WWE’s SummerSlam took place over the weekend at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium with hip-hop star Cardi B hosting the Saturday portion of the two-night extravaganza. Though some fans and pundits speculated that the rapper may take the ring to duke it out with WWE Women’s World Champion Naomi — they had sparred on social media leading up to the event — Cardi kept her duties to the mic, sitting ringside for the rest of the evening and giving comedian Druski a playful jab in the torso.
Cardi, whose single “Outside” served as the official theme for SummerSlam, opened the event by walking to the ring and previewing a new record, presumably from her upcoming sophomore album “Am I the Drama?” “We’re coming to you live from the Tri-State!” she screamed to the fans in attendance and those watching at home. “We’re making history tonight because this is the first-ever two-day SummerSlam… We’re going to be talking about this forever!”
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Backstage before the event officially started, Cardi could be seen getting some advice from head honcho WWE CCO Triple H. Country singer Breland opened the evening with a rendition of “God Bless America,” and later, Jelly Roll wrestled in his first-ever match in a tag-team with Randy Orton, inevitably getting pinned by Logan Paul.
“If you’ve got the guts and think you can do it and do it well like Jelly Roll, live your dreams,” Bret “Hitman” Hart told Variety at Chase Freedom’s “Summer Bash,” held at New York’s Gramercy Theater on Thursday.
Drama had fueled the run-up to SummerSlam as Cardi had been engaged in a back-and-forth with Naomi on X, threatening to shave the title holder bald and use her hair for a wig. Naomi fired back, telling Us Weekly that it could potentially reach a boiling point at the event. “She better hope she don’t run into me at MetLife,” she said a few days ago. “She’s been talking real crazy and reckless and I don’t like that.”
Cardi backtracked some of her tough talk on social media after seeing some of the female roster in the locker room in person. “I’ve been talking a lot of smack to the WWE girls on Twitter for two weeks,” she said. “You know the the bitches is kinda big. I changed my mind.”
Cardi’s appearance comes in the wake of Travis Scott’s numerous cameos at WWE events, denoting an increasing hip-hop presence in the wrestling world. “I think it’s cool to [have celebrities on WWE programming], keep bringing eyeballs to the product,” WWE Intercontinental Champion “Dirty” Dom Mysterio says. Hart agrees: “I actually like it,” he says.
WWE veteran Ron “The Truth” Killings echoed their sentiments. “All the celebrities and the rappers, when you see them out there [at our shows], they’re really wrestling fans,” he says. “Famous rappers‘ kids request my action figures, they request my peers’ action figures. That relationship between hip-hop and wrestling has been around for a while… Hip-hop is another ingredient that’s been added to this wrestling machine we’ve been watching for years. The rappers [that come out] are all big fans. And to be a part of it is not only a strategic and a business move. When artists come to these shows, they’re blown away it makes them feel like kids again. They really relive their childhoods. If they’ve never watched, they’re bitten by the bug.”
Mysterio’s girlfriend, Liv Morgan, told Variety in April that she was looking forward to potentially mixing it up with Cardi in a fight or tag-teaming with her at SummerSlam. “There’s always been a link to hip-hop and WWE,” she said. “It’s cool to have that opportunity for everyone to have more eyes on the artist. More eyes on us at WWE.”
“I never met Cardi, so I don’t want don’t to speak ill of her,” Dom, in character, says of the potential dust up between the two ladies. “But Cardi always does give props to pops Eddie [Guerrero], props to her.”
Jade Cargil, a WWE Queenpin who’s shown love for Cardi in the past, competed for the Women’s Championship against Tiffany Stratton during SummerSlam on Saturday. Cardi stood up and cheered for Cargil during her ring entrance. Cargil applauded her company’s choice to have Cardi as host.
“Why not?” she says. “She lives with no regard. She’s wild and reckless and that’s what we’re all about. It’s about pushing the limit. Going out there and just showing up and showing out.”
Other highlights from SummerSlam include Seth Rollins making a surprise return from supposedly long-term “injury” to win the World Heavyweight Championship, and Brock Lesnar making a more shocking return after a two-year hiatus to beat down John Cena. Cena had just lost his Championship and symbolically passed the torch to Cody Rhodes in the SummerSlam’s second night main event.
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