According to PWInsider, FloSports will officially be shutting down their FloSlam service. This decision comes in the midst of a bitter lawsuit against WWNLive wherein FloSports claims that the organization misled them on the number of iPPV buys the company was receiving on the streaming service, meaning that WWN was being drastically overpaid. The price for the monthly service, as well as the company’s failure to sign deals to bring content from major promotions such as Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling are said to have contributed to the company’s choice to shut down their attempts of appealing to pro wrestling fans.
Even though Brock Lesnar does not defend the Universal Championship quite as often as most would expect a top champion to, fans can usually expect Lesnar to defend the title at the ‘big 4’ pay-per-view events. Dave Meltzer claimed during Wrestling Observer Radio this week that Lesnar is not scheduled to compete at the Royal Rumble. He later clarified his remarks in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Lesnar’s role for the show is unknown at the moment, but he could still appear in a non-wrestling capacity or he could be wrestling a non-title match. Matches against Finn Balor, Braun Strowman, and Roman Reigns are said to be out of the question for the Royal Rumble.
This January, the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw will be taking place in the Barclays Center and the Manhattan Center in New York. The show is already said to be loaded with numerous guests and surprises, but Smackdown will celebrating a historic milestone of its own in 2018. According to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Smackdown will be premiering its 1,000th episode next year. The Observer points out that the date for the show will likely occur towards the fall: “based on the schedule, it looks like the 1,000th episode of Smackdown would be on October 16, 2018. So they are likely to make that one a major show.” Get ready to see Raw turn 25 and for Smackdown to reach an impressive 1,000 episodes next year.