WWE’s MSG line-up updated, Big Cass pulled from Joe match tonight, Hardy vs. Bryan on Smackdown, Total Bellas viewership down

-Big Cass has been pulled from his announced match against Samoa Joe on Smackdown tonight due to a knee injury which was apparent at house shows in Europe this past weekend. Our correspondent in Amsterdam noted that he was clearly frustrated that something went wrong with his knee during the match. WWE published a video of him being helped from the ring. Instead, tonight Smackdown features Jeff Hardy vs. Daniel Bryan, with the winner facing Samoa Joe next week for a slot in the Money in the Bank ladder match. Cass had recently returned from an extended recover from a knee injury and surgery last year; he was in hot water behind the scenes for breaking script in an angle with a little person impersonating Daniel Bryan, but otherwise seemed to be in for a sizable push on Smackdown as a top tier heel.

-Sunday’s premiere of Total Bellas drew 517,000 viewers total, the lowest ever for the series on E! This is a big disappointment considering the hype built around the John Cena-Nikki Bella engagement and all of the media interviews they did, plus the hype on WWE TV. The new Sunday timeslot might have worked against the series since the audience had come to expect Wednesday nights. It still landed in the top 25 Cable Rankings among the coveted adult 18-49 demo, according to Zap2It.com.

-WWE is now advertising for the July 7 event in New York City, N.Y. at MSG that it will be Ronda Rousey’s debut, plus Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal and Braun Strowman & Seth Rollins & Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn & Elias. [Thanks to PWTorch correspondent Mike Omansky]

NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT UPDATE: Smackdown headed to Fox in September 2019 for likely Friday night slot – rights fees reportedly $1 billion