The 2019 Super ShowDown was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American company WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live. It was the second annual Super ShowDown (restylized from "Super Show-Down" the prior year) and took place on Friday, June 7, 2019, at the King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was the third event that WWE held in Saudi Arabia under a 10-year partnership in support of Saudi Vision 2030 and the main card aired live at 9:00 p.m. Arabia Standard Time (2:00 p.m. Eastern Time).
Ten matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, The Undertaker defeated Goldberg in what was their first and only match against each other. Other prominent matches saw Shane McMahon defeat Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain SmackDown's WWE Championship, Randy Orton defeated Triple H, which was ultimately Triple H's final match to take place on a PPV and livestreaming event and in front of a live crowd before having to retire in 2022 due to a cardiac event, and in the opening bout, Seth Rollins defeated Baron Corbin to retain Raw's Universal Championship. The event was also notable for having WWE's largest standard battle royal with a total of 51 participants, though originally scheduled for 50. It was won by Mansoor, a WWE rookie from Saudi Arabia who signed with the company following 2018's Greatest Royal Rumble event and had appeared on NXT and NXT UK.
The event received generally negative reviews by critics, with the main event being particularly criticized as one of the worst wrestling matches of all time. It later won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award for Worst Major Wrestling Show of 2019. Like the prior two PPV and livestreaming events in Saudi Arabia, there were no women's matches on the card due to the limited rights women had in the country. WWE had attempted to add a women's match, but it was ultimately rejected by the Saudi Arabian government. This would be the last to not include any women's matches as the country began to allow it beginning with Crown Jewel in October.
Production Background
In early 2018, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE began a 10-year strategic multiplatform partnership with the General Sports Authority in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's social and economic reform program. After holding the Greatest Royal Rumble and Crown Jewel events in 2018, the third pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event under this partnership was announced as Super ShowDown. It was originally planned for early May, before Ramadan, but was pushed back to after Ramadan, with it scheduled to be held on Friday, June 7, 2019, at the King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah and featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands. In addition to the main card airing live at 9:00 p.m. Arabia Standard Time (2:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on traditional PPV worldwide, it was livestreamed on the WWE Network. This also marked the second annual Super ShowDown, the first of which was held in October 2018 in Australia. That original event had stylized the title as "Super Show-Down" while this second event changed the stylization and removed the dash.
Wrestlers absent from the event Similarly to the two previous WWE in Saudi Arabia events—Greatest Royal Rumble and Crown Jewel (both the previous year)—several WWE wrestlers were not authorized or refused to participate at Super ShowDown due to it taking place in Saudi Arabia.
John Cena and Daniel Bryan, both of whom had previously refused to participate for the Crown Jewel event in the wake of the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, also refused to participate at Super ShowDown. Bryan's reasons to refuse to appear at Crown Jewel had also reportedly included the treatment of LGBT people by the country and because of Sami Zayn's ban from the Greatest Royal Rumble event.
WWE chose not to put Aleister Black on the show, reportedly because of fears that the religious symbolism on some of his tattoos would be offensive to their Saudi hosts.
Sami Zayn, who had previously not been authorized to compete at the Greatest Royal Rumble due to being of Syrian descent, as Saudi Arabia has strained relations with Syria, also declined participating at Super ShowDown. Kevin Owens also refused to participate at Super ShowDown in support of Zayn, his friend. Owens was reportedly slated to face Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship, leading WWE to schedule Dolph Ziggler, who had been inactive since January to focus on his stand-up comedy career, to replace him.
Due to the limited rights women had in Saudi Arabia, all WWE female wrestlers were banned from participating in WWE events in the country. Just hours before Super ShowDown, however, reports emerged that WWE were attempting to add a women's match to the card, which would have seen Alexa Bliss face Natalya. The two women joined WWE personnel for the trip, but the match was ultimately rejected by the Saudi Arabian government.
Storylines The event comprised ten matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.
On May 13, 2019, a match between Goldberg and The Undertaker was scheduled for Super ShowDown, marking the first one-on-one match between each other. Goldberg's last match occurred at WrestleMania 33 in April 2017.
A match between Triple H and Randy Orton was also scheduled on May 13. A promo aired during the May 21 episode of SmackDown, recapping the two's various rivalries that originally began in 2004 when Orton won the now retired World Heavyweight Championship, resulting in Triple H turning on him and kicking him out of their stable, Evolution.
Also on May 13, a 50-man battle royal was scheduled, marking the largest standard battle royal in WWE history.
A match between Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley was scheduled on May 18. On the June 3 episode of Raw, Strowman and Lashley competed in an arm wrestling match which Strowman won, afterwards, Lashley attacked Strowman with a Running Powerslam.
On the April 15 episode of Raw, Andrade defeated Intercontinental Champion Finn Bálor in a non-title match. Bálor was subsequently moved to SmackDown the following night during the Superstar Shake-up. Andrade, along with his manager Zelina Vega, were then moved back to SmackDown the following week, and both Bálor and Andrade took part in the men's Money in the Bank ladder match at the namesake event, where both fought each other, though ultimately lost the match. Earlier that day, Bálor was scheduled to defend the Intercontinental Championship against Andrade at Super ShowDown.
On the April 16 episode of SmackDown, after WWE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon had introduced Elias as "the biggest acquisition in SmackDown history", they were interrupted by fellow new draftee Roman Reigns, who attacked Elias and performed a superman punch on Mr. McMahon. The following week, Shane McMahon challenged Reigns to a fight for attacking his father. As Reigns came out, he was attacked from behind by Elias, who was then assisted by Shane in attacking Reigns. On the May 20 episode of Raw, Reigns, who appeared via the wild card rule, was interrupted by Shane, who was still bothered by Reigns' attack on his father. Reigns then challenged Shane to a match which Shane accepted for Super ShowDown.
On the May 21 episode of SmackDown, Raw's Dolph Ziggler, who had been inactive since the Royal Rumble event in January, made a surprise return and attacked Kofi Kingston. Ziggler, appearing via the wild card rule, later explained that it should have been him who got the opportunity to go to WrestleMania 35 and win the WWE Championship instead of Kingston. He then stated he would defeat Kingston for the title at Super ShowDown, which was made official.
At Money in the Bank, Seth Rollins retained the Universal Championship against AJ Styles. On Raw the next night, Baron Corbin took offense that Styles earned that title shot even though Corbin had previously pinned Rollins in a tag team match. The following week, Styles was scheduled to take part in a four-way match for another opportunity against Rollins at Super ShowDown, but was still ailing from injuries sustained from his match at Money in the Bank, and was replaced by Corbin, who attacked Styles while the latter was in a trainer's room. Corbin then defeated Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley, and The Miz in a fatal four-way elimination match to earn the title match.
At Money in the Bank, as Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik, and Lince Dorado) came out for a match, they were randomly attacked by Lars Sullivan and the match never occurred. The following night on Raw, as Sullivan was about to be interviewed in regard to the incident, Lucha House Party interrupted and attacked Sullivan, who fended them off. A 3-on-1 handicap match pitting Sullivan against Lucha House Party was then scheduled for Super ShowDown.
After being drafted to Raw in the Superstar Shake-up, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) began a rivalry with The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) where The Usos repeatedly embarrassed Revival on numerous occasions. The two teams faced off on the May 20 episode of Raw, where The Revival were victorious. Another match was then scheduled for the Super ShowDown Kickoff pre-show.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael ColeCorey GravesRenee YoungArabic commentatorsFaisal AlmughaisibSultan AlharbiJude AldajaniRing announcerGreg HamiltonRefereesJason AyersShawn BennettMike ChiodaJohn ConeDan EnglerCharles RobinsonInterviewerByron SaxtonPre-show panelCharly CarusoDavid OtungaBeth Phoenix
Pre-show During the Super ShowDown Kickoff pre-show, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) faced The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder). In the end, Jimmy and Jey performed a Superkick on Dawson and Wilder, respectively, followed by a double Superkick on Dawson to win the match.
Preliminary matches The actual pay-per-view opened with Seth Rollins defending the Universal Championship against Baron Corbin. Corbin focused on Rollins' injured ribs for the majority of the match. During the match, Corbin continuously argued with referee John Cone whenever Rollins kicked out of a pin. The end came when Corbin attempted to use a chair, only for Cone to intervene, leading to another argument between Corbin and Cone. Rollins took advantage of the situation and rolled-up Corbin to retain the title. After the match, Corbin attacked Rollins with the End of Days. A chair wielding Brock Lesnar then came out, alongside Paul Heyman, to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on Rollins. As Heyman was getting in the ring to hand the contract to the referee, Heyman tripped on the ring rope, which distracted Lesnar. Rollins performed a low blow on Lesnar, attacked him with the steel chair, and performed The Stomp on him on top of the briefcase. Due to Heyman's accident, the contract was never cashed in, thus Lesnar kept the contract.
Next, "The Demon" Finn Bálor defended the Intercontinental Championship against Andrade. In the end, Bálor performed the 1916 on Andrade off the top rope followed by the Coup de Grâce to retain the title.