PW Weekend Mega Report: WWE GRR Fallout, IMPACT News, NJPW Dontaku Hype, Next Week’s Schedule & More

The Saudi Arabian Fever Dream is Over

So the Greatest Royal Rumble came and went, and as expected the show was basically a glorified house show attended by 65,000 people, that the Saudi Arabian government paid WWE tens of millions of dollars to put on. Other than the crowning of new RAW Tag Team Champions, which were vacant, each of the other six championships that were defended stayed exactly where they were.

On the plus side, WWE now has enough money to pursue basically anything they could ever want to. If you’re really into Network documentaries and special events like the Cruiserweight Classic and the WWE United Kingdom tournament, think of the Greatest Royal Rumble as a really big paycheck you never have to think about again, that will make it a lot easier for the company to take risks on fun, unique ventures going forward.

The show wasn’t bad, but there was no urgency nor any reason to fully invest in most of the card. If you can get past the obvious propaganda pieces for how amazing and forward-thinking the city of Jeddah is, the top half of the show was actually quite good. The 50-man Rumble match was entertaining, had some good surprise returns and a lot of fun segments, building to a solid finale that made several names from both RAW and Smackdown look really good. The Undertaker’s casket match win against Rusev was a lot better than I expected it to be, and Lesnar/Reigns was… Well, at least it wasn’t as bad as WrestleMania.

Probably the most story-driven aspect of the show was AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura fighting to a double count-out, in one of the rare instances that that booking decision actually pays off. The decision to turn The Artist heel and truly commit to the idea has flipped a night-and-day switch, resurrecting the King of Swag Style that New Japan fans have been desperately missing for the last two years. It made a world of difference, as his GRR match with Styles was far more gripping than the first act at WrestleMania. Now with the double count-out and the champion’s post-match attack, I’m actually hyped for inevitable rematch.

Sami Zayn Kept Off GRR Due to Saudi/Syrian ConflictPossible Botch in Reigns/Lesnar Title MatchDaniel Bryan Talks Breaking a Royal Rumble RecordComplete List of Entrances & EliminationsTitus O’Neil Steals The Show in Hilarious BotchWWE Releases Statement on LGBT TreatmentBack in Backlash

We are just one week after from the annual WWE Backlash pay-per-view, entering its 14th incarnation and the first of the new co-branded era. In the past, one of the major downsides of featuring both RAW and Smackdown on every single show is that there’s limited time; with three hours, almost everything on the card will end up being a title match, which eventually makes the titles feel more redundant. One possible solution is to expand the monthly events to four hours, which makes sense given that RAW is three hours on its own, and the Big Four have all turned into giant 5-6 hour events.

Styles vs. Nakamura III was made official this weekend, and the Miz will get his one-on-one rematch for the Intercontinental Championship, which should be the last inter-brand match we see until Survivor Series. Daniel Bryan will have his first pay-per-view singles match in over three years when he faces Big Cass in a program that’s actually been far more interesting than I would ever expect it to be. We’ll also see Roman Reigns take on Samoa Joe, a repeat of the RAW Women’s Championship match from WrestleMania, and Charlotte Flair’s rematch for the Smackdown Women’s title.

With only one show from each brand to go before Backlash, expect some last-minute announcements from both sides. Jeff Hardy will likely defend the U.S. Championship, and we still haven’t heard anything about the RAW and Smackdown tag titles. It seems like they’re building to something between The Usos and Naomi, which could end up being some kind of six-person tag match if the Bludgeon Brothers can produce a partner, or perhaps an angle in which Naomi is injured to heighten the intensity between the two teams.

Click Here: Samon Rugby ShopThis Week’s Top News StoriesTenille Dashwood (Emma) Injured, Cancels MatchWWE Hall of Famer Returning to the Ring John Cena “Not Doing Well” After Nikki Bella BreakupRoman Reigns & Brock Lesnar Botch Steel Cage Finish?Triple H Addresses Controversy Surrounding WWE GRRAlexa Bliss Undergoes Minor Cosmetic SurgeryNew IMPACT World Champion Crowned at RedemptionHornswoggle Was Supposed to Work a Singles Match at WWE GRR?IMPACT Wrestling Star Released From ContractUndertaker Dines w/ Vince McMahon, Lesnar, Strowman & MoreResultsIMPACT Redemption Results (4/22)WWE RAW (4/23)WWE Smackdown Live (4/24)WWE 205 Live (4/24)WWE NXT (4/25)IMPACT Wrestling (4/26)WWE Greatest Royal Rumble (4/27)

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Monday, April 30th

NJPW Road to Dontaku | NJPW World | 5AM ETWWE RAW | USA Network | 8PM ET

Tuesday, May 1st

NJPW Road to Dontaku | NJPW World | 5:30AM ETWWE Smackdown Live | USA Network | 8PM ETWWE 205 Live | WWE Network | 10PM ET

Wednesday, May 2nd

WWE NXT | WWE Network | 8PM ET

Thursday, May 3rd

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku | NJPW World | 4AM ETIMPACT Wrestling | Pop TV |8PM ET

Friday, May 4th

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku | NJPW World | 4AM ET

Sunday, May 6th

WWE Backlash Kickoff Show | WWE Network | 7PM ETWWE Backlash | WWE Network | 8PM ET

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