X-Pac 1, 2, 360 Recap w/ Alex Riley – WWE Release, Pursuing A Career in Acting, Will He Wrestle Again? More!

X-Pac opens today’s show speaking about Shane McMahon’s forced helicopter landing from last week. He says that it didn’t surprise him for a second that Shane came out of that incident uninjured, and it was amazing to see how calm Shane was when he was being interviewed after the fact.

Speaking about last Monday night’s revelation that Jason Jordan is Kurt Angle’s son, X-Pac says for a minute he thought the whole thing might have been a shoot. He says that Angle is known to have had relationships with African American women in the past, and the age gap definitely works out.

X-Pac welcomes Kevin Kiley Jr. (Alex Riley) to the show.

Riley says that he was always a big fan of X-Pac from his time in WWE during the attitude era, and X-Pac always came off as a very real character who had a natural confidence in himself. X-Pac thanks him and says that he was never one to cut a masterful promo, but he was able to make his character work in different ways.

Riley informs that after he parted ways with WWE he immediately wanted to pursue acting. He says that his short stint at broadcasting in NXT was fun, but at the end of the day he wanted to venture out on his own. He was lucky to garner some interest in Hollywood right away and he soon landed a role in the Netflix series GLOW.

Big Match & Segment Announced for Next Week’s RAW

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Roman Reigns Reacts to Dead Crowd at WWE Battleground

As seen at Sunday’s WWE Battleground event, the crowd was noticeably quiet for a majority of the evening with. Someone would argue it would have a lot to do with the show being one of the worst pay-per-view events of 2017 and even some are saying in recent WWE history.

Roman Reigns took to his Twitter account to react to the crowd reactions the event received. He sent out the following tweet:

Jinder Mahal Teases Match Against John Cena

After his victory against Randy Orton at Sunday’s WWE Battleground event, WWE Champion Jinder Mahal spoke with Indian Express and teased a possible match against John Cena.

“I put the ‘vipers’ legacy to rest. I beat a fourteen time World Champion three times in a row. Whose legacy am I going to put to rest – maybe John Cena. He has a legacy of his own, I would like love nothing more than to use his legacy as a stepping stone and cement my own legacy.”

It’s been rumored for a while now that they may actually compete against each other over of the WWE Championship at this year’s SummerSlam. It should be known what direction they are going with the WWE Championship title at SummerSlam after this week’s SmackDown Live episode.

Favorites to Win at Tonight’s WWE Battleground Event

There have been several shifts in the betting odds for tonight’s WWE Battleground event. “Smart Money” bets still have not been made, but here are the odds right now:

(Note: The lower the number, the more favorable they are of winning the match)

WWE Championship – Punjabi Prison Match
JJinder Mahal(c) -260 (favorite) vs. Randy Orton +180

WWE United States Championship
AJ Styles(c) -210 (favorite) vs. Kevin Owens +160

Smackdown Tag Team Championship
The Usos(c) -215 (favorites) vs. The New Day +165

Flag Match
John Cena -1125 (favorite) vs. Rusev +575

Fatal 5 Way for the Smackdown Women’s Championship #1 Contendership

Charlotte +195 vs. Lana +3000 vs. Becky Lynch +2100 vs. Tamina +4500 vs. Natalya -215

Shinsuke Nakamura -270 (favorite) vs. Baron Corbin +190

Sami Zayn +135 vs. Mike Kanellis -175 (favorite)

Aiden English +330 vs. Tye Dillenger -490 (favorite)

Check back here at 7PM ET for our live play-by-play coverage of the event.

Sasha Banks Says She Could Beat Ronda Rousey

While speaking to Ringside Collectibles, Sasha Banks was asked about possibly facing Ronda Rousey and mentioned that she believes that she could beat her in a wrestling match.

“She would go down! We’re talking about a wrestling match, right? Not MMA, because I would go down. Wrestling? No, that’s my ring honey bunny and you can’t step in my ring, okay? I’m the ‘Legit Boss’ of the WWE and you are? [Puts hand to her ear] Oh, that’s what I thought, sorry.”

When asked about who her dream match would be against at WrestleMania, she mentioned Bayley as the perfect opponent for her on the the grandest stage of them all.

“I’d choose Bayley one-on-one, but I would love to have the Four Horsewomen [in a] Fatal 4-Way [Match] at WrestleMania. I think that would be amazing.”

You can check out the full interview embedded below:

Former WWE Superstar Returning at Tonight’s WWE Battleground Event?

There is a rumor going around that former WWE Superstar The Great Khali is backstage in Philadelphia for tonight’s WWE Battleground event.

While Khali has not been confirmed to appear on camera tonight, it’s been speculated that he may appear in the main event match of Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship given his connection with the Punjabi Prison match. One of our readers also sent word that Khali posted photos of himself at the airport and on an airplane earlier this morning.

Khali last appeared for WWE on the October 31st, 2014 episode of SmackDown in a losing effort to Rusev. Khali left the company once his contract expired on November 13th, 2014th.

You can check out our full on-going coverage of tonight’s show at this link and also you can join us for our LIVE fan discussion on Ringsidetalk.net!

Last Minute Shift In Betting Odds for Tonight’s WWE Battleground Event

Below are the final betting odds for tonight’s WWE Battleground event. It should be noted that there were several changes in odds from our post earlier today.

(Note: The lower the number, the more favorable they are of winning the match)

WWE Championship – Punjabi Prison Match
Jinder Mahal(c) -7500 vs Randy Orton +2500

WWE United States Championship
AJ Styles(c) -4950 vs Kevin Owens +1650

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The New Day -5700 vs The Usos(c) +1900

Flag Match
John Cena -350 vs Rusev +250

Fatal 5 Way for the Smackdown Women’s Championship #1 Contendership
Natalya -1700 vs Charlotte +1100 vs Becky Lynch +5000 vs Lana +6500 vs Tamina +9500

Shinsuke Nakamura -2450 vs Baron Corbin +1150

Sami Zayn -3250 vs Mike Kanellis +1350

First Match Set for WWE SummerSlam

Natalya defeated Lana, Becky Lynch, Tamina and Charlotte in a Fatal 5-Way match at tonight’s WWE Battleground event to earn a shot at the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the upcoming WWE Summerslam event.

No other matches have been officially set for the event.

WWE SummerSlam will take place on August 20, 2017, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. As always, we will have live coverage of the event.

Major Spoiler for Tonight’s WWE Battleground Event

Apparently there has been a huge shift in the betting odds for tonight’s WWE Battleground 5-Way Elimination match featuring Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Tamina, Natalya and Lana.

While Charlotte has been the majority favorite to win the bout, there was a huge shift late last night that now puts Natalya in the lead to be victorious in the match tonight. Dave Meltzer discussed the shift on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio and mentioned that at one point the match was removed off the boards because all kinds of money was coming in all at once on Natalya. The odds have since then been adjusted with Natalya being the favorite.

If Natalya wins, she will be facing Naomi at SummerSlam for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.