Wrestling News & Rumors [Archive] - Page 2

Emperor Smeat

02-14-2019, 10:14 PM

The Sheets:

WWE Network News reported that WWE Confidential is coming to the Network in this month’s classic content drop. Episodes from the show’s premiere through at least early 2003 will be uploaded to the Network on Monday (February 18). The news/behind-the-scenes show was hosted by the late “Mean” Gene Okerlund.

Dash Wilder wants WWE to bring back their classic Tag Team title belt design.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has started to hype up their return to the United Kingdom this August.

When NJPW's upcoming big show schedule was announced during Wrestle Kingdom 13, it was noted that there would be an event at the Copper Box Arena in London, England on Saturday, August 31. It's now been announced that the show will be named "NJPW Royal Quest."

At the WWE house shows, Asuka vs. Charlotte have been wrestling for the title, with Becky Lynch coming in and costing Charlotte the title, laying both out. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton is the Smackdown main event since Daniel Bryan is not on the tour. Elias is back as a babyface wrestling Drew

It sounds like Kenny Omega is in charge of the AEW Women's division, thought that would be Brandi Rhodes's department. Dave noted it is Brandi but Omega has recommended talent. They all work together but Brandi is doing the negotiations for the women.

On the financials, it's the same thing we've been talking about for a while now, with the Saudi shows and the FOX deals, they are going to be solid even if they had incompetent people running the company, and that is hardly the case. They will be beyond flourishing for at least the next five years. Smackdown going to FOX is going to be a big test, since Smackdown's ratings have gone down considerably since the deal was made. This was the most profitable year in WWE history, and next year will greatly surpass that, particularly in the fourth quarter when the new TV deals come into play.

Another thing that I find so interesting is that there is a big pool of free agents that came lately with The Bucks, Bandido, Rush, Cody, Kenny Omega, Adam Page, Jericho, Juice Robinson and a few others, and WWE wanted all of them, but they didn't really get any of those. They got some people, but they didn't get the big ones, and we know they tried with all of them.

They [AEW] are betting hard on their ability to build new stars. Some of the "unknowns" have already signed six figure deals.

The new group at the Performance Center reported on 2/11 of Karen Yu (Karen Q), Rachael Ellering (who has worked as Rachael Evers in NXT), Trevor Lee Caddell, Albert Hardie Jr. (ACH), Sam Shaw, Jeff Parker (Scott Parker), Matthew Lee (Shane Matthews), Elliot Sexton, Jonah Rock, Nick Comoroto, Omari Palmer(a 6-foot-3 315 pound former offensive right guard and three-year starter at Syracuse, playing from 2012 to 2016, now 24 years old, who is very strong but was considered too slow for the NFL and went undrafted) and Ricardo Miller (a 26 year old, 6-foot 4 226 pound former tight end at the University of Massachusetts). Parker and Lee had background cameos in the Kevin Owens bowling vignette on Raw. Kushida is also there but WWE wants to keep that name secretive for now.
Supposedly WWE has another class for the PC set to be announced as early as next month.

Hefty garbage bags are very pleased with their John Cena ad campaign. They are going to heavily push Cena as a sex symbol pitching the garbage bags for women shoppers in their 30s and 40s.

Right now the update on the Vice Documentaries on pro wrestling (Bruiser Brody, Gino Hernandez, Fabulous Moolah and other subjects) is they will air on Viceland TV in the first half of the year. That could change. A piece on AEW will air on Vice News Tonight on HBO very soon put together by Emmy winning producer Elle Reeve.

For those who have asked, we know of no one within Impact who have received viewership numbers for Pursuit yet. As I noted on my Elite audio yesterday, it is in that company’s best interest to find any other TV home ASAP

According to a report by Ringside News, WWE is said not have any significant plans for 205 Live. As of now, the show is simply considered as another hour of WWE programming that can be aired on the network. As a result, there will not be any significant attention paid to 205 Live in terms of special events or live events around the 205 Live roster.

A trend toward scripts coming in late has been causing issues on Raw. Ringside News reports that scripts for the show have been coming in late over the last few weeks and that has led to staff and stars not knowing what’s been going on. According to the site, the lateness is being cause not only due to script changes, but because it takes so long to make decisions about what will go on. This has led to segments having to be cut for time and the like, and people being left to prepare for segments that don’t happen.

WWE is reportedly considering a change to their plans for the 2019 Hall of Fame class. Brad Shepard of the Oh, You Didn’t Know? Wrestling Show reports on Twitter that as of right now, the Hart Foundation “are not a lock” for the 2019 Hall and the company may go with another group instead.

Speaking on the Oh, You Didn’t Know Wrestling Show (via Ringside News), Brad Shepard had an update on the in-ring status of WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle. According to Shepard, Kurt Angle is planning on finishing up his career this year, and WrestleMania 35 will likely be his last match at WrestleMania.

Also a rumor going around the net that Vince is getting really upset that former big stars are showing up for Starrcast's next convention since its associated with AEW. Supposedly he feels the "old guard" is becoming disloyal to WWE. Also rumored that Ric Flair's announcement for Starrcast II was purposely planned to occur after Charlotte was officially placed in a high profile Mania match out of fear of reprisals from a furious Vince if they made the announcement earlier. Conrad Thompson denies it was planned that way and was just a pure coincidence even though he recently stated he still keeps in contact with WWE for stuff.

Mr. Nerfect

02-15-2019, 12:04 AM

There’s no way Vince is happy about Taker taking the Starrcast date. It would be like Hulk Hogan accepting a pre-WrestleMania independent autograph signing date in 1999. The tickets have been sold for DoN, but he’s going to draw more interest towards happenings there and it wouldn’t surprise me if his name pops into promotional stories around the event (even if AEW can’t and won’t advertise him).

Droford

02-15-2019, 12:06 AM

Come see mean mark callous!

Emperor Smeat

02-15-2019, 11:08 PM

The Sheets:

World Wrestling Entertainment filed a new trademark on the Ultimate Warrior's iconic facepaint design on 2/11:
http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/ImageAgent/ImageAgentProxy?getImage=88297004

World Wrestling Entertainment has come to terms to acquire the rights and trademarks for the Wargames match from Major League Wrestling, PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple WWE sources.

With the promotion [MLW] now looking to run exclusively on Saturdays, Tony Schiavone won't be around as much for the time being due to his other broadcasting commitments. The promotion has noted he will be back in the spring.

Brad Shepard claims that WWE and Fox are looking to bring back Saturday Night's Main Event, while Wrestling Observer denies this claim.

NJPW continues to have visa issues, keeping talent from appearing stateside.

Pro Wrestling Force, an Independent company out of Illinois, is set to hold a show this weekend in Riverton, IL. The company has been promoting NJPW talent EVIL as part of the show, but due to visa issues, EVIL won't be able to make the event.

As reported earlier today, during an Impact Wrestling media call, Disco Inferno defended his stance about women's wrestling and stated that he's not sexist. One of his comments about women wrestling involved him comparing it to the WNBA and saying that, "They're not as good as the guys."

Inferno was also quoted saying, "I am a fan of the women's wrestlers that can combine good looks with good work. If there's a girl out there whose work isn't as good but she's hotter and has sex appeal, I'm a fan of that." He also mentioned that there was too much TV time dedicated to women's wrestling.

Former Women of Honor Champion Kelly Klein shared a link to a story about Disco Inferno comments with the caption: "Dude you are so gross but congrats on finding a way to get some attention."

Former ECW and WWE star Lance Storm quickly replied to Klein's tweet with, "I don't want to bother reading. Is his reason because he's upset most are having better matches and accomplishing more than he did during his run?"

As seen below, ESPN's Twitter posted a video remembering the finish of WWE No Way Out 2004. On that night, fifteen years ago today, Eddie Guerrero would pin Brock Lesnar with a frog splash to win his first-ever WWE Championship.

On This Date: 15 years ago, Eddie Guerrero defeated Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship ?? (via @WWE)pic.twitter.com/WIUdEhIgCg
— ESPN (@espn) February 15, 2019
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">On This Date: 15 years ago, Eddie Guerrero defeated Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship �� (via <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WWE</a>)<a href="https://t.co/WIUdEhIgCg">pic.twitter.com/WIUdEhIgCg</a></p>— ESPN (@espn) <a href="https://twitter.com/espn/status/1096535843978792961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mr. Nerfect

02-16-2019, 05:04 AM

Lol, Disco Inferno is such a piece of shit. Doesn’t he run in the same circles as Vince Russo?

Seems a weird thing for Dave Meltzer to “deny.” I wonder if they got the wording right? Brad Shephard is another fuck, but he gets good information. It makes sense for WWE to look to get more special event network programming too. I’m surprised they haven’t set up a “Grandest TV Showcase of the Year” yet.

Bad News Gertner

02-16-2019, 12:05 PM

Disco isn't wrong with anything he said. Womens sports are unwatchable.

Evil Vito

02-16-2019, 12:16 PM

Not true. Women's beach volleyball gets a lot of attention from me during Olympic season.

Bad News Gertner

02-16-2019, 12:22 PM

How about Foxy Boxing.

slik

02-19-2019, 09:28 AM

ClockShot

02-19-2019, 09:34 AM

Not the best of the bunch. But I'd go with either a fresh Sami Zayn or Kevin Owens if those are the only choices.

Jordan

02-19-2019, 09:35 AM

No Tony for MLW is a tough blow.

Evil Vito

02-19-2019, 09:47 AM

mike adamle

02-19-2019, 11:20 AM

Would love it if we got Kurt-Bryan at Mania. If we can't get that I'd take Bryan-Taker. There is no way Bryan can't drag a classic out of either of them. Why the hell would you wanna see him face Owens or Zayn at Mania, you just saw that last year.

Evil Vito

02-19-2019, 11:42 AM

Angle and Undertaker can barely fucking move

slik

02-19-2019, 11:57 AM

Meltzer also said on the radio show that Lacey Evans vs Asuka was the original plan for WM but now WWE isn't sure who they want to face Asuka at Mania

Vince gotta Vince

Big Vic

02-19-2019, 11:59 AM

Angle and Undertaker can barely fucking move

I think DBry could make the match work.

slik

02-19-2019, 12:11 PM

Out of those options I would do DBry vs KO

Innovator

02-19-2019, 12:31 PM

Out of those options I would do DBry vs KO

Did you SEE THE SIZE OF THAT SODA OWEN HAD DURING THE PROMO! AT A MOVIE THEATRE! WASTING MONEY AND RESOURCES! FICKLE!

Mr. Nerfect

02-19-2019, 04:07 PM

Would love to see Bryan vs. Angle in a world where Kurt can still move. Nothing else there has any sort of remote appeal to me.

02-19-2019, 05:24 PM

Per Big Dave Meltz on Wrestling Observer Radio the following are being discussed as WWE tries to determine who will face DBry at WM. Dave said not Kofi at this time.

Kevin Owens
Bray Wyatt
Sami Zayn
Undertaker
Kurt Angle

Hmmmmm.

Bryan v Taker or Angle would be great...on WWE 2K19.
v Sami would be a great match no doubt but doesn’t feel like a Mania title match
V Bray brings a lot of history, and the wrinkle with Rowan...but how many times can you get burned by a Wyatt push that fizzles out

I can see them doing v Owens, they’re building him up as the likeable “every man” in these vignettes to go against Bryan’s current gimmick.

Fignuts

02-19-2019, 06:00 PM

Can see the Everyman videos for Owens leading to a swerve where he just beats the shit out of a face upon return. Seems like an Owens thing to do.

Mr. Nerfect

02-19-2019, 06:08 PM

I can see that, but it’s still lame.

Emperor Smeat

02-19-2019, 10:01 PM

The Sheets:

Rikishi on Instagram hinted about the Usos possibly becoming free agents soon.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BuDoeBwAq7d

Additional tickets for Double or Nothing that were initially held for production went on sale and sold out today. Cody Rhodes noted that it’s possible they’ll free up more space as they make production changes

The Wrap is reporting that over the three day weekend. "Fighting with My Family" has made $131,625 on four screens, two each in New York and Los Angeles. This breaks down to $32,906 per screen; The overall total is expected to grow to $163,000 after, bringing the breakdown per screen to $40,750. These are pretty solid numbers. The film is scheduled to open nationwide this week.

Charlotte Flair versus Becky Lynch is no longer being advertised on the Quicken Loans Arena website for the 3/10 WWE Fastlane PPV. The two stars are each advertised but not, facing each other in a match.

The WWE Raw debuts of NXT stars caught many by surprise, including those in the company.

Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp reports that a lot of people within WWE were caught off guard by Ricochet, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa and Aleister Black appearing on Raw.

"There were people on the SmackDown brand and NXT who had no idea this was happening today," reported Sapp on the Fightful post-Raw podcast.

While most were excited to see NXT talents Ricochet, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, and Aleister Black on WWE Raw last night, TJP took to social media to vent his frustrations with a certain debut and his position in the company.

The former Cruiserweight Champion took to Twitter following the debut of Ricochet, claiming he "wrote" the segment, seemingly for himself and not Ricochet. Ricochet ended up making his debut by saving Finn Balor from a two-on-one attack at the hands of Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush.
Link: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/tjp-says-he-wrote-richochet-s-wwe-raw-debut-shoots-down-idea-going-aew

There's been some speculation on the status of WWE NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint. Saint's profile is no longer accessible on the WWE website and he's been removed from the NXT UK roster page. Saint's assistant, Sid Scala, has ran most of the storylines on recent NXT UK TV episodes. It's worth noting that Scala also does not have a profile page on the WWE website.

The 77 year old Saint has not tweeted since late January, but it's possible that he was never the one running the account. The UK wrestling legend was announced to be the NXT UK GM in June 2018. Saint was mentioned on the recent NXT UK TV episode but we should know more about his status after the NXT UK TV tapings in Coventry, England this coming Friday and Saturday.

WWE reportedly had big storyline plans for The Young Bucks to "invade" the promotion during their recent contract talks.

It was noted by Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE had a full storyline pitched to The Bucks with their contract offers that were made before the brothers decided on signing with All Elite Wrestling.

The storyline would have seen The Bucks lead an "invasion angle" for WrestleMania 35 season, presumably involving The Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page. Meltzer did not confirm that those other talents would have been involved with the invasion, just that this invasion angle was pitched to The Young Bucks.

WWE recently teased in-ring retirement for WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle on RAW and that was apparently done for a major reason as we get closer to WrestleMania 35.

There has been talk within WWE of Angle doing a retirement match soon, according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio. That retirement match could come at WrestleMania 35 in April.

There's no word yet on who Angle might wrestle for his retirement match but he will likely work the WrestleMania 35 card even if they decide against the retirement stipulation. Meltzer noted that Angle has definitely been in recent talks to wrestle a match on the biggest show of the year.

New WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Bayley and Sasha Banks announced on Raw that they’ll be defending the titles on multiple brands.

Sasha said, “We plan on defending these titles against anybody. Past, present, future, here on Raw, SmackDown and even NXT.”

Impact Hall of Famer “Abyss” officially started working as a backstage producer for WWE last week, according to PWInsider, and he was working backstage at Raw tonight.

He signed with WWE last month.

slik

02-20-2019, 02:40 PM

Dave Meltzer/Wrestling Observer Radio

* Undertaker got up in Vince's feels by agreeing to appear at Starrcast.

* Callups from NXT - Vince McMahon wanted four of the best NXT talents. The goal is to push Gargano, Ricochet, Ciampa and Aleister as huge stars, as Vince felt creating new stars would be better than trying to rehab anyone on the current roster.

* Vince feels like they have no male stars on the roster full-time.

* The plan is for Becky, Charlotte & Lacey Evans to be the most pushed women in WWE after WrestleMania when Ronda goes on hiatus until the fall.

Brad Shepard/Oh You Didn't Know Podcast

* HHH is not well liked by most employees at WWE HQs and is often described as "It's all about him, all the time"

* Vince McMahon prefers to give NXT callups 'rough' debuts to see if they will sink or swim. One thing Vince does when HHH suggest a person is he asks H to hype them up and then Vince tries to list why he thinks they don't sound special.

slik

02-20-2019, 03:19 PM

Fightful has confirmed Charlotte and Cien Andrade Almas have been dating for around a month.

02-20-2019, 03:32 PM

What a combination

Black Widow

02-20-2019, 04:34 PM

Barbie and Cien

Emperor Smeat

02-20-2019, 10:04 PM

The Sheets:

One of the match types from All In is returning for All Elite Wrestling's first show.

Episode four of AEW's "Road to Double or Nothing" series was uploaded today. It was announced that the Over Budget Battle Royale is returning for Double or Nothing, with Sonny Kiss, United Kingdom wrestler Kip Sabian, and Brandon Cutler being spotlighted as three of the entrants for the match.

Cody Rhodes mentioned that they have a "really great incentive" for the battle royal winner but said he can't speak about that now.

The first rounds and semi finals of the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic will be held at the WWE NXT tapings tonight.

There will also be a #1 contenders match for NXT Women's championship between Bianca Belair and Io Shirai

The tournament brackets for the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic are as follows:

Left side:
*Moustache Mountain vs. Street Profits
*Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs. Forgotten Sons

Right Side:
*DIY vs. Undisputed Era
*Aleister Black and Ricochet vs. Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel

The 2/17 episode of Total Bellas on E! brought in 426,000 overnight viewers, up from last week's 396,000 overnight viewers. That reversed the trend of the series hitting new lows this season, although 426,000 viewers would still be the second lowest audience in series history.

205 Live will be holding a single elimination tournament with the winner facing Buddy Murphy for the Cruiserweight title at WrestleMania. The tournament kicks off next Tuesday in Charlotte with Drew Gulak vs. Brian Kendrick and Kalisto vs. Tony Nese.

All Elite Wrestling runs into trademark trouble.

PWInsider reports that AEW's application for the 'All Elite Wrestling' trademark has been given an initial refusal. AEW reportedly needs to amend their classification and Identification of Goods and Services as some identifications need to be clarified. They also need to pay the proper fee, as according to the USPTO, they classified 13 classes and only paid for 9. A disclaimer is also required that they are not claiming the exclusive right to use the word "wrestling."

Their applications for 'AEW', the AEW logo and 'Change the Universe' have all been given initial refusals for the same amending of classification and Identification of Goods and Services and paying the proper fee as well.

Furthermore, their trademark for 'AEW All Out' has also been given an initial refusal due to two pending active applications using the word 'All Out.' If registered, it might have an effect on AEW's application being registered.

The latest on WWE's plans for Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania.

According to Bleacher Report's Jeremy Botter, "unless plans change," Daniel Bryan will face Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 35 on Apr. 7.

Botter does not mention whether or not the WWE Title will be involved. Bryan is currently scheduled to defend the WWE Title against Kofi Kingston at WWE Fastlane on Mar. 10. Owens has been out of action since October 2018 following double knee surgery. In recent weeks, WWE has been running vlog style updates from Owens, who has been bowling and going to the movies with his family. On Feb. 11, the WWE social media account tweeted that there is "only one month" before Owens returns. It's unclear whether Owens will be part of Raw or SmackDown once he returns.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer recently reported that Bryan would be facing "a returning superstar" at WrestleMania 35. Owens was listed as one possibility by Meltzer.

Big changes were made to this past Monday's episode of Raw.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, the idea to use NXT talent was a late decision that not even Triple H knew about. Meltzer stated there was "a lack of communication" throughout the process ...

Meltzer goes on to report that Ricochet was originally scheduled to face Finn Balor, but the match was changed by Triple H, who didn't want a face vs. face match or either guy taking a loss. Balor had won the Intercontinental Title the night before at WWE Elimination Chamber and Ricochet would have been making his debut. Ricochet and Balor ended up teaming together to defeat Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush.

Finally, the bout between Ronda Rousey and Ruby Riott was reportedly scheduled to be Rousey against Alexa Bliss in "a quick squash" but the match was changed when they "needed more time" out of the match.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Raw had to be heavily re-written on Monday. The original script had several Seth Rollins segments where he was supposed to get physical, but WWE learned on Monday that Rollins could not be cleared, so several segments had to be scrapped and lots of the show had to be re-written.

Rollins has a problem with a disc in his back, according to Meltzer. He doesn’t need surgery and will be fine after some rest, and he doesn’t appear to be in any danger of missing WrestleMania. It was thought that he could wrestle now if needed, but apparently that’s not the case, as WWE learned on Monday. But he’s apparently close to being cleared, so he should be OK soon.

Vince McMahon reportedly showed up at around 1 PM local time on Monday and from then on, the show was re-written. It was not done until 30 minutes into the show and they were still changing things into the second hour.

In regards to his contract, AEW had obvious interest in the Japanese Superstar, but in an interview with ShuPro (translated by NJPW Announcer, Chris Charlton), Ibushi spoke about the factors that kept him out of AEW.

"The second I went, that would be the end of my wrestling career, I thought," Ibushi began. "What I realized [talking to AEW] was I really don't care about money. ... AEW said they just want me in their ring in some form. The ideal for them was for me to move to America and be there full-time. I turned them down just after Wrestle Kingdom. ... If I went it would be the end of my career. There wouldn't be anywhere else to go after that. No step up, nothing left to do. That would be the last step to make, and after that things would just go down. Great money, but I want to keep developing."

xrodmuc316

02-21-2019, 01:08 AM

Out of those options I would do DBry vs KO

I agree 100%, although Sami could also be involved to counter Rowan.

Emperor Smeat

02-21-2019, 10:28 PM

The Sheets:

This week’s WWE Network Hidden Gems additions were:
Sputnik Monroe vs. Jack Pesek (Championship Wrestling from Florida, 1966)
Bobo Brazil & Dick the Bruiser vs. The Sheik & Bobby Heenan (AWA, 1974)
Rocky Johnson & Pedro Morales vs. Ivan Koloff & Mr. Saito (Championship Wrestling from Florida, 1978)
Junkyard Dog vs. Buzz Sawyer (Houston Wrestling, 1983)

Impact Wrestling Xplosion will be airing on Twitch every Wednesday at 7 PM ET. The first episode aired yesterday with very little advance warning. It was not archived, so it's just going to be on the live stream.
Yesterday's episode had around the peak range of 250 viewers on Twitch.

The Miz and Maryse's reality show officially has its return date.

WWE announced today that new episodes of "Miz & Mrs." will return to the USA Network on Tuesday, April 2. The show will again be airing in the post-SmackDown time slot at 10 p.m. Eastern time.

The new episodes are being billed as a continuation of the first season. Six episodes have already aired, and 14 more will air during the second run. The episodes are 30 minutes long.

Chris Jericho shares a fun Vince McMahon story.

Appearing on the Rich Eisen Show, Jericho spoke about a variety of subjects, including Jack Action (the name Jericho originally wanted to use in wrestling), his love of the NFL, and Fozzy. But on the subject of wrestling, it was a Vince McMahon story that caught Eisen's attention.

"In the mid-2000s, Vince McMahon decided that you couldn't be from Canada and be a babyface in the WWE, for whatever reason. 'No one would cheer a Canadian' was his mindset. I'm not kidding," recalled Jericho. "I was told that 'You can't be from Winnipeg anymore, you're from Tampa.' I only live in Tampa. I'm not from there. 'Where were you born?' Manhasset (New York). 'Ah, sounds too country. You're now from Manhattan, New York.' There was a whole bunch of us that were Canadian. Edge, Christian, Val Venis, a bunch of other guys. He just decided one time, you can't be a babyface and be from Canada. For people to really cheer you, you have to be from the United States. It probably lasted about six months."

According to an article in SLAM! Sports, the hometown change and Vince's opinion that Canadians could not be good guys, happened in 2004.

NJPW-ROH G1 Supercard To Stream Live On HonorClub, NJPW World, And Fite TV

Brandon Thurston did research and estimated the revenue per episode of the various WWE reality shows at $650,000 to $920,000. In different investors calls, the reality shows have been talked about as having low profit margins. He also estimated $110,000 per episode for Mixed Match Challenge, which is nice money given the production crew is already there, but it only makes sense to do as part of an existing taping, and also shows that for all the talk of Facebook and sports rights, they spent peanuts as compared with both television and other streaming subscription services for similar content.

In some of the most irresponsible reporting, Fox News actually covered the Jimmy Uso arrest story and quoted a person saying that the two did this on purpose so they could get fired and go to AEW. Like you have a contract expiring in two months and your wife drives down the wrong way on a one-way street and you get arrested in an attempt to get fired by a company that doesn’t fire stars for such things and doesn’t release marketable stars who can work for opposition, particularly now.

To show just how out of touch WCW management was at one time, Dave Penzer on his podcast with Buff Bagwell talked about Eric Bischoff’s idea where they would tell the audience and all the talent that Bagwell had died in a plane crash in 1998 and then they’d shock everyone when he did a surprise run-in some time later. Work the boys? Obviously talent would figure out in an instant that there was no plane crash. The industry is paranoid enough without giving talent a very good reason to think management are pathetic liars. Plus, it draws no money with fans either. Bagwell said he had already told his parents and his wife about the angle and to keep quiet. But then Bischoff decided against doing it. Bagwell said the idea was he would return as a ghost on wires.

Paul London and D-Lo Brown were working as a producers for Impact at this week’s tapings, getting tryouts for the role..

FOX this weekend started advertising 10/4 as the debut of the new Friday Night Smackdown show.

One of the things that threw Vince off was how much he was shocked and hurt when he found out Undertaker was doing Starrcast. Vince always treated Undertaker special, like a modern Andre (who, ironically, Vince had a falling out with toward the end of his career). It was in many ways the first sign in more than a decade that he no longer fully controls wrestling. Even though Starrcast isn’t AEW, it is part of the AEW weekend and fans perceive it as part of AEW. Once that was announced, there was a push to get Undertaker on WrestleMania from the perception standpoint. Vince wanted him off Starrcast but there may not be a legal way he can pull that off.

His conclusion about the declining ratings when looking at quarter hours and minute-by-minutes is that it’s stale, the stars are stale, and decided that they needed to immediately make new stars. He wanted to make four stars from NXT who are great wrestlers. While it is not clear whether some of this was to establish workers the level of the AEW top guys and tag teams, since AEW will feature that, the timing of this coming off the ticket demand for the AEW show made many make that connection. Even if a lot of modern fans don’t understand the significance of the AEW ticket demand, something with all their advantages, WWE only has had once every year–WrestleMania, and the demand was ahead of most Manias in history (although not the 2019 demand),

Vince understands the significance of a pre-sale with orders that would have totaled 43,500 tickets logged in within 30 minutes, something WWE has only been able to garner an interest level among the ticket consumers a few times in its history, with no television and only one star (Chris Jericho) who was ever a true major player on WWE television and Cody, who had that television but is a far bigger star without it. Others can make excuses but for Vince, he knows better and knows the significance of the magnitude of all that. It’s something he has never even come close to doing anywhere ever where he didn’t have television.

So the decision was made late last week to bring in Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Ricochet and Aleister Black. He made the call without consulting Paul Levesque, who seemed to be building Gargano vs. Ciampa, or at least something involving the two, for his biggest NXT show of the year on 4/5 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Ciampa was along with Rush one of the two best heels in the business and one could argue the best, and Gargano was heelish but sort of tweener, and the tension was an ongoing storyline, and now they were being introduced as a babyface tag team.

Everything is still changing. Very little of Mania this year is finalized, which is unprecedented for this late in the game. Cena doesn't even have an opponent yet. When Lars Sullivan fell through, they credited Drew McIntyre with taking Cena out of the Rumble match, but then never followed through on that. Situations with Undertaker and Batista as far as their status on the show is unclear, as is the case with Kurt Angle and the idea of a retirement match.

Christopher DeJoseph, one of the main producers and the head writer of Lucha Underground, was on Twitter and asked about a fifth season, and surprisingly responded saying he doesn’t believe it will return but he hopes it will.

Fignuts

02-21-2019, 11:02 PM

lol that Uso’s thing sounds like the definition of made up smark bullshit.

Emperor Smeat

02-22-2019, 09:18 PM

The Sheets:

For those asking, we are told by numerous WWE sources that TJP was released by the company. This was not a case where he asked for a release and was granted one, similar to Tye Dillinger or Hideo Itami, who's WWE exits were also announced today.
Found it surprising that none of the 3 guys got the "future endeavors" line as part of WWE's announcements. Last guy who didn't get that was Alberto Del Rio due to WWE feeling he was a very bad influence for Paige.

Pop TV president Brad Schwartz spoke to Deadline about Impact Wrestling no longer being on the station: “Yes, we had a wrestling show every Thursday night, which by the way was one of our 10 highest-rated shows on the network. They wanted to keep going, obviously. It was two hours of original content every Thursday night, 52 weeks a year that would do 400 thousand-500 thousand viewers every Thursday night. We had to really start focusing on brand and expectation, and I think if you’re going to pitch yourself and tell audiences that you’re this place for premium content, Schitt’s Creek, Flack, Florida Girls, this type of stuff, then people need to know what to expect from you when they come to the channel.”

If you are going by live viewership through Showbuzz Daily, Impact topped 400,000 viewers once and it was for the Final Deletion episode in July 2016 and then did 399,000 viewers for an episode in March 2018. They never hit 500,000 viewers nor were they ever consistently hitting 400,000 viewers. From July 5th through October 18th last year, the show averaged 233,250 viewers and Pop moved them to 10 pm on Thursday nights. In the new timeslot, their live viewership fell to an average of 151,000 for the final 11 weeks before moving to Pursuit.

Noam Dar worked today's NXT UK tapings in Coventry, England and declared he was now with the brand full-time.

We are told by WWE sources Dar will be moving back to Europe full-time and from that point on, he will be working primarily for NXT UK.

Until Dar moves back overseas, he will continue to appear on 205 Live, where he just completed a feud with Tony Nese in a great No Disqualification match several weeks ago.

After last month's Homecoming PPV in Nashville Impact Wrestling will hold three additional PPVs in 2019, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

After the 4/28 Rebellion PPV in Toronto, the current plan is for the company to hold Slammiversary 2019 on Sunday 7/7.

Bound for Glory will take place on Sunday 10/13.

Former NWA and ECW World Champion Steve Corino has changed his social media bio to reflect that he is no longer a Coach for WWE NXT and is now a WWE Producer. He is producing for the main roster and we are told he made the move several weeks ago, although the social media bio was changed within the last few days.

We are told Corino is now working on the booking and production for Raw and Smackdown live events. He replaced Jamie Noble on the team that works on the live events, which also includes Michael Hayes and Joey Maloney, among others, so that Noble had more time to focus on his other WWE responsibilities.

Corino had been handling the production of live events for WWE NXT live events in Florida, so this is a similar role, just on a larger scale.

WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson has departed World Wrestling Entertainment ...

Anderson had been behind the scenes as a Producer for the company, which has brought in a number of new Producers over the last month, seeking to bring a younger, fresher vibe to their in-ring content. The departure of Anderson has led to discussion within the company about whether some of the other "old guard" producers may also be on the way out.

As noted, WWE announced the releases of three Superstars today - TJP (more), Hideo Itami (more) and Tye Dillinger (more). Regarding speculation on the released talents possibly debuting for AEW at their Double Or Nothing event on May 25, all three would be able to appear if they are under WWE's standard 90 day non-compete clauses as those would end before AEW's first big event. The non-competes would end just a few days before Double Or Nothing.

Taz and The Honky Tonk Man are now rumored for the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame Class.

Honky Tonk is apparently a lock for this year's class while Taz is not for sure, according to a new report by @Wrestlevotes.

It looks like The Hart Foundation (Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Jimmy Hart, Bret Hart) will also still be inducted this year. There was some speculation on their induction as a group after WWE confirmed DX (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, "Road Dogg" BG James, Billy Gunn, Sean "X-Pac" Waltman) as the headliners, but apparently they are inducting two groups this year.

Matt Hardy casually noted on Twitter that his WWE contract expires in 11 days and that he’s “100% comfortable” working outside of WWE.

02-23-2019, 12:04 AM

Sportskeeda is unbearable.

"Batista rejects AEW's offer; set to face 5-time Intercontinental Champion at WrestleMania?"

That's Triple H :nono:

slik

02-23-2019, 01:48 PM

PWInsider reporting Bruce Pritchard has joined the creative team

Bad News Gertner

02-23-2019, 02:19 PM

Vince got his "yes man" back

erickman

02-23-2019, 02:32 PM

PWInsider reporting Bruce Pritchard has joined the creative team

guess his podcast is at an end

Droford

02-23-2019, 03:24 PM

guess his podcast is at an end

They aired it on the network last year?

Emperor Smeat

02-26-2019, 10:01 PM

The Sheets:

I’m told that they are planning do a Shield reunion match and it’s only a question of whether it will be a 3-on-3 match against Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, and Baron Corbin or if it will be 4-on-4 with Braun Strowman and Elias added. It has been debated back-and-forth and as of Monday night, they were unsure what option they would go with. I was not told when the match would take place, although Fastlane seems to make the most sense given Seth Rollins already is in a match for WrestleMania.

Monday’s episode of Raw concluded with a major angle involving Batista returning and attacking Ric Flair to set up his expected match with Triple H at WrestleMania ...

After Raw ended, there was a bit where Jinder Mahal crashed the party and Kurt Angle put him through the birthday cake with the Angle Slam. The lights came up and the show ended without Ric Flair ever coming out. I did hear from people that attended the show that was disappointed, which is a fair criticism given it was promoted for weeks around Flair’s birthday and he should have appeared once in front of the audience and done a quick promo either before, during, or after the show.

According to Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, Vince McMahon was the first one to learn of Roman Reigns being cancer free. He was told of the news early last week. The decision to come back in such quick fashion was completely Roman Reigns' call. Only Vince, Stephanie McMahon, Kevin Dunn, Michelle Wilson and Triple H were aware of all the details until this morning.

As previously noted, Bruce Prichard is set to return to the WWE in a top, full-time position as part of the company's creative team.

Prichard has actually been traveling with WWE and working as a backstage consultant since January of this year, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio. It is believed that the deal to advance Prichard in to his current, new role within the company was finalized this past Friday.

Apparently, the idea of bringing Prichard back to the creative team in a full-time position was first mentioned early last week. It was instantly well received and the idea gained enough momentum by the weekend that Prichard will now reportedly be Vince's right-hand man and a "very key guy" to the creative functions in WWE.

PWInsider is reporting that CM Punk is looking to have the lawsuit brought on by Colt Cabana tossed out, claiming that Cabana has failed to explain why the suit should move forward after the initial filing was tossed out.

In that filing, Punk once again argued that Cabana has failed to explain under Illinois law why his amended lawsuit should be allowed move forward after the initial filing was dismissed. Punk's attorneys are claiming that Cabana have failed to properly argue why the lawsuit should stand, instead choosing to point back to the allegations in the amended lawsuit ...

Punk's attorneys also alleged that Cabana has "all but abandoned his contention that there was any initial "offer" in December 2014", referring to Punk's text message that he could cover Cabana legally, which Cabana has previously argued amounted to a legal contract that Punk did not live up to.

Matt Hardy returned to WWE TV tonight on Smackdown Live, teaming with Jeff Hardy.

The word backstage is that WWE has involved a clause in Matt and Jeff Hardy's existing WWE deal, rolling it over for a third year. Had WWE not rolled over the contract, it would have expired next month.

Matt Hardy had been teasing a countdown until the expiration of his WWE deal on social media of late, but it would appear that was simply Hardy's latest attempt to use social media to his advantage by creating a buzz online.

Dave Schilling, who has written for outlets including Bleacher Report, The Guardian, Grantland, and VICE has announced that he will be joining the WWE creative team in March.

More trademark trouble for AEW.

Wrestling Inc reports that AEW's application for the trademark 'Double or Nothing' has been given an initial refusal partly due to "likelihood of confusion." The USPTO pointed to 75 existing trademarks to suggest that the AEW Double Or Nothing trademark might be too confusing to consumers.

Sami Callihan has signed a new contract with Impact Wrestling. Impact confirmed the news after it was reported by Wrestling Inc today. Wrestling Inc's report noted that it's a multi-year deal.

Another member of the Impact Wrestling roster has re-signed with the company. Impact announced today that Fallah Bahh has signed a new contract with the promotion. The announcement confirmed Wrestling Inc's report on Bahh signing a multi-year deal with Impact.

Impact also announced that -- after premiering on Fridays -- episodes of Impact will replay on Twitch at 6 p.m. Eastern on Mondays going forward. The show will be available on demand on the Global Wrestling Network on Tuesdays: "You asked for more ways to catch up on IMPACT. We're listening, and we're giving it to you. Beginning today, IMPACT replays on Twitch at 6 PM ET every Monday, and it's available to everyone on demand on Global Wrestling Network every Tuesday."

WWE and Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett and his company Global Force Entertainment filed a second amended lawsuit against Impact Wrestling and its parent company Anthem in the U.S. District Middle District of Tennessee, on 2/21. The amended lawsuit was brought on by Impact's admission that they have deleted the master tapes of the 16-hours of Global Force Wrestling Amped!, the Jarrett TV series that he independently produced before returning to Impact after Anthem seized control of the company from Dixie Carter in early 2017.

The 33-page amended lawsuit alleges Anthem has Prevented Jarrett and GFE from filing copyrights on the GFW Amped! TV footage with the amended lawsuit noting, "The last remaining step in the registration process is submission of deposit copies, which GFE cannot provide to the Copyright Office due to Defendants’ unlawful possession and/or deletion of the only master recordings of the 16 one-hour GFW Amped videos. Defendants admit that the master recordings were deleted while in their custody and no longer exist. "

The moment everyone has been waiting for has arrived. Becky Lynch posted her mugshots following her "arrest" Monday on Raw.

Lynch was arrested after attacking Ronda Rousey during a tag team match on Raw. Lynch was warned prior to the event that if she showed up again under "suspension," she would be hauled away by Atlanta's finest. Lynch showed up and the "police took her into custody."

Given that she's back on social media, it would appear that she's out of jail.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ronda, you go back and get that BELT because I didn’t come this far to collect it from Stephaine. I came all this way to take it from you. <a href="https://t.co/ap3Q6cBRP2">pic.twitter.com/ap3Q6cBRP2</a></p>— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1100561278060429314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Emperor Smeat

02-27-2019, 09:42 PM

The Sheets:

On the day of this month's Double or Nothing ticket announcement party, All Elite Wrestling revealed that they're partnering with Lucha Libre AAA.

That was followed up on today, with it being announced that Cody Rhodes will appear at AAA's Rey de Reyes in Puebla, Mexico on Saturday, March 16. The news was announced via a video from Cody.

WWE.com has started advertising Roman Reigns for upcoming episodes of Raw, including Monday's show in Philadelphia. PWInsider reported that Batista is also scheduled for Monday's Raw.

In an interview after his match on SmackDown, Matt Hardy explained returning as part of The Hardy Boyz by saying he’s “learned how to control the woken wonder” that’s inside of him. Matt said he’s back together with Jeff to prove they’re the greatest tag team in time and space.

WWE Network News reported that tomorrow’s Black History Month-themed additions to the Network’s Hidden Gems section are:

Ernie Ladd & Art Thomas vs. Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch (AWA, 1972)
Thunderbolt Patterson & Bill Watts vs. Ole & Gene Anderson (Georgia Championship Wrestling, 1977)
Big Daddy Ritter (Junkyard Dog) vs. Jim Neidhart (Stampede Wrestling, 1979)
Booker T and Craig PIttman “engage in some friendly amateur wrestling at the WCW Power Plant” (WCW, 1998)

Link: https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/02/28/exclusive-latest-hidden-gems-conclude-black-history-focus-with-4-matches-from-4-companies/

PROGRESS Wrestling is unifying their men's division singles titles. It was announced today that PROGRESS World Champion WALTER will face Atlas Division Champion Trent Seven in a unification match at Alexandra Palace in London, England on Sunday, May 5. That's the second day of PROGRESS' Super Strong Style 16 tournament.

As noted, Impact has signed Josh Alexander.

Fallah Bahh signed a two year deal. We are told the deal doesn't guarantee a number of dates per year. There have been similar deals offered to other undercard talents.

Several deals expire on 3/1, including Caleb Konley.

Expect some Pro Wrestling NOAH talents to make appearances in the months ahead.

Charly Caruso confirmed through a Twitter response that she will be a part of the next season of "Total Divas", although she didn't specify that she was joining the cast
Link: https://twitter.com/CharlyCarusoWWE/status/1100530034459201537

Sami Zayn is good to go.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that Sami Zayn is "ready to return" to WWE. Zayn underwent surgery on both rotator cuffs in June 2018 and was aiming for a return by WrestleMania 35. WWE began airing vignettes for his return on the Dec. 17 episode of Raw. WWE claimed Zayn would be "returning soon." That same night, vignettes aired for the return of Kevin Owens, who was also scheduled to "return soon."

Seth Rollins gives his opinion on Brock Lesnar.

Rollins took to social media late Tuesday night to comment on his Raw promo. Rollins tweeted, "Eyes on the prize, heart with my homie" in reference to him not losing sight of his ultimate goal, the WWE Universal Title while also expressing his excitement for the return of Roman Reigns.

But it was the follow up that put Rollins in the headlines.

Yes, Seth Rollins believes Brock Lesnar is a ho. And if we don't believe Rollins, we can ask Lesnar ourselves. Brock hasn't sent a tweet that wasn't a retweet since May 2017, so don't expect him to answer any inquiries about his status as a ho on social media. Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman has yet to issue a statement on the matter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Eyes on the prize, heart with my homie....Always bros before hos. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/lesnarisaho?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#lesnarisaho</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/justaskhim?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#justaskhim</a> <a href="https://t.co/eNNRq59ior">https://t.co/eNNRq59ior</a></p>— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWERollins/status/1100654600380710912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

On the latest episode of Road to Double or Nothing, AEW announced that they have signed Bea Priestley to their women’s division and that she will debut at July’s “Fight for the Fallen” show.

Priestley has wrestled for Stardom in Japan, World of Sport in the UK and lots of other indie promotions. She’s also in a relationship with Will Ospreay, so we’ll see if that has any effect on the possibility of Ospreay in AEW. His NJPW contract reportedly expires some time this year.

WWE announced that they have signed five new wrestlers to the NXT UK brand.

Jazzy Gabert
Kay Lee Ray
Ilja Rukober
Oliver Sauter
Jay Melrose

Jazzy Gabert and Kay Lee Ray both competed in the 2017 Mae Young Classic.

Mr. Nerfect

02-28-2019, 08:36 AM

Minus 5 stars, Seth.

slik

03-01-2019, 02:43 AM

ProWrestlingSheet reporting Dana Warrior has joined WWE Creative.

Emperor Smeat

03-01-2019, 04:31 AM

Thursdays Extra Late Sheets Edition:

There was a story making rounds because Dean Ambrose was advertised on dates past April, with the idea that he may have now agreed to a new deal. According to WWE, the advertising was dated and he will no longer be promoted for those events.

Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp reports that WWE is hoping Roman Reigns can be the "Dean Whisper" backstage. It is no secret that Reigns is one of Ambrose's best friends on the roster with the two being travel partners over the years. Fightful reported on Monday that Ambrose was very emotional while Roman was sharing the positive news about his return.

The term "Deadman Talking" that Starrcast applied for a trademark on was not for a podcast, but it was a name they would use for proposed speaking tour events. There is no deal in play for an Undertaker podcast.

A former Knockouts Champion has re-signed with Impact Wrestling.

Rosemary appeared on Impact's Press Pass podcast today and announced that she's signed a two-year deal with the company.

After returning to Raw on Monday and announcing that his leukemia is in remission, Roman Reigns is being advertised for a match at Fastlane.

The Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio is advertising Reigns & Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre & Bobby Lashley in a two-on-three handicap match for Fastlane. The pay-per-view is taking place at the Quicken Loans Arena on March 10.

WWE has yet to officially announce the match. It being advertised doesn't necessarily guarantee that the match will happen, or that it will happen in that two-on-three form.

Though the tournament has yet to get underway, an injury has forced a change to the New Japan Cup lineup.

NJPW announced on Wednesday night that David Finlay will miss the New Japan Cup due to a left shoulder injury. A replacement for Finlay has yet to be announced. He was scheduled to face Hiroyoshi Tenzan in a first round match on March 10.

NJPW has confirmed that they have visas for their Japanese wrestlers to wrestle in the United States as they prepare for the G1 Climax 29 Opening Day this summer ...

The company also confirmed that tickets will go on sale for their G1 Climax 29 Opening Day event in Dallas, Texas on March 13 starting at 12 p.m. Central time. Prices will start at $50 and will go as high as $300.

We were told by one person in the WWE that the decision to make the switch involving Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens for the Fastlane title match was made last week. If Kofi Kingston does, in fact, get the title match at WrestleMania it is going to be a unique set of circumstances that led to that match. It stemmed from a concussion that Mustafa Ali sustained earlier this month at a house show and the momentum Kingston gained going into Elimination Chamber.

Tanga Loa was interviewed on the “Art of Wrestling” podcast by Colt Cabana and mentioned that he is not under contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling despite holding the IWGP tag titles with Tama Tonga.

As for Rousey, she is being advertised for events through the Raw after WrestleMania. She is currently being advertised to appear on the Apr. 8 episode of Raw in Brooklyn, the night after WrestleMania. She is not being advertised for the Apr. 15 Raw in Montreal, which is being billed as the International Superstar Shake-Up.

It was reported in January that Rousey would be "taking a break" from WWE following WrestleMania. Rousey's contract with the company runs through April 2021.

This week’s update on WrestleMania is that HHH vs. Batista is obviously a done deal. HHH said in January that he was able to start training after his surgery for the torn pec although doing a match five months after that surgery would be ahead of the usual six month timetable for that surgery. The match had been planned dating back to an angle on Smackdown before HHH’s injury, but it was only finalized this past week. As noted here before, Batista had no interest in wrestling anywhere but WWE but as late as last week had not finalized a deal. Both Undertaker and HHH had been looked at as opponents.

As of the weekend, Undertaker was not on the card and John Cena and Kurt Angle still were. There’s still not a lot definite for the show and this is the latest period I can ever recall where most of the show wasn’t pretty much finalized. From television, and this has not yet been confirmed, it does look like Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston will replace Bryan vs. Kevin Owens as the WWE title match on WrestleMania. Mustafa Ali, who at one point was to face Bryan at Fastlane, has not returned to action since suffering a concussion more than two weeks ago, although he was being evaluated on 2/26 and his return is expected shortly ...

We were told that a few days before the show Vince McMahon made the decision to put Owens, who was Bryan’s Mania opponent at Fastlane instead. The one negative is that Owens, who was supposed to return as an everyman babyface, hence the videos, that were to peak in a few weeks, was rushed back and put in the position to take the title shot as a handpicked person by McMahon, and take it from the guy people wanted ...

With the constant changes in Bryan’s opponents, he’s now lost three matches via pin on the last three episodes of Smackdown, two to Kingston (the first on 2/12 to get Kingston into the Chamber and over in the gauntlet; and then, after Bryan had pinned Kingston in the Chamber final, because Kingston got over so big and they decided to put him in the PPV main event they had him beat Bryan in a six-man on 2/19, and then when the decision was made to flip flop he and Owens, to get Owens over after a long absence, he pinned Bryan on 2/26 in a tag match). Granted, the champion getting pinned in non-title and tag situations is just basic booking, when you overdo it, you make the champion look weak and any kind of angle repeated three times faces the law of diminishing returns. Bryan had already back in December dropped a TV fall to Mustafa Ali to elevate him into title challenger level, so it’s actually been done four times, due to booking changes.

There’s talk of a few multiple person matches, which gets more people in big matches but when the main event is multiple person, you probably want to limit those type of matches on the undercard, not that the main event needs protection since it’ll probably be the hottest match on the show. As far as what goes on last, that decision won’t be made until the week of the show but everyone expects it to be the Lynch match and talking about the first woman’s main event in history would seem to make it a lock, but they’ve also referred to Lesnar vs. Rollins as the main event. But clearly the focal point of the promotion of the show will be the women.

Hiromu Takahashi is expected to show up as a surprise on a show very soon to announce his comeback. He’s been regularly tweeting percentages that his neck has healed. They are made up numbers where it’s like 990 percent and numbers like that. What we were told some time back is that he would be returning at some pont, that was a given, and it would be this year and big deal would be made of it. He’s going to have to tone down his style. Hopefully it’s more like Bushi, who has had to tone down but is still very good, than Honma, who is very limited in what he can do. Takahashi was really on a role at the time of his injury at the Cow Palace show and due to his charisma was the most popular junior heavyweight in the company dating back to the heyday of Jushin Liger

Adam Bueller, who was a death match wrestler for Midwest independent groups including IWA Mid-South and Resistance Pro Wrestling, was diagnosed as being HIV-Positive. This is actually a huge story because with the deregulation of pro wrestling by athletic commissions around the country, he had never had to take a blood test, and with that, and his competing in many bloodbath matches, it put the people he worked matches with at very serious risk. Bueller first found a growth in his armpit and was told he was suffering from Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and began a program of radiation and chemotherapy. This took him out of wrestling. But the treatment wasn’t working on his white blood cell count. After further testing, it was found out he was HIV-positive. He was also suffering from pneumonia. He noted in his entire career not only did he never have to take a blood test, but the subject of taking one never came up.

Bueller claims he doesn’t know where the HIV came from but feels it may have been from being involved “with someone that I shouldn’t have” but that doctors believe he’s been HIV-Positive for years and just didn’t get any symptoms until recently. He said he had been doing death match style wrestling since 2015, said he doesn’t think he got HIV from bloody matches but also said he would never know for sure. He actually has talked about wanting to wrestle, but not in matches involving blood, with the proviso that if there is any blood by accident, they’d go right to the finish. But that would require a company comfortable with using him and opponents willing to wrestle him.

There have been a lot of questions regarding Howard Finkel, 68, the Hall of Fame ring announcer and longest employee of the Vince McMahon Jr. company ever since Jerry Lawler on his podcast said Finkel suffered a serious stroke. WWE has kept all information on Finkel quiet, and even friends of his didn’t know what was going on. What we do know is that Finkel, who nobody has seen since Lawler said that, has been in poor health since that time and it’s really a sad story. Finkel was also a friendly guy, was, as far as I’ve been told, the conduit in the WWF office getting the Observer from the start and he’d run off copies for most of senior management, and obviously was the greatest ring announcer of his generation, and I’d even rate him above Michael Buffer.

WWE NXT Champion Tomasso Ciampa has a neck injury that has forced him out of action, resulting in a rewrite of this past Monday’s episode of Raw, PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources.

Originally, Ciampa and Johnny Gargano were slated to compete in a four-way tag match that would have also featured Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins as well as Aleister Black & Ricochet and another team PWInsider.com has not confirmed. Raw Tag Team Champions the Revival were slated to be ringside for the match but once it was confirmed Ciampa would not be cleared to wrestle, it was changed to the Revival vs. Black and Ricochet. Ciampa and Gargano instead appeared in a non-wrestling roles on the show.

We are told the neck issue has been a lingering thing for at least 4-5 weeks, possibly longer. Depending on if and when Ciampa is cleared to return, WWE will have to be creative regarding the NXT Championship and the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Classic, which Ciampa is competing in. We are told all options are on the table, depending on what the final determination is regarding his injury, but as of Monday he was not cleared to wrestle medically.

slik

03-01-2019, 08:52 AM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dana Warrior Has Joined WWE’s Writing Team: <a href="https://t.co/hxwCNW6fbZ">https://t.co/hxwCNW6fbZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/1jsITDGwQW">pic.twitter.com/1jsITDGwQW</a></p>— Pro Wrestling Sheet (@WrestlingSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestlingSheet/status/1101373454350249984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Volare

03-01-2019, 09:18 AM

That photo wtf.

Black Widow

03-01-2019, 09:42 AM

Now we are gonna get Mojo running out in face paint and tassels.

Big Poppa Pauly

03-01-2019, 11:11 AM

That photo wtf.

That's her face, bud.

Droford

03-01-2019, 11:50 AM

Now we are gonna get Mojo running out in face paint and tassels.

Remember when Hogan did the promos in the mirror and startief seeing Warrior...

Black Widow

03-01-2019, 12:38 PM

Remember when Hogan did the promos in the mirror and startief seeing Warrior...Nah.

I remember Taker doing it to Orton though.

ClockShot

03-01-2019, 04:32 PM

Emperor Smeat

03-01-2019, 11:21 PM

The Sheets:

Overnight, Pro Wrestling Sheet ran a story on how Dana Warrior, wife of the late Ultimate Warrior, joined the WWE writing team to offer more of a female perspective. Our Dave Meltzer reports that the role is that of a consultant and not a member of the writing team, although that may change in the future. She was at WWE TV last week and is scheduled for this week.

Some other notes from Dave:

Bruce Prichard's role with WWE and in the pecking order has been a bit overstated and that he's also a consultant and not on the writing team. Prichard and Conrad Thompson will continue their Something To Wrestle podcast.

On Friday’s “Something to Wrestle” podcast, Bruce Prichard discussed his recent re-hiring by the WWE. This past week was Prichard’s first week back at television and stated his role was still being defined. Prichard and Conrad Thompson are not canceling the podcast and are planning to continue a weekly show, but will likely be doing far fewer live shows, if any, because of Prichard’s new schedule. He is also still scheduled for Starrcast.

WA week after he was granted his release, the former Tye Dillinger has been announced for his first matches since departing WWE.

Create A Pro Wrestling announced today that Dillinger, who is going by the name Shawn Spears, will have his "first post-WWE independent match" at their event in Lynbrook, New York on Friday, May 31.

Shawn Spears is the name Dillinger used at the beginning of his career.

Dillinger is also set for Beyond Wrestling's Uncharted Territory show in Worcester, Massachusetts on Wednesday, June 5.

Madison Rayne is returning to Impact Wrestling.

One day after it was revealed that she had departed ROH, Impact Wrestling announced on Friday that Rayne is returning to Impact. Rayne is a former five-time Knockouts Champion in the promotion.

WrestleCon has announced a first-time matchup for their WrestleMania week Supershow.

Will Ospreay vs. Bandido is set for this year's Mark Hitchcock Memorial Supershow, which is taking place at the Hilton New York Midtown Ballroom in New York City at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, April 4.

Former IWGP Champion and WCW star Scott Norton has announced he is releasing an autobiography on 5/25 titled Strong Style. For more details and to pre-order, click here.
LINK: https://www.scottflashnorton.com/

The angle to put The Shield back together for Fastlane is expected for Monday’s episode of Raw from Philadelphia. The local advertising in Cleveland is listing Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins teaming against Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, and Baron Corbin, but we have been told Dean Ambrose will be part of the match.

AXS TV has announced that they will be carrying the first night of the G1 Climax live from Dallas, Texas on Saturday, July 6th.

Bad News Gertner

03-02-2019, 10:20 AM

That Norton book should be awesome. He was there in the last days of the AWA, his long run in Japan, WCW, Portland, arm wrestling etc..

owenbrown

03-02-2019, 12:39 PM

In hindsight, Norton should have gotten somewhat of a push in WCW.

ClockShot

03-02-2019, 01:17 PM

Would have loved to see Madison Rayne go to AEW.

Jordan

03-02-2019, 01:46 PM

In hindsight, Norton should have gotten somewhat of a push in WCW.

I agree. NWO or Team WCW could've used him in a similar way to how Paul E. used 911. Have Norton just crash NWO matches and start tearing people apart leading to a big showdown with Hogan or Nash. He gets beaten of course and then starts up a tag team with Benoit. I always found some commonality between the two and Benoit would've balanced him out.

erickman

03-02-2019, 03:39 PM

Would have loved to see Madison Rayne go to AEW.

now she is out of roh she may be able to work aew, I just wonder what the impact aew work agreements will be.

slik

03-04-2019, 02:13 PM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Along with the influx of new minds backstage including Bruce Pritchard, Jeff Jarrett, Abyss & others, an interesting name has begun to sit in on important creative meetings, with his ideas & opinions viewed in high regard: Jason Jordan.</p>— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestleVotes/status/1102646077210144768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Emperor Smeat

03-05-2019, 10:02 PM

The Sheets:

During tonight's [Monday] Smackdown live event in White Plains, NY, WWE Smackdown Women's Champion Asuka appeared to be injured while wrestling Mandy Rose.

There was a spot where Rose "dropped Asuka" as she was executing a wheel barrow into a Facebuster, but there appeared to have been a miscommunication as Asuka instead went for a victory roll reversal and it ended up with Asuka landing at an akward angle on the side of her face/head. The match was stopped. Asuka was checked on the outside by WWE medical staff and eventually walked to the back, holding her neck and shoulder.

Live in the Westchester County Center, the bout was being ruled a no contest as Asuka could not continue "due to injury."

Asuka posted another update on the back injury that she suffered at last night’s SmackDown house show, again noting that she’s feeling fine: “Good morning. I’m very very fine and energetic. Thank you for your concern”

Despite Fastlane being billed as the last time the Shield will team up, the Wells Fargo Arena is advertising the same match pitting the Shield against Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre for the 4/22 Raw. The match may just be a placeholder for advertising.

The official autobiography of WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino, Bruno Sammartino: An Autobiography Of Wrestling's Living Legend has been re-released with a new, expanded version and can be ordered by clicking here.

The updated version of the book was being worked on prior to Sammartino's passing last year at the age of 82 and after his passing, was pushed back to incorporate his passing and legacy. Bruno has been expanded from the original version that was published in the late 1980s, removing material that protected the realism of the business during that time period. The book also features new aterial that expands Sammartino's story, including comments and stories from others who knew and worked with Sammartino.
Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729634346?pf_rd_p=c2945051-950f-485c-b4df-15aac5223b10&pf_rd_r=G1YRN6R6647DEGA0V4Z5

The 3/3 episode of Total Bellas on E! brought in 411,000 overnight viewers, down from last week's 424,000 overnight viewers.
Replaces last week as the new 2nd lowest ever in series history.

The WWE Network premiered a new edition of Chronicle on Monday featuring Roman Reigns. The 30-minute special chronicled a three-day period from February 22nd through February 25th, which was the night of his return on Raw in Atlanta last week. Reigns spoke about the diagnosis last fall where he heard the news at a live event about an issue with a blood test. That Monday at Raw, he was informed of the findings and that his blood test showed an elevated white blood cell count. Reigns said he was diagnosed with CML (Chronic myelogenous leukemia) and caught it in the earlier stages with his treatment consisting of an oral form of chemotherapy through a pill. He added that there were side effects but stated it was a huge breakthrough that he could combat his disease through a pill. He added that he did not expect to return as soon as he did, noting he was 33 years old and wasn’t 22 when he was first diagnosed.

Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of coverage of King Kong Bundy’s passing. He was a well-remembered character with a great look and easily recognizable name ... Despite being a character that many people associated with their childhood, he was not one of the legends that the WWE ever brought back or marketed.

If you look at his last tweets, he was retweeting a lot of messages from fans requesting he enter the WWE Hall of Fame. While some will debate the merits of the WWE Hall of Fame, it’s become evident that it does mean a lot to these past performers. In the case of Vader, Jim Neidhart, and Chyna, they all died before they could be inducted, and each had expressed a desire to be included with Bundy appearing to have the same aspirations. Yes, there is an appearance fee and it leads to additional appearances through the WWE publicity, but it also allows some of these people that well beyond their active days in the ring to have one more night where there is a spotlight placed upon them.

The promo that Ronda Rousey cut in the final segment on Raw was supposed to go longer than it did.
Would explain why the last few minutes felt like a disorganized mess.

Alexa Bliss shuts down reports of her injury.

Earlier today, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that Alexa Bliss is dealing with an injury, but didn't have details on the extent of the injury or what kind of injury she was dealing with. Bliss last wrestled on Feb. 24 at a live event in Montgomery, Alabama.

PWInsider reports that Eli Drake's contract with IMPACT Wrestling expires in the next 60 days.

Despite rumors that Ambrose may have changed his mind about leaving WWE when his contract expires next month, as of last night, Ambrose is still planning on leaving, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. He could change his mind of course, but as of now, he’s still leaving.

Strangely, Renee Young mentioned on commentary last night that Ambrose would be “moving on to greener pastures.”

Emperor Smeat

03-06-2019, 09:23 PM

The Sheets:

Colby Corino worked as an enhancement wrestler on last night’s 205 Live and faced Mike Kanellis. Steve Corino tweeted about his son’s appearance: “So proud. For so many reasons.”

Ethan Page signed a two-year deal with Impact Wrestling that kicked in at the beginning of this year.

LA Park vs. Masato Tanaka is set for Joey Janela’s Spring Break 3, part two in Jersey City, New Jersey on April 6.

As expected, Tampa, Florida is set to be officially confirmed as the host city for WrestleMania 36.

WWE has announced that they'll be making a "very important announcement" in Tampa Bay at 11 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow (Thursday, March 7). The Tampa Bay Times confirmed that the press event is to formally announce Raymond James Stadium (the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) as the host of WrestleMania 36.

WrestleMania 36 will take place on Sunday, April 5, 2020.

During Wednesday’s 47th anniversary card, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the dates and locations for the G1 Climax this summer.

The annual tournament kicks off on Saturday, July 6th with the opening night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. It will culminate with three consecutive nights at Budokan Hall from August 10 – 12th with the final night on a Monday, as opposed to the traditional Sunday night.

Base pay for top WWE executives revealed.

A new SEC filing by WWE shows the 2019 salary pay for the top 5 executives:
Analysis: George Barrios’ Defense Of WWE's Declining Popularity Metrics
Related Article Analysis: George Barrios’ Defense Of WWE's Declining Popularity Metrics

- Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon - $1.4 million in 2019 (equal with 2018 and 2017)

- Co-President George Barrios - $935,250 in 2019 ($870,000 in 2018, $783,510 in 2017)

- Co-President Michelle Wilson - $935,250 in 2019 ($870,000 in 2018, $791,044 in 2017)

- Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events & Creative Triple H - $710,000 in 2019 ($684,125 in 2018, $650,000 in 2017)

- Executive Producer & Chief of Global Television Production Kevin Dunn - $950,000 in 2019 ($925,000 in 2018, $909,560 in 2017)

These salaries are just the base pay numbers for each executive and does not include bonuses, stock options, or, in the case of Triple H, performer pay.

Conrad Thompson has addressed the rumor and innuendo surrounding the “Dead Man Talking” trademark filed by Starrcast LLC.

Thompson was interviewed on the latest episode of Total Engagement with Matt Koon and was quick to shutdown any speculation regarding a potential podcast with The Undertaker.

“I just thought it was a cool name,” Thompson said when host Matt Koon inquired about the filing. Thompson then clarified that although he has petitioned for the trademark, he’s yet to be awarded it.

“We did book the Undertaker for Starrcast and we have talked about the possibility of there being a second booking or there being a stage show or whatever involved with that,” Thompson continued. “Maybe there might be something besides just pictures and autographs, but I don’t have anything confirmed with anyone.”

There is now speculation that John Cena will be involved in the WWE United States Title match at WrestleMania 35, possibly in a singles bout against new champion Samoa Joe.

Joe defeated R-Truth on last night's WWE SmackDown episode to capture the title. Truth dropped the title during an US Open Challenge, which was created by Cena, and Truth had been name-dropping Cena a lot during recent promos, talking about how he wanted to make Cena proud and how he wanted to be like Cena.

Some feel that Joe's post-match interview with Kayla Braxton was teasing an upcoming showdown with Cena ...

Cena's WrestleMania 35 status has been up in the air as of late because there is no match planned for him after the planned match with Lars Sullivan fell apart due to Lars' questionable status. WWE usually has matches for top stars like Cena and The Undertaker locked in by now, but this year has been different. Cena is currently in Vancouver filming the "Playing with Fire" movie but he announced this week that he will be doing an "Elbow Grease" book signing in New York City during WrestleMania 35 weekend, confirming that he will be in town during the biggest weekend of the year.

WWE RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey appears to be wrapping up her current WWE run soon.

WWE has been releasing new advertising for events after WrestleMania, and Rousey is not featured for any shows after the post-WrestleMania episode of RAW at the Barclays Center on Monday, April 8th. She is advertised for all of the remaining RAWs heading into WrestleMania.

Rousey is also not advertised for any more live events following the RAW live event a week from Sunday on March 17th at the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

The risk of injuries is one of the reasons WWE decided to go with a Triple Threat for the RAW Women's Title at WrestleMania 35, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

WWE talents get hurt a lot more these days and there's an added risk when booking longterm angles. WWE decided on going with Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs. champion Ronda Rousey so that they could still do a singles match if one of the others suffered an injury. This was not a major reason for going with the Triple Threat, but it was one of the reasons, as there was a fear of losing one of the participants.

Tommaso Ciampa will be undergoing neck surgery in the next couple of days and will be out for a “long, long time,” according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer said that WWE confirmed to him that the surgery would be happening.

It’s not known how long he’ll be out, or what the nature of the neck injury is, but Meltzer said that historically, neck surgery has kept wrestlers out from anywhere between 6-14 months.

03-06-2019, 09:35 PM

So much for the Ciampa vs Gargano glorious ending.

Sepholio

03-06-2019, 09:46 PM

That fucking sucks for Ciampa.

owenbrown

03-06-2019, 10:55 PM

I don't think this is how Vacant wanted to be NXT champion

Emperor Smeat

03-07-2019, 09:33 PM

The Sheets:

Richard "Dick" Beyer, who was probably the single biggest non-Mexican masked wrestling star in pro wrestling history as The Sensational Intelligent Destroyer, as well as Dr. X, passed away today at the age of 88 ...

Beyer had been in hospice care in recent weeks and a number of his friends had called him in recent days, including Ric Flair.

In particular, in Japan, The Destroyer was legendary for having beaten Rikidozan, who he was good friends with and whose death haunted him for years. Rikidozan asked him to stay an extra day after the conclusion of the final tour of 1963 in Japan, and go out with him on December 8, 1963. Instead, Beyer decided, after thinking about it, to go home to see his family. Rikidozan went out to a club that night, where he was stabbed, and one week later, passed away.

To show how big the Rikidozan vs. Destroyer match in Japan was, the final minute of the 61 minute draw, with the audience growing from start to finish, was a 72.6 rating. Not hare, but rating,which meant that 72.6 percent of the homes that had television sets in Japan in 1963 watched the ending of that match live. It is believed to be the single most-viewed live pro wrestling match in history.

With the WrestleMania press conference today, there is a reason only WrestleMania was announced. At this point they haven't figured out the schedule for the other shows because of the move to FOX and a live Friday night show. Stephanie McMahon told the Observer "We're still figuring that out right now. So we don't even know. Everything is to be determined."

For what it's worth, the name Kairi Sane came up several times regarding NXT wrestlers likely to perform on next year's Mania show.

Tampa got the show because of a relationship with WWE over the new XFL, which I guess shows the idea they were two completely separate entities is a little overblown.

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship will be on the line in a three-way match at ROH & NJPW's G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden.

ROH announced today that Taiji Ishimori will defend his Junior Heavyweight title against Dragon Lee and Bandido at G1 Supercard. NJPW (Ishimori), CMLL (Lee), and ROH (Bandido) will all be represented in the match.

Jim Cornette went in-depth on the latest Jim Cornette Experience podcast on his return to commentary with MLW and his future.

Cornette says he has not signed officially with the company. He is committed to the company through New York Battle Riot II event Wrestlemania weekend. Beyond that, he is not opposed to working more dates for the company, but nothing is set in stone.

As for the report that he was an agent, he assisted backstage with promos for talents and helped out where talent need assistance. But he is there to be a color commentator for the most part.

WWE Network News is reporting that an interesting piece of AWA footage is being added today to the WWE Network. The one-hour promotional video done in conjunction with Kellogg's features four matches with wrestlers representing brands:

THE BATTLE OF BREAKFAST CEREAL

MAY 01, 1989

Legendary superstars such as Nutra Rockne, Total the Terrible and Hondo the Honeybee compete in this bizarre battle for breakfast supremacy.

Today is National Cereal Day, so this is a tie-in to that.

The latest update on Lars Sullivan.

According to Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet, Lars Sullivan is “in a good place” after seeking professional help following a reported anxiety attack in January ...

Satin goes on to report that Sullivan immediately began seeking help from mental health professionals and WWE has been incredibly accommodating the whole time. However, it is unclear when he will return to the company.
Link: http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/lars-sullivan-update-wwe/#.XIF3KlNKjOQ

One of the two WrestleMania main events, the much talked-about Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair match for the women’s title is probably the most-discussed and really least-understood match in a long time. The idea dating back a year was to possibly have women headline the biggest show of the year, particularly when Ronda Rousey took to pro wrestling so quickly and her match stole the show at WrestleMania, and another women’s match (Flair vs. Asuka) was probably the second best match on the show ...

The WrestleMania result largely depends on Rousey’s final date with the company. Right now that is the day after WrestleMania, meaning that is her blow-off. As we’ve seen, Vince McMahon can be very persuasive on people who want to leave, or perhaps some guys can be very good at making McMahon feel he’s being very persuasive, depending on Lesnar’s real goals and motives. And while Lesnar and Rousey share Paul Heyman as their main confidante and story teller, they are very different people. Most would concede from a traditional standpoint, a singles match is better than a multiple-person match, and Rousey vs. Lynch was a strong singles match. A comparison has been made to the second Rock vs. John Cena match, where they could have added C.M. Punk but didn’t. That shows the difference between the PPV model and the network model, and also the difference between doing the match for the crowd on that day, and doing the match for historical purposes ...

When Rousey took the kendo stick shots, she asked for Flair to hit her as hard as she could over and over. The idea was to have real welts, bruises and blood. Of course, after that beating, she was fine and wrestled the next day on television and retained her title, which kind of defeated the purpose which is usually to make the beating look legit without welting the other party up, and then selling it the next day to give it magnitude. Similarly Lynch was told by both in the crutch angle to hit them as hard as she could. Rousey was told this past week for Rousey to do everything she would in a real fight at real fight intensity, but no punches or kicks to the face (there was a pretty brutal knee by wrestling standards) and obviously not to actually hurt her, with the idea she took Rousey’s best shots and still came to television and fought the next day.

A report by Wrestling Inc. claimed that the firing of Arn Anderson (Marty Lunde) as a agent came because he allowed Alicia Fox to wrestle on a show when she was allegedly under the influence. We had been told a number of different stories, including that one, but all off the record. The stories varied but it was confirmed to us that Anderson was the agent in Fox’s last match which was the match in question, believed to be on 2/10 in Saginaw, MI, or a match around that loop. Nobody has denied the basics of the story as it was reported. Talent was quiet on the nature of the story but those we had heard from were still defensive of Anderson’s role in the story, even though on the surface it seems pretty open-and-shut.

Fox (Victoria Crawford, 32), has not wrestled since 2/10 in Saginaw, MI, in a trios match teaming with Nikki Cross and Mickie James against Bayley & Natalya & Dana Brooke. She has not been at television of late. One person directly involved would not talk about the situation past saying that Fox was not in rehab, and that nobody knows what the situation fully is with Fox right now.

The defense of Anderson from talent is that they believe and even insist he didn’t know anything regarding Fox was that bad before the match, nor did the talent at the time. The women are used to Fox behaving erratically, which she did then but has done, more of late. Anderson and Vince McMahon had previously had a tenuous relationship and it was noted Paul Levesque had saved his job in the past, and that he had a strong relationship as John Cena’s personal agent for all his major matches (and he worked with most of the top names).

The WWE’s PPV schedule for the remainder of 2019 was released this past week. The most notable change is that Money in the Bank, the traditional June PPV, has been moved up a month to 5/19 in Hartford, CT. Because of that, the Takeover schedule has been changed. Takeovers are usually held the night before Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, Money in the Bank, SummerSlam and Survivor Series, which are now considered the big five events. While WWE has not confirmed this, the word going around is that the decision is that a May Takeover is too soon after the biggest show of the year, and that they feel June is better. The June PPV is 6/16 in San Diego, which is a fairly tough wrestling market when it comes to working two shows on successive nights. The July PPV is 7/14 in Philadelphia, which is a strong market where Takeover would do well, but that would mean Takeovers in both July and August, which is where June fits in, as it’s two months after one show and two months before the other, rather than trying to do Takeovers in successive months.

The impression we were given is that the Takeover show would be held on 6/8 at San Jose State University, using the 5,000-seat arena that was where the show that spawned the Takeover concept took place when the company sold out an event the Friday night before WrestleMania in Santa Clara on March 27, 2015 ...

The most notable thing about the schedule is there is no Evolution PPV. Even if the reasons, given the timing, were transparent as a make good for running the lucrative shows in Saudi Arabia, where the women performers were not allowed, the show ended up being a major aesthetic and public relations success. The Evolution PPV in 2018 was one of the best received in years. It didn’t have the interest level of other shows as searches were way down, but they did sell out the Nassau Coliseum, although it had the softest secondary market of the year. When it was over, the feeling was they had to make it an annual thing. They may be not doing it if they can get the women into Saudi Arabia, which they’ll no doubt market by taking credit for that breakthrough as justification for going there. Obviously that’s all up to the Saudi Arabian government, which, quite frankly, sort of owes them a favor, although they’ve paid big for those favors already.

Right now the belief is Reigns will be working a full-time schedule starting with the European tour in May, if not earlier, but will be on Raw every week and PPV shows from this point forward

Regarding Bruce Prichard, he’s not the No. 2 guy in creative or anything at quite that level, but will have influence. He was described as now working full-time with the term roving consultant used, although we don’t know if that’s the official job title. He was described as being a guy in the process, but when it comes to influence, would be below Paul Levesque, Brian James, Dave Kapoor and Ed Koskey. One person who has heavily praised how Jeff Jarrett has been handling himself since coming said that he thinks Jarrett will end up more influential as well. Prichard and Dana Warrior were among four new people hired, who are not on the writing team although are consultants in some form. Dana had been looking for a regular gig in the company and wanted to be on creative, so this is a way of testing her out and she may end up on the writing team, and is being groomed for that possibility, but isn’t at this time. The line about her being able to give a women’s perspective was hers, although WWE has a few women on the writing team, who have been praised to us.

While Styles has not signed a new contract, and his deal with WWE is due shortly, he had told friends and all expectations are that he will sign. The basic gist regards his age, and the stability of WWE at this point in his career. Styles is Kenny Omega’s dream opponent and he’s good enough friends with the Young Bucks that they have talked with him when they were considering their own futures late last year. Those in AEW had not expected Styles to consider coming although they obviously would have wanted him if he was interested

The web site Squared Circle Sirens reported a list of names that have been contacted about being in th cast of a new Bunim-Murray reality show called “Superstar Search.” Basically it’s the old Diva Search show, but they no longer use the word divas (except in Total Divas). The show is being filmed starting later this month. Names listed were Lady Frost, who was part of a December tryout and once wrestled Asuka on television; Tasha Steelz, who is the women’s champion for New England’s Chaotic Wrestling, Dolce Delta, a model from New Jersey, Nicole Marie, a transgender Northern California bodybuilder and independent wrestler, Lexi Layne, a model and singer, Lexus Amanda, also a singer, Karissa Rivera, who had a December tryout and did an NXT loss to Lacey Evans, Hayley Jade Poston, who was part of the December tryout and is a model and fitness instructor out of Nashville, Alexis Evans, who has competed in bodybuilding and rugby and was part of the December WWE camp

Jim Ross announced on the latest episode of his podcast that he’ll be leaving WWE when his contract expires on March 29.

Ross said:
“After talking a couple of weeks ago with Vince McMahon, we have mutually agreed that I need to move on. I will not be returning to WWE after the 29th of March. I’m leaving with great thoughts, very positive. I made a lot of money. Vince was amazing to Jan and myself. He set us up for life, financially, for which I can never repay him.”

JR said that he’s not done and “still wants to play the game,” hinting that he could end up somewhere else soon…

Jeff Jarrett has officially joined the WWE creative team, according to PWInsider, which described the position as a “full-time executive-level role.”

Jarrett returned to WWE in January and was initially hired to be a backstage producer. He has been in that role at WWE’s production meetings for the past few weeks, but spent several days last week at WWE headquarters in Connecticut in advance of being added to the creative team, PWInsider says.

Wrestling legend Jushin Thunder Liger announced at a press conference today that he’ll be retiring at next year’s NJPW Tokyo Dome show in January. He said that in his last year, he hoped to wrestle all over the world and hoped to be at the G1 Supercard show in April at MSG. When he retires, he’ll be 55 years old.

Emperor Smeat

03-08-2019, 09:12 PM

The Sheets:

One of the big topics of conversation at this week’s Smackdown tapings were the future of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, PWInsider.com has learned.

The former WWE Raw and multi-time IWGP Tag Team Champions have been among the talents that WWE management approached about signing new deals well in advance of their current contracts expiring this fall.

While Gallows, 35 years old and Anderson, 39, had multiple meetings with WWE about their future, we have been told by three sources over the last two days that the pair have turned down “multi-million-dollar deals” from the company and intend to exit after their current deals expire.

From sources we have spoken to, part of the reason the pair are looking to exit is how they have been handled in recent years.

ROH has revealed some of the details for the G1 Supercard pre-show.

The pre-show will begin at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, April 6, leading into the main card starting at 7:30 p.m. The pre-show will feature an Honor Rumble match, with wrestlers from ROH and NJPW taking part in it. Further information on entrants for the match has yet to be announced.

During the opening night of the New Japan Cup, NJPW aired a video hyping an upcoming debut. The video announced that El Phantasmo is coming to NJPW soon, though a date for his debut wasn't given. It was indicated that El Phantasmo will be a member of Bullet Club, with the Bullet Club logo being shown at the end of the video.

Game Changer Wrestling put out a teaser with LAX challenging the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express to a match at Spring Break over WrestleMania weekend. Those shows are going to incredible crowds and that type of match is going to get over so well on that card.

ACH had first match as a member of the NXT roster on Thursday in Largo, Florida. The recent signing was introduced under his real name of Albert Hardie and lost to Raul Mendoza. Sasha Banks and Bayley also appeared at the show as they were in town for the WrestleMania press conference earlier in the day. The WWE women’s tag champions sat ringside for a three-way match with Io Shirai and Kairi Sane vs. Rhea Ripley & Reina Gonzalez vs. Vanessa Borne & Aliyah.

Ring of Honor owner Sinclair Broadcast Group has partnered with The New York Yankees, Amazon and several private equity firms to close a $3.5 billion deal to purchase the YES Network, the New York Yankees-centric cable network. The deal was first reported by Deadline.com and is expected to be officially announced shortly. 21st Century FOX owned 80% of the cable network and needed to divest itself of ownership as part of its impending merger with Disney.

One would think that Sinclair would be able to position Ring of Honor television on the cable network, which would give the promotion a regular TV home in all of New York as well as several other surrounding States. Matt Turk also pointed out that the YES Network also has a national feed they switch to when the Yankees play, so ROH could potentially land on that feed as well.

WWE released the following tribute video for the late King Kong Bundy:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ouk9AJxATP4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

ClockShot

03-09-2019, 08:05 AM

6:30 start time for the G1 Supercard. Noted.

Sinclair bought YES. Not bad. Now they can probably pull Ring of Honor off NESN and put it in a solid time slot instead of just fans trying to guess what time it's on.

Emperor Smeat

03-12-2019, 10:02 PM

The Sheets:

Coming off Fastlane, Raw had another strong rating last night with an average of 2.82 million viewers, up one percent from last week.

It was the second best number the show has done since September 3.

The notable thing about last night is that, even coming off a pay-per-view, the first hour was significantly down from the past two weeks. However, the audience retention over the three hours was the best in a long time, meaning this was a show that audience stuck with.

In an interview with The Mirror, Dash Wilder said that the report of him and Scott Dawson asking for their release back in January was “lost in translation”. “There were some things that got out there that I don't think people knew the full story about,” he said. “I don't think it aggravated us, it kind of gave us… again, we like to be angry. We like to be mad at things and have something to fight for. So that gave us more fuel for the fire and we were like… 'we’ll have fun with the internet over that, as they don't know what's what, so we're not going to tell them otherwise.”

On 3/5, "Shanghai Martialism Sport and Culture Communication Co" applied for a US trademark for "OWE Kungfu Wrestling" ...

This is the same company that is partnering with All Elite Wrestling.

The card for WrestleMania has taken shape with most of the talent accounted for. After SmackDown tonight, it should answer some of the lingering questions. I’ve been told that there are a few variables left at the bottom of the card to be determined but everything else seems to be set ...

John Cena vs. TBA – All I’ve heard is that they do have a plan for Cena but I don’t know the opponent. One option could be Elias if Cena is just coming in for something quick with low expectations. There is also the question of how available Cena is to do any television before ‘Mania considering he’s in the middle of shooting a movie. Based on television, it feels that Cena should do something involving R-Truth after all the references. Maybe they can attack Elias and rap together ...

The questions marks would be Samoa Joe, Rey Mysterio, Kevin Owens, Mustafa Ali and Andrade (all of which could be grouped together). Asuka doesn’t have a clear direction. At one point, there was a plan for Asuka and Lacey Evans but as of one month ago that was no longer the direction, things could change as you would think Evans has something noteworthy at ‘Mania given all the time spent building her up. Hopefully, tonight’s show sheds some light on these SmackDown wrestlers, including the tag team picture ...

There have been no hints regarding The Undertaker being involved on the show ...

They have not announced the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal or a women’s battle royal, but those options are there to ensure everyone on the roster is booked on the show.

John Cena took to Instagram today and posted a rare throwback photo of WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, fueling speculation on a Cena vs. Angle match at WrestleMania 35.

Cena has used his Instagram account to tease feuds in the past. He posted several photos of The Undertaker, also with no captions, leading up to their match at WrestleMania 34.

Cena would be a good fit for Angle's last opponent because of the history that they have. Cena debuted on WWE SmackDown back on June 27, 2002 by answering an open challenge from Angle. Cena lost that match but it began his historic WWE run ...

There has been speculation on a Cena vs. Joe title match for WrestleMania 35, but Dave Meltzer recently noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Cena vs. Joe was not the plan for WrestleMania 35, at least as of a week ago.

Lance Storm announced on the Figure Four Daily show that he will be working as an agent at the upcoming Impact Wrestling tapings this month at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario. The tapings are scheduled for March 22nd and 23rd with Storm seeing if it’s a good fit for him and likewise for Impact. Storm stated he is open to doing the role on a regular basis but is only scheduled for the Windsor tapings, so far.

Tenille Dashwood's pending free agency has been brought to the forefront.

Current Ring Of Honor star Tenille Dashwood is set to become a free agent at the end of this month according to Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet. Sources close to the site have informed them that Tenille Dashwood is in negotiations with Ring Of Honor to possibly sign a new deal but nothing is official as of this writing. Dashwood is set to be present at Ring Of Honor's 17th Anniversary pay-per-view this Friday in Las Vegas.

There could be a major change coming to WWE's Saudi Arabia shows, if some in the company have their way ...

Fightful reported a couple of weeks back that Roman Reigns had expressed his unwillingness to attend the Saudi Arabia event "Crown Jewel" just before he was diagnosed with leukemia. He joined John Cena and Daniel Bryan as high profile names that wouldn't go, either. We've also learned several employees refused to go on the trip.

However, as reported on Fightful Select this afternoon, there's a major pitch by several names of influence within the company to get an all-women's match on an upcoming Saudi Arabia show. We've not been able to gain any confirmation that it's actually going to happen, but it's something that many within WWE are angling for, with some suggesting they can spin the public relations aspect of it into a positive --- a rarity for them when attending the country.

We've also been told that the idea has been ran by some of those in charge of helping facilitate the events, but nothing beyond that.

It looks like WWE will not be releasing the Crown Jewel event on DVD, according to WrestlingDVDNetwork.com. It's likely that the release was nixed due to the controversy surrounding the event, WWE's working relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the state-sponsored murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

It was originally reported back in October that Crown Jewel would be released on DVD in early 2019 but those plans have been scrapped, meaning DVD collectors will have to wait to add WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels' ring return to their collections.

On last night’s episode of Total Bellas on E!, Brie Bella announced that she is now “fully retired” as of the Evolution PPV in October.

On the episode, which was recorded before Evolution, Brie made an announcement to her family, saying, “Bryan and I have an announcement. So I decided that after Evolution, I’m gonna be fully retired. Fully done, and Bryan and I are looking for a house in Phoenix cause we’re moving back.”

Emperor Smeat

03-13-2019, 10:00 PM

The Sheets:

WWE Network News reported that a “March To WrestleMania IX” special will be added to the Network’s Hidden Gems section tomorrow. The matches on the special are:

Randy Savage vs. Yokozuna
Mr. Perfect vs. Skinner
Kamala vs. Kim Chee
Money Inc. (Irwin R. Schyster & Ted DiBiase) vs. Jerry Sabin & Reno Riggins
Tatanka vs. George South
The Bushwhackers (Butch & Luke) & Tiger Jackson vs. The Beverly Brothers (Beau Beverly & Blake Beverly) & Little Louie
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. The Undertaker

MLW announced that they’ve “come to terms with Jim Cornette to extend his presence ringside as an analyst” for their programming. Cornette is scheduled for MLW’s shows in New York City on April 4 and 5, Milwaukee on June 1, and Cicero, Illinois on July 6.

The fate of the NXT title match at Takeover: New York has been determined, as a new challenger will face Johnny Gargano for the vacant title.

Triple H made the announcement at tonight's NXT TV tapings at Full Sail University. He opened the show carrying the NXT Championship with him. He announced that a fatal five-way match between Ricochet, Adam Cole, Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream and Matt Riddle would take place tonight, and the winner of that match would face Gargano at TakeOver in a 2 out of 3 falls match.

The match was won by Adam Cole, who pinned Ricochet with a shining wizard to advance.

Tomasso Ciampa, the previous champion, underwent neck surgery last week and will be out of action for the foreseeable future. The feud between former tag team partners Gargano and Ciampa came to a head at the last set of tapings, coming to blows after a temporary reunification. It was previously set to lead to a singles match between the two at TakeOver.
Spoiler tags used since it concerns tonight's episode for those that haven't watched it yet.

An ROH World Championship challenger has been announced for G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden.

A promo from Marty Scurll aired at the end of the press conference/contract signing video for Jay Lethal and Matt Taven's World title match at this Friday's ROH 17th Anniversary pay-per-view. Scurll announced that he's cashing in his title shot to challenge the ROH World Champion at G1 Supercard on Saturday, April 6.

Scurll is owed a World title shot as a stipulation of winning ROH's Survival of the Fittest tournament in November 2018.

PWInsider reports Jim Ross has applied to trademark “The Voice of Wrestling” through his Blackhat Enterprises company. The trademark application lists the relevant services as “Entertainment services, namely, live appearances by a professional wrestling and sports entertainment personality; Entertainment services, namely, personal appearances by a professional wrestling and sports entertainment personality; Entertainment services, namely, providing podcasts in the field of professional wrestling and sports entertainment; Entertainment services, namely, providing video podcasts in the field of professional wrestling and sports entertainment.”

Dolph Ziggler provides an update on his status with WWE.

Appearing on 98.5 Wrestling Inside The Ropes, Ziggler was asked whether he is currently under contract with WWE. Ziggler said, "Technically, I am, yes. The last two years I've had somewhat of a handshake agreement, behind closed doors deal with WWE. I've been able to do a lot of things on my own, not WWE, just because of the relationship we've had over the last 14 years. I have a bit of a handshake agreement right now, but we'll know some more details in the coming months."

In a new clip from Enzo Amore's extensive three-hour shoot interview with Title Match Wrestling, the Realest Guy in the Room discussed payouts once the WWE Network came along.

"Payouts got a million times worse," stated Enzo. "Now, because of the WWE Network, they can hide the numbers and not payout the boys the money that they should get based on old school booking. I understood what it was going to do."
If I remember, WWE still uses the old PPV model for payouts but gutted all the incentives wrestlers could earn for extra money (merch, gate, match awards). Even stuff like royalties from shows got tweaked so WWE could pocket more of the money after the Network launched.

WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon spoke with The National while in Abu Dhabi for the beginning of the 2019 Special Olympics World Games this week.

When asked about a second WWE Evolution pay-per-view possibly taking place, Stephanie would not confirm plans for another all-women's event.

"We haven't announced any plans yet for Evolution but we have a lot of things in the works right now," Stephanie said. "One thing that is important to note with Evolution that it was our first ever all-women's streaming special pay per view is that it trended #1 world wide for two and a half hours during the last game of the World Series and during NFL Sunday Night Football. Both huge audiences in the United States but it was WWE Evolution that was trending No 1."

Impact announced that oVe, the team of Dave and Jake Crist, have signed new multi-year contracts with the company.

Droford

03-14-2019, 02:12 AM

what the hell did enzo know about payouts before the network launch? He started in nxt in may of 2013..the network in feb of 2014..everything he did in 2013 was aired on wwe.com and nxt wasnt "televised" until the network launched

Black Widow

03-14-2019, 04:08 AM

Ziggler needs to fuck off already!

ClockShot

03-14-2019, 06:45 AM

Nice! Scurll shirt I just bought is gonna come in handy for the G1 SuperCard.

Mr. Nerfect

03-14-2019, 07:14 AM

I’m not the biggest Scurll fan, but I was struggling to think of anyone who could face Lethal at the show.

Big Vic

03-14-2019, 08:33 AM

Dolph Ziggler provides an update on his status with WWE.

Appearing on 98.5 Wrestling Inside The Ropes, Ziggler was asked whether he is currently under contract with WWE. Ziggler said, "Technically, I am, yes. The last two years I've had somewhat of a handshake agreement, behind closed doors deal with WWE. I've been able to do a lot of things on my own, not WWE, just because of the relationship we've had over the last 14 years. I have a bit of a handshake agreement right now, but we'll know some more details in the coming months.Let give this guy the W and end Drews undefeated streak.

Fignuts

03-14-2019, 07:22 PM

That honestly explains a lot in terms of zigglers lack of direction. WWE would never get behind a guy with such a loose agreement unless they were a megastar.

erickman

03-14-2019, 08:03 PM

That honestly explains a lot in terms of zigglers lack of direction. WWE would never get behind a guy with such a loose agreement unless they were a megastar.

well vince must have a hell of a lot of trust in ziggler, I thought vince stopped having handshake deals in the 90's when hall and nash went to wcw.

03-14-2019, 08:30 PM

Low key, he had a decent year with respect to championships, wins, and even main-evening a PPV.

Emperor Smeat

03-14-2019, 09:10 PM

The Sheets:

More episodes of WCW Thunder are set to be made available on the WWE Network next week.

WWE Network News reported today that more Thunder episodes will be uploaded to the Network next Monday (March 18). The report stated that 20 episodes will be added on that date.

The first set of Thunder uploads were added to the Network in March 2018. The first 77 episodes of Thunder are currently available on the Network, with them ranging from the show's premiere in January 1998 to the end of August 1999.

Battle of the Sexy is coming to WrestleMania Weekend.

Joey Ryan announced a huge six person intergender tag team bout for his upcoming Penis Party event on Apr. 5. Ryan will team with Val Venis & SeXxXy Eddy to take on Session Moth Martina, Scarlett Bordeaux & Priscilla Kelly ...

Joey Ryan's Penis Party is scheduled for Apr. 5 in New York. Also announced for the show is John Morrison & Taya Valkyrie vs. Lucha Brothers and David Arquette vs. Timothy Thatcher.

We would have had KofiMania a decade ago if Freddie Prinze Jr. got his way.

In July of 2008, WWE hired actor Freddie Prinze Jr. to join their creative team. Prinze Jr. best known for classics such as "Summer Catch," "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and marrying Sarah Michelle Gellar is a longtime wrestling fan who had his own blog on WWE Universe community at the time. Prinze Jr. didn't last long in WWE, leaving the company in February 2009.

However, before he left, he claims to have pitched a storyline that we're currently seeing on SmackDown Live.

Kingston was Intercontinental Champion when Prinze Jr. was hired in 2018. After losing the title at SummerSlam, he was involved in storylines featuring World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk. Kingston and Punk won the World Tag Team Titles in October 2018.

So, it's not entirely out of the question that Prinze Jr. wanted to elevate Kofi even further as Kofi was a featured player in the company during Prinze Jr's short stint.

Braun Strowman is set to be an "Honorary Shield" member during the upcoming UK Tour.
Link: https://twitter.com/Slaythe_Beast/status/1105553014557949953

The WWE Fastlane event drew just under 10,000 fans, which has to be a disappointment for a PPV event. We had listed the show as sold out last week, but that’s because checking to see if tickets were on sale, they weren’t. But at the time they had blocked off most of the upper deck.

The 3/18 Raw in Chicago with Lesnar is expected to sellout with more than 11,000 paid. Neither Boston nor Washington, DC look to be selling out. This would probably be the fewest Raw sellouts in Mania season that I can recall, but certainly dating back more than a decade.

The one thing about today is there may be less fans, but more are willing to spend huge money. WWE is taking advantage of that as ticket prices for SummerSlam in Toronto are ranging from $153 (upper deck) to $2,305 (front row). And all the less expensive tickets went instantly

The 8/31 NJPW show at the Cooper Box Arena in London sold 4,500 tickets for the pre-sale (the place will be set up for about 7,500) and they were holding a lot of tickets back for the public sale which starts on 3/14. Ospreay was the first name announced and Ibushi should be announced imminently. It’s going to be a major show with most of the top stars, including a major star who has been out of action for a long time is expected back. I don’t know the identity but it’s been expected for a long time that Hiromu Takahashi would be back at some point around mid-year. The hoped for plan is with a good showing here, it will lead to a several city tour of the U.K. in 2020.

Tickets for the 7/6 NJPW G-1 opening day in Dallas, TX went on sale on 3/13. They didn’t do a presale and first day sales were just over 1,600 tickets, which is a real momentum killer in this country. Since it’s a new market rather than a fourth time in the Los Angeles market, basically it is a sign that the American/Canadian talent losses have hurt the company’s marketability in this country.

Longtime Virginia independent promoter Marvin Ward and his Awesome Wrestling Entertainment group have gotten negative publicity in the Waynesboro, VA market due to a canceled show and tickets reportedly not being refunded. Ward had announced an April show in the city, with meet and greets with Undertaker & Kane as the main attraction, to benefit a local girl who was fighting cancer. Ward said that the cost of getting Undertaker & Kane, and doing the show, ended up more than $100,000. To do that, he needed to sell 600 tickets and with the top price of $250, it just didn’t work. He was only able to sell 118 tickets.

In late January, they quietly took Undertaker & Kane’s names off the web site and the site ended up taken down. Ward said he was changing web site providers and took the web site down when he realized he needed to cancel the event due to lack of ticket sales. There was one web site that reported Undertaker being off the show claiming it was due to miscommunication with AWE on 1/11, and Ward the next day said refunds would be send to those buying tickets. Ward said on 2/5 he started sending money back on 1/16, but was still waiting for other money to be returned on deposits he had made for the show to refund the rest, and claimed all money would be refunded within 30 to 45 days. That time period isn’t over yet but the story was written noting some people have not had their money refunded.

Conrad Thompson and Jim Ross are in negotiations with Westwood One to do a new podcast, where Ross will talk more about his career and history and less about the present. This is not a replacement for Bruce Prichard as according to Thompson, they are going to continue that podcast even with Prichard working full-time with WWE

PW Insider reported that Gallows & Anderson have turned down multi-million dollar offers ... and they are expected to exit in September. So here’s the basic situation. Everyone whose contract expires anytime this year is being given big money offers to sign for obvious reasons. Many have not signed because they are waiting to see the lay of the land when their deals are up.

For Gallows & Anderson, they’ll have a far better idea in September about their next five years than now ...

With Gallows & Anderson, here is the situation. Anderson loved his time in New Japan, he’s 39 and has a family and has said publicly that he doesn’t want to be away from them for weeks at a time. Gallows is 35, so both have to look at five years as possibly being their last big deal. There’s also the thought of life after being an active wrestler. If AEW is a solid stable group, the AEW schedule will be less days which means more days home which is a real big deal because your kids only grow up once, but last five years as an active wrestler are a big deal in two ways. The first is the idea of making the most money for your family but the second is making yourself into a marketable star in some form for later life.

Today WWE seems the better option but having the great career run in the U.S. that can make a legacy and money on the next end may be better outside, and openings post-career which are impossible to predict past if AEW doesn’t get traction than inherently WWE is better. If AEW gets traction, being a featured player will be better for long-term legacy than five years on the bench in WWE would be ...

WWE has basically unlimited money now and doesn’t want talent to leave. But, unless AEW loses all momentum, the marketplace will be even more competitive at the end of the year than it is now, meaning it probably is better not to rush to sign anything.

Ricochet & Black are coming to the main roster. Gargano’s situation is uncertain. Dunne and Baszler both should be brought up just because it’s time, and Sane was on the list. They could keep Dunne down since he could be the strongest building block of a full-time U.K. promotion and there is a very good chance Vince will see him as not worth pushing based on size and look, plus he’s not a great promo and right now they are looking for people who can cut a 15 minute promo.

Now, I know what you’re saying, given nobody should almost ever do that. And EC 3 is one of the best talkers in the company and they gave up on him without any promo time. Baszler right now would be one of the top women on the main roster at playing a character and Sane would be as good a worker as anyone. Sane’s size will work against her, but she’s the type of worker who can both go and play a babyface character that always gets over. Baszler will have to overcome the stigma of wanting people who look like their version of TV stars on top, even though Baszler looks perfect for her character, and the idea of introducing and pushing and investing in a woman who starts out on the main roster at 38.

Two guys who are getting rave reviews internally are Eric Bugenhangen and Stacey Ervin Jr.

Jerry Lawler, 69, said that he needs double knee replacement surgery but that he’s not going to get it and he’s going to continue wrestling.

While AAA and CMLL have always been competitors, things have heated up between the two sides recently after both promotions found themselves on rival TV networks, with AAA leaving Televisa to join TV Azteca and CMLL replacing AAA on Televisa. This past weekend was the first time both AAA and CMLL have been on TV and through one week, the advantage belongs to AAA. Lucha Central has learned that AAA’s Friday broadcast on TV Azteca’s Azteca (which showed matches from their highly acclaimed Tepic taping) drew a 4.4 rating, with 2.4 million total viewers. A replay of the show shown on TV Azteca’s A+ network on Sunday drew a 1.3 rating, giving AAA a 5.7 rating total between the two shows on two different stations. In contrast, Lucha Centrla has learned that CMLL’s first show on Televisa’s Gala TV, which aired on Saturday and replayed the 3rd, 4th and 6th matches from Friday’s Super Viernes show, only drew a 1.3 rating (good for 1.2 million viewers), the same number AAA did on its replay show Sunday.

The numbers aren’t altogether surprising; AAA has been on TV for years now between Televisa and TV Azteca while CMLL is only recently returning to network TV. It could also be argued that AAA’s airing time, in the afternoon on Friday for two hours, is a much more favorable position than CMLL’s time slot on Saturday. Regardless, this is tremendous news for AAA, whose Friday rating (and overall combined rating including the Sunday replay) is higher than what WWE draws in the US most weeks. It will be interesting to see if they can continue to build on the momentum, as well as if CMLL can build on their number with some stronger shows in the upcoming weeks.

Chelsea Green wrestled at last night’s NXT TV tapings (likely a dark match) at Full Sail University for the first time, but said on Twitter that she suffered a broken wrist during her match and would have to undergo surgery this morning.

Kevin Smith said on Instagram that Chris Jericho will have a small role in the upcoming “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” movie, which will be released some time this year ...

Jericho also has a role in another upcoming Kevin Smith-directed horror movie called “Killroy Was Here.”

Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar, and Dean Ambrose are missing from promotional posters advertising upcoming August events in Toronto, including SummerSlam.
https://www.fightful.com/sites/default/files/uwnugka.jpg

Mr. Nerfect

03-14-2019, 09:10 PM

He was microwaved. It doesn’t matter and now he’s gone no one cares.

Mr. Nerfect

03-14-2019, 09:18 PM

Interesting that those contracts aren’t being signed.

owenbrown

03-15-2019, 02:53 PM

I worry that Lawler is going to die in the ring

Mr. Nerfect

03-15-2019, 06:41 PM

It’s either going to be in the ring or having sex with his girlfriend.

Bad News Gertner

03-15-2019, 06:49 PM

Jerry Lawler hasnt taken a bump in Memphis in 15 years. It's Memphis. You can get away with doing shtick all night. Especially in front of that crowd. Hell, Bill Dundee and Jimmy Valiant are both in their mid 70's and still wrestle in that area.

Mr. Nerfect

03-15-2019, 06:53 PM

Lawler’s heart attack was also brought on by trauma. Lawler will be fine.

Bad News Gertner

03-15-2019, 07:05 PM

That being said, he's used the 2nd rope fist drop for years as a finisher, so I can imagine his knees are destroyed.

Evil Vito

03-15-2019, 08:16 PM

I saw Lawler wrestle against Robbie E at a show a couple of years ago. Definite Memphis-style match, Lawler didn’t take a bump.

Robbie E rolled up Lawler with his feet on the ropes, ref caught it at the count of 2. Robbie starts being a prick to the ref. Lawler rolls up, feet on the ropes. Ref counts 2, sees Lawler’s feet on the ropes, counts the 3 anyway lol.

Emperor Smeat

03-15-2019, 09:32 PM

The Sheets:

Bert Villacorta sent the following....I was watching TNT's NBA halftime show during the Mavericks and Nuggets game and Charles Barkley gave a shoutout to Ric Flair and wishing him well in his surgical procedure on Friday. This was followed by a couple of 'whoos,' one of them from Barkley himself.

PWInsider.com has confirmed Flair is indeed undergoing a procedure. We are not aware of the nature of the situation but want to take this moment to wish Flair nothing but the best.

WWE star Finn Balor will be walking to the ring this Sunday with Irish boxer Mick Conlan at this Sunday's Top Rank Boxing card at the Hulu Theatre inside Madison Square Garden.

The event will air live on ESPN+ at 3 PM EST. Conlan's fight will likely air in the 7 PM hour.

This will be the second year in a row that Balor has appeared alongside Conlan for St. Patrick's Day.

Anthem Entertainment and its subsidiaries filed a flurry of motions on Thursday 3/13 in the U.S. District Middle District of Tennessee, requesting yet again that the latest, amended lawsuit brought against them by Jeff Jarrett and his company Global Force Entertainment be dismissed.

In the motion, Anthem argued that Jarrett and GFE have failed to state an “adequate claim” of copyright infringement because they never registered the copyrights on the Global Force Wrestling Amped! footage before filing the lawsuit against Anthem. They are also arguing that since Jeff Jarrett himself authorized the usage of that footage during the time he was Chief Creative Officer for Impact, he granted them a license for the content and the usage of his name and likeness. They are also again asserting that they own the trademark and copyright on “Jeff Jarrett” after they took over Impact Wrestling and the ownership of those trademarks were transferred into their ownership. They also deny that they have abandoned that trademark, therefore Jarrett cannot petition the court to have it awarded back to his ownership.

The Ronda-Becky stuff seems like it's Paul Heyman-esque bombastic in the promos, the delivery, the violence, even the Tweets. Am I right?

You are 100% right. As we have mentioned on PWInsider Elite audio over the last several weeks, Heyman has been working in concert with Ronda Rousey to script everything surrounding the build to her Wrestlemania main event. So, if you are enjoying all the twists and turns, it's absolutely Paul Heyman's work in the middle of all this.

---

I seem to remember a TV show where Jesse Ventura played a cop who was a wrestler, but I can't find anything on it. Any ideas where I can find it on DVD?

You are remembering the ABC pilot "Tag Team" which starred Ventura and Roddy Piper as blackballed wrestlers who become police officers. The pilot was actually pretty good for its time. Unfortunately, there was an issue between the network and the production company and the entire thing was dropped. The in-ring footage that was shot would actually be the last time Ventura wrestled, although he would later appear as a referee. The show is not available on DVD, officially.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

Starrcast was announced for Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas from 5/23 to 5/26

In that Sports Illustrated report, they also had an interview with Arn Anderson who will be appearing at Starrcast, where he will be doing a "no-holds barred" interview. Anderson commented, "It used to be a dangerous setting when they handed me a live mic. So we’ll see if it will be again."

On his WWE exit, Anderson said, "I was fortunate enough to work with WWE for 18 years. Certainly that provided my family and myself with a nice living, and I have no regrets. A lot of my best friends still work there. Everything has a shelf life, and I guess mine ran out."

On 3/9, Arn Anderson applied to trademark his wrestling name for "Entertainment services, namely, live appearances by a professional wrestler and sports entertainment personality; Entertainment services, namely, personal appearances by a professional wrestler and sports entertainment personality; Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibits and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer."

There are no records of anybody previously officially owning the name.

On 3/10, a company based in Alabama called "Toot Toot" applied to trademark "Four Horsemen" ...

The address given for the applicant is the same that was used by Conrad Thompson when he applied for "83 Weeks", "Something to Wrestle" and "Starrcast" trademarks so this could be a possible new venture between between him and Anderson.

There are also no official records of any prior Four Horsemen wrestling-related trademarks.

Also on 3/10, Cody Rhodes applied for two trademarks "The American Dream" and "The American Nightmare"

NOVA Pro Wrestling has announced that their WrestleMania Weekend card as part of “The Collective” at the White Eagle Hall in Jersey City is off. The Saturday at Noon timeslot is going to be picked up by Game Changer Wrestling and they will be honoring the tickets sold to the Nova card.

The big match Nova was promoting for that show between Shinjiro Otani and Jonathan Gresham will still be happening at the new show in its place. The promotion has announced it is going on hiatus after their March 30th card following a swarm of messages online this week regarding talent not being paid. It is unknown if any of the other matches that were booked for ‘Mania weekend will be salvaged. Talent booked for the Nova card in Jersey City included Jordynne Grace, Saraya Knight (Paige’s mother), Puma King, Session Moth Martina, Faye Jackson, Shazza McKenzie, Jimmy Yuta, and Chris Brookes among others.

WWE is hyping that Kurt Angle will reveal his WrestleMania 35 opponent on Monday's Raw. Angle announced this week that he'll be having his farewell match at WrestleMania on April 7.

WWE fueled speculation on the WrestleMania 35 Farewell Match opponent for WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle today with an Instagram graphic, as seen below. The post asks fans who they want to see as Angle's final opponent, and the graphic includes John Cena, WWE United States Champion Samoa Joe, Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, Shelton Benjamin and WWE Intercontinental Champion Bobby Lashley.

As we've noted, Cena vs. Angle has been rumored due to their history. Angle noted in his post-RAW interview on Monday night that names discussed included Cena, Joe, McIntyre, Corbin, Lashley and AJ Styles. Styles is now confirmed to face Randy Orton at WrestleMania, Joe has an ongoing feud with Andrade, Rey Mysterio and R-Truth, and Lashley is expected to defend his title. Corbin or McIntyre are rumored to face Roman Reigns. It is interesting that they included Benjamin on the list.

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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div></a> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BvAPxRVF7Cj/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">@ who you think @therealkurtangle's final opponent should be!</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/wwe/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> WWE</a> (@wwe) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2019-03-14T21:29:34+00:00">Mar 14, 2019 at 2:29pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote>
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Mr. Nerfect

03-15-2019, 10:27 PM

I have this undying love for Shelton Benjamin. He hasn’t been “hot” for years, but he was so close once upon a time. His fundamentals were great, but people mainly remember him for big spots (me included), but there was this charisma in him as someone you really want to see succeed. The guy is also huge compared to current wrestlers. He still looks great and probably has a few years left given he’s “only” 43. He’s only five years older than Kofi Kingston.

I want there to be a fine wine quality with Shelton so bad. He doesn’t need to be flashy anymore. He can just use his mat stuff and relative size to muscle people around.

Fignuts

03-15-2019, 10:32 PM

He’s fucking god awful whenever he has to talk.

His mama was better on the mic.

Mr. Nerfect

03-15-2019, 10:35 PM

True, but he doesn’t have to talk. Or maybe when there’s not so much pressure on him to climb the ranks, per se, he can be slightly more natural.

Emperor Smeat

03-19-2019, 10:19 PM

The Sheets:

Mustafa Ali stated during his appearance on Chris Jericho's Talk Is Jericho podcast that he believes Daniel Bryan played a role in him getting called up to the main roster but Bryan well never admit it. Former WWE creative writer Kazeem Famuyide shed some light on Ali's thoughts when he joined the 'Wrassle Rap' podcast and recalled a creative meeting when Daniel Bryan came in the room and expressed that there is a spot for a fresh, young babyface on the SmackDown roster and Famuyide believes that is how the decision to bring Mustafa Ali up to the main roster came to be.

“People would come and sit in creative sometimes. I’ll tell you one story, and I was still pretty new then, and he did it in jest but he meant it. We’re sitting in the writers room and Daniel Bryan just storms down the hallway and he’s walking and he’s walking and he kicks the door open, and he walks in and he was like, ‘Hey! We need, a hot, young, babyface! Right now!’ and I was like huh? He’s like, ‘The youngest babyface you have is pushing 40-something years old. How’s this gonna work?’ And he came in joking but he was dead ass, and in a roundabout way, I think that’s how we got to Mustafa Ali where it was like, he was a pure, white-meat baby-face on 205 Live that got real emotion, that could fu*king sell agony and Vince is so huge on that like, ‘You gotta bring em’ in. If you can fight from underneath, oh God. That’s such an advantage because they gotta see that you’re fighting and the agony and pain and the face’. So when you finally overcome, they’re with you and that’s the genius of Vince [because] he understands the dynamics of good versus evil, and fighting against the odds, and underdogs and he might beat it to a pulp sometimes."

A title match has been added to the final night of this year's New Japan Cup.

NJPW has announced that Juice Robinson will defend his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Chase Owens at the New Japan Cup finals. The show is taking place in Niigata on Sunday (March 24).

Inter Species Wrestling had to change the marketing of one of their matches that will take place at the “Balls Out” card on Thursday, April 4th during WrestleMania Week. The promotion had been advertising a “Fans Bring the Lego Deathmatch” for a four-way match involving Matt Tremont, Addy Starr, Jeff Cannonball, and Viking. The promotion received a cease-and-desist letter from a paralegal on behalf of Lego asking the promotion to remove all mentions of Lego and stop using their IP. The promotion acknowledged they were in the wrong and are now having some fun with the renaming of the match and calling it a “Fans Bring the Brightly Colored Blocks” match. The show takes place from the White Eagle Hall in Jersey City on the Thursday of WrestleMania Week at 8 pm.

Armando Alejandro Estrada returned to manage “The Samoan Werewolf” Fatu, the nephew of Umaga, at a recent AAW event.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy0-0lYb9mA

Total Bellas on Sunday fell to 395,000 viewers, down from last week’s 441,000, a new series low.

Eric Angle, the younger brother of WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle, has been charged with assault after being captured on video picking up a student he was coaching at an amateur wrestling meet by his neck at The Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Video shows Angle lifting the child off the ground and then throwing him back down on the mat.

WTAE reported that Angle claimed he was trying to "keep the child from messing up" but made things worse.

Angle was escorted from the venue after the incident and was charged by police with assault.

The United States District Court, Western District of North Carolina ruled on 3/14 that Ric Flair and Brian Shields, the author of WWE book Second Nature, which told an intertwining story about the careers and lives of Ric and Charlotte Flair, could have an extended time period to respond to the lawsuit filed against them by Charlotte's ex-husband Riki Paul Johnson regarding claims made about him in Second Nature. They now have until 3/28 to respond.

However, on 3/15, Johnson was awarded additional time to amend his complaint against them, World Wrestling Entertainment and Charlotte Flair. Johnson now has until 3/22 to file an amended complaint. Should he do so, the clock would reset for the defendants to respond to his allegations.

Johnson (who was married to Charlotte for a year before she broke into WWE), has previously alleged there are false statements made about him in Second Nature, including a claim that he lost two jobs due to drug use, a claim that he was sterile and could not have children and "multiple false allegations physical and/or psychological abuse", which Johnson stated he believes he can prove are incorrect with police reports and dash cam footage. Johnson has alleged Second Nature has humiliated his family, including his three children, because the family are the subject of shame and ridicule and that he was intentionally presented in the book as a villain to make Charlotte look better.

During a backstage vignette on tonight's edition of WWE Smackdown Live, it was announced that Rey Mysterio will challenge Samoa Joe for the WWE United States Championship. It will be Mysterio's first appearance at Wrestlemania since competing in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 30 in New Orleans back in 2014 ...

The match will be Samoa Joe's official Wrestlemania debut. The former Ring of Honor, WWE NXT and Impact Wrestling Champion has been on the main WWE roster for several years but has yet to work the company's flagship event. He was brought to the main roster right before Wrestlemania 33 and was not figured into the card. He was slated to compete against John Cena last year at Wrestlemania 34 but an injury suffered resulted in Joe being removed from the lineup before the match was made official. Cena instead worked against The Undertaker. If all goes well, Joe will finally appear on the company's grandest stage.

The word backstage last night is that Drew McIntyre worked this past weekend's live events and last night's Raw despite being pretty sick. Given the quality of the match against Seth Rollins last night, it’s pretty insane how good McIntyre was being that ill.

CBS Philly 3 reports that the main events for Extreme Rules will be Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin and Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre. Extreme Rules is scheduled for July 14, so take this with a grain of salt. As always, the card is subject to chance.

Aleister Black missed last night's WWE RAW because he and wife Zelina Vega were on their honeymoon. Vega also missed the SmackDown live event in Rockford, IL. We noted last week how Black and Vega were headed to Amsterdam for half of their honeymoon. They were married back in November 2018. Last night's RAW saw Ricochet defeat Jinder Mahal in singles action due to Black's absence.

This increase in length for WrestleMania is a trend that has been proven true every year, and it's an idea that has carried over in to the other annual PPV events. WrestleMania 32's main card ended around the 286 minute mark, WrestleMania 33 reached 305 minutes, and last year's WrestleMania 34 had a runtime of 314 minutes. If those are any sign of what is to come, Forbes.com may be correct when they say that this "will likely become the longest WWE pay-per-view of all time."
Current rumor is 17-18 matches for this year's Mania card.

Kane and Titus O’Neil are each coming out with autobiographical books later this year.
Kane

Glenn “Kane” Jacobs’ book will be called Mayor Kane: My Life in Wrestling and Liberty and will be released on November 26 ...

Titus O’Neil’s book, under his real name Thaddeus Bullard, will be called There’s No Such Thing As a Bad Kid: How I Went from Stereotype to Prototype and will be released on August 6.

Jordan

03-20-2019, 08:26 AM

17/18 matches... wtf. That's just ridiculous, they need to make this a two day event.

Bad News Gertner

03-20-2019, 08:32 AM

Just get rid of all the womens matches aside from Becky/Ronda/Charlotte. Nobody cares about them anyways

owenbrown

03-20-2019, 05:13 PM

Jesus Christ why so many matches?

03-20-2019, 05:32 PM

17/18 matches... wtf. That's just ridiculous, they need to make this a two day event.

2-day event in two separate cities with two special attractions. Announce the cards that’ll take place in each city.

Emperor Smeat

03-20-2019, 05:35 PM

Jesus Christ why so many matches?
Way too many belts and bloated main roster.

Also WWE now leans very heavily towards hours watched instead of quality content to measure success on the Network and social media. Its why they have the #1 channel on Youtube for videos since they pump out a lot daily regardless of quality.

Emperor Smeat

03-20-2019, 09:19 PM

The Sheets:

Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live drew 2,208,000 viewers on USA Network, up from last week’s 2,198,000 viewers.

SmackDown was #1 on cable for the night in the 18-49 demographic.

This time last year, the March 20, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live drew 2,888,000 viewers. The March 21, 2017 episode drew 2,647,000 viewers.

“You should see me in a crown” by Billie Eilish and “Are You Ready” by Disturbed are official theme songs for NXT TakeOver: New York.

LINK: https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1108458489884672001

WWE Network News reported that tomorrow’s Hidden Gems addition to the Network is the full “March to WrestleMania X” special.
LINK: https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/03/20/latest-hidden-gem-to-add-another-full-march-to-wrestlemania-special-to-wwe-network-vault/

Cody Rhodes filed trademarks for “Prince of Wrestling,” “Battlebowl,” “Bash at the Beach,” and “Bunkhouse Stampede.” Cody and The Young Bucks posted tweets teasing the Bash at the Beach trademark, but Cody later wrote: "I’d turn off the google alerts on trademarks. They’re personal and most aren’t intended for AEW. I’ve filed/claimed over 50 the last few months. I’m just trying to get some of Dad’s cattle back. That’s the story."

Rey Mysterio files for a new trademark.

On Mar. 12, Rey Mysterio filed to trademark "Prince Mysterio"

One day before the United States Patent And Trademark Office's March 20, 2019 deadline, WWE has filed to oppose independent wrestler Tatevik Hunanyan's 'Sister Abigail' trademark.

In June 2018, Hunanyan applied to trademark 'Sister Abigail' for use in professional wrestling after WWE abandoned its application to obtain the trademark.

On March 19, 2019, WWE officially contested Hunanyan's attempt at securing the 'Sister Abigail' name claiming that Hunanyan did not create the 'Sister Abigail' character and has consequently attempted to "usurp" the intellectual property of WWE.

United Kingdom wrestler Sadie Gibbs is the newest member of the women's division signed to All Elite Wrestling.

The latest additions to the WrestleMania card include a United States title match between Samoa Joe and Rey Mysterio. They are teasing an angle with Mysterio’s son Dominic announcing he will be sitting in the front row. The Cruiserweight title match is set after Tony Nese defeated Cedric Alexander in the finals of the tournament to face Buddy Murphy. It was also announced Tuesday night that a fatal four-way match will take place on SmackDown next week involving Naomi, Carmella, Mandy Rose, and Sonya Deville with the winner facing Asuka.

We have been told there will be a SmackDown tag title match and a women’s battle royal on the show. The SmackDown tag title picture has no shortage of teams with The Usos as champions, The Hardys, New Day, and Aleister Black & Ricochet among the options.

John Cena is also scheduled for a role on the show, which could be a match or getting involved in a segment with some physicality.

As of Tuesday, the plan is for Kurt Angle to face Baron Corbin at WrestleMania despite acknowledging on television that the fans are upset with Corbin being in the match. This was reported Tuesday by both the PWinsider and Wrestling Observer outlets and I was told the same.
If Cena does have a match, that would put the total at 18 for Mania and if Taker somehow does get booked for a match, that would put the final tally at 19 although he's still not penciled in for an appearance.

Dave Meltzer says the actual plan for WrestleMania is Kurt Angle vs. Baron Corbin, not a swerve. Justin Labar says Corbin won't be Angle's WrestleMania opponent.

Brad Shepard claims that WWE and Fox are looking to bring back Saturday Night's Main Event, while Wrestling Observer denies this claim.

Detroit police have released body camera footage from the February 13 arrest of SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso, as seen above.

As noted before, Naomi was driving their car down the wrong way of a one-way street in downtown Detroit when the two were pulled over at 10:22pm that night.. Police noted that their 2018 Dodge Journey reeked of alcohol.

Police said Naomi told them that she was visiting from out of town and didn't know the streets. Naomi also said that Jimmy was intoxicated.

"He's had a lot to drink. He's intoxicated," Naomi said.

Police said Jimmy pulled Naomi back into the car when they asked her to get out to talk. Police also said they asked Jimmy to stay seated in the car, but that's when he got out, took his shirt off and "squared up" with officers like he wanted to fight. An officer pulled out his Taser and ordered Jimmy to get on the ground, and he did.

"Man, you don't understand. I'm just here in and out. I'm in and out, man," Jimmy said.

Jimmy was arrested for disorderly conduct and obstruction. He was taken to the Detroit Detention Center, where he bonded out.
Link: https://youtu.be/3Y8o_LgrcA4

On last night's episode of SmackDown Live, Kofi Kingston ran the gauntlet of The Bar, Rowan, Samoa Joe, and Randy Orton. The final victory over Orton was supposed to secure Kofi a WWE Title shot against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35. But Vince McMahon swerved Kofi, adding Daniel Bryan as the final boss. Kofi could not survive the sixth competitor, losing to Bryan and the chance to turn WrestleMania into KofiMania.

Following the event, New Day reflected in their locker room, wondering if they would be better off quitting WWE. You can view the somber moment in the video above. Earlier this morning, Big E posted a video to social media, still wondering if quitting is the best option as "people like us" won't make it to the top in WWE.

"You think of this business being, to some degree, a meritocracy. If you work hard, you show up early, stay late, do all the right things, jump through hoops, you're respectful, you don't break the law, you get good at your craft, you separate yourself from a character and in-ring perspective. You check all the boxes. If you do all of those things that you have a good chance of making it to the top," said Big E. "Now, we understand the game. People like us will only get so far. You can climb the mountain -- they'll let you climb -- but as far as getting to the peak or staying at the peak...it's not a thing. People like us, historically, and moving forward clearly, can only get so far. We've done a lot of cool things here but clearly, we are never meant to be more than this. For people like us, that's not enough. And it will never be enough. If this is all we ever will be. I don't know if it's worth it."

Link: https://twitter.com/WWEBigE/status/1108388035027263488

The recent Kofi Kingston storyline has sparked controversy on social media with some fans believing the story is as simple as "Vince McMahon is holding a black man down." Fans have pointed to WWE's lack of minority champions over the years, noting that there has never been a black WWE Champion.

It should also be noted that Booker T and Mark Henry each held the World Heavyweight Title, but their respective title reigns are often dismissed by fans as the World Heavyweight Title is not the same as the historic WWE Title.

Then there's The Rock. He held the WWE Title on eight separate occasions, but many wonder if The Rock identifies as black or Samoan. The Rock caught wind of a thread on Twitter questioning which race he identifies as, putting all speculation to rest.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Glad I came across this and I’ll give you guys some context & truth. <br>I identify as exactly what I am - both. Equally proud. Black/Samoan. <br>And my friend, let me expand your thoughts a bit here - I transcended race in wrestling so there was no “booked that way”. Thx guys</p>— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/1108202967671496704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

xrodmuc316

03-20-2019, 09:36 PM

They can't really have 18 or 19 matches right? That is insane. That would be 4 to 5 more matches then last year. Holy Cow

Volare

03-21-2019, 01:02 AM

United Kingdom wrestler Sadie Gibbs is the newest member of the women's division signed to All Elite Wrestling.

https://snusercontent.global.ssl.fastly.net/member-profile-full/64/3181664_6049999.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8e71jXP.jpg

https://yt3.ggpht.com/a-/AAuE7mCob5WPyJOKGxztoi39mFBwyE9sNeje6Pq62A=s900-mo-c-c0xffffffff-rj-k-no

https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=489x1024:format=jpg/path/se7b060baf700bad3/image/i365bc5b383148933/version/1545383310/image.jpg

Droford

03-21-2019, 01:38 AM

17/18 matches... wtf. That's just ridiculous, they need to make this a two day event.

2.5 matches an hour

Mr. Nerfect

03-21-2019, 02:28 AM

Sadie Gibbs is fucking hot.

Mr. Nerfect

03-21-2019, 02:30 AM

WrestleMania really should be a two-day event at this point. You don’t need to do the Hall of Fame anymore, and they’re clearly reaching for names. You can do two four-hour shows and that’s more content overall for the Network.

Mr. Nerfect

03-21-2019, 03:09 AM

You could run a Raw one and a SmackDown one. The cards for this year could have been:

* Ronda vs. Becky
* Brock vs. Seth
* Triple H vs. Batista
* Roman vs. Drew
* Kurt Angle vs. Chad Gable
* Sasha & Bayley vs. Nattie & Beth
* Lashley vs. Balor
* Braun vs. Corbin
* Revival vs. Black & Ricochet
* Cruiserweight Title

* Bryan vs. Kofi
* Asuka vs. Charlotte
* Orton vs. Styles
* Cena vs. Joe
* Shane vs. Miz
* Rey vs. Andrade
* Owens & Zayn vs. Nakamura & Rusev
* Sasha & Bayley vs. Sky Pirates
* Usos vs. Hardys
* The Bar vs. New Day

Jordan

03-21-2019, 03:49 AM

I miss when they could easily get most of the roster on a 3 hr POV and all featured talent would get 4 weeks of promos and matches that lead up to the big show. Too much tv, too many shows, too many wrestlers. Thankfully we get this ideal booking with NJPW and I’m hoping AEW keeps it simple for me as well.

penak

03-21-2019, 12:59 PM

Indeed, very interesting threadhttps://juragan.club/assets/5/o.png

slik

03-21-2019, 02:00 PM

Per today's Wrestling Observer 16 matches currently planned but more expected as WWE is still deciding what to to do with Balor, Lashley, Kevin Owens, Mustafa Ali & The Raw Tag Titles.

Evil Vito

03-21-2019, 02:24 PM

I’ve never heard of Sadie Gibbs until that post and now I want my head to be crushed between her thighs.

03-21-2019, 04:09 PM

I figured they’d scrap the Women’s Battle Royal given Charlotte, Becky, Rhonda, Bayley, Sasha, Tamina, Nia, Beth, Natalya, The IIconics (maybe), Asuka, Mandy and (maybe) Sonia in matches already.

ClockShot

03-21-2019, 04:13 PM

Per today's Wrestling Observer 16 matches currently planned but more expected as WWE is still deciding what to to do with Balor, Lashley, Kevin Owens, Mustafa Ali & The Raw Tag Titles.

That's insane.

SlickyTrickyDamon

03-21-2019, 04:27 PM

I bet it'll fucking rain too. Gotta get a poncho and maybe a pair of sweatpants.

03-21-2019, 04:44 PM

They’ve got so many plates spinning at the minute.

Usos, Hardys, Andrade, The Bar, Roode & Gable, Lashley, Balor, EC3, Heavy Machinery, Mojo, Ricochet/Black, Rusev/Nakamura, Kevin Owens all with varying degrees of focus on them and nothing set up at Mania.

They should say “fuck it, let’s make the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal for both sets of Tag Titles to commemorate the 19th anniversary of The Colossal Connection’s Tag Title run” :shifty:

The Revival (c)
The Usos (c)
The Bar
Hardy Boyz
Ricochet/Black
Heavy Machinery
The Ascension
Ryder & Hawkins
Rusev & Nakamura
Gallows & Anderson
Sanity
Slater & Rhyno
The B Team
Roode & Gable
Owens & Zayn

Do a thing with Strowman being told he’s out of the match as he doesn’t have a partner, throw a fit backstage the guys from SNL, only for him to turn around and there’s Nicholas.

That’s 16 teams, if you want more you can add some cruisers as teams.

03-21-2019, 04:59 PM

I can count 13 women that probably aren’t scheduled for a match

Alicia Fox (who might be taking time off)
Carmella
Dana Brooke
Lacey Evans
Lana
Liv Morgan
Maria
Mickie James
Naomi
Nikki Cross
Ruby Riot
Sarah Logan
Zelina Vega

That’s a lot of spots for NXT to fill.

Emperor Smeat

03-21-2019, 09:39 PM

The Sheets:

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that John Cena has been "confirmed" for a match at WrestleMania 35. An opponent was not given and WWE has not officially announced Cena as being part of the show.

Cena has not appeared on WWE television since the Jan. 14 episode of Raw where he competed in a fatal four-way bout against Finn Balor, Drew McIntyre, and Baron Corbin. In the match, he suffered an "ankle injury" as a result of an ankle lock applied by McIntyre. Cena was announced for the Royal Rumble but the "injury" kept him from appearing in the match. In reality, Cena began filming "Playing with Fire" and has been on set since February. Filming will reportedly conclude on Mar. 29.

This past Monday on Raw, the crowd chanted for Cena after Kurt Angle announced that Baron Corbin would be his opponent at WrestleMania 35. As of now, the plan is for Angle to face Corbin.

It looks like the negative reactions to Baron Corbin being the final opponent for WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle have reached WWE officials.

Corbin vs. Angle at WrestleMania 35 is now being reconsidered, according to a new report by @Wrestlevotes. There's no word yet on who might replace Corbin for Angle's Farewell Match at WrestleMania ...

WWE officials did not expect this type of negative reaction, according to the report, and they don't want such a negative feel to Angle's final match.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Garza Jr and Shane Strickland are scheduled to report to the WWE Performance Center on Apr. 9.

Meltzer reports that Garza Jr initially signed with the company (no date was given), but the deal was pulled after he failed his physical due to shoulder issues. He was offered a new deal recently and was able to pass his physical this time around. He is expected to finish up with The Crash on Mar. 23 ...

Strickland has been long rumored to be WWE bound, but his Lucha Underground contract caused a delay in his signing. In January, Strickland announced that he was officially a free agent.

All Elite Wrestling announced today that they have signed Allie.

Her Impact contract expired at the end of 2018 and she was not signed to a new deal, according to PWInsider.

Allie's last appearance for Impact Wrestling will air on tomorrow's episode of Impact and she will not be appearing at this weekend's TV tapings. Impact Wrestling informed her in January that they would not be renewing her deal and that she would be finishing up at their last set of TV tapings in Las Vegas. We are told that it was just a decision made to refresh the roster and she was genuinely well liked. There were quite a few people from Impact who praised her work to me today, especially her attitude from the last set of TV tapings as she showed up and worked hard and had a great attitude towards everyone despite being put into a difficult situation where she knew she was done. We are also told that Allie kept the fact she was finishing up to herself and no one on the roster was really aware of it until today's AEW signing announcement. At one point, she was one of the hottest characters in Impact, so it should be interesting to see what AEW plans to do with her.

During our recent interview with Adam "Hangman" Page, he noted that AEW didn't own a wrestling ring yet, and he wasn't sure of what the design for their championship would end up looking like. However, on the most recent episode of AEW Road To Double Or Nothing, Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes shed some light.
Allie Signs With AEW; No Longer Under Contract With IMPACT Wrestling
Related Article Allie Signs With AEW; No Longer Under Contract With IMPACT Wrestling

Brandi was speaking to noted belt maker Dave Millican, where she mentioned that Cody Rhodes and Tony Kahn had a fixation on the All Elite Championship being as big as the Mid-South North American Championship. Millican would confirm that the target of the title is one they're reaching.

"We're going for that ballpark," said Millican. "Obviously a unique design, so that we won't look like that title belt. But we're swinging for the fences to get that knockout effect on the title belt itself."
LINK: https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1108831545861771265

At least for last week, the highest-rated pro wrestling show in North America was not Raw, but the two-hour AAA show on Azteca 7, even in the weak time slot of Friday’s from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The show did a 2.4 rating with a 4.8 share, with 4.4 million viewers on 3/8. CMLL debuted on Televisa 9, a stronger station in a better time slot, airing Saturday, 3/9, from 4-5 p.m., and did a 1.2 rating with a 2.6 share and 1.3 million viewers ...

For this past weekend, AAA on Azteca 7 in the same time slot did a 2.5 rating and 10 share, with 3.9 million viewers. CMLL on Televisa from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, moved up a half hour from the week before, which likely confused viewers, did a 0.9 rating and 5 share, and 1.3 million viewers.

AAA this past week was in negotiations with Madison Square Garden for a fall date. For anyone who knows how this goes, it really means nothing because they can’t run there until they get strong U.S. television. It only says MSG is open to booking them a date, which has been known for about a year, and after the precedent of the ROH/NJPW show and WWE’s attempt to block it not working, it pretty much says MSG isn’t wasting its time doing talks if they aren’t open to having the show whether WWE likes it or not

There are plans for a major NJPW show in Melbourne, perhaps as early as the summer

Regarding the Dallas and London shows, the London shows are being run by the Harold Meij regime while Kaname Tezuka, who runs Bushiroad USA, is handling the Dallas show. Tezuka is a former New Japan President. But in the expansion, the Meij side is doing U.K. and Bushiroad USA is handling the U.S. side including cities, date and price point ...

Dallas tickets were moving a little better as they were at 2,300 by the early part of the week. London is at almost 5,000 ...

Another note is that the 2020 G-1 Climax tournament is going to be very interesting. The summer Olympics are in Japan and all the venues that run wrestling are going to be used for the games. Most of the Japanese companies are probably going to be unable to book significant shows in Tokyo during that period. This may necessitate the G-1 to be more international as far as live events go next year.

David Starr, who faces Jay Lethal for the ROH title on 4/21 in Netanya, Israel, cut a promo for the match and in the body of the promo was critical of Sinclair Broadcasting politics, calling them a corporate propaganda machine. Starr was asked to take the promo down by the Israeli Pro Wrestling Association, which was contacted by ROH and upset about the politics involved with the promo. There have been reports that they threatened to pull Lethal from the date if the promo wasn’t removed, but there is no evidence of such a threat taking place past the IPWA fearing that would happen if the promo wasn’t taken down. Starr posted, saying, “Last night, I posted a promo for my historic championship match on April 21st against Ring of Honor champion Jay Lethal in Netanya, Israel for Israeli Pro Wrestling Association. I have been asked by the powers that be to remove said promo. Out of respect to IPWA, who have already paid for Jay’s very expensive flight and accommodations, I will comply. My complying with this request is not an admission of wrongdoing or a retraction. I stand by my entire statement and do not regret any of my actions regarding this subject.

There are talks going on where Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix would end up exclusive for AEW in the U.S. market while working through AAA

The Sports Daily reported that in order to cut down the time for this year’s Hall of Fame, that there will be no inductors this year and that the inductees will be limited to 15 minutes. Sean Waltman, who is being inducted this year as part of DX, also brought up that it has been talked about to not have inductors. WWE has said that this is not accurate. “While we are looking at format options, the plan is to have inductors, but there could be a mix of ways to introduce inductees. We are also looking at flow, but I don’t know where the 15 minute time limit info is coming from.

Whatever issues there were with Undertaker doing Starrcast may not have been settled, but they aren’t strong enough to keep Undertaker off the Saudi Arabia show on 5/3 as that appearance was just confirmed this past week. That also means Undertaker is not retired. Between the change from network to PPV and the ridiculous money involved, even though Mania is promoted as the biggest show of the year, the two Saudi shows are, by a wide margin, the two biggest money events of the year for the company

There is at least talk in NXT, if Shayna Baszler is brought up to the main roster, and really it’s time for that once she loses the title, that Marina Shafir would be moved to add sizzle to the Undisputed Era. Shafir did team with them at some Florida shows. Jessamyn Duke would then be pushed as a singles wrestler. Then again, The Undisputed Era should be brought up by this point as well. It’ll be a real test for creative because the Undisputed era did great in NXT but they aren’t Vince’s kind of group, and Baszler, for all the clear pros of being one of the best in the entire company at playing a character and it’s a viable female bully character that her ring style backs up, has the obvious cons when it comes to starting out on the main roster at 38 and not being the type of woman they have traditionally pushed

A “mask vs. hair” match between Rey Mysterio and Andrade was WWE’s original plan and was “on the books” for WrestleMania at one point, but the idea “fell by the wayside,” according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

As of now, Rey Mysterio is booked to face Samoa Joe for the US title at WrestleMania.

Dave Meltzer speculated that a possible reason why it didn’t happen is that WWE didn’t want Andrade to lose his hair.

After successfully defending the Raw Women’s Championship against Nikki Bella last October at WWE Evolution, Ronda Rousey celebrated with the entire women’s division at the top of the ramp as WWE’s inaugural all-women’s pay-per-view event went off the air. With Rousey slated to defend the Raw Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 35 on April 7 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the WWE creative team has planned on the ending the show in a similar fashion.

WWE’s original and longterm plan for the match was for Lynch to win the Raw Women’s Championship and then for her, Rousey and Flair to emotionally embrace in the middle of the ring. Stephanie McMahon would then come out with the entire women’s division and they would give all three competitors a round of applause to end WrestleMania 35 on a heartwarming note.

However, this idea may have been scrapped.

With Rousey’s recent heel turn (which was not planned heading into February), WWE creative no longer thinks it’s a good idea to end WrestleMania 35 in an emotional feel-good manner. While we don’t know if the idea has been completely scrapped, it seems unlikely at this point.

Black Widow

03-21-2019, 10:50 PM

Didn't expect a negative reaction to Corbin?

I think wwe officials still think that dumbass from Empire hate crime was legit Ha!

Droford

03-22-2019, 04:23 AM

the bit about not wanting to end WM with becky winning on a high feel good note and Cena getting a match make it painful obvious theyre going with Angle Corbin in a squash and then a Cena surprise to pop the crowd and Kurt winning feel good moment.

the only reason Im not entirely pissed off is because its kurt angles last match, but fuckin Ric Flair didnt even get that treatment with HBK.

DaveWadding

03-22-2019, 05:52 AM

Andrade vs. Rey in an apuestas match at Wrestlemania would be fucking great, unfortunately you're not going to do that without Rey taking off his mask permanently, losing all that merch money, and then realizing that he still looks 12 under the mask.

Droford

03-22-2019, 07:45 AM

his 19ish year old son is bigger than he is, the fact he looks 12 is irrelevant

Big Vic

03-22-2019, 12:03 PM

WWE should not be making Kofi/Bryan about race.

03-22-2019, 02:25 PM

They’ve got an “out” with it; New Day haven’t been explicit in the way they’ve spoken about “people like us”.

Big Vic

03-22-2019, 02:44 PM

If I were them I wouldn't want 3rd party new orgs picking up the story of "First Black WWE Champion" and diving in to the racist history of the WWE/WWF.

Mr. Nerfect

03-22-2019, 07:01 PM

I hope AAA beats them in the ratings each week.

Emperor Smeat

03-22-2019, 08:59 PM

The Sheets:

Stacey Ervin Jr looks to be moving on.

According to Casey Michael from Squared Circle Sirens, Stacey Ervin Jr has left NXT following a concussion scare. Casey reports that Ervin Jr was "given some time to think about it but people think he's 100% done."

Ervin Jr, 25, signed with WWE in 2018 and was highly touted due to his background in gymnastics. He has been a regular at NXT live events and last wrestling on Mar. 8. He won the Unleash The Universe Tournament, a one-night NXT live event tournament that took place in Citrus Springs, Florida on Jan. 19.

Regarding rumors that Stacey Ervin Jr. has quit WWE, the only comment WWE has made is that Ervin Jr. remains under contract. The story that he was thinking of quitting due to a concussion goes back a few days.

Keith Lee is out of action with an undisclosed injury.

It appears that Villain Enterprises will have a Tag Team title defense before G1 Supercard.

ROH posted video of a promo today where The Briscoes said they're invoking their rematch clause for a Tag Team title rematch against Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) at Road to G1 Supercard: Baltimore. PCO & King won the ROH Tag Team titles by defeating The Briscoes in a no disqualification match at last week's 17th Anniversary pay-per-view ...

Road to G1 Supercard: Baltimore is taking place at the UMBC Center on Sunday, March 31 and is ROH's last show before Madison Square Garden.

The Rock tweeted the following commemorating the 20th anniversary of Steve Austin driving a beer truck into Raw and sharing some suds with The Corporation:

My tough SOB brother @steveaustinBSR was operating here with a legit broken neck so we had to be creative with keeping our physicality to a minimum until our big WrestlemMania match.
The result was one of the most entertaining segments to ever take place on LIVE TV. ???????? https://t.co/oiSdm0MIOI
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) March 22, 2019
Link: https://twitter.com/TheRock/status/1109129808137588737

Sting still wants the dream match against The Undertaker.

In September 2015, Sting competed in his last match when he wrestled Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Title at Night of Champions. During the bout, Sting took a Buckle Bomb that caused a neck injury. As a result of the injury, Sting announced his retirement during his 2016 WWE Hall of Fame induction speech.

But there's one match would bring him to don the face paint once more.

“I mean, everyone knows who it would be. Taker, he’s the only guy I’d come out of retirement for now," Sting told Wrestling Travel. "No one else. We could just never get it together to make it happen. When I started talking to WWE he was booked with Brock and then I did the deal with Triple H and he had another feud going on at the time, so it was just one of those things we couldn’t make happen. But I don’t regret it not happening either, I mean I got to face Triple H at my first WrestleMania and then wrestle Seth for the world title, so I didn’t do too badly out of that deal. But yeah, now, the only person I’m getting back in the ring for is Taker.”

Rhea Ripley posted a photo of herself in a walking boot, but according to Squared Circle Sirens, the injury is not anything serious and is believed to be a minor sprain. She isn’t expected to miss much time, if any.

Former TNA X-Division Champion Robbie E, going by his real name Robert Strauss, made his NXT debut last night at a house show in Sanford, Florida.

Strauss played the role of a manager for the tag team of Rinku Singh and Saurav Gurjar. Strauss managed Gurjar in a singles match against Jonah Rock, helping Gurjar win when Strauss got on the apron to distract Rock.

Strauss’ NXT signing was announced earlier this month.
Link: https://twitter.com/RobertStrauss/status/1108901359494025216

WWE will be bringing in Hulk Hogan to be part of WrestleMania weekend in some capacity, according to PWInsider.

There have been rumors that Hogan’s longtime friend Brutus the Barber Beefcake could be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, so if that does happen, the most likely guess for what Hogan will be doing would be inducting Brutus.

It’s also possible, of course, that he could make a cameo at the WrestleMania PPV itself. Or WWE could be bringing him in to do “community outreach” appearances, PWInsider says.

WWE is also finalizing plans to bring in more names from the past to be part of WrestleMania weekend, with Stone Cold Steve Austin being rumored, PWInsider added.

Emperor Smeat

03-23-2019, 09:37 PM

Seems another talent from NXT has asked for a release according to Fightful and Squared Circle Sirens.

Another up-and-coming NXT talent has requested his release from WWE.

With the news coming to light that NXT talent Stacey Ervin Jr. has requested his release from WWE, Casey of Squared Circle Sirens sent out a tweet which read that Performance Center recruit Ricardo Miller has also requested his release from the sports-entertainment company.

Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp has independently confirmed that Miller requested his release. Miller was a part of the Performance Center class that included Elliot Sexton, Jonah Rock, Trevor Lee, Karen Q, ACH, Samuel Shaw and more notable names.

In regards to Ervin, him and Eric Bugenhagen recently were getting very high praise from WWE officials. Also seems this likely was the spot that led to him becoming very concerned over his health.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/zWuuCFR36B">pic.twitter.com/zWuuCFR36B</a> this is the spot</p>— Kev ⭐️ (@CtkCtk73580214) <a href="https://twitter.com/CtkCtk73580214/status/1109229942661922816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Jordan

03-24-2019, 08:53 AM

It's a shame because he is a special talent but obviously not meant to be in the ring.

Jordan

03-24-2019, 08:53 AM

Plus he wasn't a fan so he has no passion.

Mr. Nerfect

03-24-2019, 12:07 PM

Dutch Mantell, Brian Pillman and Brock Lesnar are also three guys that weren’t fans but became great.

Jordan

03-24-2019, 01:16 PM

Yeah but he's like 20, different generation of man.

Ol Dirty Dastard

03-24-2019, 02:31 PM

Yeah but he's like 20, different generation of man.

honestly, by the time Pillman was 20, just for context and to agree with what you're saying, he'd already lived the life of a grizzled Clint Eastwood-esque man.

03-24-2019, 02:50 PM

Tbf, Pillman/Brock were both football players, right? Used to taking heavy hits, and probably had a concussion or two under their belt. Ervin was a gymnast.

Bad News Gertner

03-24-2019, 05:14 PM

Ever see those fuckers not stick a landing and crash

Fignuts

03-24-2019, 05:23 PM

Seriously. Gymnastics is no walk in the park.

Mr. Nerfect

03-24-2019, 06:18 PM

Dude may not have had business being in the ring, but I don’t think being a fan nor him being a gymnast dictates that.

03-24-2019, 07:13 PM

Kurt Angle is wrestling Styles on Smackdown

https://www.wwe.com/f/styles/talent_champion_xl/public/all/2019/03/201903024_SD_KurtStyles--28b91cb315683bfdecffafaa7c5c3d55.jpg

Mr. Nerfect

03-25-2019, 02:38 AM

We’re going to see just how magic Styles is.

Droford

03-25-2019, 06:53 AM

Daniel Cormier said he wanted to go to WM and interfere costing Lesnar the title. He's also friends with Rollins.

MAIN EVENT RUINED

Jordan

03-25-2019, 10:45 AM

Big Vic

03-25-2019, 11:17 AM

Brock/Jones vs Rollins/DC

Droford

03-25-2019, 12:00 PM

Honestly, that would be fucking awesome. If Cormier came to WWF to fight Lesnar instead of continuing in UFC. Haha, I would love it. Cormier is the man, he would be good as an Authority Figure for WWE or a commentator.
He's not fighting Brock in WWE it's likely to help promote their eventual UFC fight which hasn't been agreed upon but if this happens there's a "reason" for the fight to happen as dumb as it is.

slik

03-25-2019, 12:30 PM

FOX wants Cormier for commentary on SDLive supposedly when it debuts in the fall so never say never...Cormier said before WWE had approached him about him about working together

A Tom Phillips/Cormier team could be fun IMO (I'm a big proponent of Tom Philips r/n)

Damian Rey 2.0

03-25-2019, 03:13 PM

Would fucking love that if it lead to a match just for the insanity of it all.

mike adamle

03-25-2019, 06:07 PM

why do you post the same exact thing in two different threads

Bad News Gertner

03-25-2019, 07:29 PM

I'm gonna talk to Triple A about a possible banning.

Droford

03-26-2019, 08:38 AM

https://www.ringsidenews.com/2019/03/25/wwe-working-hard-to-ban-indie-events-from-tampa-for-wrestlemania-36/

So I guess WWE decided to throw their weight around to keep other shows from happening in Tampa next year..

Everyone go to St Petersburg!

slik

03-26-2019, 09:35 AM

I can't see that being true.

My guess is they are hoping ROH/NJPW don't run the arena at USF that seats around 12k to repeat another MSG sellout...but even then -- part of the lure of hosting WM is all the $$$ brought into the city and decent chunk of $$$ is made from indy events and conventions. It would be both WWE and Tampa shooting themselves in the foot.

Droford

03-26-2019, 09:52 AM

ROH should run the Trop as long as the rays arent home, its in St. Pete

Evil Vito

03-26-2019, 01:23 PM

Cody says AEW won't ever run WM weekend, which is in line with what he's said in the past. He'd rather run a show that draws a crowd on its own merit than capitalize on a bunch of people being in town for WWE.

Droford

03-26-2019, 01:58 PM

Just wait til WWE runs a show the same time as an AEW show

Emperor Smeat

03-26-2019, 10:02 PM

The Sheets:

Radio station WHTZ 100.3 FM in New York City is running advertisements pushing tickets for the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame and listed Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake among the inductees for the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame class, so there's your final Hall of Famer.

The decision to go with the Raw Women's Championship main event is being seen internally as a major victory for the women's division and for everyone involved in that storyline. We are told it was down to the wire between that match and Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins closing the show.

As noted, Kurt Angle will have his final match with WWE at WrestleMania 35 this April, facing Baron Corbin one-on-one.

Although there have been rumors of Angle's opponent being reconsidered, the two are currently scheduled to collide on "the grandest stage of them all".

In the meantime, Angle will perform on both RAW and SmackDown, facing opponents from his storied career like AJ Styles, Rey Mysterio and, during last night's RAW, Samoa Joe.

On the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned that these opponents Angle will be facing during the build to WrestleMania 35 were all personally hand-picked by Angle. Despite the storyline telling fans differently, the one opponent Angle had no input in choosing was his WrestleMania opponent for this year, Corbin.

Despite her saying she’s retired on Total Bellas, TMZ reported that Nikki Bella is “definitely open to returning to the ring” and making cameos in the future if the timing is right.
aka "Oh right, completely forgot that Total Bellas and Divas needs wrestling stuff from me to tape for future episodes"

Though his return to action for ROH had been announced for Road to G1 Supercard: Baltimore, Flip Gordon won't be able to wrestle at the show.

ROH announced today that Gordon has re-injured his right knee and won't be appearing at the Road to G1 Supercard show on Sunday (March 31). Gordon tweeted yesterday that his knee was "completely locked up" the morning after wrestling for OTT Wrestling in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was able to fly home and had a doctor's appointment scheduled for this morning.

ROH wrote that there's "concern that Gordon may have suffered a 'bucket handle' meniscus tear, which would require surgery and keep him out of action for four-to-six months. The extent of the injury will not be known until the results of Gordon’s MRI exam are in."

Main Event Taping:

EC3 beats Tyler Breeze with the One Percenter in about 5 minutes. Awkward match with way too many blown spots.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the women’s battle royal and a SmackDown tag title match are both scheduled for the WrestleMania card. If you included those two matches and the pending Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston announcement that brings the match total to 16.

A small correction to make on our Allie reporting last week. Her contract expired in February, at which point she was informed Impact Wrestling was not renewing her deal. We had initially reported late January, but it was actually last month.

In following up on Eli Drake, PWInsider.com has confirmed his current deal expires in late May.

There has been a big push to sign LAX to new deals and lock them in long-term as a top act for the company.

Announced earlier today at a press conference, former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez, 36, has signed with AAA.

Velasquez will make his in-ring debut with the promotion on August 3 at TripleMania XXVII, AAA's biggest show of the year. An opponent is yet to be announced.

Becky Lynch has been recently offered a new WWE contract, according to Pro Wrestling Sheet.

It’s said to be a multi-year deal that includes a raise and she’s expected to officially sign it soon. It’s not known when her current deal was set to expire.

WWE has been recently trying to lock more of their wrestlers into longer-term contracts, with the specter of AEW being one of the reasons why.

A Falls Count Anywhere stipulation has been announced for The Miz vs. Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 35. Miz challenged Shane to the stipulation on tonight's SmackDown and Shane accepted it.

In other WrestleMania 35 news, we noted before how Charlotte Flair shockingly won the SmackDown Women's Title from Asuka on tonight's episode. WWE has confirmed that Flair's title will not be on the line when she faces Becky Lynch and RAW Women's Champion Ronda Rousey in the WrestleMania 35 main event.
People speculated going all the way back to when it was rumored that Becky was going to face Ronda at Mania and rumors of Women's Tag belts existing that WWE would probably end Mania with all 4 Horsewomen having gold and embracing in the ring. If true, they did it in one of the dumbest ways possible after tonight's Smackdown.

03-26-2019, 10:03 PM

:nono:

Mr. Nerfect

03-27-2019, 03:05 AM

Jesus fuck, just unify the damn belts and have Becky beat both champs.

Mr. Nerfect

03-27-2019, 03:11 AM

They’ve got to be unifying the belts, right? And the only reason they haven’t announced an Evolution PPV is because they are planning a show.

03-27-2019, 03:16 AM

If they don't unify or have both the championships on the line, it makes the Smackdown Women's Championship come across as inferior. As someone suggested earlier, It's also quite daft to have Becky (potentially) score the pinfall or submission victory over the Smackdown Women's Champion in order to become the RAW Women's Champion.

03-27-2019, 03:22 AM

Also, it will be the first time a Smackdown brand specific champion will compete on Monday Night RAW since the creation of the Smackdown Women's Championship and Smackdown Tag Team Championship.

03-27-2019, 04:43 AM

So John Pollock on Post Wrestling's "Review a Smackdown" podcast said that the title change was suggested as a last minute curveball to add more stakes to the main event and Vince signed off on it.

Mr. Nerfect

03-27-2019, 09:37 AM

That’s what WrestleMania needs — last minute curveballs. It’s part Russo 2000 and part Russo 1998.

I don’t think they care about making the SD Women’s belt looking inferior. They get all these belts because Vince feels he needs to have champions on all these house shows, but then he devalues them.

I do think Becky is going to get the fall over Ronda. That’s the Triple H multi-match special. It’s how he dropped the belt to Benoit, and he did a similar thing with Sasha when she won the NXT title. You think the other challenger is losing the fall, but then the champ takes it to subvert your expectations. The whole thing is a mess though.

Emperor Smeat

03-27-2019, 09:22 PM

The Sheets:

Vince changed his mind this afternoon. He didn't want to put Asuka against whomever that nobody cared about in the 17th or 18th match on the show, and instead decided to add another title into the main event. Maybe they figured they had too many matches on the show and it was a way to get rid of one. All I know is it changed this afternoon. You want it to make sense. It doesn't. It can't when you change the story every week.

Oney Lorcan is officially part of the 205 Live roster.

After Lorcan appeared on tonight's 205 Live episode, WWE uploaded a video where Drake Maverick announced that Lorcan has joined the cruiserweight division and will be wrestling on NXT and 205 Live going forward.

Lorcan was involved in the show-closing angle on this week's 205 Live. He came out before the bell rang for Cedric Alexander vs. Ariya Daivari and sat at ringside for the match. After Alexander hit a dive to the floor, he accidentally knocked Lorcan's jacket off of the announce table. Lorcan got mad at Alexander and yelled at him, leading to Daivari rolling up Alexander to win.

Vince McMahon sold 3.2 million shares of WWE stock in order to raise $270 million in capital for his new company Alpha Entertainment, which will be re-launching the XFL football league in 2020.

WWE stock dropped 1% in after-hours trading as a result of McMahon's stock sale, according to SeekingAlpha.com.

WWE issued an Email blast pushing the 2019 WWE Survivor Series pre-sale in Chicago, advertising the following match for the PPV:

*In a Survivor Series Elimination Match, Team Raw - Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman & Drew McIntyre & Finn Balor & Bobby Lashley vs. Team Smackdown - Kevin Owens & AJ Styles & Randy Orton & Samoa Joe & Rey Mysterio.

AXS TV issued the following:

Los Angeles (March 27, 2019) – AXS TV—the exclusive U.S. broadcast home for New Japan Pro Wrestling—is proud to announce it will premiere a two-part special from the sold-out G1 SUPERCARD, a co-promotion between Ring of Honor and NJPW at Madison Square Garden, on Friday, April 12 and Friday, April 19 at 8pE/5pP.

Matt M sent this. … Regarding the question about why the champs don't pin each other in a triple threat tag and leave:

Many, many years ago, there was a multi tag team match on Raw when the New Age Outlaws were champs. They did this exact finish and from then on, the commentators would always reference the Outlaw Rule and that you couldn't pin your partner.
From PWI's weekly Q&A articles.

The Bella Twins are already teasing a comeback.

On the season finale of Total Bellas this past Sunday, Nikki Bella announced that she would be retiring from wrestling. Earlier this month, Brie Bella also informed fans that she would be stepping away from the ring as well. In the wake of their retirement, the twins announced that they would be starting a new podcast titled The Bellas Podcast.

On the premiere episode, Brie & Nikki revealed that would come back if it meant getting their hands on the Women's Tag Team Titles.

"Nicole and I did tell everyone that we are stepping away from the ring, which is true, we are. But we also said that before the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles came into place," said Brie. "This is the thing, for years we were begging for the Women's Tag Team Titles. Begging. We never thought it could truly be a reality. The fact that it is now, makes it extremely tempting for us to go back and fight for them because we're really the longest reigning, most authentic tag team."

Nikki added, "Overall, we are the only real, true blood, tag team."

Try as they might, WWE won't be able to stop Joey Janela's Spring Break even if they take measures next year.

Janela's third offering of Spring Break sold out both nights quickly, to the point Janela and Game Changer Wrestling are already planning ahead. With unsubstantiated reports of WWE trying to limit independent shows surrounding their WrestleMania 36 show in Tampa, Florida next year, Game Changer wrestling was ahead of the curve.

"We have a contract locked up already. It's already been signed, so there's nothing they can do," Joey Janela told Fightful. "If they kibosh all the other indies that weekend, has nothing to do with me. Brett Lauderdale was ahead of the game. He was in Tampa last week. Deal is done, there's nothing they can do. We're expecting something special next year. It's going to be a wild crowd."

WOR: “I’ve been told Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch do very well in the quarter hour ratings, the best of anyone.”

Despite the numbers not being publicly available, Dave Meltzer said today that he was told Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch do “very well” when it comes to quarter hour ratings, “the best of anyone” he claims.
Triple H did mention last year or so that women segments and matches have been a lot more consistent with generating high quarter-hour ratings compared to their men's stuff.

It was confirmed this week that Joey Ryan, Thunder Rosa (Kobra Moon), Ivelisse Velez and El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno) were released from their Lucha Underground contracts.

There's now speculation on King Cuerno possibly going to WWE in the near future. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Cuerno had an offer from WWE at one point. There's no word yet on if WWE still has interest in the former AAA World Cruiserweight Champion, but it was assumed that the offers still stand.

Cuerno was reportedly offered a spot in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic back in 2016, but Lucha Underground and AAA would not allow him to enter.

Regarding Velez possibly coming to WWE, Meltzer noted that she has had behind-the-scenes issues with people in WWE in the past, which is why she's not there now. There's been no recent talk of Velez possibly returning to WWE, but that could change as WWE looks to sign as many talents from the indies as they can ...

There's been rumors on Lucha Underground being done, but that's not official yet.

WWE ring announcer JoJo announced on Instagram that she’s expecting a baby, who will be named Knash, in June.

Bray Wyatt also posted a photo of his arms holding JoJo’s stomach, with the hashtag “#Knash” on his Instagram. Wyatt and JoJo have been dating for a couple of years.

JoJo has been off of WWE TV all year for what were previously said to be “personal reasons.” In her Instagram post, she said, “Oh and WWE universe WE will be back when the time is right.”

* According to the Observer, Cena is no longer scheduled to appear at Mania 35 due to WWE recently dropped all of their plans for him. Ends up debunking an earlier report from Sports Illustrated that stated Cena vs. Angle was set for Mania 35 and Corbin vs. Angle was just a swerve announcement.

Fignuts

03-27-2019, 10:19 PM

lol if Jojo ends up being sister abigail

Emperor Smeat

03-27-2019, 11:03 PM

First thing I thought of when I read of the baby's name was if one of them was a big Kevin Nash fan.

Damian Rey 2.0

03-28-2019, 12:51 AM

Why the fuck would they not go Cena v Angle. Like, I can't wrap my head around the logic of it all.

SlickyTrickyDamon

03-28-2019, 01:08 AM

Is Cena ok to go? He missed Royal Rumble.

Emperor Smeat

03-28-2019, 01:55 AM

Is Cena ok to go? He missed Royal Rumble.

He's busy with a lot of filming stuff this year which is why he missed that event and why it was always a slim chance of him being at Mania.

Apparently he won't finish this current round of filming until a few days before Mania and then after a short break, he's back working on another project.

Damian Rey 2.0

03-28-2019, 02:11 AM

Bummer for Angle, really. That Corbin match is probably going to be the drizzling shits.

Droford

03-28-2019, 02:49 AM

I hope wherever Janela has his show in tampa is up to date on their codes lol

Mr. Nerfect

03-28-2019, 03:05 AM

What do you think they see in Corbin? He’s probably a “hard worker,” but what has he shown? This is like them really trying to push Chainz to the top. I don’t get it.

Sepholio

03-28-2019, 03:13 AM

I'm not as against Corbin as most people but I think he is being horribly misused. He does not need to be at the center of major storylines yet. He should be an upper midcard heel, maybe the top midcard heel, and he should not talk nearly as much. Should have kept his original gimmick just fleshed it out a bit more.

Mr. Nerfect

03-28-2019, 03:22 AM

Even if you’re not against him, aren’t there still quite a few possibilities that are far more interesting to you? For example, predictable as this story might be, wouldn’t Bobby Roode vs. Chad Gable be a far more interesting program?

slik

03-28-2019, 10:13 AM

From this week's Wrestling Observer

https://i.imgur.com/1CbjZMG.png

https://i.imgur.com/1tfqUTB.png

Innovator

03-28-2019, 10:17 AM

What do you think they see in Corbin? He’s probably a “hard worker,” but what has he shown? This is like them really trying to push Chainz to the top. I don’t get it.

Agile big man, not afraid to get heat. Belly button can wink.

Ol Dirty Dastard

03-28-2019, 10:27 AM

Agile big man, not afraid to get heat. Belly button can wink.

all of these things are true and I've seen him do half decent stuff.

However, he's not all that engaging and doesn't scream "big star" to me. I'd have no problem with him as a mid-carder who's somewhat featured and put over enough so it means something to beat him. Not a mid-carder who's literally all over every show and yet it still means squat to beat him.

Droford

03-28-2019, 05:57 PM

alexa bliss is leaving after WM?

hmm

Emperor Smeat

03-28-2019, 09:55 PM

The Sheets:

WWE announced that a seven-plus-hour livestream of the greatest modern-day WrestleMania matches will air on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube starting at noon Eastern time on Friday, March 29. The matches will range from WrestleMania XIX until today.

Before he closed out Thursday's NXT conference call, WWE COO Paul "HHH" Levesque confirmed NXT is returning to San Jose, CA, on Saturday, June 8th.

Without explicitly saying it's a TakeOver event, WWE confirmed it will be.

The event will be at the SJSU Event Center where the brand has previously held TV tapings and house shows.

World Wrestling Entertainment has locked in plans to return to Madison Square Garden, PWInsider.com can exclusively confirm.

WWE, which last ran the venue in December 2018, will return to MSG on 9/9 and 9/10 for back to back Raw and Smackdown Live tapings, we have confirmed with multiple sources.

The dates will be the first WWE TV tapings in the Garden since a Raw taping on 11/16/09.

AAA will be holding a press conference next Thursday 4/5 at Madison Square Garden.

A press advisory issued regarding the conference noted AAA was coming to the United States in September 2019 and that the conference would include an opportunity for "AAA’s top executive share his vision for Lucha Libre’s next chapter."

I read in This Day in History that Hogan fought as the Hulk Machine in the mid 80's. Why was this? Wasnt he WWF Champion and Hulkamania running wild at the time?

Yes, but he worked a few tag matches as "Hulk Machine" playing off the Machines tag team as a house show gimmick. They never hid it was Hogan and he would do a deal where he took the mask off to show the crowd it was him but pull it down in front of the referee. George Steele and Roddy Piper did some house shows as the "Piper Machine" and “The Animal Machine” as well. It was just a house show attraction, like “Juan Cena” a few years ago.

Is it true pro wrestling was once almost banned in NYC?

Not in NYC, but all of New York State. There was a riot on 11/19/57 following Argentina Rocca & Eduord Carpentier beating Dick the Bruiser and Dr. Jerry Graham in Madison Square Garden with fans damaging the building, storming the ring and even fighting with police. This led to $2,600 in fines (which was a lot of money back then), a November show being canceled and the State of New York actually coming close to banning pro wrestling. Oddly enough, the local press reported on the script going too far, so even back then, for all the talk of protecting the business, it was still being skewered for being a work by certain corners of the media.
From PWI's weekly Q&A artictles.

Sting has been announced as signing for Wrestlemania AXXESS on Sunday, which led to the vendor bringing in Sting at Wrestlecon canceling his appearance.. Fans who pre-paid for autographs and photo-ops at Wrestlecon have received refunds already. Wrestlecon is trying to step in and work out Sting appearing at another time next weekend but nothing has been locked in. It should be interesting to see if WWE requires any other talents who are scheduled for Wrestlecon to be pulled from the event.

Wrestlecon is among a number of entities having issues locking in venue in the Tampa area as WWE already has agreements locked in via their partnership with the city preventing competing pro wrestling events in certain venues in that market over Wrestlemania 36 week. WWN will obviously be running and will have no issues due to their relationship with WWE. We are told that Game Changer Wrestling has locked in Tampa plans. Everyone else is still up in the air.

WWE announced officially that the Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair women’s match would be the main event on this year’s WrestleMania. The decision officially makes it the first women’s main event in WrestleMania history, a subject that was brought up one year ago when the idea was for Rousey vs. Flair to headline the show.That match changed forms multiple times over the past year, and the day after the announcement and the media publicity, did once more as to promote it as the biggest women’s match in WWE history, they are pushing a “Winner Take All” theme, or perhaps an “All On The Line” theme with both the Raw and Smackdown women’s titles at stake.

The decision was made on 3/26 according to multiple sources in creative, that McMahon had agreed to a major change, basically putting the Smackdown title on Flair, which happened later that night as she beat Asuka for that title at the Mohegan Sun Casino. The original plan for the show was to have Asuka defend the title against the winner of a match on the 3/26 Smackdown show with Naomi, Carmella, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. Rose was booked to win that match and have a rematch with Asuka, who had beaten her at Fastlane. The decision was made on a show already overloaded with matches to remove that match that really had little interest and instead make the main event stronger. There was no indication Rose was winning that match.

The plan is also to come out of this match with a clear direction for next year’s WrestleMania, whether that means Rousey returns for a singles match with Lynch, or Flair vs. Lynch. Granted this 2019-20 Vince McMahon, meaning it’ll probably change five times or more during the year, especially since all of the top three matches this year were determined by fans and circumstances and were change of the long-term ideas. The women’s match changed multiple times, from the death of Jim Neidhart, to the huge rise in popularity of Lynch and different angles and scenarios with Flair. The only constant was that it was probably going to be the first women’s main event, and the only constant in the story was it being the climax of Rousey’s one-year run.

What “Winner Take All,” the theme we’ve heard from a few people as the probable tag line entails is not clear, although will be finalized on Raw on 4/1 in Washington, DC. The plan is not to unify or merge the championships, at least long-term.

As things stand, the idea seems to be that if Rousey or Flair lose, the person who beats them gets their title. It in theory is possible that Rousey or Flair end up with both belts, but the more likely scenario is Lynch can now win either the Raw or Smackdown belt. It is always possible that could change by Monday, but we’re told that is very unlikely as they do want each brand to have a separate champion. Obviously this decision comes down to whether this will be Rousey’s last match with the promotion for now. If Rousey finishes at Mania, the date that was the plan as her tentative final date for the last few months, then the scenario that makes the most sense would be Lynch over Rousey. If Rousey is staying longer, then Lynch can beat Flair and they could do Lynch vs. Rousey later, since it only makes sense for Rousey to lose once, in her final match for now, and for Lynch to be the one who beats her.

As every WrestleMania shows, Vince McMahon often changes his mind, based on his thoughts on crowd reactions or even if he thinks too many people have the outcome pegged. If he believes the social media outrage on Flair is real heat, he could switch to her winning. If Rousey is convinced to stay a little while longer just because he thinks people think he’s leaving, we’ve seen enough Brock Lesnar finishes to know what could happen. Still, Lynch has to be the favorite to win. By making the announcement public, we’re now in a position that McMahon can’t change his mind as to what match to put on last.
Smart of WWE officials to push Vince into a corner for a decision so he couldn't screw things up again but also sad they couldn't keep it as a huge surprise for Mania. It would have generated a genuine monster pop once the crowd realized which match was last.

Regarding the internal politics in New Japan regarding the Dallas and London dichotomy mentioned last week, the U.S. expansion to this point has been in the hands of Kaname Tezuka and Bushiroad U.S. Harold Meij’s team were hoping to promote the U.S. market. The Madison Square Garden show was more ROH but Dallas is pure New Japan promotion. Tezuka’s Bushiroad had been promoting the U.S. market and wanted to keep it, so it ended up as a territorial split where Meij’s team gets U.K. and Australia and Tezuka’s team gets the U.S. Basically from both sides is the Tezuka side has more experience promoting wrestling which the Meij side doesn’t, but Meij has done business all over the world and his team speaks English, with him having being educated in the U.S. and Michael Craven being from Canada

The Labor Day weekend All In 2, as it’s being called, will be on 8/31 back at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates, IL. That was hinted on BTE the last time The Young Bucks went to Chicago and they showed the plaque in front of that arena which talked about All In. It was known all along it would be in Chicago, just a question as to what building as they sold out the Sears Center instantly last year, and the Allstate Arena, the WWE’s main venue, is a little larger and the United Center is a lot larger. In theory it should be harder to draw for a traveling fan show when they’ve already done Las Vegas this year, although lots of theories about what draws ticket money have been blown out of the water already

Sadie Gibbs suffered an injured back powerlifting and pulled out of matches this past weekend. She said the injury has left her short of breath and she doesn’t know the extent of the problem.

FOX’s Friday night lineup this past week averaged 3,418,000 viewers and that’s going up against a ton of NCAA basketball games
Even without sports competition, that is around the usual range FOX has been doing for Friday nights and why SmackDown is going to need some drastic changes made if it wants to come close to hitting those numbers even for the honeymoon period.

WrestleMania 35 is just days away which also means NXT TakeOver: New York is also days away. NXT is Triple H's baby and The Game conducted an NXT media call ahead of the big event ...

Sullivan was supposed to debut on Raw along with other main roster call-ups such as Tommaso Ciampa. Ciampa had a brief run with the main roster before recently undergoing neck surgery and Triple H talked about what was known about Ciampa's injury prior to his debut.

"We knew about it. We knew it was going to be a necessity going forward," admitted Triple H. "The decision was still made to move him to the main roster and get him some exposure. Then he'll take the time off, get fixed up and be back better than ever.

"Unfortunately with the type of injury he had, it went from one thing to another very rapidly. It changed from something being manageable to being a risk we're not willing to take."

Simple Fan

03-28-2019, 11:31 PM

Kind of dumb Becky can't come out Undisputed Women's Champion. If anything they could make her drop one the next night.

Simple Fan

03-28-2019, 11:33 PM

Once I posted that I realized Vince will probably have her pin both and win both titles.

Emperor Smeat

03-28-2019, 11:44 PM

Kind of dumb Becky can't come out Undisputed Women's Champion. If anything they could make her drop one the next night.
Assuming plans don't change, it just makes Charlotte winning the SD belt look even worse as a decision since its either a non-factor for Becky's win or makes Becky look bad if she comes out of Mania without the RAW belt.

If WWE doesn't want to merge the belts, can still have a duo champ be possible but just make future title defenses be restricted to a only a specific brand's belt.

Droford

03-29-2019, 02:05 AM

Beckys clearly winning cause Rondas running off and it gets her off SD where charlotte can continue to be champion

erickman

03-29-2019, 04:31 AM

now ronda has to take the pin instead of charlotte

Evil Vito

03-29-2019, 07:31 AM

They obviously want Becky, Charlotte, Sasha, and Bayley to all be able to hold titles up at the end of the show.

Would’ve been cool had they just done Charlotte/Asuka on the show instead of shoehorning the belt onto her just for that.

Mr. Nerfect

03-29-2019, 07:33 AM

What is the point of Charlotte holding up a belt after she loses a singles match?

Mr. Nerfect

03-29-2019, 08:40 AM

I’m not saying it won’t happen, by the way. I’m just asking what the point is?

#1-norm-fan

03-29-2019, 10:02 AM

What is the point of Charlotte holding up a belt after she loses a singles match?

Ending WrestleMania with someone no-selling losing the main event sounds like the most “WWE logic” thing ever.

Splaya

03-29-2019, 11:43 AM

Beckys clearly winning cause Rondas running off and it gets her off SD where charlotte can continue to be champion

Really? Did you use your own logic for this or did you rely on the dirt sheets?

Droford

03-29-2019, 11:51 AM

now ronda has to take the pin instead of charlotte

Becky Pins Charlotte so Ronda can have the "you never tapped me out or pinned me" storyline whenever she comes back

Droford

03-29-2019, 11:53 AM

Really? Did you use your own logic for this or did you rely on the dirt sheets?

It's pretty common knowledge Ronda isn't booked for anything post Mania.

Splaya

03-29-2019, 12:12 PM

Becky Pins Charlotte so Ronda can have the "you never tapped me out or pinned me" storyline whenever she comes back

But then Becky gets the SD title

Droford

03-29-2019, 01:20 PM

But then Becky gets the SD title

Match is only for the Raw title, at least as of now

slik

03-29-2019, 01:35 PM

WWE's touring schedule thru April 2020 leaked via ProWrestling Sheet:

WWE TOUR SCHEDULE (MARCH 2019 - APRIL 2020)
SUBJECT TO CHANGE

04/04/2019 Brooklyn Pier 12,Brooklyn,NY
04/05/2019 Barclays Center NXT,Brooklyn,NY
04/05/2019 Barclays Center,Brooklyn,NY
04/05/2019 Brooklyn Pier 12,Brooklyn,NY
04/06/2019 Brooklyn Pier 12,Brooklyn,NY
04/06/2019 Barclays Center,Brooklyn,NY
04/06/2019 Barclays Center NXT,Brooklyn,NY
04/07/2019 Brooklyn Pier 12,Brooklyn,NY
04/07/2019 Metlife Stadium,East Rutherford NJ
04/08/2019 Barcla s Center,Brookl n,NY
04/08/2019 Brooklyn Pier 12,Brooklyn,NY
04/09/2019 Barclays Center,Brooklyn,NY
04/10/2019 Full Sail University ,Orlando,FL
04/12/2019 Minnreq Hall,Largo,FL
04/13/2019 Sanford Civic Center,Sanford,FL
04/15/2019 Bell Centre,Montreal ,QC
04/16/2019 Bell Centre,MontrealoQC
04/18/2019 Lakeland Armory,Lakeland,FL
04/19/2019 Chaifetz Arena,St. Louis,MO
04/19/2019 Enterprise Center,St. Louis MO
04/19/2019 Jacksonville Armo Jacksonville FL
04/19/2019 Braehead Kinqdom
04/20/2019 Alliant EnergyCenter,Madison,WI
04/20/2019 Braehead Arena - UKC,Glasgow,United Kingdom
04/20/2019 Bank of Springfield Center,Sprinqfield,IL
04/20/2019 UACDC Complex,Tampa,FL
04/21/2019 Tax Slayer Center,Moline,IL
04/21/2019 Mayo Civic Center,Rochester,MN
04/22/2019 Tyson Events Center,Sioux City,IA
04/22/2019 Wells Fargo Arena,Des Moines,IA
04/23/2019 Pinnacle Bank Arena,Lincoln,NE
04/25/2019 Ralston Arena,Omaha NE
04/25/2019 Orlando Live Events
04/26/2019 Midtown Cultural & Education Center,Daytona Beach,FL
04/26/2019 River Center,Davenport,IA

04/27/2019 Dade City Armory ,Dade City,FL
04/27/2019 Tuner Hall Ballroom Milwaukee WI
04/28/2019 E.A. Diddle Arena,Bowling Green KY
04/28/2019 Roy Wilkins Auditorium ,Saint Paul,MN
04/29/2019 BigSandvSuperstore Arena,Huntington WV
04/29/2019 Lexington Cntr Rupp Arena,Lexington,KY
04/30/2019 Schottenstein Center,Columbus,OH
05/01/2019 Full Sail
05/02/2019 Melbourne Auditorium - NXT,Melbourne,FL
05/03/2019 Palm Beach Convention Center,West Palm Beach,FL
05/04/2019 Havert L. Fenn Center,Fort Pierce FL
05/05/2019 Ford Center Evansville,Evansville,IN
05/06/2019 U.S. Bank Arena Cincinnati OH
05/06/2019 The Corbin Arena Corbin KY
05/07/2019 KFC Yum Center,Louisville,KY
05/08/2019 The SSE Arena,Belfast,United Kingdom
05/09/2019 3Arena,Dublin,Ireland
05/09/2019 Forest National,Brussels,Belqium
05/09/2019 Minnreq Hall,Larqo,FL
05/10/2019 Highlands
05/10/2019 Marseille Aix,Marseille,France
05/10/2019 Helsinki Ice Arena,Helsinki,Finland
05/11/2019 RDS Arena,Genoa,Italy
05/11/2019 Utilita Arena ,Newcastle,United Kingdom
05/11/2019 Hovet Arena Stockholm Sweden
05/11/2019 St. Augustine Armo ,Saint Augustine FL
05/12/2019 M&S Bank Arena ,Liverpool,United Kingdom
05/12/2019 Spektrum,Oslo,Norwa
05/13/2019 02 Arena,London,United Kingdom
05/13/2019 Bournemouth International Centre,Bournemouth,United Kinqdom
05/14/2019 02 Arena,London,UnitedKingdom
05/14/2019 Accorhotels Arena,Paris,France
05/15/2019 Resorts World Arena,Birminqham,United Kinqdom
05/15/2019 Magdeburg GETEC Arena,Madqeburq,Germany
05/16/2019 FlyDSA Arena ,Sheffield,United Kingdom
05/16/2019 Sands Event Center Bethlehem PA
05/16/2019 UACDC Com lex,Tampa FL

05/16/2019 Barclaycard Arena,HAMBURG,Germany
05/17/2019 Mercedes Benz Arena Berlin German
05/17/2019 Fillmore Phil Philadelphia,PA
05/17/2019 St. Petersburq Armory,Saint Petersburq,FL
05/17/2019 Motorpoint Arena,Cardiff,United Kingdom
05/18/2019 APG Federal Credit Union Arena,Bel Air,MD
05/18/2019 Sanford Civic Center,Sanford,FL
05/18/2019 Messe Erfurt,Erfurt,Germany
05/19/2019 Asbury Park Convention Hall,Asbury Park,NJ
05/19/2019 XL Center,Hartford,CT
05/19/2019 St. Jakobstadion Basel,Switzerland
05/20/2019 Tsongas Center @ UMass Lowell,Lowell,MA
05/20/2019 Times Union Center Alban NY
05/21/2019 Dunkin Donuts Center ,Providence RI
05/23/2019 Bartow Armory,Bartow,FL
05/24/2019 Fieldhouse at Watsco Center,Coral Gables,FL
05/25/2019 Midtown Cultural & Education Center,Daytona Beach,FL
05/27/2019 Tony's Pizza Events Center,Salina,KS
05/27/2019 Sprint Center,Kansas City,MO
05/28/2019 BOK Center,Tulsa,OK
05/30/2019 Orlando Live Events Center,Orlando,FL
05/31/2019 Santa Ana Star Center,Rio Rancho,NM
05/31/2019 Jacksonville Armory,Jacksonville,FL
06/01/2019 Havert L. Fenn Center,Fort Pierce ,FL
06/01/2019 Extraco Events Center,Waco TX
06/01/2019 United Supermarkets Arena,Lubbock,TX
06/02/2019 Reed Arena,Colleqe Station, TX
06/02/2019 Foster Communications Coliseum,San Angelo TX
06/03/2019 Frank Erwin Center,Austin,TX
06/03/2019 American Bank Center Arena,Corpus Christi, TX
06/04/2019 Sames Auto Arena,Laredo,TX
06/06/2019 Minnreg Hall,Largo,FL
06/07/2019 Maverik Center,Salt Lake City,UT
06/07/2019 UACDC Complex,Tampa,FL
06/08/2019 Pepsi Center,Denver,CO
06/08/2019 Taco Bell Arena @ Boise State,Boise,ID
06/08/2019 SJSU Event Center San Jose,CA

06/08/2019 Oracle Arena,Oakland,CA
06/09/2019 Save Mart Center,Fresno,CA
06/09/2019 Stockton Arena,Stockton,CA
06/10/2019 SAP Center ,San Jose,CA
06/10/2019 Reno -Sparks Event Center,Reno,NV
06/11/2019 Golden 1 Center,Sacramento,CA
06/12/2019 Full Sail University ,Orlando,FL
06/13/2019 Full Sail University Orlando,FL
06/14/2019 Download Festival - UKC,Donington Park,United Kingdom
06/14/2019 Hilton Ocala Ocala FL
06/14/2019 Bell MTS Place,Winnipeg MB
06/15/2019 Download Festival - UKC,Donington Park,United Kingdom
06/15/2019 Orlando Live Events Center,Orlando,FL
06/15/2019 Honda Center,Anaheim,CA
06/16/2019 Pechanqa Arena ,San Dieqo,CA
06/16/2019 Download Festival - UKC,Donington Park,United Kingdom
06/17/2019 Staples Center,Los Angeles,CA
06/17/2019 Palm Sprinqs Convention Center,Palm Sprinqs,CA
06/18/2019 Citizens Business Bank Arena,Ontario,CA
06/20/2019 Aztec Theatre,San Antonio, TX
06/21/2019 Revention Music Center,Houston,TX
06/22/2019 Save On Foods Memorial Centre,Victoria BC
06/22/2019 Adams Center Missoula MT
06/22/2019 South Side Ballroom,Dallas,TX
06/23/2019 The Criterion,Oklahoma City,OK
06/23/2019 Spokane Arena,Spokane,WA
06/23/2019 Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre,Abbotsford,Canada
06/24/2019 Tacoma Dome, Tacoma,WA
06/24/2019 Toyota Center,Kennewick,WA
06/24/2019 Anqel of the Winds Arena,Everett,WA
06/25/2019 Moda Center,Portland,OR
06/27/2019 Singapore Indoor Stadium,Singapore,Singapore
06/27/2019 Dade City Armory ,Dade City,FL
06/28/2019 C tal River Armo C stal River FL
06/28/2019 R oguku Arena,Tokyo,Japan
06/29/2019 Mississippi St. Fair Coliseum,Jackson,MS
06/29/2019 Ryoguku Arena Tokyo,Japan

06/29/2019 Venice Community Center,Venice,FL
06/30/2019 Monroe Civic Center Monroe LA
07/01/2019 American Airlines Center Dallas, TX
07/01/2019 Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum,Huntsville,TX
07/02/2019 AT&T Center,San Antonio TX
07/06/2019 Capital One Arena,Washington„DC
07/06/2019 Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard,Bridqeport,CT
07/07/2019 The Floyd L Maines Veterans Memorial Arena,Binghamton,NY
07/07/2019 Mohegan Sun Arena @ CaseyPlaza,Wilkes Barre,PA
07/08/2019 Glens Falls Civic Center,Glens Falls,NY
07/08/2019 Prudential Center,Newark,NJ
07/09/2019 SNHU Arena,Manchester,NH
07/12/2019 Minnreg Hall,Largo FL
07/12/2019 Minnreg Hall Largo FL
07/12/2019 Augusta Civic Center,Auqusta,ME
07/13/2019 Mass Mutual Center,Sprinqfield MA
07/13/2019 VSU Multipurpose Center Petersburg VA
07/14/2019 Wells Farqo Center,Philadelphia,PA
07/15/2019 Nassau Coliseum,Uniondale,NY
07/15/2019 Mid-Hudson Civic Center,Poughkeepsie,NY
07/16/2019 DCU Center„Worcester,MA
07/18/2019 Lakeland Armory,Lakeland,FL
07/19/2019 Plymouth Pavilions UKC,Plymouth,United Kingdom
07/19/2019 Santander Arena,Readinq,PA
07/19/2019 UACDC Complex Tampa FL
07/20/2019 Columbus Civic Center Columbus GA
07/20/2019 Wildwoods Convention Center„Wildwood,NJ
07/20/2019 Pl mouth Pavilions Kingdom
07/21/2019 Amwa Center Orlando,FL
07/21/2019 Pensacola BayCenter,Pensacola,FL
07/22/2019 Amalie ArenaJampa,FL
07/22/2019 Hertz Arena,Fort Myers,FL
07/23/2019 American Airlines Arena,Miami,FL
07/25/2019 Orlando Live Events Center,Orlando,FL
07/25/2019 North Charleston Conv. Center,North Charleston,SC
07/26/2019 Jacksonville Armo ,Jacksonville,FL
07/26/2019 Four States Entertainment Ctr Texarkana,AR

07/26/2019 Township Auditorium - NXT,Columbia,SC
07/27/2019 Center Stage Theatre,Atlanta,GA
07/27/2019 Chesapeake EnergyArena„Oklahoma City,OK
07/27/2019 Bridqestone Arena,Nashville,TN
07/27/2019 Havert L. Fenn Center,Fort Pierce FL
07/28/2019 JQH Arena,Springfield,MO
07/28/2019 Cabarrus Arena - NXT,Concord,NC
07/28/2019 Show Me Center,Cape Girardeau,MO
07/29/2019 Black River Coliseum,Poplar Bluff,MO
07/29/2019 Verizon Arena North Little Rock AR
07/30/2019 Fedexforum Memphis TN
08/02/2019 Allen County Expo Center,Ft. Wayne,IN
08/03/2019 E.A. Diddle Arena,Bowlinq Green,KY
08/03/2019 Huntington Center,Toledo,OH
08/03/2019 Minnreq Hall,Larqo,FL
08/04/2019 Erie Insurance Arena,Erie,PA
08/04/2019 David S. Palmer Arena,Danville,IL
08/05/2019 Winqs Event Center,Kalamazoo,MI
08/05/2019 PPG Paints Arena,Pittsburgh,PA
08/06/2019 Little Caesar's Arena,Detroit,MI
08/08/2019 Albany Capital Center,Albany,NY
08/09/2019 Buffalo River Works,Buffalo NY
08/10/2019 Scotiabank Arena - NXT Toronto ON
08/11/2019 Scotiabank Arena, Toronto,ON
08/12/2019 Scotiabank Arena Toronto,ON
08/13/2019 Scotiabank Arena,Toronto,ON
08/15/2019 Full Sail University ,Orlando,FL
08/16/2019 Bismarck Event Center,Bismarck,ND
08/17/2019 Alerus Center,Grand Forks,ND
08/17/2019 Toyota Center,Houston,TX
08/17/2019 Midtown Cultural & Education Center,Daytona Beach,FL
08/18/2019 CHI Health Center ,Omaha,NE
08/18/2019 Farqodome,Farqo,ND
08/19/2019 Xcel Ener Center St Paul MN
08/19/2019 Verizon Wireless Center Mankato,MN
08/20/2019 DennySanford Premier Center,Sioux Falls,SD
08/22/2019 Movistar Arena,Bogota,Columbia

08/23/2019 Cajundome,Lafayette,LA
08/23/2019 Sanford Civic Center,Sanford,FL
08/23/2019 Movistar Arena,Bogota,Columbia
08/24/2019 Mobile Civic Center,Mobile,AL
08/24/2019 Jockey Club,Lima,Peru
08/25/2019 MS Coast Col. And Conv. Center,Biloxi,MS
08/25/2019 Coliseo Roberto Duran,Panama,Panama
08/26/2019 Smoothie Kin Center New Orleans LA
08/27/2019 Raisin Cane's River Center ,Baton Rouge LA
08/29/2019 Orlando Live Events Center,Orlando FL
08/30/2019 Cross Insurance Center Bangor,ME
08/30/2019 Jacksonville Armo ,Jacksonville,FL
08/31/2019 Havert L. Fenn Center,Fort Pierce,FL
08/31/2019 Cross Insurance Arena,Portland,ME
09/01/2019 Westchester County Center,White Plains,NY
09/02/2019 Bob Carpenter Center,Newark,DE
09/02/2019 Royal Farms Arena,Baltimore,MD
09/03/2019 Norfolk Scope Arena,Norfolk,VA
09/05/2019 Movistar Arena Santia o Chile
09/06/2019 UACDC Complex,Tampa FL
09/06/2019 Harbour Station,Saint John,NB
09/06/2019 Luna Park,Buenos Aires,Argentina
09/07/2019 Luna Park,Buenos Aires,Argentina
09/07/2019 Hiqhlands Today Center,Sebrinq ,FL
09/07/2019 Antel Arena,Montevideo,Urugua
09/07/2019 Halifax Forum,Halifax,NS
09/08/2019 War Memorial Arena,Syracuse,NY
09/08/2019 Ginåsio do Ibirapuera,Säo Paulo,Brazil
09/09/2019 Madison Square Garden,New York,NY
09/10/2019 Madison Square Garden,New York,NY
09/11/2019 Full Sail Universi Orlando FL
09/12/2019 Full Sail Universi Orlando FL
09/13/2019 Mckenzie Arena @ UTC,Chattanooqa,TN
09/14/2019 Macon Coliseum,Macon,GA
09/14/2019 Dade CityArmory„Dade City„FL
09/15/2019 State Farm
09/16/2019 Colonial Life Arena,Columbia,SC

09/16/2019 Thompson/Bolinq Assembly Arena,Knoxville,TN
09/17/2019 Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro NC
09/19/2019 Midtown Cultural & Education Center,Da ona Beach,FL
09/20/2019 Jacksonville Armory,Jacksonville,FL
09/20/2019 Corral Arena,Calgary,AB
09/20/2019 Mall of Asia,Manila,Philippines
09/21/2019 Rogers Place,Edmonton,Canada
09/21/2019 Mercedez Benz Arena,Shanghai,China
09/22/2019 Neal S. Blaisdell Center,Honolulu,HI
09/23/2019 Chase Center,San Francisco,CA
09/24/2019 Chase Center,San Francisco,CA
09/26/2019 Hy Vee Hall ,Des Moines,IA
09/27/2019 Silverstein E e Centers Arena,lndependence MO
09/27/2019 Orlando Live Events Center,Orlando FL
09/27/2019 Don Haskins Center,El Paso, TX
09/28/2019 FamilyArena NXT,Saint Charles,MO
09/28/2019 Havert L. Fenn Center,Fort Pierce„FL
09/28/2019 Tucson Convention Center, Tucson,AZ
09/29/2019 Prescott ValleyEvent Center,Prescott Valley,AZ
09/29/2019 Landers Center,Southaven,MS
09/30/2019 Talkinq Stick Resort Arena,Phoenix,AZ
10/03/2019 Pechanga Arena San Diego,CA
10/03/2019 Sanford Civic Center,Sanford,FL
10/04/2019 Staples Center,Los Anqeles,CA
10/05/2019 Stockton Arena,Stockton CA
10/05/2019 Selland Arena,Fresno CA
10/05/2019 Minnreq Hall,Larqo,FL
10/06/2019 Golden 1 Center,Sacramento,CA
10/07/2019 Rabobank Arena,Bakersfield,CA
10/10/2019 Budweiser Events Center,Loveland,CO
10/11/2019 Fieldhouse at Watsco Center,Coral Gables,FL
10/11/2019 Pepsi Center,Denver,CO
10/11/2019 Carlson Center,Fairbanks,AK
10/12/2019 Sullivan Arena,Anchorage,AK
10/12/2019 Casper Events Center,Casper,WY
10/12/2019 Palm Beach Convention Center West Palm Beach FL
10/13/2019 Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Rapid City,SD

10/13/2019 Honda Center,Anaheim,CA
10/14/2019 T-Mobile Arena,Las Vegas,NV
10/17/2019 Veterans Memorial Coliseum,Portland,OR
10/17/2019 Wriqht State University's Nutter Center ,Dayton,OH
10/18/2019 Havert L. Fenn Center Fort Pierce FL
10/18/2019 Nationwide Arena,Columbus OH
10/18/2019 The Paramount Theatre,Seattle,WA
10/19/2019 Midtown Cultural & Education Center,Daytona Beach,FL
10/19/2019 Agrodome - NXT,Vancouver,BC
10/19/2019 CURE Insurance
10/20/2019 Prospera Place - NXT,Kelowna,BC
10/20/2019 Kovalchick Complex,Indiana,PA
10/21/2019 Quickens LoansArena,Cleveland,OH
10/21/2019 Qudos Bank Arena,Sydney,Australia
10/22/2019 Brisbane Entertainment Centre,Brisbane,Australia
10/23/2019 Rod Laver Arena,Melbourne Australia
10/24/2019 Full Sail Universi Orlando FL
10/24/2019 Coliseo General Rumifiahui,Quito,Ecuador
10/25/2019 Parque Viva,San Jose,Costa Rica
10/25/2019 Sprint Center,Kansas City,MO
10/26/2019 Coliseo De Puerto Rico,San Juan,Puerto Rico
10/28/2019 Enterprise Center,St. Louis,MO
10/31/2019 Orlando Live Events Center,Orlando,FL
11/01/2019 Prudential Center,Newark,NJ
11/01/2019 King Saud University Stadium,Riyadh,Saudi Arabia
11/03/2019 Blue Cross Arena,Rochester,NY
11/03/2019 Nelson Mandela Forum,Florence,Italy
11/04/2019 Times Union Center Alban NY
11/04/2019 Mediolanum Forum Milan Ital
11/05/2019 Motorpoint Arena Nottinqham,Nottinqham,United Kinqdom
11/06/2019 Birmingham BC Arena,Birminqham,United Kingdom
11/06/2019 3Arena,Dublin,Ireland
11/07/2019 First Direct Arena,Leeds,United Kinqdom
11/07/2019 Brighton Centre,Brighton,United Kingdom
11/07/2019 Hilton Ocala ,Ocala,FL
11/08/2019 The SSE Wembley Arena,London,United Kingdom
11/08/2019 Manchester Arena Manchester,United Kingdom

11/09/2019 Arena @ Butlins,Minehead,United Kingdom
11/09/2019 Palacio Vistalegre,Madrid,Spain
11/10/2019 PABELLON SAN
11/10/2019 BHGE Arena Aberdeen,Aberdeen,United Kingdom
11/11/2019 The SSE Hydro,Glasgow,United Kingdom
11/11/2019 Wiener Stadthalle,Vienna,Austria
11/12/2019 Ziqqo Dome,Amsterdam,Netherlands
11/12/2019 Zenith Arena,Lille,France
11/13/2019 Messe Erfurt,Erfurt,Germany
11/13/2019 Hallenstadion,ZurichSwitzerland
11/14/2019 Minnre Hall,Largo FL
11/14/2019 SAP Arena,Mannheim,Germany
11/15/2019 Wells Fargo Center,Philadelphia,PA
11/15/2019 Donau Arena,Regensburg,German
11/16/2019 ISS Dome,Dusseldorf,Germany
11/16/2019 Midtown Cultural & Education Center,Daytona Beach,FL
11/18/2019 T.D. Garden,Boston,MA
11/21/2019 Tuner Hall Ballroom,Milwaukee,WI
11/22/2019 Allstate Arena,Chicago,IL
11/22/2019 Egyptian Room,Indianapolis,IN
11/23/2019 Allstate Arena NXT,Chicaqo,IL
11/24/2019 Allstate Arena,Chicago,IL
11/25/2019 Allstate Arena,Chicago,IL
11/29/2019 Legacy Arena,Birminqham,AL
11/29/2019 Verizon Arena,North Little Rock,AR
11/30/2019 Infinite EnergyCenter,Duluth,GA
11/30/2019 Arena Ciudad de Mexico,Mexico City,Mexico
12/01/2019 Arena Monterrey,Monterrey,NL
12/01/2019 Von Braun Civic Center,Huntsville,AL
12/02/2019 Legacy Arena,Birminqham,AL
12/04/2019 Full Sail University Orlando,FL
12/05/2019 Hampton Coliseum,Hampton,VA
12/06/2019 Crown Coliseum,Fayetteville,NC
12/07/2019 Veteran's Memorial Arena,Jacksonville FL
12/08/2019 Ocean Center,Daytona Beach,FL
12/08/2019 James Brown Arena,Augusta,GA
12/09/2019 Bon Secours Wellness

12/12/2019 Van Andel Arena,Grand Rapids,MI
12/13/2019 Fiserv Forum,Milwaukee,WI
12/13/2019 Havert L. Fenn Center,Fort Pierce„FL
12/14/2019 Midtown Cultural & Education Center,Daytona Beach,FL
12/14/2019 AMSOIL
12/14/2019 US Cellular Center,Cedar Rapids,IA
12/15/2019 Tarqet Center,Minneapolis,MN
12/16/2019 Wells Fargo Arena,Des Moines,IA
12/19/2019 DCU Center,Worcester,MA
12/20/2019 Barcla s Center Brookl n NY
12/21/2019 TBD
12/21/2019 Kitchener Memorial Auditorium,Kitchener ON
12/22/2019 TBD
12/22/2019 Budweiser Gardens,London,Canada
12/23/2019 KeyBank Center,Buffalo,NY
12/26/2019 MadisonSquare Garden,New York,NY
12/26/2019 U.S. Bank Arena,Cincinnati,OH
12/27/2019 Little Caesar's Arena,Detroit,MI
12/27/2019 PPG Paints Arena,Pittsburqh,PA
12/28/2019 Coca-Cola Coliseum , Toronto,ON
12/28/2019 Giant Center,Hershey,PA
12/29/2019 Ro al Farms Arena,Baltimore MD
12/29/2019 Bell Centre,Montreal , C
12/30/2019 XL Center,Hartford,CT
12/30/2019 Staples Center,Los Angeles,CA
1/3/2020 Fedexforum,Memphis,TN
1/6/2020 KFC Yum Center,Louisville,KY
1/10/2020 BMO Harris Bank Center,Rockford,IL
1/13/2020 CHI Health Center ,Omaha,NE
1/17/2020 Chesapeake Enerqy Arena ,Oklahoma City,OK
1/20/2020 Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, KS
1/24/2020 AT&T Center,San Antonio, TX
1/25/2020 Toyota Center,Houston,TX
1/26/2020 Minute Maid Park Houston TX
1/27/2020 American Airlines Center,Dallas TX
1/31/2020 Gila River Center, Glendale AZ
2/3/2020 Vivint Smart Home Arena,Salt lake City UT

2/7/2020 T-Mobile Arena,Las Veqas,NV
2/10/2020 SAP CenterSan Jose,CA
2/14/2020 Rogers Arena, Vancouver,Canada
2/16/2020 Moda Center,Portland,OR
2/17/2020 Tacoma Dome, Tacoma,WA
2/21/2020 Tyson Events Center,Sioux City,IA
2/24/2020 Sprint Center,Kansas City,MO
2/28/2020 Spectrum Center Charlotte NC
3/2/2020 Nassau Coliseum Uniondale NY
3/6/2020 TD Garden, Boston MA
3/8/2020 WellsFargo Center,Philadelphia PA
3/9/2020 Capital One
3/13/2020 ScotiaBank
3/14/2020 Little Caesar's Arena,Detroit,MI
3/16/2020 PPG Paints Arena,Pittsburqh,PA
3/20/2020 Bridgestone Arena,Nashville,TN
3/23/2020 Dickies Arena, Ft. Worth, TX
3/27/2020 Allstate Arena, Chicago, IL
3/30/1930 State Farm Arena Atlanta GA
4/3/2020 Amalie Arena Tam a FL
4/4/2020 Amalie ArenaJampa,FL
4/5/2020 Raymond James Stadium, Tampa,FL
4/6/2020 Amalie Arena Tampa,FL

slik

03-29-2019, 01:38 PM

^^^

Looks like the first SDLIVE on FOX will be held at The Staples Center in L.A.

Also, looks like Madison Square Garden will be hosting an episode both RAW and SDLive in September!

slik

03-29-2019, 02:01 PM

WWE running Dallas for RAW the same week as NJPW's G1

Droford

03-29-2019, 03:25 PM

slik

03-29-2019, 03:27 PM

I doubt the pre WM-SD will be pointless once the show moves to FOX. I expect SDLive to be the flagship show then.

Emperor Smeat

03-29-2019, 04:38 PM

Th big news from that is that starting with Survivor Series the Big 5 pre ppv SD will be in the same arena not the Post. Which means the post WM SD will be in a different city although the historically pointless pre WM SD will be. You can see it in the schedule since Amalie Arena is booked Fr-Sat-Mon. Also means they might not be doing the HOF next year.

Current speculation is WWE likely holds it on Thursdays going forward. Maybe Wednesday but can't be earlier in the week since those two days are when the bulk of wrestling fans and tourists arrive for Mania week.

Droford

03-29-2019, 04:46 PM

Current speculation is WWE likely holds it on Thursdays going forward. Maybe Wednesday but can't be earlier in the week since those two days are when the bulk of wrestling fans and tourists arrive for Mania week.

Thursday is really the only day that makes sense but they don't have Amalie booked next year (or any arena booked) for the Thursday.. they should probably figure a way to fold it into the AXXESS event

Emperor Smeat

03-29-2019, 10:03 PM

The Sheets:

WWE Hall of Famer Hacksaw Jim Duggan, 65, posted the following on his Instagram:

"On my way to the hospital for a planned heart procedure, will be in over night. Then back HOOOOOING. Any good thoughts and prayers will be appreciated. See you down the road."

Grammy Award winner Yolanda Adams will be performing “America the Beautiful” at WrestleMania at MetLife Stadium.

Regarding John Cena, there is a deal on the table that Cena is expected to agree to for a match at WrestleMania. It is not with Kurt Angle.
Seems WWE changed their minds again on Cena's status for Mania.

There were initial pushes for the women's tag team match to be a ladder match at WrestleMania, but that was quickly shot down. There are pushes still going for a ladder match of some kind to happen, but others were saying "it's a mess they don't want." I'm not quite sure what that means, but that was the explanation I was given.

There's a lot to get into on the Women's Smackdown Title situation. As of two weeks ago, a giant portion of women on the Smackdown Live roster had no idea what they'd be doing at WrestleMania. In fact, a few of them weren't aware of the big changes to the show until early this week. WWE was keeping the situation very quiet almost all afternoon, and when it had to be explained what was happening, it was done in much more confusing fashion than it actually ended up being.

With the show taking place in Florida, several NXT wrestlers will be appearing at EVOLVE 126.

Four NXT vs. EVOLVE matches have been announced for the show, which will be held at The Orpheum in Ybor City, Florida on Saturday, April 13. Those matches are:

EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory defending against NXT's Raul Mendoza
NXT's Angelo Dawkins vs. Eddie Kingston
NXT's Shane Thorne vs. Curt Stallion
NXT's Adrian Jaoude vs. Anthony Henry

Dragon Gate wrestlers have been pulled from next week’s WrestleCon due to visa issues.

WrestleCon announced this afternoon in a press release that they had worked with an immigration attorney to directly work with Dragon Gate to bring wrestlers to the US. Despite negotiations through the proper channels, it still wasn’t able to be done.

Curry Baker, an analyst with Guggenheim has placed a target price of $105 for the WWE stock following a meeting with the company on their forthcoming initiatives. In his report, Guggenheim is projecting the television renewal in the U.K. to be “flattish” while estimating a “fivefold increase” in India. Both deals expire after 2019. Additionally, the outlet believes the WWE could better monetize a third hour of the SmackDown tapings, which is currently used for 205 Live and Mixed Match Challenge throughout the year. They believe that a third hour of SmackDown on Fox could add $75 million in annual OIBDA, although that becomes tougher on network television with news affiliates running immediately after.

I would be very cautious about extending SmackDown by an hour especially when it’s unchartered territory regarding how the two-hour show will perform on the network this October. George Barrios has spoken about the third hour of the Tuesday tapings and there are various ways to utilize that hour. Curry added that better sponsorship deals for the company could add $50-100 million in OIBDA. The focus of this analysis is that the WWE has untapped value beyond their television content and with the stock priced around $87, most believe it is undervalued.

An update on the status of NXT UK star Jinny.

Squared Circle Sirens is reporting that Jinny is currently out of action with an undisclosed injury. There is no confirmation on what the injury might be. According to the report, Jinny's status for the upcoming NXT UK television tapings at WrestleMania Axxess is currently up in the air. Jinny was not officially announced as being part of the NXT UK tapings at Axxess.

Fightful is sad to report that former wrestler, MMA fighter, and sumo Koji Kitao has passed away. He was 55 ...

Kitao is perhaps best known in wrestling circles for his April 1, 1991 bout against John Tenta in Super World of Sports, which ended up turning into a shoot fight. After the match, Kitao told the audience that wrestling is fake and was subsequently fired by SWS. Kitao had previously worked for NJPW, wrestling the likes of Vader, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Scott Hall. He was fired from NJPW for using an ethnic slur towards Riki Choshu. He competed at WrestleMania 7, teaming with Tenryu to defeat Demolition. He spent the last half of his career competing in WAR.

There have now been 29 entrants confirmed for this year's Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

WWE added 26 wrestlers to the match today, with them joining Braun Strowman and Saturday Night Live's Michael Che & Colin Jost as entrants confirmed for the battle royal.

Notably, Matt & Jeff Hardy will both be part of the battle royal. Andrade, Ali, and Bobby Roode & Chad Gable are also among the entrants for the match ...

Here's the updated list of Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal participants:
Braun Strowman
Michael Che
Colin Jost
Andrade
Apollo Crews
Titus O’Neil
Tyler Breeze
Jinder Mahal
No Way Jose
Bobby Roode
Chad Gable
Kalisto
Gran Metalik
Lince Dorado
Bo Dallas
Curtis Axel
Heath Slater
Rhyno
Viktor
Konnor
Ali
Shelton Benjamin
Luke Gallows
Karl Anderson
Matt Hardy
Jeff Hardy
Otis
Tucker
EC3

Viceland released the first trailer for its six episode wrestling documentary series, “Dark Side of the Ring.”

The first episode will debut on Wednesday, April 10 at 9 PM ET on Viceland, and the remaining five episodes will debut on each Wednesday after that.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3TAUzyHSjSQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

#1-norm-fan

03-29-2019, 10:13 PM

Are they really gonna have Cena, the biggest star at their disposal, have a match at WrestleMania with zero promotion for the second year in a row?

Genius.

Mr. Nerfect

03-29-2019, 10:53 PM

No Kevin Owens in the Battle Royal yet?

I guess they aren’t looking for buys anymore, but I heard someone point out how great hype videos about Angle and Cena would have been. Angle beating Cena in his first match, Cena beating Angle to get his Mania 21 title shot, Angle inducting Cena into the Hall of Fame, and now Angle having his last match against Cena. Major vibes missed.

Emperor Smeat

03-29-2019, 11:58 PM

Are they really gonna have Cena, the biggest star at their disposal, have a match at WrestleMania with zero promotion for the second year in a row?

Genius.

To be fair a bit, last year's non-existent build is mostly Taker's fault. WWE didn't want to risk anything with him after the year before of him showing up in poor shape at the Rumble leading him to get hurt and at Mania leading to the terrible match with Reigns.

This year its mostly WWE being that stubborn on wanting a Cena match to happen even though they are fully aware his film schedule made it almost impossible to do anything for a build.

Mr. Nerfect

03-30-2019, 12:04 AM

Then just announce the match, have Angle talk and show highlight videos. There's no real excuse for WWE in this.

slik

03-30-2019, 01:11 AM

Cena will probably interrupt Elias's concert

Mr. Nerfect

03-30-2019, 01:17 AM

There's a good chance of that. Could be Taker, Rock, Austin or Hogan too. Might be a combination. Maybe Bray Wyatt too.

Droford

03-30-2019, 01:23 AM

Asuka is going to WM!

https://i.redd.it/e5gjvu97a4p21.jpg

lol

Droford

03-30-2019, 01:29 AM

the only ones that looks even somewhat happy is nikki cross and carmella

Lana's picture is outdated

erickman

03-30-2019, 07:26 AM

the only ones that looks even somewhat happy is nikki cross and carmella

Lana's picture is outdated

poor nikki has to have the crazy look all the time.

Evil Vito

03-30-2019, 09:50 AM

Christ, Mania really needs to be two days

Mr. Nerfect

03-30-2019, 01:09 PM

Jordan

03-30-2019, 01:47 PM

It either needs to be two days, or they really need to focus on the shit that matters. Jamming people on the card makes no one feel more special and everything feel less. This could have been the WM card:

* Raw Women’s Title
* Brock vs. Seth
* Bryan vs. Kofi
* Triple H vs. Batista
* Orton vs. Styles
* Sasha & Bayley vs. Nattie & Beth
* Cena vs. Joe
* Rey vs. Andrade
* Usos vs. Owens & Zayn

I’ve pulled a lot of that out of my ass, but that’s nine matches that could have had stories and people might have had reason to watch. If you don’t make the card? Hopefully you’re more crucial next year.

Thank you. Yes. It scared me when you posted an 18 match prediction card lol. But I guess you’re predictions were apt.

Too damn much, I agree 100%.

Evil Vito

03-30-2019, 02:31 PM

It either needs to be two days, or they really need to focus on the shit that matters. Jamming people on the card makes no one feel more special and everything feel less. This could have been the WM card:

* Raw Women’s Title
* Brock vs. Seth
* Bryan vs. Kofi
* Triple H vs. Batista
* Orton vs. Styles
* Sasha & Bayley vs. Nattie & Beth
* Cena vs. Joe
* Rey vs. Andrade
* Usos vs. Owens & Zayn

I’ve pulled a lot of that out of my ass, but that’s nine matches that could have had stories and people might have had reason to watch. If you don’t make the card? Hopefully you’re more crucial next year.

Yep. And you can easily fit that onto a 4 hour broadcast while still giving ample time to the matches that matter.

Shit, you can still do two huge battle royals for everybody else on the pre-show. They don’t mean anything anyway, so it’s a harmless way to let everyone get involved. But cramming 17 matches onto the show and making it be 7-8 hours is just lunacy.

Mr. Nerfect

03-30-2019, 06:54 PM

If you only focused on a few people, maybe they might be more inclined to be perceived as stars in their other interactions too? As it stands, being on Mania is a formality.

Emperor Smeat

03-30-2019, 07:42 PM

Rumor going around the net hints that there is a strong possibility Becky doesn't leave Mania with the RAW belt. Supposedly Vince still hasn't made up his mind on the finish but is leaning on not wanting Becky to be on RAW.

Could be looking at the possibility of Ronda getting the Brock treatment as champ after Mania and RAW Women's Belt being a non-factor till at least SummerSlam or Survivor Series.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">According to <a href="https://twitter.com/Colohue?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Colohue</a>, a source close to <a href="https://twitter.com/divadirt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@divadirt</a> w/sources in WWE, the main event at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WrestleMania?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WrestleMania</a> features both titles in order to keep options open for Vince, after the shakeup. Vince is not yet convinced he wants Lynch on Raw after SDLive moves to FOX.<br><br>Article to follow!</p>— Diva Dirt (@divadirt) <a href="https://twitter.com/divadirt/status/1111693805814759424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Mr. Nerfect

03-30-2019, 08:23 PM

I can definitely see Charlotte winning too.

Damian Rey 2.0

03-30-2019, 11:24 PM

Christ. Vince can't get out of his own way.

Evil Vito

03-31-2019, 12:05 AM

Charlotte winning and the first ever women’s main event ending with fans pelting the ring with garbage would be hilarious

Fignuts

03-31-2019, 01:10 AM

Oh my fucking god.

Droford

03-31-2019, 01:24 AM

stephanie adding herself to the triple threat match and winning...

03-31-2019, 03:22 AM

It’s not as if they couldn’t just put Becky back on SmackDown in October because of reasons.

Or have her move in the Skakeup having to leave the belt on Raw. You can start the chase again without her losing.

They’d sooner risk keeping a damaged Becky (by not winning at Mania) on SDL?

erickman

03-31-2019, 03:42 AM

Mr. Nerfect

03-31-2019, 04:04 AM

I really don’t think Ronda will be retaining. I see either Becky winning or Charlotte taking it so Becky can chase.

Mr. Nerfect

03-31-2019, 04:08 AM

It’s been reported that Charlotte was promised the main event this year. What if she was also promised to be the one that goes over Ronda? I can see Shayna showing up, taking out Becky, then getting in the ring with Charlotte and Ronda...before turning on Ronda and helping Charlotte walk out a double champion.

The rest of their booking has been very Russo-esque lately...

Damian Rey 2.0

03-31-2019, 01:15 PM

If that's the case they better be ready to cut off the post match early cuz they'll get booed to holy hell

Evil Vito

03-31-2019, 02:26 PM

I’m laughing imagining them still do the dumb babyface “hug it out” ending even in a Charlotte win.

Stephanie leads out the women’s roster. Everybody hugs. The announcers gush about how it’s the most revolutionary moment ever. The women’s roster carries Charlotte on their shoulders while she holds up both belts amid a stream of balloons and confetti.

And all of this happening while the crowd just boos the shit out of it. I’d laugh my fucking ass off at that point. And I could easily see WWE being tone deaf enough to do this.

Droford

03-31-2019, 02:45 PM

I want WWE to overbook the hell out of the main event since it's no dq. Conor Mcgreggor out for Becky gets into a fight with Rondas husband. Ric Flair comes out to just go woo and try and kiss Becky Lynch .again (hot man on man action, oh my! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoAipFtYD5Q&feature=youtu.be) Stephanie comes out to slap someone. Renee young snaps and turns into a badass submission machine so they can write her out of commentary. Etc..

Emperor Smeat

03-31-2019, 10:00 PM

According to the Observer and Post Wrestling, final tally for Mania's card will be 17 matches unless the Cena match doesn't take place.

RAW tag title got added due to Smackdown Women's title match being dropped and Smackdown tag title is planned to be a multi-team one.

Also the RAW tag title match at tomorrow's RAW supposedly is only being done to write Black & Ricochet out of that title feud since it seems they are penciled in for the Smackdown tag title match at Mania.

So yet another WrestleMania update. It will not be (unless things change tomorrow) The Revival vs. Aleister Black & Ricochet at WrestleMania. Right now that match on Raw is designed to build to a different title defense and have a way to get a new program going. The Revival's title defense was added to the show on Tuesday to replace the Smackdown women's title match. The Usos are defending the Smackdown tag titles in a multiple person match at Mania. We don't know who the teams will be, but do know that in an internal lineup before the changes that were made this past Tuesday, it was a four-team match with Usos, Black & Ricochet, Big E & Xavier Woods and Sheamus & Cesaro. However, on house shows this weekend, which one would think would be getting guys comfortable, you had Rusev & Nakamura in with the Usos and Bar. Rusev & Nakamura haven't been announced for the Battle Royal, nor have Black & Ricochet. With Black & Ricochet having two non-title wins over The Revival, they would make the most sense for Sunday, except we're told that is not happening now.

Droford

03-31-2019, 10:16 PM

Wonder why they brought back Matt hardy and they arent tagging at WM

SlickyTrickyDamon

03-31-2019, 10:46 PM

My Outlaw Mudshow shirt came in the mail yesterday. I'm ready.

Mr. Nerfect

03-31-2019, 10:56 PM

So Black & Ricochet lose in a title match and then automatically get another? It’ll be Usos vs. Nakamura & Rusev vs. The Bar vs. Xavier Woods & Big E.

xrodmuc316

03-31-2019, 11:04 PM

None of the booking for this Mania has made any sense.

I can't say there is a single match I am hyped about.

Mr. Nerfect

03-31-2019, 11:31 PM

Yeah, it is really bad.

Emperor Smeat

03-31-2019, 11:52 PM

So Black & Ricochet lose in a title match and then automatically get another? It’ll be Usos vs. Nakamura & Rusev vs. The Bar vs. Xavier Woods & Big E.

I'd assume Ru Ru & Nak were only filling in for Black & Ricochet since they probably got sent with the RAW crew to get ready for their RAW tag title match.

Only other option is to put Black & Ricochet in the Andre Battle Royal but that seems very counter-productive considering the showcase treatment they've been getting since their main roster debut.

Evil Vito

04-01-2019, 12:06 AM

For some reason I have a feeling Woods and E won't be wrestling. They'll appear during Bryan/Kofi in some capacity.

Usos/Bar/RuNak/RicoBlack

Or if they push Ricochet/Black to the Raw side, you can pull the Hardys out of the battle royal and make them the 4th team. They didn't announce Sanity, the Colons, or Hawkins/Ryder for the battle royal but I imagine they'll be thrown in to push it to 35 or so people in the match.

Mr. Nerfect

04-01-2019, 03:38 AM

Black & Ricochet are wrestling the night before. No need to have them work both nights.

Evil Vito

04-01-2019, 07:07 AM

Takeover is Friday this year. They didn’t want to run up against G1 Supercard

Evil Vito

04-01-2019, 09:31 AM

If RicoBlack aren't facing the Revival, the only Raw team not yet announced for anything is Hawkins and Ryder. I don't know how you suddenly grant them a title match out of the blue when they've won nothing, but that's WWE for you.

If Hawkins' losing streak has to end, it happening in the first hour of the pre-show in front of a nearly empty stadium seems very appropriate.

Droford

04-01-2019, 10:09 PM

stephanie adding herself to the triple threat match and winning...

for 3 seconds I was like..lol

Emperor Smeat

04-02-2019, 10:05 PM

The Sheets:

Raw's go-home show for WrestlMania 35 averaged 2.64 million viewers on the USA Network last night, up two percent from last week ...

The bad news was the 15 percent drop in viewers in hour three. The third hour decline was far stronger with women (22 percent in the 18-49 demo) than men (ten percent in the 18-49 demo).

Last year at this time Raw did 3.35 million viewers, and that was going head-to-head with the NCAA basketball finals, so it's a 21 percent year-to-year drop on a night with far easier competition ...

The three hours were:

8 p.m. 2.75 million viewers
9 p.m. 2.79 million viewers
10 p.m. 2.37 million viewers

We are told the NYC skyline is figured into the Wrestlemania 35 set design. The set up began over the weekend. The Barclays Center already has tons of WWE-related signage up and will open a WWE-themed pop-up shop this weekend.

Speaking to CBS Sports, Triple H seemed confident that Chyna would get her own induction into the WWE Hall of Fame one day. When asked about her induction within DX, he replied "It's awesome. I'm thrilled for her as the human being that I knew, for her family and for her sister, who I knew. There is probably not a woman who has ever made as big of an impact as she did. Somebody that transcended the business on her own and I'm sure will be in the Hall of Fame sometime on her own. I think it's fitting she is in there with DX in the beginning because it's how she started, and I think it's what it should be."

Several Impact Wrestling executives will be in attendance at Thursday's AAA press conference at Madison Square Garden in NYC.

Karl Anderson's trademark application which he started back in January this year has been 'suspended' due to WWE's active ongoing trademark application. So nothing will be done with his application until WWE's is either rejected or registered. If WWE gets the trademark registered, Anderson's filing would likely be rejected due to pontential confusion in the marketplace.

Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight” on HBO focusing on the WWE averaged 868,000 viewers. Their previous episodes from did 946,000 viewers on March 17th and 1,079,000 viewers on March 10th. It was their sixth episode of the current season and second-lowest viewership average.

As reported on Fightful Select earlier today, Fightful spoke to several members of the WWE roster about the episode. While it was a hot topic at yesterday's Hershey live event, it didn't seem like a "must watch," as several we heard from skipped out on it.

One (who admitted they only read the recap online) considered the piece "hacky" and said that "at least he's good at saying he's a fan." Another told us they watched, and enjoyed the segment and considered it informative, but said that the people who helped him research the piece probably should have let him know about Roman Reigns' condition before delivering a now-controversial joke about him. Outside of that, the long-time talent said it was a "home run."

Amazing Red (Jonathan Figueroa) announced Monday that he is retiring effective immediately and will not be wrestling this weekend as part of WrestleMania Week. Red had been scheduled to wrestle for the Destiny and Fight Club Pro event on Thursday teaming with Puma King and Robbie Eagles against Kid Lykos, Chris Brookes, and Kyle Fletcher as well as for his own House of Glory event against Fenix on Saturday. Red stated his body was in too much pain, noting issues with his neck, back, ankles, and knees and needed to step away now. He added that he will continue to train talent at the House of Glory gym.

The following press release was issued ...

In “350Days,” pro wrestling legends Bret Hart, Superstar Billy Graham and dozens more peel back the curtain on the severe toll working on the road 350 days a year took on their bodies, families, marriages and psyches.

Set for release April 2, 2019, “350 Days” is now available for pre-order on iTunes (https://apple.co/2IkUzLn), as well as on BluRay and DVD at Walmart.com, Amazon.com and other online retail sites. Release dates for additional streaming platforms will be announced soon.

This compelling documentary chronicles their struggles to survive the chaos of 1980s era wrestling. Living a rock and roll lifestyle, they faced nightly temptations, battled their vices, and were absentee parents and spouses while chasing dreams of fame and fortune.

In their own words, with the cutting insight and sharp wit one would expect from such legendary icons including Bret “Hitman” Hart, “Superstar” Billy Graham, “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, JJ Dillon, Tito Santana, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, George “The Animal” Steele, Abdullah The Butcher, Wendi Richter, Lex Luger, Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff, Marty Jannetty, Lanny Poffo, “The Masked Superstar” Bill Eadie and Ox Baker, these gentle giants tell their harrowing (yet often darkly humorous) tales as marriages dissolve and relationships with their children are strained, sometimes permanently.

This is a real thing that you can do if you're in New York for WrestleMania weekend

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">By popular request; “YOU CAN TOUCH IT!” Pro Photo Ops available at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WrestleCon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WrestleCon</a> weekend. Go to <a href="https://t.co/Kh6JlgLEoo">https://t.co/Kh6JlgLEoo</a> under “Pro Photos” in the menu tab to preorder. <a href="https://t.co/FyCzVHXABa">pic.twitter.com/FyCzVHXABa</a></p>— Joey Ryan (@JoeyRyanOnline) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeyRyanOnline/status/1113140632409665536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Days after Tenille Dashwood announced that she's now a free agent, it looks like Ring of Honor could have a name to fill the void. Fightful Select reported on Monday that it was expected from those within the company that Maria Manic could receive a contract offer soon, if she hasn't already.

It looks like we could see Elias tangle with another WWE Superstar at WrestleMania 35.

There is a plan in place for someone to "shut Elias up" during his performance at WrestleMania 35, according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio. There's no word yet on who may work the angle with Elias, but everyone from John Cena to The Undertaker to Bray Wyatt are being rumored.

On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that there is now talk within the WWE to potentially add a third hour to SmackDown once it makes the transition over to Friday nights on FOX. The feeling among higher ups is that since they have to continue filming for 205 Live, a show that never grew as successful as WWE hoped, it may be beneficial to do the expected first two hours from 8 pm - 10 pm on FOX and then continue from 10 pm - 11 pm on FOX's affiliate, FS1.

WWE can reportedly gain upwards of $50,000,000 a year from FOX if this is the route they ultimately choose to take. It is by no means a done deal at this point, but the momentum backstage apparently has people within the financial community expecting this aspect of the deal to come together.

The Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins segment on Raw last night was changed by Vince McMahon hours before the show, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Seth Rollins ended up coming out on top last night, but the original Raw script called for Brock Lesnar to go over on Rollins. Vince McMahon decided to flip things around and Rollins gave Lesnar two low blows and laid him out with The Stomp.