2019 Prep

Some WWE superstars who won’t be in Saudi Arabia for Super Showdown are Daniel Bryan (who refused to attend Crown Jewel in November 2018 and deal with the political fallout of the assassination of a US reporter in that area), Kevin Owens (after his family asked him not to attend).

This is also at least a partial reason as to why Dolph Ziggler returned and is immediately being thrown into WWE Championship contention), Sami Zayn (Syrian heritage), and Aleister Black (religious nature of his tattoos). This will be a major blow for WWE and their Saudi Arabia shows if they will be without several top superstars for each one because they have a 10-year deal to do these shows.

Some superstars are reportedly not happy about the “wild card” rule being employed because they view it as an excuse that WWE can use to be lazy with booking, so that top stars can be featured on television as much as possible and WWE does not have to work quite as hard to constantly establish new stars and evolve as a business. Triple H should fully understand this point of view, given that back in his day he was part of a group known as Evolution (with Ric Flair, Batista, and Randy Orton).

Regardless of the reason, Dolph Ziggler is getting a title match at Super Showdown. He is doing a superb job of telling a good story with limited material and time to work. This will also give WWE fans a break from Kevin Owens vs. Kofi Kingston again. It will benefit WWE to orchestrate a different matchup at Super Showdown, given that Kevin Owens and Kofi Kingston are already scheduled for a follow-up match at Stomping Grounds, a new event, on June 23. This pay-per-view will have a somewhat underwhelming card, as quite a few events during this May – June – July time usually do, rather than exposing fans to first time ever matches and fostering excitement for the future, very similar to NXT. Matches could be done like Roman Reigns vs. Lars Sullivan or Seth Rollins vs. Ricochet. Instead, matches will be on the card like Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin and Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre.

·      AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin has been added to the card for Super Showdown.

·      Charlotte Flair may also end up eventually breaking her father’s record of 16 world title reigns (which is co-held by John Cena). Just something to keep an eye on.

·      The New Day probably won’t achieve the record of 10 tag team title reigns as Vince McMahon set the goal for them to do so about three years ago.

·      With Kofi Kingston as the current WWE Champion and the team only being at five reigns, it’s hard to see Vince not electing to see what these three superstars could do individually.

Two good comparisons of current superstars to past ones to provide context are Baron Corbin: JBL (John “Bradshaw” Layfield and Ricochet: Rob Van Dam. The reason I would compare Corbin to JBL is that he possesses that rugged look and also because I personally foresee his career taking a very similar trajectory. He has been on the main roster for three years and, while he has had moderate success, he has not proven to be the top draw that Vince McMahon envisioned him as. He may end up winning a world title or two, but it most likely will not be for at least several more years until he has proven himself within the company without any doubt.

Ricochet to Rob Van Dam is more obvious. Ricochet can do far more in the ring than any other current superstar and is at least 5 to ten years ahead of his time, and Rob Van Dam was exactly the same way 15 to 20 years ago. They have both also worked for other companies aside from just WWE. Ricochet worked for several other independent wrestling organizations, and I first was exposed to him when he was wrestling for Lucha Underground in Southern California. Rob Van Dam made his name primarily in ECW in the late 90s before signing with WWE.