Your Daily Source to Wrestling News
As previously noted, Shane Mcmahon was involved in a helicopter crash earlier today but left the incident unharmed. Rusev took to his Twitter about to joke about the situation with the following remarks:
When you don’t respond to my video messages you land in the ocean @shanemcmahon #carma #WWEBattleground
— Rusev (@RusevBUL) July 19, 2017
Here are the early betting odds for the upcoming WWE Battleground event:
Flag match between John Cena and Rusev. Cena is favored at -400, meaning it would take a successful $400 bet to win +100. Rusev is a +280 underdog in this match.
The WWE Championship match, a Punjabi Prisonmatch, sees the champion Jinder Mahal as a projected -200 favorite. The underdog, Randy Orton, is a +250 underdog.
WWE Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. As always, we will have live play-by-play coverage.
Note: Our Facebook pages have been hacked. Please LIKE US on our temporary page for our updates. Thanks!
Former WCW President and former RAW GM Eric Bischoff talked about the Rusev-Cena flag match on his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling :
“I hate it. I just hate it. I haaaate it. I hate it. God, whose idea was that? Vince McMahon, if you are listening to this or someone that works for you is listening to this re-think that. That is just… gwuck. My teeth hurt just listening to you talk about this”
He continued:
“What’s a Flag Match?! What the hell is a Flag Match?! It’s like it’s been around for a thousand years and eeeeverybody knows what a Flag Match is. So, I am going to take your flag? Or, you’re going to take my flag? I am sorry… do not care. Boring. Here is what I do believe now once I take off my cynical hat. If you want to build up a story, create emotion, build anticipation, have a sense of reality, give yourself an element of surprise and wrap it all in some great action you’ve got to be a little believable. The stakes have to be a little relatable. What are the stakes?! You are going to grab my flag? Huh? You are grabbing my flag? That’s what I am going to get pissed off about and fight my heart out about? You’re going to grab my flag. I am sorry. I am sleeping through that one.”
WWE announced on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live that John Cena will face Rusev in a “Flag Match” at the upcoming WWE Battleground event. Here is the updated card:
WWE Title: Punjabi Prison match
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The New Day vs. The Usos
Flag match
Rusev vs. John Cena
Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
As many of you are aware, John Cena will be making his return to WWE programming on the July 4th episode of SmackDown Live. WWE has been hyping his return for around a month now, however it’s unknown exactly who he will be feuding with upon his return.
Dave Meltzer speculated on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that once Cena returns to television, he will enter into a feud with the returning Rusev. Meltzer attributes this speculation to the company not having anyone available for either individual to work with. This feud would eventually leave to a blowoff match at either WWE Battleground or SummerSlam. Meltzer didn’t specify which event.
PWInsider reports that Rusev is backstage for tonight’s SmackDown taping in Dayton, Ohio.
While the the website claimed over the weekend that he would be returning to WWE television, they can no longer confirm those are the plans.
Considering that the SmackDown brand just had a pay-per-view on Sunday, many would suggest that the chances of him returning are very high. WWE normally kicks off or follows up to feuds after most pay-per-view events, so now would be the time for Rusev to inject himself into some sort of storyline.
Rusev had been out since March following shoulder surgery and was recently cleared to return to action.
Here are the updated Betting Odds for Sunday’s Money in the Bank event, courtesy of Best Wrestling:
(Note: The lower the number, the higher the chances of winner are)
WWE Money in the Bank Match
* Baron Corbin -190
* Sami Zayn +650
* Kevin Owens +650
* AJ Styles +750
* Shinsuke Nakamura +450
* Dolph Ziggler +1500
WWE Women’s Money in the Bank Match
* Carmella -145
* Becky Lynch +350
* Natalya +365
* Charlotte Flair +950
* Tamina +2800
WWE Championship Match
* Jinder Mahal(c) -250 vs. Randy Orton +175
WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship Match
* Naomi(c) -500 vs. Lana +300
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship
* The Usos(c) -120 vs. The New Day -120
Length of Men’s MitB Match
* Under 24 Minutes -137
* 24 Minutes or More -110
Length of Women’s MitB Match
* Under 20 Minutes -137
* 20 Minutes or More -110
Length of WWE Championship Match
* Under 18 Minutes -120
* 18 Minutes or More -120
MitB Men’s Special Bets
* Rusev to Appear Ringside During the Match +400
* Briefcase to be Cashed in the Night of MitB +500
MitB Women’s Special Bets
* James Ellsworth to be Ejected from Ringside +110
* Nikki Bella to Appear at Ringside +300
* Briefcase to be Cashed in at Event +500
Rusev took to his Twitter account to post this crytpic tweet that has a lot of people talking on social media:
As previously noted, Rusev was set to make his SmackDown debut a while back but those plans got nixed once the company decided to go all out with Jinder Mahal’s championship run. There is no new information on exactly when the company plans to bring him back, but we will keep you updated.
As we are all no doubt very aware, Jinder Mahal is the WWE Champion. He’s bested the likes of Sami Zayn and Randy Orton, and is now seated comfortably at the top of the mountain. It is still unclear just how long he’s going to stay there, but things have changed. He is not going back down to where he was. WWE is clearly all in on the Maharaja Express. Once this is all done and there’s a new WWE Champion, don’t expect Mahal to fade away. From the looks of things, he is going to be around for a while.
Think about it. The last three champions, for some crazy reason, have all been transitional champions. I can’t believe it. If you add the total amount of days that John Cena, Bray Wyatt, and Randy Orton held the title this year, it’s less than the length of AJ Styles’s reign. The championship went nowhere.
Cena won it off AJ so he could get his 16 title reigns and lose it to Bray Wyatt two weeks later. Two weeks. What is this, the 70’s? Next up is Bray Wyatt. His reign started out alright. He won in the Elimination Chamber and retained against Cena and Styles in a triple threat. Cool. Randy Orton burned his house down and killed Sister Abigail to death. It was an awesome moment, but that was when the feud jumped the shark.
The bad blood between Wyatt and Orton devolved into a dick measuring contest. They argued over who had the superior magic powers, with Bray claiming he was born again and Randy just kinda stabbing the ground with a stake. Then they put on a garbage match at Wrestlemania that was certifiably spooky.
Randy won and then fought Wyatt in an even spookier House of Horrors match that he lost. He then lost his in his first title defense.
The very first thing that Jinder Mahal did on Smackdown was come out of a damn limousine like he was hot stuff. The Singh brothers weren’t even riding in the same car as him. They rolled out a carpet for him to step on. Then he had a Punjabi celebration that was actually really cool and colorful. Dancers and music were there in the stadium. It was quite nice.
They are clearly trying to present Mahal as a big deal, and he does seem like one now. This shows a surprising amount of effort. If they were just doing this for kicks and giggles, then they wouldn’t hire a whole crew of Indians to sing and dance. They wouldn’t hire a limousine. WWE is seemingly going the whole nine yards for Mr. Mahal.
Is Mahal going to retain at Money in the Bank? It’s hard to say. Randy Orton is now going after him, and where the hell is Rusev, seriously. Give that man his WWE Championship match. With a new Mr. Money in the Bank about to be crowned soon, we’re about to see some new faces in the main event scene.
Mahal, to his credit, has shown that he can hang with the best. He knows how to wrestle, even if he is a bit plain and uninspiring. The Singh Brothers add depth to his character by giving him unwarranted arrogance. He claims he’s the best, but he’s clearly not. Combine that with his attempts to make us feel racist, and now everyone hates him. It’s great.
