WWE announced earlier this week that they would be bringing back the Mixed Match Challenge for a second season later on this month on Facebook Watch. All of the teams for the show have been confirmed already, and fans are know speculating which team could end up winning the tournament and earning $100,000 for a charity of their choosing. While details on the tournament and certain matches remain uncertain at this time, the company has just announced two of the matches that will be taking place once the Mixed Match Challenge officially starts. The first match will see Natalya & Kevin Owens take on Alexa Bliss & Braun Strowman, then…

According to The Wrap, 21st Century FOX VP & CFO John Nallen recently spoke about the new WWE SmackDown deal at The Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. Nallen called SmackDown on FOX a “really unique opportunity” for the network, as seen below: “It’s a 50 to 52-week-a-year sport with no repeats. It’s a new novella every week,” said Nallen, comparing it to the other sports that air on FOX, including college football, The NFL and MLB. “For us to have that kind of appointment programming, that audience, every week of the year, is a really unique opportunity for us.” Disney is expected to close a deal to acquire most of 21st…

Olympic Ratings Suffer The ratings being way down this year for the Olympics is already a huge story. Friday night’s opening ceremonies did a 16.5 rating, down from a 23.0 in London. The difference is that this year almost everything is airing live while in London, almost everything was taped. There were theories how this year’s numbers would be way up because of it and the result was the opposite.  The real reason is that there are fewer must-see stars that were promoted. Some day that will be figured out. All the people who complain about taped Olympics for the last decade don’t understand that most people watch for entertainment and don’t care about…

It looks like Lucha Underground has scratched a familiar name to wrestling fans off of their active roster. The Sports Daily is reporting that former WWE Referee and their own Senior Referee, Marty Elias, has parted ways with the company.   According to the report, Elias requested his release and it was ultimately granted by Lucha Underground Officials. Elias has already confirmed the news as he updated his Twitter page to list himself as an “ex-referee for both Lucha Underground and WWE.”

Kane defeated Ricky Starks Ricky Starks is scared. He tells Kane he doesn’t want to fight and tries to exit the ring. Kane grabs him and punches him. He throws him into the corner and runs in for the clothesline. Starks moves out of the way and punches Kane. He regrets doing that when Kane kicks him in the head. Kane smashes Starks’ face into the turnbuckle. He kicks him to the ground and stomps him. Then, Kane whips Starks into the other corner and hits a sideslam. Kane whips him and goes for the back body drop, but Starks kicks Kane in the face. Kane throws Starks out of the ring. Starks…

Final ratings are in for Saturday night’s UFC on Fox show from Vancouver and for the first time, the final number actually came in lower than the overnight number at 1,983,000 viewers. There are a couple of reasons for this, discussed in part by Dave Meltzer on Sunday’s Wrestling Observer Radio show. First, the main event ended at 10 PM EST on the nose, meaning there wasn’t the typical audience growth that usually grows with a longer main event that goes past the top of the hour. Second, and perhaps more relevant, the originally reported overnight number was for the network as a whole. Because some markets aired preseason NFL football in lieu of UFC,…

Dolph Ziggler defeated Aiden English A match too big for Raw or SmackDown, too important for PPV. It could only take place in the opener of this episode of Main Event. Dolph Ziggler comes to the ring looking like he just rolled out of bed. He definitely wants to gain some momentum heading into Sunday’s Intercontinental Championship match against The Miz. The Vaudevillains make their way to the ring in black and white. David Otunga is very excited for Backlash. The match begins with some mat wrestling. The crowd breaks out into a Ziggler chant. English stands on Ziggler’s arm and proceeds to do squats while yelling, “This is what a man does.” Ziggler dropkicks…

American Alpha returned to television on Tuesday night’s edition of SmackDown, but it will be The Usos challenging for Heath Slater and Rhyno’s tag titles at No Mercy. The Usos defeated Jason Jordan and Chad Gable in a number one contender’s match to earn a shot at the titles. After they injured Gable’s knee in storyline to keep American Alpha out of the tag team tournament finals at Backlash, The Usos once again targeted Gable’s injured body part on SmackDown. Gable was able to dive in and break up a pin at one point, but his knee gave out when Jordan looked to make a tag. Jordan instead refused to tag Gable in…

Belgium’s famed chip stalls, or “friteries”, are facing a  shortage of potatoes after weeks of blazing temperatures fried them in the fields. The heatwave and drought have left about a third of the early potato crop shrivelled and unfit to make frites, Belgium’s beloved national dish. Despite showers this week, the crucial September and October harvests could be even smaller without more sustained rainfall soon.  Extreme temperatures and dry weather reduce the yield and size of potatoes, and make their skins rougher. If they are too tough, they cannot be processed by chip manufacturers’ peeling machines. Prices of the bintje potato, the variety preferred by makers of frites, or frieten,…

With No Mercy just days away, SmackDown presents its final show before the brand’s second exclusive pay-per-view this Sunday. No Mercy will be headlined by AJ Styles defending his WWE World Championship against John Cena and Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match. And in advance of that match, the three competitors will come face-to-face tonight in advance of their title match. The show will also see more build for the brand’s other title matches at No Mercy. It was announced on last week’s show that Dolph Ziggler would challenge The Miz for his Intercontinental Championship, and if Ziggler loses he will be forced to retire. Becky Lynch will defend her…