Welcome to the Daily Drop for Friday, April 19, 2024. Tonight on TV we have WWE SmackDown and AEW Rampage, which will serve as one of the final stops on the road to Sunday’s AEW Dynasty pay-per-view.
There was a lot of news coming out of this week’s ‘World Congress of Sports’ convention from Los Angeles, including Paul Levesque and Nick Khan talking about WWE changing up its approach to WrestleMania locations and dates. We can also look forward to seeing more International premium live events, but not the ‘Big 5.’
Don’t miss SEScoops correspondent Scott Fishman’s write-up of his first visit to the ECW Arena in Philadelphia over WrestleMania 40 weekend. He survived and had a pretty great time visiting the home of ‘extreme’ Here we go:
AEW:
Tonight on Rampage:
- Jamie Hayter & Dr. Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho & Toni Storm
- TNT Championship Match: Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Wardlow
- Jay White vs. Komander
- The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn vs. Matt Menard, Angelo Parker & Jake Hager
- Plus, Chris Jericho confronts Adam Cole and we’ll hear from The Elite and FTR.
Schamberger All Elite? Former WWE ‘artist in residence’ Rob Schamberger appears to be collaborating with AEW.
Parting Thoughts: Matt Hardy believes AEW’s backstage controversies have damaged the brand and driven away fans. He recently finished up with the company and had been there since 2020.
WWE:
Tonight on SmackDown:
- AJ Styles vs. LA Knight to determine the #1 contender to Cody Rhodes’ WWE Championship
- Naomi challenges Bayley for the Women’s Championshi
- SmackDown Tag Team Title #1 Contender’s Match: The Street Profits vs. Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate vs. Angel & Humberto vs. The Authors of Pain
Cody Rhodes vs. The Rock: On WWE Raw the night after WrestleMania 40, The Rock congratulated Cody Rhodes on finishing his story and assured the new champ they will square off in the ring one day. The ‘American Nightmare’ appeared on Good Morning Britain on Thursday to promote this week’s UK live events tour. He fully expects ‘Final Boss’ to back up his words and has an interesting reason for why.
Fella Fires Back: Sheamus was a recent victim of ‘body shaming’ from online trolls, but responded to one of the trash talkers directly on social media. ** Not that he has to explain his physical appearance to random people on the Internet, but Sheamus said he was expecting to have several more weeks to get in shape before returning to television.
Bloodline Reunion? Jey Uso said on The Bump that he hopes he can one day reunite with Solo Sikoa, Roman Reigns and his brother.
“All in all though, I would like for us to come back together, but as a healed up family. We fighting right now. All families fight, but I want us to come back as the good guys one time and see how works. But if it wasn’t for The Bloodline, I really wouldn’t be Main Event or sitting here with YEET shirts. I had to go through that whole process to help me grow, and I feel like the people watched my story unfold.”
Upcoming PPV’s and PLE’s:
- Saturday, April 21: AEW Dynasty (PPV)
- Saturday, May 4: WWE Backlash France (PLE)
- Sunday, May 26: NXT Battleground (PLE)