This was an eventful week, not merely for WWE but for the entire wrestling fraternity as Impact Wrestling celebrated 15 years of existence with Slammiversary and also, by changing their name to Global Force Wrestling, on this grand occasion. Moreover, NJPW arrived on American shores and crowned their first ever United States Champion too.
Also read: What we learned from WWE this week: July 03, 2017
While WWE had a pretty nondescript week, when compared to the other promotions, they still made enough waves to warrant yet another SKFabe article, where we’ve tried to capture the highlights from the wrestling company in one place. Read on!
#1 Did Reigns challenge The Undertaker to a rematch?
The Undertaker presumably wrestled for the last time at Wrestlemania 33, where he was just a shadow of his former self and let Roman Reigns go over. Thereafter, he took off his gloves and his coat, leaving them in the middle of the ring and presumably retiring from active in-ring competition.
In the aftermath of the incident, Roman Reigns was drowned in a sea of boos from the WWE Universe who did not appreciate the fact that the despised Reigns was the one to retire The Phenom. We’d assumed that the chapter was over, but Reigns called out The Undertaker at a live event in Singapore, quite recently.
It looks like the feud is not dead and buried, no pun intended. Would you like to see this match happen yet another time?
#2 Braun Strowman to defeat Roman Reigns this weekend
You heard it here first. As you are aware, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman will be facing one another in an ambulance match this weekend. While rumours had surfaced that Reigns will defeat Strowman and go on to face Lesnar at Summerslam, it turns out that they were quite untrue.
Our sources indicate that Strowman will defeat Reigns at the pay-per-view and Lesnar will defeat Joe too. Does that mean Strowman faces Lesnar at Summerslam? We are not sure yet, but stay tuned to Sportskeeda Wrestling for breaking news, updates and spoilers as and when they happen.
#3 NJPW superstar was backstage at SmackDown Live
To many, he is the best wrestler in the world right now. It is debatable whether he would be a good addition to the WWE roster, but Kazuchika Okada certainly has his own share of fans, both within Japan and outside the country right now, as we saw during the G1 Special this weekend.
We have learned that 'The Rainmaker’ was at Gorilla Position for the duration of the SmackDown Live show as he shook hands with every superstar who walked to the ring and back. Don’t believe us, guys? Here's an Instagram post that’ll prove how right we are, about the same.
#4 Ratings fall, but there is no real cause for concern
Raw did not cut corners to make the go-home show for Great Balls of Fire a memorable one, despite the fact that it was on a public holiday and therefore, even though there was a dip in viewership, it wasn’t very substantial. While the viewership at 2.839 million viewers was much lower than the 2.977 million viewers who’d tuned in one week prior, it was considerably better than the viewership last year, which was just a meagre 2.658 million viewers.
In comparison, SmackDown experienced a far more steep decline in viewership as only 2.329 million viewers tuned in as opposed to 2.603 million viewers, from the previous week. Not even the return of John Cena and Rusev, as well as a Battle Royal, to close the show, could help the ratings soar.
#5 Huge matches announced for Battleground
Two big matches were made official for Battleground this week. US Champ Kevin Owens and AJ Styles, the winner of the Independence Day Battle Royal, will clash for the United States Championship once again. Also, the returning John Cena collides with the returning Rusev in a flag match, and both men will be representing their countries at the Battleground PPV. It looks like Mike Bennett may face Sami Zayn and Nakamura may collide with Corbin, but neither has been made official yet.
#6 Donald Trump posted a hilarious WWE-themed tweet
Donald Trump took a cheap shot at CNN posting ‘fake news', by showing a clip of him taking the news channel out in a WWE brawl. The logo was superimposed on the face of Vince McMahon, from the classic brawl during Battle of the Billionaires. Trump really should have been a professional wrestler.
#7 Kevin Owens’ DVD makes waves
Despite the fact that he really is the scum of the earth on camera, everybody loves Kevin Owens, right? His new DVD ‘Fight Owens’ fight is doing so well that it has sold out on Amazon as well as many Best Buy stores.
For all his detractors on the internet, who say that Kevin Owens will never draw a dime, Owens does have a loyal fanbase. We can’t wait to pick it up and see it for ourselves, soon
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