Could we see Pete Dunne and Neville face off against each other
Could we see these two champions do battle against each other?
What’s the story?
WWE United Kingdom champion Pete Dunne and WWE Cruiserweight champ Neville teased a potential champion vs champion match-up on social media.
Dunne re-tweeted a photo of himself and Neville, initially posted by a fan. The UK champ captioned it, “Time for a match I reckon.” To which Neville replied, “Careful what ya wish for lad”.
In case you didn’t know...
Pete Dunne recently won the WWE UK championship for the first time in his career by defeating Tyler Bate at NXT Takeover: Chicago on May 20th.
On the other hand, Neville is a former NXT champion and two-time NXT tag-team champ, who won the WWE Cruiserweight title last year.
The heart of the matter
The 23-year old Englishman Pete Dunne reposted a fan’s tweet of an old photograph where he’s pictured alongside Neville, with a caption that apparently rubbed Neville the wrong way:
Neville is presently involved in a feud against Austin Aries for the former’s WWE Cruiserweight title, whereas Pete Dunne who just won the title off of Tyler Bate, will likely engage further his rivalry with Bate in the days to come.
What’s next?
The WWE, on its part, has not announced a matchup between the Cruiserweight and the UK champions as of yet, however, ‘champion vs champion’ matchups are in fact not an anomaly in WWE with several such match-ups have taken place in the past.
Author’s take
Pete Dunne is one of the most talented performers of the current crop and he is just 23-years of age!
The sky is the limit for the WWE UK champion and a future match against the high-flying Neville would be an excellent proposition.
WWE New: WWE 2K18 release date officially announced
What will be in store for WWE gamers when WWE 2K18 is released?
The model released by Pixelgun Studios of AJ Styles
What’s the story?
WWE has sold millions of units with the latest 2K release and WWE 2K18 is scheduled to arrive before the winter. Per 2K’s earnings reports, WWE 2K18 has been confirmed for release this fall.
The WWE have been in the video game business since 1989 when the company released WrestleMania for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since that time, the WWE have released a multitude of games with the latest video game being WWE 2K17.
THQ used to be responsible for the release of WWE video games, but the publishing rights were acquired by Take-Two Interactive following THQ’s file for bankruptcy. THQ is the company responsible for producing Grand Theft Auto, BioShock, the NBA 2K series, and several other games.
Pixelgun Studios, the company that scans wrestlers for WWE video games, released a 3D model of AJ Styles that was rumoured to be the updated version of the character for 2K18.
The heart of the matter
According to the Take-Two Interactive News Release, net revenue for the company grew 52% to $571.6 million, as compared to $377.2 million in last year’s fiscal fourth quarter.
The report claimed some of the biggest contributors to this boost in revenue were Grand Theft Auto V, NBA 2K17 and WWE 2K17. The news of WWE 2K17’s contribution to the boost in sales is interesting, considering the relatively low sales the game experienced in the first week.
In the first week of sales, WWE 2K17 sold approximately 490,000 units. In comparison to the past two years, WWE 2K17 sold about 40,000 fewer units than WWE 2K16 and about 85,000 units less than WWE 2K15.
Despite this initial setback, WWE 2K17 has sold 3 million units thus far.
What’s next?
With the release date for WWE 2K18 confirmed, fans will now speculate as to what features the company will include, to entice more fans to buy the game this fall.
Author’s Take
WWE 2K games typically are released around September or October, so this news seems to confirm the production of 2K18 is on track. Hopefully, the WWE includes the right wrestlers and features to ensure 2K18 is just as successful as its predecessors.
SummerSlam is the second biggest pay-per-view on the WWE calendar after WrestleMania. What should it do to match the latter?
We’re not far away from the biggest party of the summer
SummerSlam is indeed the biggest party of the summer, and as such many fans consider it to be WWE’s second biggest pay-per-view of the year. It’s a title that makes sense considering how far Survivor Series has fallen in the last few years, in addition to how the Royal Rumble is pretty much just an extension of Mania anyway.
Unfortunately, it’ll never be considered the top dog so long as the spectacle that is Mania is still around, but that doesn’t mean they can’t try and force the issue. WrestleMania will forever be known as the biggest show of the year, but what if certain aspects of SummerSlam was tweaked in order to give WrestleMania a run for its money?
It may not be within the realms of possibility from a financial standpoint, but having two events of this magnitude as opposed to one could be a great move in the long run. It would take some getting used to and you’d have to put a lot of faith in the die hard fans to buy both travel packages, but Vince has never been one to shy away when it comes to sticking his neck out on the line.
With that being said, here are five ways SummerSlam can compete with WrestleMania.
#1 Stadium
The Citrus Bowl was a solid Mania host
This one is fairly simple, but it’s perhaps the most effective – WWE needs to hold SummerSlam in a stadium. Why? Because it just look so, so much better and the atmosphere is immediately heightened. If you need a good example of this then you will have to go back and look at when the summer extravaganza was held at Wembley Stadium in 1992.
It was massive back then and it’d be massive again in the present day, and that’s just a fact. Just look at the Royal Rumble this year at the Alamodome – 50,000 people were packed inside that venue and as a result, things just felt ten times more epic.
Sure, it may not have been the greatest pay-per-view, but a stadium show would give SummerSlam a better chance at success.
#2 Week-long festival
Could SummerSlam Axxess work?
WrestleMania is a week-long spectacle, with events starting officially on the Friday and lasting all the way through until the following Tuesday (okay so it may not be a whole week, but the majority of fans will stay for seven days). SummerSlam have tested this out in the past, but they need to commit 100% to the idea.
A smaller version of Axxess would be a great way for fans to interact with the superstars, and when you look down the list of other potential events they’re almost there in this department. They’ve got Takeover, Raw, SmackDown Live and even a travel package dedicated to SummerSlam.
They’re so close to completing the set and ticking this entry off the list, which we’re very happy about.
#3 No anti-climax
SummerSlam does not have too many anti-climactic results
Mania serves as the storybook ending to WWE’s calendar year, like a season finale to a big television show. As such, the rest of the ‘season’ lasts about 364 days, which is a bit too long for people to maintain their interest levels. So, why not have a second season finale half way through the year in August?
It would be a lot better to have a definitive ending than an anti-climactic one, which is what we’ve experienced for the last three years on the trot.
With Brock busting Randy open, Taker cheating to beat the Beast and Brock squashing Cena, all three of those events have felt like continuations in a story as opposed to the end of one.
#4 Big entrances
Grander entrances make the event a bigger spectacle
One of the great things about the showcase of the immortals is the entrances. Regardless of whether you’re a mid card talent or a bonafide main eventer, the majority of people have special entrances that truly do make the whole occasion seem that much bigger.
So the same thing needs to happen at SummerSlam, and if the company really wanted to go all out, they could make them summer-themed events.
This may be considered as a bit much by some, but the grandeur of WWE is one of the main reasons why old school fans still tune into WrestleMania year in, year out.
#5 Legendary appearances
This is a good example, right?
Everyone hates the part-timers in WWE: that is until they get to experience their entrance live and then they lose all of the morals that they thought they once possessed. No matter how much we complain about them, there’s no getting away from the fact that appearances by legends make pay-per-views feel that much bigger.
They don’t need to pop up for long in order to keep most of the focus on the youngster stars, but SummerSlam is in desperate need of some star power.
We all know that it’ll continue to play second fiddle to Mania for as long as we all live, but things like this will narrow the gap substantially.
WWE Live Event Results: Ypsilanti, Michigan (05/22/2017)
How did Jinder Mahal fare in his first night as WWE Champio
Sami Zayn teamed with Randy Orton in the main event
Jinder Mahal headlined his first ever show was WWE Champion last night. The Maharaja entered Ypsilanti (Michigan) as champion after defeating Randy Orton at Backlash, and the two collided in tag team action in the main event of last night’s show.
Mahal partnered with Baron Corbin whilst Orton teamed with Corbon’s conqueror from the night before, Sami Zayn. Elsewhere on the card, there were a number of Backlash re-matches, and the United States and SmackDown Tag Tam Championships were also on the line.
Here are the full results from the show in Ypsilanti.
#1 Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler
The opening match of the show mirrored that of the night before, with the same setup and the same outcome. Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Dolph Ziggler with the Kinshasha, although by all accounts the two continue to have average matches. Dolph wrestled the entire match with his shirt on, although why that is relevant nobody truly knows.
Plenty of comedy here, although not quite as much as during The Fashion Police’s match with The Usos at Backlash, as Breezango looked to get back to winning ways against the least effective team in all of WWE.
They managed to do just that, with Fandango picking up the win for his team by rolling up Viktor for the 1-2-3.
Result: Breezango defeated The Ascension
#3a Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English
Another Backlash rematch saw Tye Dillinger and Aiden English battle once again, with the same result. Tye Dillinger was immensely over in Ypsilanti with plenty of ‘10’ chants, with Aiden getting his fair share of heat thanks to numerous ‘chicken’ chants.
Dillinger picked up the win after hitting the Tye Breaker, although Aiden English’s night wasn’t quite over.
Result: Tye Dillinger defeated Aiden English
#3b Aiden English vs. Mojo Rawley
English was understandably unhappy with yet another loss to Dillinger, and as a result, The Artiste demanded another opponent. Mojo Rawley answered the challenge and was able to defeat English in the blink of an eye, hitting The Vaudevillian with a running elbow in the corner.
Not a good night for Aiden English, to say the least.
Result: Mojo Rawley defeated Aiden English
#4 Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan
The Wyatt Family continued to implode as former partners Luke Harper and Erick Rowan faced each other again. The two were in the come-down spot at Backlash and put together a fine little match, with Harper getting the win.
The same formula was followed here with the same result, Harper pinning Rowan after hitting the Discus Clothesline.
Result: Luke Harper defeated Erick Rowan
#5 WWE United States Championship: Kevin Owens [c] vs. AJ Styles
KO and AJ finished off the first half of the show with another fine match for the United States Championship, albeit another fine match with a dirty finish in order to keep the belt on Owens.
Styles picked up the win via disqualification after Owens hit The Phenomenal One with a chair in front of the referee. AJ was able to get some retribution after the match, hitting Owens with the Styles Clash and leaving him lying in the centre of the ring.
Result: AJ Styles defeated Kevin Owens by disqualification
#6 SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch vs. Natalya, Carmella & James Ellsworth
The babyface trio gained revenge for their defeat at Backlash
Yes, you read that right – James Ellsworth took part in the six-woman tag team match last night. Ellsworth replaced Tamina in the match, but the babyfaces were able to pick up the victory after losing at Backlash.
SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi picked up the win, pinning Carmella after hitting the Princess of Staten Island with the Rear View.
Result: Naomi, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch defeated Natalya. Carmella & James Ellsworth
#7 WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships: The Usos [c] vs. American Alpha
The Usos followed up their defence of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Backlash by doing the same in Ypsilanti, albeit against different opponents. Jimmy & Jey took on former champions American Alpha in Michigan, and were able to defeat Gable & Jordan after the former Olympian found himself rolled up.
This would prove to be the only heel victory on the entire show.
Result: The Usos defeated American Alp
#8 Randy Orton & Sami Zayn vs. WWE Champion Jinder Mahal & Baron Corbin
’WWE Champion Jinder Mahal’. That might take a while to sink in. Jinder teamed up with the man that many believed would be the next first time champion in the company, the Lone Wolf, Baron Corbin, to take on former WWE Champion Randy Orton and Sami Zayn.
Jinder cut a promo before the match that got some serious heat, although this eventually morphed into chants for 3MB. The babyfaces picked up the win after Orton hit Corbin with an RKO. Jinder might have to get used to losing house show tag team matches for a little while.
Result: Randy Orton & Sami Zayn defeated Baron Corbin & Jinder Mahal
