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Brock, Samoa Joe match to be physical

By Bill Hughes for The 5 min read
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WWE returns to the WWE Network tonight for another PPV, and the show is headlined by Brock Lesnar defending the Universal championship against Samoa Joe.

During the buildup for the match, Joe has been booked tremendously and looks like a legit threat to Lesnar’s reign.

I anticipate Lesnar retaining, but you never know.

Braun Strowman faces Roman Reigns in an Ambulance Match and the winner will challenge the Universal champion next month at SummerSlam. Strawman had been penciled in to challenge Lesnar with Reigns facing Lesnar at WrestleMania, but WWE may have moved up Lesnar and Reigns to SummerSlam.

In other title matches, Cesaro and Sheamus defend the Raw tag titles against the Hardy’s in a 30-minute iron man match, Sasha Banks challenges Alexa Bliss for the Raw women’s title, The Miz defends the Intercontinental title against Dean Ambrose, and Neville defends the cruiserweight title against Akira Tozawa.

The other two matches announced so far include Enzo Amore facing Big Cass and Bray Wyatt taking on Seth Rollins.

Local cancer fundraiser show

A pro wrestling fund raiser show will take place Saturday night at The Stronghold which is at 1952 University Drive in Lemont Furnace with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society.

The event is titled “Stomp Out Cancer” and is being put on by brothers Matt and Kenny Tressler, with help from Jason Clements of RYSE.

“We are doing this because we lost our mom and grandma to cancer,” Matt Tressler said of the event which will have 10 to 12 matches and see anywhere from 30 to 45 wrestlers appear. “It’s great to see Pittsburgh wrestlers uniting for such a great cause.”

All seats are $20 for adults while kids (10 and younger) will get in for $10. Doors open at 6 p.m., the preshow kicks off at 6:30, and the event begins at 7:30.

More information can be found at www.stompoutcancerpgh.com.

Styles wins U.S. title at MSG

At WWE’s house show at Madison Square Garden Friday night, A. J. Styles defeated Kevin Owens for the U.S. title.

It is the first time that the title has changed hands at a house show since it was the WCW U.S. title when Lance Storm defeated Terry Funk for the belt on Sept. 23, 2000.

More next week on title changes at house shows.

Also notable on the MSG show was that Bayley, Cedrick Alexander, Shinsake Nakamura and Samoa Joe all made their debuts in the building. For almost 50 years now, it has been considered that you made it in the wrestling business if you wrestled a match in the Garden.

Aries gone from WWE

WWE announced Friday that it has released Austin Aries. Uber-talented, it is a shame that WWE did not do more with him.

Another GLOW review

Karim emailed in his impression of the GLOW show on Netflix.

“I have to admit, I sat down last Sunday with episode one and it engulfed me,” he said. “I ended up watching the entire season straight through.”

More Honkytonk feedback

Long-time reader Bob Rager of West Brownsville sent his feedback on the Honkytonk Man’s show on Thursday, June 29.

“I thought that Honkytonk Man was really funny,” he said. “I would tell anyone that has a chance to go see the show to definitely go.”

Raw in Pittsburgh

WWE returns to PPG Paints Arena on Monday, July 31. Plenty of seats remain and can be ordered at www.ticketmaster.com.

Have you ever wondered if you should go to a live WWE event?

This past Monday, Cal U grad Jim Grosik took his four-year old daughter Brylinn to her first WWE event in Phoenix as they live 15 minutes away.

“I recommend it for anyone with younger kids,” Grosik said. “It is kid-friendly, unlike when I was in school at Cal during the Attitude Era.

“My daughter loved the women and was scared of Braun.”

“It seemed that they were trying to fit in too much into three hours and it made for a long night, it was entertaining, but I felt bad for Bray who cut his promo in the desert as it was 114 degrees out here on Monday.”

Sting headed to Washington

Pro wrestling legend Sting will make an appearance at the Big Time Wrestling show at Wild Things Park in Washington on Friday, August 11. Scott Steiner and Billy Gunn will square off, and other wrestlers scheduled to appear include Sabu, Gangrel, Gillberg, and more.

For more information, go to btwtickets.com.

On this date

The Rock & Roll Express defeated Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev for the NWA tag titles in 1985 and in 2001, The APA defeated The Dudley Boyz to win the WWE tag titles.

This week’s question

When I was a little girl, WWE came to Laurel Highlands High School for a show. Will they ever come back to schools? Shawna, Uniontown.

If memory serves me correct, that show took place in 1994 or 1995 and at that time, WWE was struggling financially. A group brought them in for a fundraiser, and I don’t think WWE has done fundraiser shows for at least 20 years now.

While one should never say never, I doubt it will happen any time soon.

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