With three full weeks of WWE television still remaining until their next big pay-per-view event, Money in the Bank, the final card is starting to come together. So far announced is:
Styles vs. Nakamura, Last Man Standing for the WWE titleNia vs. Ronda Rousey for the Raw Women’s titleCarmella vs. Asuka for the Smackdown Women’s titleBludgeon Brothers vs. The Club for the Smackdown tag titlesMen’s Money in the Bank Ladder MatchWomen’s Money in the Bank Ladder MatchRoman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal
With all pay-per-views moving to a 7/6c start time going forward, Money in the Bank is expected to run between 3.5 and 4 hours not including the pre-show. With 7 matches announced right now, we’re probably looking at 2 more matches at the very least. There’s still the Raw tag titles with Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt defending, but there hasn’t been any serious movement in that division lately.
It seems likely Seth Rollins will hold an Open Challenge for the Intercontinental Championship, or find himself an opponent in the next three weeks. Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn is almost definitely happening, and a very minor program between No Way Jose and Baron Corbin could make a decent pre-show match, although how they stretch that into three more weeks of TV is beyond me. That leaves Elias as the odd man out on the Raw brand as far as notable stars that don’t have a match at this point, meaning he makes a good opponent for Rollins if they want to go that route.
WWE Viewership Hits a 2018 Low
After this week’s WWE Raw hit the lowest numbers of 2018, the company’s woes continued as Smackdown Live also fell to the worst viewership of the year. The show did just under 2.2 million despite Daniel Bryan and Jeff Hardy, two of the biggest cash cows the company has ever had, main eventing in a match with actual Money in the Bank implications.
One would think with the amount of star power the Smackdown brand has currently, and the business as a whole trending upwards, that numbers should be at their highest point in years. And while they’re not hemorrhaging viewers as much as just a few years ago, Team Blue has consistently lost numbers almost every week since WrestleMania 34. WWE is insanely fortunate to have top stars like Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Paige, Charlotte Flair, Asuka and Shane McMahon appearing on a weekly basis, but it just doesn’t seem to matter.
Click Here: rapid prototyping
Over the last few weeks they’ve had a legitimate excuse being up against the NBA Playoffs, but to a degree there’s always going to be competition from some major sporting event, a season premiere or finale; there’s always an excuse. For instance, even without NBA dominating the ratings this month, they could make the case that they’re in between major events with so much time between Backlash and Money in the Bank, and theoretically numbers should be back up in June heading into July. But again… there’s always an excuse.
Best of the Super Juniors
We’re five shows deep into the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors tournament, although we’re still waiting on results from the most recent show as the tournament matches still haven’t been uploaded to New Japan World. The promotion has been very slow on uploading content from the shows that don’t air live, but on the plus side they’ve also had Kevin Kelly re-dub each of the shows with English commentary from a studio here in the U.S.
Night 1 Results: Ospreay vs Ishimori (A Block)Night 2 Results: Scurll vs Hiromu (B Block)Night 3 Results: Ospreay vs. ACH (A Block)Night 4 Results: Kushida vs. Scurll (B Block)More WWE NewsCM Punk is NOT Looking to Settle WWE LawsuitMiz & Mrs. Officially Gets a USA Network Start DateNikki Bella Has Had it With False Reports About CenaWWE UK Tournament First Round Matches AnnouncedUpdate on Ronda Rousey’s Summer WWE ScheduleBig Cass May be Legitimately Injured… Or Not? Who KnowsToni Storm Has Signed a Deal with WWEShayna Baszler to Defend NXT Women’s TitleMisc. Wrestling NewsAustin Aries vs. Rich Swann Announced for Impact WrestlingImpact Slammiversary Press Conference AnnouncedYoung Bucks Reveal When Their Contracts ExpireCM Punk ‘ALL IN’ Appearance Extended Due to High DemandMajor UK Indies Possibly Coming to the WWE Network SoonVideo: First Look at Johnny Mundo in ‘Survivor: David vs Goliath’ ResultsWWE RAW (5/21)WWE Smackdown Live (5/22)WWE 205 Live (5/22)WWE NXT (5/23)
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Monday, May 21
WWE RAW | USA Network | 8PM ET
Tuesday, May 22
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors | New Japan WorldWWE Smackdown Live | USA Network | 8PM ETWWE 205 Live | WWE Network | 10PM ET
Wednesday, May 23
WWE NXT | WWE Network | 8PM ET
Thursday, May 24
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors | New Japan WorldIMPACT Wrestling | Pop TV |8PM ETROH Honor United: Edinburgh | Honor Club
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NJPW Best of the Super Juniors | New Japan World
Saturday, May 26
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors | New Japan WorldROH Honor United: London | Honor Club
Sunday, May 27
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors | New Japan WorldROH Honor United: Doncaster | Honor Club
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