Jim Ross put over Ronda Rousey's WWE debut in a conversation with TMZ. It was absolutely a great spectacle worthy of Wrestlemania.
Sami Zayn's Syrian fundraiser reached its goal of $96,000. That's great work.
Former All Japan president Motoko Baba passed away at 78 from liver issues. She and her husband Giant Baba ran the promotion for more than 30 years.
Vince McMahon wished John Cena a happy 41st birthday. John has really outperformed the majority of wrestlers in company history.
WWE's Saudi Arabian tryouts continued. Those guys are TOUGH to make it that far.
Raw's May 19 event in France has:
- Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe (!)
- Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin
- Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
- Bobby Lashley vs. Elias
- Ronda Rousey vs. Mickie James
- Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
- Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw Women's Championship
- Ember Moon and Natalya vs. Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan
- Goldust, Rhyno, Health Slater, and Zack Ryder vs. Chad Gable, Mojo Rawley, Bo Dallas, and Curtis Axel
-- Smackdown's European tour has:
- AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship
- Jeff Hardy vs. Rusev for the U.S. Championship
- Bludgeon Brothers vs. New Day vs. The Usos for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship
- Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women's Championship
- Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
- The Bar vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
- Asuka, Becky Lynch, and Naomi vs. Absolution and Lana
- Big Cass vs. Tye Dillinger
- Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Sin Cara
- Aleister Black vs. Alexander Wolfe for the NXT Championship
The Undertaker will be the subject of a graphic novel. That could be AMAZING. Chad Dundas' book was really cool.
NXT will tour Kentucky the weekend of Takeover:Chicago. Ricochet has had two televised matches for the brand and he's already on the ads for the live event tours. He's clearly making a mark.
A lawsuit against Titus O'Neil regarding WWE Swerved has been moved to Florida due to Titus having residence there. A cameraman is suing for damages resulting from an injury sustained when Titus kicked a camera out of his hand following being shocked by a cattle prod. I don't think it's out of the question for him to be compensated for that.
Tenille Dashwood has sustained a shoulder injury and was pulled from independent events this previous weekend due to taking time of to heal. It's unknown when she'll be returning to the ring. I hope she's back in action soon.
Vince, Linda, and Stephanie McMahon represented WWE at Bruno Sammartino's funeral. Very glad to see them attend.
The Greatest Royal Rumble Kickoff show will have Byron Saxton, Jerry Lawler, Booker T., and Jim Ross. I'm surprised at the lack of Corey Graves.
- The Greatest Rumble will air live on a number of Middle Eastern TV channels.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. On paper, they have an incredibly talented roster. In practice, doing that many brand-only shows didn't increase Network subscriber numbers, so they're cutting back some of the lower-card and midcard talents from the shows in favor of focusing on more important stuff. I love seeing more of the undercard, but there's not a huge demand to see some of the really talented, but not heavily featured workers there.
2. I think it was time. Things had gotten stagnant with her being undefeated. She is more than able to be a success despite that and future losses. As long as she's not jobbing clean to Mandy Rose or something, she'll be fine.
3. We do know EVOLVE wasn't doing great before the WWE connection, but there's really no way to know without actually seeing whatever records they keep. A lot of factors go into turning a profit.
Nothing to add to 4, other than I don't expect Enzo back in WWE. I'd be surprised if he does any wrestling appearances going forward; he could very well go into music or something where he can play to his strengths without having to worry about his technical ability.
5. The Wrestling Observer has said the spot was approved ahead of time by Vince. I strongly doubt Brock would just go out there and bludgeon someone without Management's OK.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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