Early Betting Odds for the WWE Title Match at SummerSlam
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Tag: smack
Several Matches Confirmed for Tonight’s SmackDown & 205 Live Tapings
As seen at Sunday’s WWE Battleground event, Nakamura won his match against Baron Corbin via disqualification when he was nailed in the crotch by Corbin. PWInsider reports that a rematch is set to take place between the two at tonight’s SmackDown Live Event from Richmond, Virginia.
Speaking of tonight’s tapings, Neville will face Ariya Daivari and Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann will team together to take on the team of Tony Nese & TJP.
Check back here at 8PM ET for our live play-by-play coverage of tonight’s event.
Brock Lesnar’s Status for Tonight’s RAW Episode
Brock Lesnar is not scheduled to make an appearance on tonight’s episode of RAW.
Kurt Angle is expected to announce plans for Lesnar defending the WWE Universal Title at WWE SummerSlam tonight. It’s being rumored that he will be announcing a Fatal 4-Way for the Championship.
Here is the current list of WWE dates Lesnar is confirmed for:
SmackDown Live Event: July 29th (Detroit, MI)
RAW: July 31st (Pittsburgh, PA)
SmackDown Live Event: August 12th (Tampa, FL)
RAW: August 14th (Boston, MA)
SummerSlam: August 20th (Brooklyn, NY)
RAW: August 28th (Memphis, TN)
WWE No Mercy: September 24th (Los Angeles, CA)
RAW Live Event: September 30th (Winnipeg, MB)
WWE Battleground Results – 23 July 2017
Welcome to WWE Battleground 2017!
The Punjabi Prison makes a (hopefully) triumphant return after a decade in a match that sees Randy Orton get one more shot at regaining the WWE Championship from Jinder Mahal. It’s no secret that the Punjabi Prison hasn’t had a good track record in WWE, particularly because it’s a weird match with silly rules, but tonight’s definitely has the chance to be the best ever! We’re hoping a decade will allow Randy and Jinder to learn from the mistakes of those before and build a pretty decent match. If nothing else the Prison is always a spectacle.
Also on tonight’s show, John Cena makes his triumphant return to the ring to face Rusev in a Flag Match. This match doesn’t feel all that important because we’ve seen this feud before and because flag matches are generally silly. Regardless, John Cena wrestling is always worth checking out because he’s become an attraction in WWE and here’s hoping his current run will last a while. Rusev’s return has been a very long time coming and fans were hoping that he would be given a strong run upon return and maybe that will be the case if he can eek a win tonight!
There’s a small truth in the women’s division that few people want to acknowledge: Naomi hasn’t had a real contender since winning the title at WrestleMania. Other than fighting Lana on a weekly basis, Naomi’s title run has been marred by a lack of competition. This has happened because the SmackDown ladies have been embroiled in a multi-woman feud for months and months. Tonight the company aims to end this long-running battle royal with a five-way match with the winner becoming the number one contender to Naomi. I don’t think there is a clear winner for this match because the two strongest challengers, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, are both babyfaces. The idea of Lana winning is painfully possible.
Also on tonight’s card, Shinsuke Nakamura takes on Baron Corbin, Sami Zayn looks for revenge against Mike Kanellis, The New Day get another shot at The Uso’s Tag Team Championships, and Kevin Owens will look to regain his US Championship from AJ Styles! Tonight’s Battleground is a pretty stacked card with some crazy match stipulations and it all starts with Tye Dillinger Vs. Aiden English on the Kick-Off Show at 7pm EST. And don’t forget, you can watch Talking Smack after Battleground! Download the free Ringside News app for all your wrasslin’ news, and the Ringside Talk app to join your fellow marks in conversing about the show. Enjoy!
Major Spoiler for Tonight’s WWE Battleground Event
Apparently there has been a huge shift in the betting odds for tonight’s WWE Battleground 5-Way Elimination match featuring Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Tamina, Natalya and Lana.
While Charlotte has been the majority favorite to win the bout, there was a huge shift late last night that now puts Natalya in the lead to be victorious in the match tonight. Dave Meltzer discussed the shift on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio and mentioned that at one point the match was removed off the boards because all kinds of money was coming in all at once on Natalya. The odds have since then been adjusted with Natalya being the favorite.
If Natalya wins, she will be facing Naomi at SummerSlam for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
Former WWE Talent Claims He Came Up with the “Talking Smack Concept
Former WWE personality Armando Estrada claimed on Twitter that he was the one that originally pitched the Talking Smack concept years ago.
Estrada, who portrayed the ECW General Manager and manager, said that he pitched the idea to Vince McMahon back in 2011, with him being the host. Estrada said that nothing came of it beyond a handshake and a thank you at the time.
Here is the tweet he sent out:
Kevin Owens Applauds WWE for Decision to Cancel Talking Smack
It was noted over the weekend that WWE decided to drop their Talking Smack show that airs Tuesday nights after 205 Live on the WWE Network.
Kevin Owens indicated on Twitter that there is no love lost in the decision to get rid of this show and and applauded WWE.
It should be noted that the show was not COMPLETELY dropped, as it will still air after SmackDown brand pay-per-view events.
Real Reason Talking Smack Was Canceled
While Dave Meltzer reported that Talking Smack was cancelled because of lower viewership, Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated is saying otherwise.
According to Barrasso, WWE canceled the weekly show because Vince McMahon was not pleased with the show and felt it wasn’t best for the company’s interests. Vince apparently made the decision last week while he was present for the show.
WWE issued the following statement on Friday regarding the cancellation of the show:
“We continuously review WWE Network’s programming line-up based on a variety of factors, including viewership and subscriber research. Talking Smack and Raw Talk will air following pay-per-view events, and Tuesday will continue to feature 205 Live.”