The event was also notable for having WWE's largest standard battle royal with a total of 51 participants, though originally scheduled for 50.

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.

[8][9] WWE chose not to put Aleister Black on the show, reportedly because of fears the religious symbolism on some of his tattoos would be offensive to their Saudi hosts.

[10] 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.

[16][17][18] 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.

[5] 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.

[26] On the April 15 episode of Raw, Andrade defeated Intercontinental Champion Finn Bálor in a non-title match.

[31] On the April 16 episode of SmackDown, after WWE Chairman and CEO 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.

[32] On the May 21 episode of SmackDown, 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.

A chair wielding Brock Lesnar then came out, alongside Paul Heyman, to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on Rollins.

In the end, Bálor performed the 1916 on Andrade off the top rope followed by the Coup de Grâce to retain the title.

[37] After that, Lars Sullivan faced Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik, and Lince Dorado) in a 3-on-1 handicap match.

It would also be Triple H's final match to take place on a pay-per-view and in front of a live crowd before his cardiac event in late 2021 which caused him to retire the following year.

This gave The Undertaker the advantage for the rest of the match and was able to perform an Old School, a Chokeslam, and a Tombstone Piledriver for a nearfall.

[38] Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch declared that the event was "absolutely nothing worth going out of your way to watch", with no matches even reaching 3 out of 5 stars, attributing this to "the heat", which would affect the wrestlers' workrate, "and perhaps general karma".

The highest rated match was Orton-HHH at 2.75, which was well received by the live crowd and had "the right finish", but was "needlessly long".

Keller rated Balor-Andrade 2: "utterly uninspired and forgettable", while Kingston-Ziggler received 1.5: "Decent, but entirely skippable."

[39] Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated described that the event's "entire card was nowhere near the level set at the Money in the Bank pay per view in May", and that WWE's continued partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia "is not a good look."

[40] Jason Powell of Pro Wrestling Dot Net wrote that "the show was uneventful and felt longer than it actually was."

[36] Mike Tedesco of WrestleView stated that Super Showdown was "just a show with a bad main event" that featured an "awful" ending.

For the other matches, Tedesco felt the battle royale "absolutely stunk" due to the overcrowded ring; Strowman-Lashley was "nothing special", Rollins-Corbin was "basic", but Balor-Andrade was "awesome".

NXT superstar Matt Riddle criticized Goldberg, calling him "the worst wrestler in the business" and "unsafe, dangerous and a liability to everyone else".

[48][49] Samoa Joe, who wrestled in the battle royal, called the match "a chaotic scene" and said of the temperature, "It was quite the inferno in that ring".

[51] Following the 50-man battle royal at Super ShowDown, several matches were confirmed for WWE's next event, Stomping Grounds.

[37] Ali, who participated in the battle royal, donated the money he earned from Super ShowDown to Charity: Water.

[52] On the following Raw, Baron Corbin was granted permission from WWE officials to choose a special guest referee for his rematch with Seth Rollins.

[55] They faced each other in a Falls Count Anywhere match on the July 1 episode, which ended in a no-contest when Strowman drove himself and Lashley through the LED board.

[57] Due to the incident at Super ShowDown, Paul Heyman stated that they would not reveal when Brock Lesnar decides to cash in his Money in the Bank contract.