WWE Wrestlepalooza takes place tonight (Sept. 20) from from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
It begins at 5 pm ET with the Countdown show leading right on into the main course at 7 pm ET on ESPN in the U.S. or Netflix everywhere else.
John Cena might actually get squashed on ESPN
Wrestlepalooza is one of WWE’s most important events of the year, as it marks the launch of the promotion’s monthly PLEs on ESPN’s platform. That’s why WWE booked huge return matches on the show for Brock Lesnar and AJ Lee.
In the case of Lesnar, it’s
been over two years since his last match in WWE. The company wouldn’t touch him after disturbing stories about Brock were included in Janel Grant’s sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE. But the door was never shut on Lesnar’s return, and now The Beast is back in WWE as part of John Cena’s retirement tour.
Lesnar made his surprise return last month at SummerSlam and laid out Cena with an F5. He has attacked Cena again since then, as well as R-Truth and Corey Graves. Brock has not explained why he is targeting John. All we really know is that he plans to obliterate Cena tonight and send him into retirement a few months earlier than planned.
John has admitted that he’s scared of Brock. He remembers what happened at SummerSlam 2014 when Lesnar made Suplex City famous by repeatedly dumping John on his head with suplex after suplex from start to finish. It’s one of the most lopsided losses of Cena’s legendary WWE career, and Michael Cole is concerned that we may witness the same kind of one-sided ass-kicking tonight at Wrestlepalooza.
One interesting detail that may influence the booking of this match is that Cena’s next date with WWE after tonight is October 11 at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia Australia. That means there will be no Raw or SmackDown appearances for John to build up to his next match, assuming he is wrestling in Australia. If Cena takes another trip to Suplex City tonight and is completely taken apart by Brock, that could certainly be a good reason for why he’s in no shape to appear on TV for the next few weeks.
Even so, betting odds currently favor John to win tonight, so maybe SuperCena will show up once again to kick off the show with a nostalgic dose of CenaWinsLOL.
That’s right, Cena vs. Lesnar is the opening match of Wrestlepalooza. So if you don’t want to miss a second of the action, make sure you are signed into the ESPN App by 7 pm ET. Unless of course you have a problem with giving the Walt Disney Company your money right now, given their shameful cowardice in caving to the Trump administration’s blatant attack on the freedom of speech in the USA.
The rest of the card
Here are the remaining four segments that are currently advertised for Wrestlepalooza:
AJ Lee & CM Punk vs. Becky Lynch & Seth Rollins
World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is a coward who is reluctant to go face-to-face with CM Punk. As a result, he sent his wife Becky Lynch to get in Punk’s face and slap him around. Punk won’t put his hands on a woman, but thankfully he’s married to AJ Lee. WWE fans lost their minds when AJ returned to kick Becky’s ass after more than 10 years away from the ring. Now they’ll fight it out in a mixed tag team match to see which husband-wife team is the best in WWE. And if AJ happens to pin Becky, that might just put her next in line for a shot at the women’s Intercontinental championship.
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship
Cody Rhodes’s second reign as WWE champion is already approaching 50 days in length, yet this is his first title defense. In kayfabe, that’s largely because Drew McIntyre Claymored his head through a table and put him out of action for the last month. Cody is back now and ready to whoop Drew’s ass with some Sonic Booms. McIntyre is convinced that he’s the better man. Does he really plan to beat Cody in a fair fight, or does he have a scheme in mind for winning the belt at any cost? Will Randy Orton finally turn heel on Rhodes for a big show-closing angle?
IYO SKY vs. Stephanie Vaquer for the vacant women’s world championship
The women’s world title was vacated after Naomi’s pregnancy announcement. IYO and Vaquer are the two women who were owed title matches at the time, so they’ll instead face each other tonight to see who the next champion is. There’s a lot of drama following IYO right now; she keeps telling Asuka that she wants to win this match by herself, but Asuka doesn’t want to hear it. It looks like we’re heading towards a breakup between them, which could play a role in the finish of this match.
The Usos vs. Bronson Reed & Bron Breakker
Jey Uso and LA Knight have been dealing with the numbers game of The Vision for a while, but they don’t get along with each other. That’s okay, because Jimmy Uso showed up on Raw to have his brother’s back, so now they will reunite for a tag match against The Brons tonight. Jey and Jimmy are being hyped up as the greatest tag team in WWE history. However, Jey recently took some advice to heart from Roman Reigns and is now channeling his inner Tribal Chief, which doesn’t sit well with Jimmy. Will Jey’s attitude change lead to their success or failure at Wrestlepalooza?
Summary
WWE has a stacked but concise lineup of matches at Wrestlepalooza that should prove to be a very successful launch of their PLEs on ESPN’s new streaming service. The star power on this card is undeniable with big names like John Cena, Brock Lesnar, AJ Lee, Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, CM Punk, and more. WWE isn’t screwing around here, and it sounds like there will also be surprises in store to keep fans talking about the show well after it’s over.
What will you be looking for at Wrestlepalooza?
