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WWE BIGGER THAN NEW KIDS, RICKY STEAMBOAT RETURNS TO THE RING, REY MYSTERIO IN THE 619 AND MORE

With WWE having their television taped for next week, the Raw crew heads down under for a tour of Australia, while Smackdown prepares to hit Hawaii and Tokyo.  I thought it was interesting to note that many of the venues WWE is running in Australia were the same venues that 80's pop stars New Kids On The Block were scheduled to appear at, but the group canceled their tour amidst rumors of poor ticket sales, blaming it on the "worldwide recession."  WWE seems to be immune to that problem in Australia. 

The Raw crew runs today, July 3rd at the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand with the following announced matches:
- Triple H & John Cena vs. Randy Orton & Big Show.
- Carlito & Primo vs. Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes.

July 4th at Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia has these matches:
- Triple H vs. Randy Orton.
- John Cena vs. Big Show.
- MVP vs. Kofi Kingston.

Raw runs on July 5th at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Australia, then on July 6th at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia with these matches:

- Triple H vs. Randy Orton.
- MVP vs. Big Show.
- Carlito & Primo vs. Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes.

Raw then runs on July 7th at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia with the same lineup at Adelaide.

The Raw tour of Australia ends on July 8th at the Burswood Dome in Perth, Australia with Triple H vs. Randy Orton and an open challenge by The Miz.

The Smackdown crew runs today, July 3rd at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, California with the following lineup:
- World Champion CM Punk vs. San Diego's Rey Mysterio.
- Jeff Hardy vs. Edge.
- ECW Champion Tommy Dreamer vs. Christian vs. Jack Swagger vs. Mark Henry (this match may be changed due to the recent talent trade).
- John Morrison vs. Chris Jericho.
- Ricky Steamboat is scheduled to appear.

After a day to travel, the Smackdown crew runs at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii on July 5th with CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy advertised as the main event.

Another travel day, then Smackdown has a two night stand at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on July 7th and 8th.  Ricky Steamboat is advertised to be facing Chris Jericho at these shows, which I believe would be Steamboat's first matches in Japan since 1990 when he wrestled The Great Muta.

If you are attending any of these events, feel free to send us reports at this link.