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No NXT this week as a recap show is aired. NXT Season 2 begins the first Tuesday of July so as to allow the participants the benefit of the end-of-month stat upgrades. In the meantime, this'll do:
WWE.COM – FORMAT FOR WWE WORLD CUP
Last night on Monday Night Raw, new Raw General Manager Shawn Michaels announced the introduction of a new concept – the WWE World Cup. Drawn from the ongoing FIFA World Cup, the WWE World Cup involves both brands as well as recently executed ideas that have been praised by fans (tournaments, chaotic fatal four ways, and keeping track of win-loss records as is done in NXT) all rolled into one.
After an in-depth interview with Shawn Michaels and Theodore Long, we here at WWE.com are happy to report that we’ve learned the rules of the WWE World Cup:
1. 16 superstars from Raw and 16 superstars from SmackDown have been selected. The 16 Raw superstars have been randomly drawn into groups of 4, same with the SmackDown superstars.
2. Throughout a six week span (June 28th-August 6th), the participants will compete in a round robin series of matches against the other members of their group. The two superstars with the best win-loss record in each group after this time period advance to the second stage of the Cup.
3. On the August 9th edition of Raw and August 13th edition of SmackDown, the second stage will be conducted. The surviving participants from Groups A/B and C/D on each show will compete in Fatal Four Way matchups. The four winners will advance to stage three of the Cup.
4. At Summerslam on August 15th, the two advancing participants from Raw and the two advancing participants from SmackDown will compete in two singles matches early in the evening. The two winners advance to the fourth and final stage of the Cup.
5. The two winners meet one-on-one, with the winner of that match being declared the winner of the first-ever WWE World Cup. In addition, the winner will be declared the first ever WWE Television Champion, and will earn the right to appear on both shows and be required to defend the gold on each Raw, SmackDown, and PPV telecast until they are no longer champion.
As if this wasn’t exciting enough, we have acquired an exclusive sneak peak of the randomly drawn groupings. The WWE World Cup is sure to change the scope of WWE as we know it! You don’t want to miss it!
Raw Group A
Chris Jericho
Goldust
Wade Barrett
Yoshi Tatsu
Raw Group B
Evan Bourne
John Morrison
Tyson Kidd
Zack Ryder
Raw Group C
Justin Gabriel
R-Truth
Santino Marella
The Miz
Raw Group D
David Hart Smith
Ted DiBiase
The Great Khali
William Regal
SmackDown Group A
Drew McIntyre
Matt Hardy
Rey Mysterio
Vance Archer
SmackDown Group B
CM Punk
Curt Hawkins
JTG
Kofi Kingston
SmackDown Group C
Chavo Guerrero
Christian
MVP
Shad Gaspard
SmackDown Group D
Bryan Danielson
Cody Rhodes
Dolph Ziggler
Finlay
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