career [laughs].”
Several months ago when WWE paired up Rusev and Aiden English, they had no idea that they’d be creating one of the biggest fan-favorite gimmicks on the roster today.
Rusev and English have developed “Rusev Day” together and the WWE Universe has been eating it up ever since. Despite the love Rusev Day has been receiving, WWE has been reluctant to push it to its full potential.
WrestlingNews.co is reporting that WWE likely won’t ever give Rusev Day a push, as it’s expected that Rusev is set to turn on Aiden English very soon and end the Rusev Day references. Instead, the Bulgarian Brute will return to playing a more “ruthless” character.
It will be a sad day when Rusev decides to end Rusev Day, but WWE just doesn’t seem to want anything to do with pushing it any further.
Discussion: How do you feel about WWE refusing to push Rusev Day?
In the weeks leading up to the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, WWE switched the Undertaker’s opponent twice. Rusev was originally revealed as the Undertaker’s opponent for the match but was removed not long after the announcement. Both Rusev and Lana posted on social media in regards to the match, which may have been the catalyst for the change. Chris Jericho was announced as his replacement.
Not long after that, Jericho was then removed from the casket match as well. Rusev was then reinstated as Undertaker’s opponent. According to the Wrestling Observer, Jericho was told a Saudi Prince asked for Rusev to be put back in the match.
Chris Jericho and Rusev at the Greatest Royal Rumble
Also according to the report, Chris Jericho notified Vince McMahon that he would be returning to Japan to shoot an angle with Tetsuya Naito. The report continued to say that just hours after this, Vince McMahon contacted Jericho to say he was being removed from the casket match. According to McMahon, Jericho’s removal from the match had only to do with a Saudi Prince who asked specifically for Rusev to be put back in. There was no mention of Jericho’s NJPW angle as a possible cause for the switch.
The Saudi Royal Family reportedly requested several WWE stars from bygone eras appear at the event. Some of the wrestlers requested have been deceased for several years. Names mentioned included Yokozuna and the Ultimate Warrior. There is speculation that Sumo wrestler, Hiroki Sumi, was added to the match for this reason. His background in sumo would perhaps be reminiscent of Yokozuna.
Chris Jericho also revealed recently that WWE contacted him about being Shane McMahon’s replacement at WrestleMania. Shane suffered diverticulitis and a hernia in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania 34. There were concerns he would not be able to perform on the show.
Seth Rollins On His Historic Intercontinental Title Feat
WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins recently took to Twitter to comment on himself completing a historic feat as Intercontinental Champ. Rollins noted that he was getting set to defend his title on a fourth continent in three weeks.
That doesn’t seem to be enough for The Architect, however, as he followed up by saying he wants even more:
Big Cass Takes Credit For Rusev’s SDL Win Over Daniel Bryan
On last night’s episode of SmackDown Live, Rusev defeated Daniel Bryan to qualify for the Money In The Bank Ladder Match in several weeks. Cass was not used on the show last night, but did do a post-show interview for WWE’s YouTube Channel to discuss his rival Bryan’s loss.
Cass took credit for Rusev defeating Bryan because of his assault on the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion after their match at Backlash. Check out what he had to say here:
– We are about a month removed from the WWE Superstar Shakeup, and former WWE NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas has still yet to make his SmackDown Live debut.
Since it was announced that the sports entertainment company decided to call him up from the third WWE brand to the blue brand, WWE has aired video packages of his business manager, Zelina Vaga hyping the debut of the former champion.
It seems like it’s just a matter of time before he steps in between the blue ropes to make his in-ring SmackDown debut. Andrade sent out the following to tease his debut:
— “EL IDOLO” ANDRADE (@AndradeElIdolo) May 8, 2018
– It’s already been announced that Rusev will take on Daniel Bryan in a Money in the Bank qualifying match on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Baltimore, MD at the Royal Farms Arena on the USA Network.
The winner of this match will compete in the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match at the upcoming pay-per-view event that takes place next month. To promote the match, the former United States champion sent out the following tweet:
WWE posted an interview between Cathy Kelly and Roman Reigns, who describes the pride he feels over his win against Samoa Joe at Backlash. Reigns said that Joe had been saying a lot of things about him in recent weeks, and his victory solidifies that this is still his yard:
Cesaro On Watching Backlash From Home
Not all WWE Superstars were used on last night’s Backlash pay-per-view (PPV) event. While there were no Tag Team Title matches on the show, that meant that SmackDown Live’s team, The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro), didn’t have a spot on the card.
The Swiss Superman took to Twitter to comment on what it was like watching the event from home instead of performing:
A segment during last night’s Backlash event featured Elias being interrupted by the likes of The New Day, Rusev and Aiden English, No Way Jose, and Bobby Roode. In the end everyone (except Rusev and English) were dancing with Jose’s conga line – including Roode. Roode actually twerked a bit for the crowd.
Rusev took to Twitter to comment on The Glorious One’s twerking abilities:
Happy #RusevDay Backlash ! Bob Roode twerking like a skunk was terrible
Rusev On Chris Jericho Being Removed From Undertaker Casket Match
There has been a ton of changes made to The Undertaker’s Casket match at the upcoming Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia. Originally, Rusev was scheduled to face The Dead Man.
After some controversial comments were made by Rusev to TMZ regarding Undertaker, WWE made the change to have Chris Jericho step in for Rusev instead. It was later cleared up Rusev didn’t offend The Undertaker and he was inserted back into the match.
The Bulgarian Brute took to Twitter to tease Jericho’s previous involvement in the match, posting a promotional image for Undertaker vs. Jericho and captioning it “TBT”:
A Six-Man Tag Team dark match has been announced for next week’s episode of Monday Night RAW. The team of Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins will take on Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens and Jinder Mahal.
