-- Main Event:
- EC3 vs. Breeze:
Nice fire from Breeze.
I like this so far.
Fine work.
- HM vs. Ascension:
Wow. HM being treated like a pretty tough team here.
There's some good urgency here.
That was pretty solid!
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan updated his health after his heart surgery. He's still set for WrestleCon and his other announced bookings, so it sounds like the procedure wasn't too major.
"WWE Ride Along" after Raw will feature New Day and the pair of Andrade and Zelina Vega.
"WWE Chronicle" with Charlotte Flair will follow Takeover:New York.
WrestleMania 35 is scheduled to go longer than five hours, following the two hour Kickoff show. It's going to be a long night. I really hope they consider splitting it into two nights next year with the number of talents they have under contract.
Naomi took a shot at her Smackdown Live match being canceled. I don't blame her for being frustrated. So much seems to change spur of the moment in WWE.
The Rock was discussed as playing Black Adam by Shazam's producer. That would definitely make sense.
Sin Cara made a mask to honor an English soccer player he's friends with. That's pretty cool.
Stone Cold's entrance music was used for a Bellator fight. That's fun to see.
Michelle McCool talked to TMZ Sports about WWE's pay structure and more. I definitely think people getting big pushes should be compensated similarly regardless of whether they're men or women.
"The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah appeared on Xavier Woods' gaming channel. That's cool to see.
Raw has announced:
- Batista appearing in his hometown of Washington, DC
- Beth Phoenix, Natalya, and the Boss 'N' Hug Connection vs. Nia Jax, Tamina, and the IIconics in Beth's first Raw match since 2012.
- The Revival vs. Aleister Black and Ricochet for the Raw Tag Team Championship. Notably these names are not currently announced for WrestleMania.
WrestleMania 35's venue covered procedures for the event. Honestly attending a show with that many other people sounds like a hassle when I can see it much cheaper with a much better view at home.
The ROH Dojo is doing a seminar on May 4 and May 5 for a select group of talent.
Ric Flair is in commercials for Cumberland Farms: Commercial 1 Commercial 2 This man is a national treasure.
AAA's April 4 press conference will feature Konnan, The Lucha Bros, Blue Demon Jr., Drago, Aerostar, Puma King, Taya Valkyrie, and Daga among others.
WWE's live events this weekend feature talent from both Raw and Smackdown Live, including an interbrand match in the main event with Kofi Kingston beating Elias.
- Also, for the first time since January 13, the Cruiserweight Championship is on the line at a live event as Buddy Murphy successfully defends against Tony Nese.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I believe they combined a number of real trainers into his character. At one point they wanted Dusty Rhodes to play himself, but unfortunately that never happened.
2. HAHAHAHAHA. Not that I'm aware of. That could backfire, since it would draw attention away from Kofi's big achievement.
3.a. Becky Lynch won the Royal Rumble and his headlining WrestleMania. If that's being mishandled, almost every star in the business would love to be "mishandled" in such a way.
b. Kofi is challenging for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania and has gotten a LOT of TV time in the past month.
c. Barrett I can somewhat agree on after how far he fell from his initial push, where he competed for the WWE Championship and worked with a lot of major names.
d. Ryder definitely could have done more.
e. Sandow was definitely another case of a talent fans were really hoping WWE would pull the trigger on.
f. The man who was WWE Champion for 434 days???? He had a pretty good run and was probably not going to last much longer than he ended up lasting if he was pushed as he wanted to. All that was left on his list was headlining WrestleMania in 2014. When it was clear that wasn't happening, he decided it wasn't worth it to keep working hurt. He had a tough road to where he was, but he was utilized mostly well.
g. Bray is stale as all get out. I would have liked to have seen him go further than he did, though.
h. Yeah they got all they could out of Ryback without sabotaging Punk's push. Honestly he's a case of WWE using their hype machine and creative abilities to establish someone of limited ability and marketability. Note how little he's doing now.
i. They might could have gotten a little more out of DiBiase, but it's clear in hindsight he didn't have a huge passion for wrestling.
j. The jury's still out on Cesaro. I think he's currently doing the best and most prominent work in his whole WWE run.
k. Cody had hit a wall creatively. It was best for him to get out and start something new.
l. Vince definitely makes up his mind about talent and it takes a lot to get him to change his mind. It does look like he's listening to the crowd on Kofi and Becky, for what that's worth. Honestly at times it takes talent standing up for themselves and being willing to go somewhere else and prove their worth for WWE to wake up and value what they have. WWE threw a lot of money to keep Punk and try to get Cody back for those reasons.
4. I could see them announcing it after the fact.
5. For whatever reason the city hasn't proven itself to the powers that be that it's worth holding WrestleMania there. Other cities have really rolled out the red carpet to win WWE over, and it's paid off. I would like to see more variety in host cities, but it's definitely a case of them wowing WWE enough to think it will be worth it to hold the biggest week of the year there.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Main Event Reax - 3/30/19, Duggan update, new Network episodes, WM35 length, Naomi responds to booking, Rock-DC update, Sin Cara makes special mask, WWE entrance in Bellator, Interview with McCool, Daily Show host on UUDD, Raw preview, WM35 procedures, ROH seminar, Flair commercials, AAA press conference talent, WWE live event notes, and Questions on Vince Vaughn's character, Hogan endorsing Kofi, Vince's vision for talent, WWE Network changing servers, and Mania in Minnesota
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Assorted wrestling press, Interviews with Schiavone/Reigns, Starrcast returning to FITE, Taker documentary coming, Japanese star passes, Honor Rumble additions, new Honor Club matches, Coleman's Pulpit at Festival of Honor, ROH teasing former tag champion returning, WWE to Spain TV, Linda resigns from government, Viceland trailer, DG talent pulled from Wrestlecon, WM35 adds women's battle royal, Andre battle royal participants, Harper on his current WWE status, EVOLVE vs. NXT event set, WWE seeking global tour manager, and an NXT live event note
The Miz and Maryse spoke to Hollywood Life about the second season of "Miz & Mrs."
Tony Schiavone is on Edge and Christian's latest podcast.
Becky Lynch spoke to TMZ Sports about Rob Gronkowski going to WWE. Her wit is razor-sharp.
- Bray Wyatt and JoJo also discussed Gronkowski with TMZ Sports. I wasn't aware of their previous connection.
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan had a heart procedure recently. I hope that improves things for him.
Starrcast II will air on FITE, as the first event did.
The Undertaker will be the subject of an upcoming WWE documentary, with Jim Ross contributing.
Japanese star Koji Kitao passed away at the age of 55. PWInsider.com covered his career inside and outside wrestling.
G1 Supercard's Honor Rumble has added Kenny King, PJ Black, The Bouncers, and Cheeseburger. Yeah Bully Ray has a featured match but King, Black, and Liger are in that.
ROH's April 14 Honor Club event will be headlined by a 30-minute Iron Man tag team match. Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham will face Tracy Williams and Mark Haskins of Lifeblood.
ROH's March 31 Honor Club event has added:
- PCO and Brody King vs. The Briscoes for the ROH World Tag Team Championship
- Sumie Sakai/Jenny Rose vs. Kris Stadtlander/Tasha Steelz vs. Gabby Ortiz/Karissa Rifera
Festival of Honor will feature Coleman's Pulpit with PCO's trainer Destro.
ROH is teasing a former ROH tag team champion returning to the company. Jimmy Jacobs would make sense, as he hasn't appeared in Impact in a while.
Roman Reigns updated his health. I hope he's able to contribute in a major way for years to come without having to worry about that popping back up.
WWE will air in Spain beginning April 6, with a two-hour version of Raw and Smackdown Live each week with Spanish commentary. That's a good step for them.
Linda McMahon is resigning as the head of the Small Business Administration, effective April 12. She will then lead a political action committee to support Donald Trump's 2020 election bid. There is no indication she will be returning to WWE or joining Alpha Entertainment or any other similar endeavor.
Viceland released a trailer for their wrestling series. That definitely looks compelling, although the Montreal "Screwjob" has already gotten far too much attention and it looks like Bret's just going to put himself over again.
WrestleCon will no longer be able to use Dragon Gate talent as a result of being unable to obtain visas for the talent in question. The convention made extensive efforts to work something out, but the U.S. government denied those attempts. Very disappointing given all WrestleCon did to do something for the fans that weekend.
WrestleMania 35 has added a women's battle royal featuring Asuka, Carmella, Naomi, Lana, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Nikki Cross, Dana Brooke, The Riott Squad, Mickie James, and Zelina Vega. NXT talents will also be in the match. Asuka could use the win after suddenly being out of a more prominent match.
The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal has added Andrade, Apollo Crews, Titus O'Neil, Tyler Breeze, Jinder Mahal, Bobby Roode, Chad Gable, Lucha House Party, The B-Team, Heath Slater, Rhyno, The Ascension, Ali, Shelton Benjamin, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, the Hardy Boys, Heavy Machinery, and EC3. I'm shocked the Hardys are stuck in that.
Luke Harper tweeted about his current WWE status. I hope WWE has just been saving him for something more significant after WrestleMania, but time will tell. He's definitely worthy of being an important player going forward. If WWE doesn't see that, someone like AEW likely will.
EVOLVE 126 on April 13 in Florida has an NXT vs. EVOLVE theme with:
- Raul Mendoza vs. Austin Theory for the EVOLVE Championship
- Angelo Dawkins vs. Eddie Kingston in a Falls Count Anywhere match
- Shane Thorne vs. Curt Stallion
- Adrian Jaoude vs. Anthony Henry
- Eric Bugenhagen performing
- Lacey Lane in action
-- Being that close to the WWE Performance Center, that's a clever move.
WWE is seeking a global touring manager, focusing on NXT. There's speculation this means NXT will tour outside the U.S. more going forward. That would definitely be significant for the brand.
At NXT's March 29 Florida live event, Rinku Singh lose to Angelo Dawkins in Singh's first match since February 23.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Tony Schiavone is on Edge and Christian's latest podcast.
Becky Lynch spoke to TMZ Sports about Rob Gronkowski going to WWE. Her wit is razor-sharp.
- Bray Wyatt and JoJo also discussed Gronkowski with TMZ Sports. I wasn't aware of their previous connection.
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan had a heart procedure recently. I hope that improves things for him.
Starrcast II will air on FITE, as the first event did.
The Undertaker will be the subject of an upcoming WWE documentary, with Jim Ross contributing.
Japanese star Koji Kitao passed away at the age of 55. PWInsider.com covered his career inside and outside wrestling.
G1 Supercard's Honor Rumble has added Kenny King, PJ Black, The Bouncers, and Cheeseburger. Yeah Bully Ray has a featured match but King, Black, and Liger are in that.
ROH's April 14 Honor Club event will be headlined by a 30-minute Iron Man tag team match. Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham will face Tracy Williams and Mark Haskins of Lifeblood.
ROH's March 31 Honor Club event has added:
- PCO and Brody King vs. The Briscoes for the ROH World Tag Team Championship
- Sumie Sakai/Jenny Rose vs. Kris Stadtlander/Tasha Steelz vs. Gabby Ortiz/Karissa Rifera
Festival of Honor will feature Coleman's Pulpit with PCO's trainer Destro.
ROH is teasing a former ROH tag team champion returning to the company. Jimmy Jacobs would make sense, as he hasn't appeared in Impact in a while.
Roman Reigns updated his health. I hope he's able to contribute in a major way for years to come without having to worry about that popping back up.
WWE will air in Spain beginning April 6, with a two-hour version of Raw and Smackdown Live each week with Spanish commentary. That's a good step for them.
Linda McMahon is resigning as the head of the Small Business Administration, effective April 12. She will then lead a political action committee to support Donald Trump's 2020 election bid. There is no indication she will be returning to WWE or joining Alpha Entertainment or any other similar endeavor.
Viceland released a trailer for their wrestling series. That definitely looks compelling, although the Montreal "Screwjob" has already gotten far too much attention and it looks like Bret's just going to put himself over again.
WrestleCon will no longer be able to use Dragon Gate talent as a result of being unable to obtain visas for the talent in question. The convention made extensive efforts to work something out, but the U.S. government denied those attempts. Very disappointing given all WrestleCon did to do something for the fans that weekend.
WrestleMania 35 has added a women's battle royal featuring Asuka, Carmella, Naomi, Lana, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Nikki Cross, Dana Brooke, The Riott Squad, Mickie James, and Zelina Vega. NXT talents will also be in the match. Asuka could use the win after suddenly being out of a more prominent match.
The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal has added Andrade, Apollo Crews, Titus O'Neil, Tyler Breeze, Jinder Mahal, Bobby Roode, Chad Gable, Lucha House Party, The B-Team, Heath Slater, Rhyno, The Ascension, Ali, Shelton Benjamin, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, the Hardy Boys, Heavy Machinery, and EC3. I'm shocked the Hardys are stuck in that.
Luke Harper tweeted about his current WWE status. I hope WWE has just been saving him for something more significant after WrestleMania, but time will tell. He's definitely worthy of being an important player going forward. If WWE doesn't see that, someone like AEW likely will.
EVOLVE 126 on April 13 in Florida has an NXT vs. EVOLVE theme with:
- Raul Mendoza vs. Austin Theory for the EVOLVE Championship
- Angelo Dawkins vs. Eddie Kingston in a Falls Count Anywhere match
- Shane Thorne vs. Curt Stallion
- Adrian Jaoude vs. Anthony Henry
- Eric Bugenhagen performing
- Lacey Lane in action
-- Being that close to the WWE Performance Center, that's a clever move.
WWE is seeking a global touring manager, focusing on NXT. There's speculation this means NXT will tour outside the U.S. more going forward. That would definitely be significant for the brand.
At NXT's March 29 Florida live event, Rinku Singh lose to Angelo Dawkins in Singh's first match since February 23.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Friday, March 29, 2019
More on Charlotte's title win, more on Ronda's status, another Angle rivalry, another WM35 title match expected, top name set for WM35, Supercard plans, Bellas-WWE update, AAA name finishes up, more on Cain-AAA, NXT names congratulate Crash star, NJPW planning more international shows, Viceland documentary air dates, Jungle Boy pulls out of another date, Abyss set to retire, WOH heat, Eli contract update, recent Impact name headed to AEW, All In 2 set, former WWE composer at Starrcast, more on Beefcake in the HoF, Lynch figure a big seller, why Taker and McCool were at WWEPC, WWE plans shows in new SF venue, NXT name on hiatus, NXT injury, new Hidden Gems, Charlotte responds to ESPN, assorted wrestling press, Sting pulled from WrestleCon, Phoenix training in TN, Impact preview, AXXESS matches announced, Angle milestone, Angle farewell match, Ross-AEW deal close, Interviews with Omega/Liv/Nicholas, HHH conference call, Batista documentary coming, Uso legal update, AAA holding MSG press conference, big WWE-MSG return set, WM35 performance, Impact drops interviewer, Impact Twitch guest, NXT live event notes, and Questions on Beefcake leaking out, WWF live event perks, Gargano's future, no Rhodes at Dusty Classic, and a MYC wrestling riot
Charlotte Flair winning the Smackdown Live Women's Championship was a move to make WrestleMania's main event even bigger, as well as to cut an Asuka/Mandy Rose rematch from an already long PPV card.
- The current plan is for the person being pinned in that match to lose her championship, rather than the match being for both championships or the championships being unified. WWE still wants one women's champion on each brand.
Ronda Rousey's WWE end date has not been determined. She could retain her championship to set up another title match a la Brock Lesnar.
Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio is set for Raw. That's also great to see one last time.
The Usos are expected to defend the Smackdown Live Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania, but no opponents have been set. It seems odd WWE brought back the Hardys as a team and then they're not in the mix for the championship.
John Cena is still planned to appear at WrestleMania in some fashion.
G1 Supercard is expected to have a women's tag team match as a dark match in order to feature more of the WOH division in the building.
G1 Supercard's Honor Rumble winner is expected to challenge for the ROH World Championship at some point.
The Bella Twins will continue working for WWE as ambassadors, doing promotional work.
El Hijo del Fantasma is done with AAA. WWE has interest in him, and he's wrestled in Impact previously.
Cain Velasquez is currently just scheduled for Triplemania. AAA was interested in another date this fall, but Cain is setting up for a UFC bout around that time.
WWE's Humberto Carrillo and Lacey Lane congratulated Garza, Jr. at Garza's Crash farewell match on March 23, as he's NXT-bound. That's pretty cool.
NJPW is targeting more international tours for summer 2020, since the Olympics will be held in Japan during that time and most arenas will be unavailable for wrestling. That could be a big opportunity.
Viceland's pro wrestling documentaries will air six straight weeks, with episodes focusing on the following:
- Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth's relationship on April 10
- The Montreal Screwjob on April 17
- Bruiser Brody's death on April 24
- The Von Erich Family on May 1
- Gorgeous Gino Hernandez's death on May 8
- The Fabulous Moolah on May 15
--The series' producer spoke with Jim Cornette on Cornette's latest podcast.
Jungle Boy has pulled out of more bookings in the wake of his father's death. I really wish the best for him going forward.
Abyss is scheduled for an April 20 event in Indiana that is being billed as his final match. Naturally, it will be a Monster's Ball match.
ROH had legitimate issues between Mayu Iwatani and Kelly Klein after their 17th anniversary show match, as Klein retaliated a tough kick with one of her own. The two sides settled things, which is good considering they're set for a rematch at Supercard.
Eli Drake's Impact contract expires May 31. It's unknown how much serious interest there is from other parties.
Impact's Ace Austin will work Double or Nothing, so he's not signed to an exclusive deal. Good to see him getting opportunities.
All In 2 will be August 31 in Illinois, the site of the first event. It will be interesting to see what's on the show and how it does.
Starrcast has added a Jim Johnston symposium. Good to see him getting appreciated.
Hulk Hogan could induct Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame. Hogan is set for that weekend regardless.
Becky Lynch's Funko Pop was the best selling toy on Amazon.com this past week. That's great!
The Undertaker and Michelle McCool were at the WWE Performance Center as teachers recently.
WWE will run San Francisco's new arena in October for back-to-back Raw and Smackdown Live tapings.
NXT's Stacey Ervin, Jr. is on hiatus following concussion symptoms. He's reportedly reconsidering his wrestling future after that injury. It's definitely a dangerous business, and he needs to be absolutely sure he's willing to risk more along those lines if he's going to continue.
Keith Lee is out of action due to an unspecified injury, but shouldn't miss much more time. That would explain why he wasn't in the running to challenge for the NXT Championship and the feud with Dominik Dijakovic has stalled. He could be a top player going forward.
WWE Network's latest Hidden Gems include:
- The Honky Tonk Man teaming with David Schultz and Davey Boy Smith in Stampede Wrestling from 1983
- Harlem Heat vs. John Tatum and Rod Price from GWF in 1992
- X-Pac vs. Louie Spicolli from WWF Superstars in 1993
- Road Dogg vs. Barry Hardy from WWF Wrestling Challenge in 1994
- Triple H vs. Road Dogg from WCW Pro in 1994
- Shawn Michaels vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin from WWF Superstars in 1996
- Billy Gunn vs. Mark Jindrak from OVW in 2002
Charlotte Flair responded to ESPN listing her simply as "Daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair" during her SportsCenter appearance. They certainly could have showcased more than her lineage there.
Carmella will host a WrestleMania Zumba party to promote the Susan G. Komen foundation.
Sting has been pulled from WrestleCon due to being announced for AXXESS. WrestleCon attendees have received refunds, and Sting is trying to work out another time to appear there.
Beth Phoenix and Natalya have been training with Dr. Tom Prichard ahead of WrestleMania. Those parties go back to a previous era of WWE developmental.
WWE's WrestleMania flashback stream was dropped to 20 matches from 25. That's still quite a lot of memories!
Impact released the introduction to tonight's episode. It looks like Allie will appear after all.
WrestleMania AXXESS has announced the following matches:
-- Thursday, April 4: NXT vs. NXT Alumni:
- Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Breeze
- Harper vs. Dominik Dijakovic
- SAnitY vs. the Undisputed Era
- Kassius Ohno vs. Aiden English
-- Friday, April 5: Cruiserweights Collide:
- Brian Kendrick vs. Tyler Bate
- Akira Tozawa vs. Jordan Devlin
- Mike Kanellis/Ariya Daivari vs. Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews
- Gran Metalik vs. Albert Hardie, Jr.
-- Saturday, April 6:
- NXT UK tapings
-- Sunday, April 7: Brands Battle:
- Men's battle royal with talents from NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live
- Women's battle royal with talents from NXT and NXT UK
-- Monday, April 8: Women Collide:
- Io Shirai vs. Sonya Deville
- Nikki Cross vs. Toni Storm vs. Bianca Belair
- Zelina Vega vs. Piper Niven
- Candice LeRae vs. Kay Lee Ray
Kurt Angle noted he has been drug-free for nearly six years. That's fantastic news! I hope that continues to be the case.
- Angle got a shirt commemorating his final match. That's hilarious.
"Da Crusher"'s upcoming statue got local press. That's pretty cool.
Jim Ross is expected to sign an AEW contract soon, for roles both on-screen and behind-the-scenes. He definitely brings a wide range of experiences to the company, and his presence makes AEW feel major to casual and lapsed fans.
Kenny Omega spoke on The Social and The Two Man Power Trip podcast about his recent documentary. Omega said his AEW contract allows him to wrestle elsewhere, but indicated NJPW wasn't willing to work with him for Supercard. I hope AEW and NJPW work together down the line; it could really increase the value of both internationally.
Triple H did a conference call promoting Takeover:New York, recapped here.:
- I swear, as much as I love Gargano in NXT, he's passed all the tests and it's time for Vince to run with him after WrestleMania. Obviously that's easier said than done.
- I expect Takeover will stay on Saturdays with Smackdown Live moving.
- Yeah I don't want to see them keep women in NXT just to fill out a tag team division. Especially with just a one-hour show each week!
- NXT is definitely trying out using managers.
- I think they could split WrestleMania into two nights if they wanted to, especially since they occasionally push the idea of brands trying to outdo each other.
- Aleister Black and Ricochet are expected to finish up in NXT next weekend.
- Haitch just casually dropping the next Takeover date. I'm very curious how it does without being able to piggyback a "main roster" weekend.
Batista will be the subject of "WWE 24" at some point covering his road to WrestleMania.
Liv Morgan is on Joe DeFranco's latest podcast, discussing her road to WWE and more.
Jimmy Uso has reached a plea deal for his February charges. He paid $450 in fines after pleading no contest to interfering with a government employee. Hopefully he can now put that behind him.
WWE's stock performance was covered by Reuters.
WWE caught up with Nicholas a year after his Raw Tag Team Championship win. He needs to reunite with Braun Strowman to beat the SNL duo.
AAA has announced a Madison Square Garden press conference on April 4. The promotion is teasing a U.S. event in September. That would definitely be a major undertaking for the group.
WWE will tape Raw and Smackdown Live from Madison Square Garden on September 9 and September 10. Those are the first TV tapings there since 2009, although Survivor Series 2011 was also from the venue. It looks like the WWE-MSG relationship has mended significantly after Supercard being set for that arena.
WrestleMania 35 will open with a performance of "America The Beautiful" by Yolanda Adams, who has a Hall of Fame-level list of accolades in gospel music.
Impact Wrestling will no longer use Alicia Atout, who conducted interviews and hosted a Twitch series for them. I highly expect her to end up in AEW. I hope she moves on to bigger things.
Impact's Twitch channel will feature Pat Buck after tonight's episode, promoting United We Stand.
At NXT's March 28 Florida event:
- Dan Matha competed for the first time since December 9, defeating Albert Hardie, Jr.
- NXT UK's Flash Morgan Webster defeated Luke Menzies
- NXT UK's Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) retained their tag team championship against the Street Profits
- Karen Q and Xia Li teamed in a loss to Aliyah and Vanessa Borne. That was an obvious face pairing given their backgrounds.
- NXT UK's Jordan Devlin defeated Raul Mendoza
-- It looks like NXT UK stars are spending some time in the U.S. before competing at WrestleMania AXXESS.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I doubt WWE is that concerned. With him being the final inductee, he's probably not a huge priority.
2. That's pretty cool.
3. Gargano staying in NXT for an entire additional year is crazy talk. He and Ciampa should both be done there after New York. They can feud again on Raw or Smackdown Live in 2020.
4. I have the feeling the Dusty Classic was brought back as a last-minute idea due to the sudden callups, then of course NXT had to scramble again with Ciampa's injury. Rhodes is emphatic he's still part of WWE, but it is very notable he's not scheduled for AXXESS.
5. That's amazing! I can see where authorities wouldn't want that to repeat.
More wrestling tomorrow.
- The current plan is for the person being pinned in that match to lose her championship, rather than the match being for both championships or the championships being unified. WWE still wants one women's champion on each brand.
Ronda Rousey's WWE end date has not been determined. She could retain her championship to set up another title match a la Brock Lesnar.
Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio is set for Raw. That's also great to see one last time.
The Usos are expected to defend the Smackdown Live Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania, but no opponents have been set. It seems odd WWE brought back the Hardys as a team and then they're not in the mix for the championship.
John Cena is still planned to appear at WrestleMania in some fashion.
G1 Supercard is expected to have a women's tag team match as a dark match in order to feature more of the WOH division in the building.
G1 Supercard's Honor Rumble winner is expected to challenge for the ROH World Championship at some point.
The Bella Twins will continue working for WWE as ambassadors, doing promotional work.
El Hijo del Fantasma is done with AAA. WWE has interest in him, and he's wrestled in Impact previously.
Cain Velasquez is currently just scheduled for Triplemania. AAA was interested in another date this fall, but Cain is setting up for a UFC bout around that time.
WWE's Humberto Carrillo and Lacey Lane congratulated Garza, Jr. at Garza's Crash farewell match on March 23, as he's NXT-bound. That's pretty cool.
NJPW is targeting more international tours for summer 2020, since the Olympics will be held in Japan during that time and most arenas will be unavailable for wrestling. That could be a big opportunity.
Viceland's pro wrestling documentaries will air six straight weeks, with episodes focusing on the following:
- Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth's relationship on April 10
- The Montreal Screwjob on April 17
- Bruiser Brody's death on April 24
- The Von Erich Family on May 1
- Gorgeous Gino Hernandez's death on May 8
- The Fabulous Moolah on May 15
--The series' producer spoke with Jim Cornette on Cornette's latest podcast.
Jungle Boy has pulled out of more bookings in the wake of his father's death. I really wish the best for him going forward.
Abyss is scheduled for an April 20 event in Indiana that is being billed as his final match. Naturally, it will be a Monster's Ball match.
ROH had legitimate issues between Mayu Iwatani and Kelly Klein after their 17th anniversary show match, as Klein retaliated a tough kick with one of her own. The two sides settled things, which is good considering they're set for a rematch at Supercard.
Eli Drake's Impact contract expires May 31. It's unknown how much serious interest there is from other parties.
Impact's Ace Austin will work Double or Nothing, so he's not signed to an exclusive deal. Good to see him getting opportunities.
All In 2 will be August 31 in Illinois, the site of the first event. It will be interesting to see what's on the show and how it does.
Starrcast has added a Jim Johnston symposium. Good to see him getting appreciated.
Hulk Hogan could induct Brutus Beefcake into the WWE Hall of Fame. Hogan is set for that weekend regardless.
Becky Lynch's Funko Pop was the best selling toy on Amazon.com this past week. That's great!
The Undertaker and Michelle McCool were at the WWE Performance Center as teachers recently.
WWE will run San Francisco's new arena in October for back-to-back Raw and Smackdown Live tapings.
NXT's Stacey Ervin, Jr. is on hiatus following concussion symptoms. He's reportedly reconsidering his wrestling future after that injury. It's definitely a dangerous business, and he needs to be absolutely sure he's willing to risk more along those lines if he's going to continue.
Keith Lee is out of action due to an unspecified injury, but shouldn't miss much more time. That would explain why he wasn't in the running to challenge for the NXT Championship and the feud with Dominik Dijakovic has stalled. He could be a top player going forward.
WWE Network's latest Hidden Gems include:
- The Honky Tonk Man teaming with David Schultz and Davey Boy Smith in Stampede Wrestling from 1983
- Harlem Heat vs. John Tatum and Rod Price from GWF in 1992
- X-Pac vs. Louie Spicolli from WWF Superstars in 1993
- Road Dogg vs. Barry Hardy from WWF Wrestling Challenge in 1994
- Triple H vs. Road Dogg from WCW Pro in 1994
- Shawn Michaels vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin from WWF Superstars in 1996
- Billy Gunn vs. Mark Jindrak from OVW in 2002
Charlotte Flair responded to ESPN listing her simply as "Daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair" during her SportsCenter appearance. They certainly could have showcased more than her lineage there.
Carmella will host a WrestleMania Zumba party to promote the Susan G. Komen foundation.
Sting has been pulled from WrestleCon due to being announced for AXXESS. WrestleCon attendees have received refunds, and Sting is trying to work out another time to appear there.
Beth Phoenix and Natalya have been training with Dr. Tom Prichard ahead of WrestleMania. Those parties go back to a previous era of WWE developmental.
WWE's WrestleMania flashback stream was dropped to 20 matches from 25. That's still quite a lot of memories!
Impact released the introduction to tonight's episode. It looks like Allie will appear after all.
WrestleMania AXXESS has announced the following matches:
-- Thursday, April 4: NXT vs. NXT Alumni:
- Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Breeze
- Harper vs. Dominik Dijakovic
- SAnitY vs. the Undisputed Era
- Kassius Ohno vs. Aiden English
-- Friday, April 5: Cruiserweights Collide:
- Brian Kendrick vs. Tyler Bate
- Akira Tozawa vs. Jordan Devlin
- Mike Kanellis/Ariya Daivari vs. Flash Morgan Webster/Mark Andrews
- Gran Metalik vs. Albert Hardie, Jr.
-- Saturday, April 6:
- NXT UK tapings
-- Sunday, April 7: Brands Battle:
- Men's battle royal with talents from NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live
- Women's battle royal with talents from NXT and NXT UK
-- Monday, April 8: Women Collide:
- Io Shirai vs. Sonya Deville
- Nikki Cross vs. Toni Storm vs. Bianca Belair
- Zelina Vega vs. Piper Niven
- Candice LeRae vs. Kay Lee Ray
Kurt Angle noted he has been drug-free for nearly six years. That's fantastic news! I hope that continues to be the case.
- Angle got a shirt commemorating his final match. That's hilarious.
"Da Crusher"'s upcoming statue got local press. That's pretty cool.
Jim Ross is expected to sign an AEW contract soon, for roles both on-screen and behind-the-scenes. He definitely brings a wide range of experiences to the company, and his presence makes AEW feel major to casual and lapsed fans.
Kenny Omega spoke on The Social and The Two Man Power Trip podcast about his recent documentary. Omega said his AEW contract allows him to wrestle elsewhere, but indicated NJPW wasn't willing to work with him for Supercard. I hope AEW and NJPW work together down the line; it could really increase the value of both internationally.
Triple H did a conference call promoting Takeover:New York, recapped here.:
- I swear, as much as I love Gargano in NXT, he's passed all the tests and it's time for Vince to run with him after WrestleMania. Obviously that's easier said than done.
- I expect Takeover will stay on Saturdays with Smackdown Live moving.
- Yeah I don't want to see them keep women in NXT just to fill out a tag team division. Especially with just a one-hour show each week!
- NXT is definitely trying out using managers.
- I think they could split WrestleMania into two nights if they wanted to, especially since they occasionally push the idea of brands trying to outdo each other.
- Aleister Black and Ricochet are expected to finish up in NXT next weekend.
- Haitch just casually dropping the next Takeover date. I'm very curious how it does without being able to piggyback a "main roster" weekend.
Batista will be the subject of "WWE 24" at some point covering his road to WrestleMania.
Liv Morgan is on Joe DeFranco's latest podcast, discussing her road to WWE and more.
Jimmy Uso has reached a plea deal for his February charges. He paid $450 in fines after pleading no contest to interfering with a government employee. Hopefully he can now put that behind him.
WWE's stock performance was covered by Reuters.
WWE caught up with Nicholas a year after his Raw Tag Team Championship win. He needs to reunite with Braun Strowman to beat the SNL duo.
AAA has announced a Madison Square Garden press conference on April 4. The promotion is teasing a U.S. event in September. That would definitely be a major undertaking for the group.
WWE will tape Raw and Smackdown Live from Madison Square Garden on September 9 and September 10. Those are the first TV tapings there since 2009, although Survivor Series 2011 was also from the venue. It looks like the WWE-MSG relationship has mended significantly after Supercard being set for that arena.
WrestleMania 35 will open with a performance of "America The Beautiful" by Yolanda Adams, who has a Hall of Fame-level list of accolades in gospel music.
Impact Wrestling will no longer use Alicia Atout, who conducted interviews and hosted a Twitch series for them. I highly expect her to end up in AEW. I hope she moves on to bigger things.
Impact's Twitch channel will feature Pat Buck after tonight's episode, promoting United We Stand.
At NXT's March 28 Florida event:
- Dan Matha competed for the first time since December 9, defeating Albert Hardie, Jr.
- NXT UK's Flash Morgan Webster defeated Luke Menzies
- NXT UK's Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) retained their tag team championship against the Street Profits
- Karen Q and Xia Li teamed in a loss to Aliyah and Vanessa Borne. That was an obvious face pairing given their backgrounds.
- NXT UK's Jordan Devlin defeated Raul Mendoza
-- It looks like NXT UK stars are spending some time in the U.S. before competing at WrestleMania AXXESS.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I doubt WWE is that concerned. With him being the final inductee, he's probably not a huge priority.
2. That's pretty cool.
3. Gargano staying in NXT for an entire additional year is crazy talk. He and Ciampa should both be done there after New York. They can feud again on Raw or Smackdown Live in 2020.
4. I have the feeling the Dusty Classic was brought back as a last-minute idea due to the sudden callups, then of course NXT had to scramble again with Ciampa's injury. Rhodes is emphatic he's still part of WWE, but it is very notable he's not scheduled for AXXESS.
5. That's amazing! I can see where authorities wouldn't want that to repeat.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
NXT/NXT UK name moved to 205 Live, ROH name re-injured before return, United We Stand match change, Impact-HOG show set, Interviews with Bryan/WWE co-president, Lio's diss gets national press, Hatebreed singer wants to work in wrestling, classic Mania matches streaming, Bar appearance, Supercard-AXS schedule, AXXESS names, WWE correspondent pregnant, names announced for Survivor Series, SDL audience, Vince sells $270M in WWE stock, new Honor Club match, and Questions on WM35 women's plans, choosing between Supercard and Takeover, how fans will react if Becky loses, and the build to WM35
NXT's Oney Lorcan has officially moved to 205 Live. Hopefully that's a move up for him; he hadn't gotten much momentum in NXT or NXT UK.
Flip Gordon reinjured his knee during a March 24 match in Northern Ireland. He will not compete at ROH's March 31 Honor Club event as a result. He's awaiting an MRI to see the extent of the injury. That's unfortunate. I hope he's able to rebound and get momentum going again.
Johnny Impact has been moved to United We Stand's Ultimate X match, which is for a future X-Division Championship match. If the World Champion can't win a contenders' match for the X-Division Championship, there's a problem.
Impact and House of Glory will have a joint event on May 5. This doesn't appear to be a One Night Only show, so it could end up airing on Twitch at some point.
Daniel Bryan is on the Bellas' first podcast.
Lio Rush's shot at Rob Gronkowski on Raw got national press. Lio vs. Gronk works for me.
Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta discussed wanting to make music for wrestling. Someone should definitely capitalize on that interest!
WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson discussed the company's content and more with Bloomberg Markets. They definitely make a LOT of content easily available.
WWE will livestream 25 top WrestleMania bouts beginning March 29 at noon.
The Bar attended the International Champions Cup launch.
G1 Supercard will air on AXS in two parts, on April 12 and April 19. Which matches will air which night has not yet been determined.
WrestleMania AXXESS has announced, on top of expected active Raw and Smackdown Live names:
- AOP
- Sting
- Trish Stratus
- Sami Zayn
- Mark Henry
- Velveteen Dream
- Johnny Gargano
- Adam Cole
- Toni Storm
- Bianca Belair
- Harper
- Kevin Nash
- Ivory
- Pete Dunne
- Sin Cara
- Harlem Heat
- Lita
Jojo has announced a baby due in June, on top of indicating she will return to WWE at some point.
Survivor Series is advertising Raw's Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, and Bobby Lashley vs. Smackdown Live's Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, and Rey Mysterio. I'm surprised they're announcing anything that far in advance, but I would expect this at least means those ten names are expected to be in the mix then.
Smackdown Live drew 2.39 million viewers Tuesday night, the biggest audience since the 1000th episode special in October. Other than that night, Tuesday's audience was the highest since August.
Vince McMahon sold more than 3.2 million shares of WWE stock for around $270 million (!) in order to finance Alpha Entertainment as it prepares to relaunch XFL. That should go to show how serious Vince is with his XFL plans. Vince still owes more than 28.6 million shares of WWE stock, which represents nearly 37% of the stock and roughly 80% of voting power. So, he remains a major figure.
- WWE's stock took a hit after this announcement, as Seeking Alpha covered. A lot of investors associate WWE with Vince so much that even the appearance of him partially stepping away is a cause for concern.
ROH's March 31 Honor Club event has added Marty Scurll vs. Shane Taylor. That's an interesting match just before Supercard.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. As was said, the original plan was Ronda vs. Charlotte at WrestleMania, with Ronda vs. Becky at Survivor Series. Becky being injured before the November match made him change things to a triple threat. Charlotte has been a target of both women during the whole build, so I don't know why people think she's being added at the last minute.
2. I'm perfectly fine with Charlotte being added and that match headlining, but certainly a Ronda vs. Becky one-on-one match down the line would be great, too.
3. I'll watch Supercard the next day so I can skim through ring entrances and video packages. I'm very glad I don't have to choose between that and Takeover! I'll probably just catch highlights of the HoF.
4. I definitely don't see it being THAT negative, but I certainly think there would be some upset fans.
5. It blows my mind people don't see how Charlotte was positioned to be part of things from Day One. I do think Brock in a Universal Title match and the annual Triple H ego boost are pretty passe, and some other stuff was definitely thrown together late in the game, but it still feels like a pretty important show.
6. Those degenerates constantly came up with a way to cheat the system!
More wrestling tomorrow.
Flip Gordon reinjured his knee during a March 24 match in Northern Ireland. He will not compete at ROH's March 31 Honor Club event as a result. He's awaiting an MRI to see the extent of the injury. That's unfortunate. I hope he's able to rebound and get momentum going again.
Johnny Impact has been moved to United We Stand's Ultimate X match, which is for a future X-Division Championship match. If the World Champion can't win a contenders' match for the X-Division Championship, there's a problem.
Impact and House of Glory will have a joint event on May 5. This doesn't appear to be a One Night Only show, so it could end up airing on Twitch at some point.
Daniel Bryan is on the Bellas' first podcast.
Lio Rush's shot at Rob Gronkowski on Raw got national press. Lio vs. Gronk works for me.
Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta discussed wanting to make music for wrestling. Someone should definitely capitalize on that interest!
WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson discussed the company's content and more with Bloomberg Markets. They definitely make a LOT of content easily available.
WWE will livestream 25 top WrestleMania bouts beginning March 29 at noon.
The Bar attended the International Champions Cup launch.
G1 Supercard will air on AXS in two parts, on April 12 and April 19. Which matches will air which night has not yet been determined.
WrestleMania AXXESS has announced, on top of expected active Raw and Smackdown Live names:
- AOP
- Sting
- Trish Stratus
- Sami Zayn
- Mark Henry
- Velveteen Dream
- Johnny Gargano
- Adam Cole
- Toni Storm
- Bianca Belair
- Harper
- Kevin Nash
- Ivory
- Pete Dunne
- Sin Cara
- Harlem Heat
- Lita
Jojo has announced a baby due in June, on top of indicating she will return to WWE at some point.
Survivor Series is advertising Raw's Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, and Bobby Lashley vs. Smackdown Live's Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, and Rey Mysterio. I'm surprised they're announcing anything that far in advance, but I would expect this at least means those ten names are expected to be in the mix then.
Smackdown Live drew 2.39 million viewers Tuesday night, the biggest audience since the 1000th episode special in October. Other than that night, Tuesday's audience was the highest since August.
Vince McMahon sold more than 3.2 million shares of WWE stock for around $270 million (!) in order to finance Alpha Entertainment as it prepares to relaunch XFL. That should go to show how serious Vince is with his XFL plans. Vince still owes more than 28.6 million shares of WWE stock, which represents nearly 37% of the stock and roughly 80% of voting power. So, he remains a major figure.
- WWE's stock took a hit after this announcement, as Seeking Alpha covered. A lot of investors associate WWE with Vince so much that even the appearance of him partially stepping away is a cause for concern.
ROH's March 31 Honor Club event has added Marty Scurll vs. Shane Taylor. That's an interesting match just before Supercard.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. As was said, the original plan was Ronda vs. Charlotte at WrestleMania, with Ronda vs. Becky at Survivor Series. Becky being injured before the November match made him change things to a triple threat. Charlotte has been a target of both women during the whole build, so I don't know why people think she's being added at the last minute.
2. I'm perfectly fine with Charlotte being added and that match headlining, but certainly a Ronda vs. Becky one-on-one match down the line would be great, too.
3. I'll watch Supercard the next day so I can skim through ring entrances and video packages. I'm very glad I don't have to choose between that and Takeover! I'll probably just catch highlights of the HoF.
4. I definitely don't see it being THAT negative, but I certainly think there would be some upset fans.
5. It blows my mind people don't see how Charlotte was positioned to be part of things from Day One. I do think Brock in a Universal Title match and the annual Triple H ego boost are pretty passe, and some other stuff was definitely thrown together late in the game, but it still feels like a pretty important show.
6. Those degenerates constantly came up with a way to cheat the system!
More wrestling tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
SDL name change, Booker speaking tour, Interviews with Mojo/Ronda+Charlotte+Becky/Roman/Dana Brooke, international territory name autobiography, Ronda theme singer playing at WM35, new WWE Studios head, final 2019 HoFer, Raw audience, UFC name signs with AAA, SDL dark match, SDL visitor, and Questions on Sexy Star's heat, HoF inductors, who's responsible for moving on from Divas, grossness in wrestling, and Vince siding with Bryan
Smackdown Live's Mustafa Ali is now just Ali. Mustafa I could understand, but just Ali? Hopefully he's able to be successful with just one name.
Booker T. will do a speaking tour in the UK and Ireland this July. That's becoming something of a regular idea there.
Mojo Rawley did a pair of interviews with TMZ Sports about Rob Gronkowski leaving the NFL. Mojo's got to be ecstatic given where his career is now without Gronk in WWE.
Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch promoted WrestleMania on SportsCenter. I would have loved if ESPN has "security" separating them.
International territory star Buggsy McGraw's autobiography was just released.
Joan Jett will play Ronda Rousey's entrance music at WrestleMania 35. That's definitely major!
- Jett commented on the upcoming performance.
WWE Studios has named a new head in Susan Levison. Levison has previously worked with a number of television series.
The WWE Hall of Fame will induct Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake this year, the final inductee of the Class of 2019.
Raw drew 2.59 million viewers Monday.
Dana Brooke is on Lilian Garcia's latest podcast. She said she considered quitting the company last month after a Raw match with Natalya was dropped. I'm curious what other options she has outside of WWE, since I don't anticipate her gaining momentum in the near future.
UFC's Cain Velasquez has signed with AAA, and will compete at TripleMania XXVII on August 3. That should be an interesting endeavor.
Roman Reigns discussed his recovery and more.
Before Smackdown Live, Aleister Black and Ricochet defeated Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe of SAnitY.
Justin Credible was backstage at Smackdown Live.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Sexy Star attacked someone who had done nothing against her, turning a worked submission into a shoot one to damage Rosemary. If it was a "receipt" or something, that would be one thing, but this was just malicious.
2. It's possible they don't have inductors this year in order to speed things up. They might also not have an MC for the same reason. It's definitely noteworthy none have been announced.
3. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon have absolutely spearheaded a movement from the name "Diva," including Triple H hiring and pushing the Four Horsewomen and others who have come up through NXT.
4. I don't go for that kind of thing at all. I feel similarly about moves like the Stinkface and that Priscilla Kelly spot. Just outright gross.
5. There's definitely some "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" about Vince siding with the "original B+ player." It could be to make Vince a hypocrite, and it could be that he sees Kofi as he used to see Bryan and considers the "new" Bryan as the lesser of two evils. Also, this direction gave Kofi a bigger mountain to climb than just gifting him a championship match.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Booker T. will do a speaking tour in the UK and Ireland this July. That's becoming something of a regular idea there.
Mojo Rawley did a pair of interviews with TMZ Sports about Rob Gronkowski leaving the NFL. Mojo's got to be ecstatic given where his career is now without Gronk in WWE.
Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch promoted WrestleMania on SportsCenter. I would have loved if ESPN has "security" separating them.
International territory star Buggsy McGraw's autobiography was just released.
Joan Jett will play Ronda Rousey's entrance music at WrestleMania 35. That's definitely major!
- Jett commented on the upcoming performance.
WWE Studios has named a new head in Susan Levison. Levison has previously worked with a number of television series.
The WWE Hall of Fame will induct Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake this year, the final inductee of the Class of 2019.
Raw drew 2.59 million viewers Monday.
Dana Brooke is on Lilian Garcia's latest podcast. She said she considered quitting the company last month after a Raw match with Natalya was dropped. I'm curious what other options she has outside of WWE, since I don't anticipate her gaining momentum in the near future.
UFC's Cain Velasquez has signed with AAA, and will compete at TripleMania XXVII on August 3. That should be an interesting endeavor.
Roman Reigns discussed his recovery and more.
Before Smackdown Live, Aleister Black and Ricochet defeated Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe of SAnitY.
Justin Credible was backstage at Smackdown Live.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Sexy Star attacked someone who had done nothing against her, turning a worked submission into a shoot one to damage Rosemary. If it was a "receipt" or something, that would be one thing, but this was just malicious.
2. It's possible they don't have inductors this year in order to speed things up. They might also not have an MC for the same reason. It's definitely noteworthy none have been announced.
3. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon have absolutely spearheaded a movement from the name "Diva," including Triple H hiring and pushing the Four Horsewomen and others who have come up through NXT.
4. I don't go for that kind of thing at all. I feel similarly about moves like the Stinkface and that Priscilla Kelly spot. Just outright gross.
5. There's definitely some "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" about Vince siding with the "original B+ player." It could be to make Vince a hypocrite, and it could be that he sees Kofi as he used to see Bryan and considers the "new" Bryan as the lesser of two evils. Also, this direction gave Kofi a bigger mountain to climb than just gifting him a championship match.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Smackdown Live and 205 Live Reax - 3/26/19
Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown Live and 205 Live.
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
WWE celebrity retires from NFL, Bellas notes, HOH in video game, Impact contract corrections, Impact looking to lock in top team, Goldberg joining Shane on NCIS:LA, new Supercard matches, Harper on working live events, WM35 main event press, WWE auctions, AEW at C2E2, AEW at video game tournament, more on new WWE HQ, HoF induction, how Ronda learned of WM35 main event, Interview with Headbangers, LU talents released, and Questions on Corbin's WM35 role, VKM as a racist, Vince holding someone out of HoF, and making the Andre battle royal mean something
NFL's Rob Gronkowski has announced his retirement from football, fueling speculation he's now set for a wrestling career. I'm curious how well he would do.
The Bella Twins will debut a podcast Wednesday, following up on their retirement announcement.
Tommy Dreamer and House of Hardcore assets will be available in RetroMania Wrestling. the game has already announced the Road Warriors, Austin Idol, and Zack Sabre, Jr. That's an eclectic mix.
Impact contract corrections:
- Allie's deal expired in February, rather than at the end of 2018.
- Eli Drake's contract expires in late May, so he will be available at Rebellion and the following TV tapings.
Impact is looking to sign LAX to long-term deals as a key act in the company. They've definitely been featured heavily!
Goldberg will be on NCIS:Los Angeles this weekend, as will Shane McMahon as was previously announced. I don't think the two appearances were booked together.
G1 Supercard has added:
- PCO/Brody King vs. Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Briscoes vs. EVIL/SANADA for the ROH and IWGP Tag Team Cheampionship
- Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship
- Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein for the WOH Championship
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
- Jushin "Thunder" Liger has been announced for the 30-man Honor Rumble. I expect we'll see a lot of fun names there.
Luke Harper commented on competing at Raw's live events this weekend, referring to both men's past promotion.
WWE put out a press release for the WrestleMania 35 main event. That's a very significant achievement for the company.
WWE has launched auctions for Boys & Girls Clubs of America, including:
- Meeting Vince McMahon
- Meeting Triple H, going behind-the-scenes at the WWEPC, and going backstage at an NXT taping
- Lunch with Ric Flair and Charlotte Flair
- Meeting the Bellas
- Meeting Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart
- Meeting Ronda Rousey
- Meeting the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame Class
- Touring the WWE Warehouse with a WWE star and the current archivist
- Touring WWE headquarters
- Meeting Finn Balor
- Lunch with Becky Lynch
- Hosting WWE Now with Cathy Kelley
- Designing custom WWE Championship sideplates
- Lunch with Seth Rollins
- Lunch with Naomi and Carmella
- Shoot a match ringside with a WWE photographer
- Full set of championship titles signed by John Cena
- Meeting Michael Cole and calling a WWE match
- Meeting Jeff Hardy and facepaint
- Accompanying Bayley to a live event
- Getting custom WWE entrance music
- Being an honorary timekeeper at a WWE live event
- Pancake breakfast with New Day
- Live UpUpDownDown Twitch stream with Xavier Woods
- Creating a makeup shade with Paige
- Playing with Elias
- Donut tasting with Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose
- Dance break with R-Truth and Carmella during a Smackdown Live live event
- Tea party with Lacey Evans before a WWE live event
- Workout with Sheamus
- Gardening with Daniel Bryan
- Coffee with Alexa Bliss
- A signed, ring-worn AJ Styles shirt
AEW had a panel at C2E2, and then Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks were interviewed by SYFY.
AEW will be part of the CEO Fighting Game Championships. I expect that will be something of a teaser for Fight For The Fallen.
WWE's next headquarters building will be the former home of financial company UBS. It's a VERY large building with a lot of potential use for the space.
The Hart Foundation of Bret Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. Notably, Jimmy Hart is not included after initially being considered. He will still be featured WrestleMania weekend.
Ronda Rousey found out about headlining WrestleMania from Paul Heyman. I wonder how his client Brock Lesnar feels about being kicked out of that spot.
The Bella Twins will be at WrestleMania AXXESS for a VIP signing.
The Headbangers talked about potentially going into the WWE Hall of Fame and more. It's rare you hear a talent saying they shouldn't be honored more!
Lucha Underground has agreed to let the following names out of their contracts as part of a legal settlement:
- Joey Ryan (who's expected to sign with AEW as a result)
- El Hijo del Fantasma/King Cuerno
- Thunder Rosa/Kobra Moon
- Ivelisse Velez
-- This theoretically opens up the door for more talents to get out of their deals and head elsewhere. A fifth season of Lucha Underground continues to seem unlikely.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Honestly I think Cena should drop Corbin right before the match begins and tell the ref to ring the bell for Cena vs. Angle.
2. I think Kofi's going to challenge for and win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, so I don't think that example works. I don't think Vince is deliberately holding down people of color as part of a discriminatory agenda. While certainly there hasn't been a black WWE Champion, there also hasn't been a British WWE Champion, for instance. He definitely went strong for Bobby Lashley once upon a time. It's a case-by-case basis.
3. Not that I know of.
4. WrestleMania has featured battle royal matches for years as a way to get everyone on the card. Before the past few years, they were dark matches with nothing at stake. WWE would argue putting Braun Strowman, Michael Che, and Colin Jost in the match is "interesting" rather than the match just existing. Of course, your mileage may vary on that one.
5. Angle's match is clearly not a top priority! But they would argue it pays off the storyline between the two from when they were both authority figures.
More wrestling tomorrow.
The Bella Twins will debut a podcast Wednesday, following up on their retirement announcement.
Tommy Dreamer and House of Hardcore assets will be available in RetroMania Wrestling. the game has already announced the Road Warriors, Austin Idol, and Zack Sabre, Jr. That's an eclectic mix.
Impact contract corrections:
- Allie's deal expired in February, rather than at the end of 2018.
- Eli Drake's contract expires in late May, so he will be available at Rebellion and the following TV tapings.
Impact is looking to sign LAX to long-term deals as a key act in the company. They've definitely been featured heavily!
Goldberg will be on NCIS:Los Angeles this weekend, as will Shane McMahon as was previously announced. I don't think the two appearances were booked together.
G1 Supercard has added:
- PCO/Brody King vs. Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Briscoes vs. EVIL/SANADA for the ROH and IWGP Tag Team Cheampionship
- Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship
- Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein for the WOH Championship
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
- Jushin "Thunder" Liger has been announced for the 30-man Honor Rumble. I expect we'll see a lot of fun names there.
Luke Harper commented on competing at Raw's live events this weekend, referring to both men's past promotion.
WWE put out a press release for the WrestleMania 35 main event. That's a very significant achievement for the company.
WWE has launched auctions for Boys & Girls Clubs of America, including:
- Meeting Vince McMahon
- Meeting Triple H, going behind-the-scenes at the WWEPC, and going backstage at an NXT taping
- Lunch with Ric Flair and Charlotte Flair
- Meeting the Bellas
- Meeting Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart
- Meeting Ronda Rousey
- Meeting the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame Class
- Touring the WWE Warehouse with a WWE star and the current archivist
- Touring WWE headquarters
- Meeting Finn Balor
- Lunch with Becky Lynch
- Hosting WWE Now with Cathy Kelley
- Designing custom WWE Championship sideplates
- Lunch with Seth Rollins
- Lunch with Naomi and Carmella
- Shoot a match ringside with a WWE photographer
- Full set of championship titles signed by John Cena
- Meeting Michael Cole and calling a WWE match
- Meeting Jeff Hardy and facepaint
- Accompanying Bayley to a live event
- Getting custom WWE entrance music
- Being an honorary timekeeper at a WWE live event
- Pancake breakfast with New Day
- Live UpUpDownDown Twitch stream with Xavier Woods
- Creating a makeup shade with Paige
- Playing with Elias
- Donut tasting with Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose
- Dance break with R-Truth and Carmella during a Smackdown Live live event
- Tea party with Lacey Evans before a WWE live event
- Workout with Sheamus
- Gardening with Daniel Bryan
- Coffee with Alexa Bliss
- A signed, ring-worn AJ Styles shirt
AEW had a panel at C2E2, and then Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks were interviewed by SYFY.
AEW will be part of the CEO Fighting Game Championships. I expect that will be something of a teaser for Fight For The Fallen.
WWE's next headquarters building will be the former home of financial company UBS. It's a VERY large building with a lot of potential use for the space.
The Hart Foundation of Bret Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. Notably, Jimmy Hart is not included after initially being considered. He will still be featured WrestleMania weekend.
Ronda Rousey found out about headlining WrestleMania from Paul Heyman. I wonder how his client Brock Lesnar feels about being kicked out of that spot.
The Bella Twins will be at WrestleMania AXXESS for a VIP signing.
The Headbangers talked about potentially going into the WWE Hall of Fame and more. It's rare you hear a talent saying they shouldn't be honored more!
Lucha Underground has agreed to let the following names out of their contracts as part of a legal settlement:
- Joey Ryan (who's expected to sign with AEW as a result)
- El Hijo del Fantasma/King Cuerno
- Thunder Rosa/Kobra Moon
- Ivelisse Velez
-- This theoretically opens up the door for more talents to get out of their deals and head elsewhere. A fifth season of Lucha Underground continues to seem unlikely.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Honestly I think Cena should drop Corbin right before the match begins and tell the ref to ring the bell for Cena vs. Angle.
2. I think Kofi's going to challenge for and win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, so I don't think that example works. I don't think Vince is deliberately holding down people of color as part of a discriminatory agenda. While certainly there hasn't been a black WWE Champion, there also hasn't been a British WWE Champion, for instance. He definitely went strong for Bobby Lashley once upon a time. It's a case-by-case basis.
3. Not that I know of.
4. WrestleMania has featured battle royal matches for years as a way to get everyone on the card. Before the past few years, they were dark matches with nothing at stake. WWE would argue putting Braun Strowman, Michael Che, and Colin Jost in the match is "interesting" rather than the match just existing. Of course, your mileage may vary on that one.
5. Angle's match is clearly not a top priority! But they would argue it pays off the storyline between the two from when they were both authority figures.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Monday, March 25, 2019
Supercard IWGP title match official, assorted wrestling press, another Dusty trademark, Angle set for SDL match, another Bella retirement, and Questions on "saving" the WM35 build, Trish+Lita vs. Sasha+Bayley, Orton-Kofi heat, WWN on WWE Network, and what will headline WM35
G1 Supercard's IWGP Heavyweight Championship match will be between Jay White and Kazuchika Okada, as Okada won the New Japan Cup. That's big.
Taryn Terrell appeared in Netflix's Motley Crue biopic.
Bill DeMott discussed his daughter's death from a drunk driver. That's an incredibly difficult ordeal he's gone through.
Original Midnight Express member Randy Rose was interviewed in South Carolina. Hopefully he joins the WWE Hall of Fame at some point.
"Lethal Lottery" has been trademarked by someone in Rhode Island. This was part of the Battlebowl concept that Cody recently trademarked.
Paige was at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards.
Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles is set for Smackdown Live, in what is advertised as Angle's final match on that show. Those two were opponents and partners in Impact. I'd love to see Angle vs. Joe, as well, but I don't know if there's a chance for that. I'm just glad we get to see Angle vs. AJ in WWE.
Nikki Bella announced her retirement from in-ring competition on the latest episode of "Total Bellas," following Brie's announcement of doing the same the previous week. She came to the conclusion as a reflection of her age and greater focus on outside endeavors. Nikki last wrestled in November as part of a European tour.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. That's going to be a different answer for everyone. Honestly I wouldn't think the last two weeks to sway many people one way or another. The show itself being great will definitely help things, but WWE's going to have to consistently deliver what the audience wants with few exceptions to keep them hooked. An off week or bad angle here and there is to be expected, but there've really been some missteps in places.
2. It was definitely something teased on social media, but obviously it didn't come to be. It sounds like another plan was for the Hall of Famers to face the Bella Twins that night, but that also isn't happening. Trish and Lita were definitely planned to be in the mix at WrestleMania for a while after Evolution, but clearly there have been other priorities since then.
3. It was just a nod to that past issue. I popped for it.
4. Yes. Either as part of a tier or someday down the line with WWE purchasing the library (if not the company itself). The latter could be years from now, but certainly it's a possibility.
5. WWE made an official answer after this question was answered. I definitely expected the women to close the show. Their angle is much hotter than the fourth Brock Lesnar Universal Championship match in five WrestleManias.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Taryn Terrell appeared in Netflix's Motley Crue biopic.
Bill DeMott discussed his daughter's death from a drunk driver. That's an incredibly difficult ordeal he's gone through.
Original Midnight Express member Randy Rose was interviewed in South Carolina. Hopefully he joins the WWE Hall of Fame at some point.
"Lethal Lottery" has been trademarked by someone in Rhode Island. This was part of the Battlebowl concept that Cody recently trademarked.
Paige was at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards.
Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles is set for Smackdown Live, in what is advertised as Angle's final match on that show. Those two were opponents and partners in Impact. I'd love to see Angle vs. Joe, as well, but I don't know if there's a chance for that. I'm just glad we get to see Angle vs. AJ in WWE.
Nikki Bella announced her retirement from in-ring competition on the latest episode of "Total Bellas," following Brie's announcement of doing the same the previous week. She came to the conclusion as a reflection of her age and greater focus on outside endeavors. Nikki last wrestled in November as part of a European tour.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. That's going to be a different answer for everyone. Honestly I wouldn't think the last two weeks to sway many people one way or another. The show itself being great will definitely help things, but WWE's going to have to consistently deliver what the audience wants with few exceptions to keep them hooked. An off week or bad angle here and there is to be expected, but there've really been some missteps in places.
2. It was definitely something teased on social media, but obviously it didn't come to be. It sounds like another plan was for the Hall of Famers to face the Bella Twins that night, but that also isn't happening. Trish and Lita were definitely planned to be in the mix at WrestleMania for a while after Evolution, but clearly there have been other priorities since then.
3. It was just a nod to that past issue. I popped for it.
4. Yes. Either as part of a tier or someday down the line with WWE purchasing the library (if not the company itself). The latter could be years from now, but certainly it's a possibility.
5. WWE made an official answer after this question was answered. I definitely expected the women to close the show. Their angle is much hotter than the fourth Brock Lesnar Universal Championship match in five WrestleManias.
More wrestling tomorrow.
WrestleMania week hype announcement
Given the proximity to the biggest wrestling week of the year, the coming days will feature many press interviews to promote WrestleMania and, to a lesser degree, G1 Supercard. While I normally run such promotional pieces, I expect there to be more than enough to crowd out other news stories. So, I will be intentionally limiting how many press interviews I feature from now through WrestleMania, in order to give other news stories some space.
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Main Event Reax - 3/23/19, former Neville to miss WrestleCon, new Photo Shoot after Raw, Interview with Henry, new ROH matches, NXT live event notes, and Questions on unofficial title changes, Taker vs. Abyss, Apter pseudonyms, and dropping Sunny from the HoF
-- Main Event:
- Rezar vs. Hawkins:
Hawkins is 0-265 going into this match, but I have a feeling he'll be able to turn things around. After all, he's got Zack Ryder in his corner!
I like Rezar's viciousness.
Good contrast between these two.
Fun enough. 0-266 (before losses on Friday and Saturday live events).
- Revival/Ascension vs. Titus/LHP:
Interesting combinations.
Haha wow they went right to commercial.
Yeah we didn't get enough to really sink our teeth into there.
PAC will not make WrestleCon due to visa issues. He will however be able to work with AEW. Unfortunate situation.
"WWE Photo Shoot" with Rusev will air after Raw.
Mark Henry discussed his new WWE role and more.
ROH's March 31 Maryland HonorClub event has added:
- Jay Lethal/Jeff Cobb vs. Juice Robinson/Bandido vs. Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan
- Shinobi Shadow Squad vs. Coast 2 Coast/Colin Delaney
At NXT's March 23 Florida live event:
- Shadia Bseiso was in Mansoor Al-Shehail's corner as Al-Shehail defeated Brendan Vink (the former Elliot Sexton)
- Xia Li worked her first live event since February 14, losing to Reina Gonzalez
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. So, the NWA, as the name suggests, was at the time an alliance of different regional owners who agreed on who would be their world champion a while in advance. Sometimes situations popped up where a title change was decided on by a local promoter without the group's permission and the NWA didn't/doesn't count those as official title changes, since they were unsanctioned. Usually those title runs were brief since they were just done for a local territory that either went rogue or felt they were going to have a dangerous situation on hand if the local hero didn't take the title. So, if you count those unofficial title changes, Ric Flair has held well more than 20 world titles.
2. Notably this is when WWF was part of the NWA and WWE doesn't recognize the title change.
3. Definitely not this year! I wouldn't say it will never happen, but with Undertaker's career winding down and Abyss not hired to step into the ring, I don't see it coming to be. I'd think the odds would be slightly better for it to happen in Saudi Arabia, but I still don't anticipate it.
4. I wish WWE.com would have columnists suck up to heels, etc.
5. There's been no movement for that to happen. I expect they view the situation as honoring Sunny but distancing themselves from Tammy Sytch's actions.
More wrestling tomorrow.
- Rezar vs. Hawkins:
Hawkins is 0-265 going into this match, but I have a feeling he'll be able to turn things around. After all, he's got Zack Ryder in his corner!
I like Rezar's viciousness.
Good contrast between these two.
Fun enough. 0-266 (before losses on Friday and Saturday live events).
- Revival/Ascension vs. Titus/LHP:
Interesting combinations.
Haha wow they went right to commercial.
Yeah we didn't get enough to really sink our teeth into there.
PAC will not make WrestleCon due to visa issues. He will however be able to work with AEW. Unfortunate situation.
"WWE Photo Shoot" with Rusev will air after Raw.
Mark Henry discussed his new WWE role and more.
ROH's March 31 Maryland HonorClub event has added:
- Jay Lethal/Jeff Cobb vs. Juice Robinson/Bandido vs. Vinny Marseglia/TK O'Ryan
- Shinobi Shadow Squad vs. Coast 2 Coast/Colin Delaney
At NXT's March 23 Florida live event:
- Shadia Bseiso was in Mansoor Al-Shehail's corner as Al-Shehail defeated Brendan Vink (the former Elliot Sexton)
- Xia Li worked her first live event since February 14, losing to Reina Gonzalez
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. So, the NWA, as the name suggests, was at the time an alliance of different regional owners who agreed on who would be their world champion a while in advance. Sometimes situations popped up where a title change was decided on by a local promoter without the group's permission and the NWA didn't/doesn't count those as official title changes, since they were unsanctioned. Usually those title runs were brief since they were just done for a local territory that either went rogue or felt they were going to have a dangerous situation on hand if the local hero didn't take the title. So, if you count those unofficial title changes, Ric Flair has held well more than 20 world titles.
2. Notably this is when WWF was part of the NWA and WWE doesn't recognize the title change.
3. Definitely not this year! I wouldn't say it will never happen, but with Undertaker's career winding down and Abyss not hired to step into the ring, I don't see it coming to be. I'd think the odds would be slightly better for it to happen in Saudi Arabia, but I still don't anticipate it.
4. I wish WWE.com would have columnists suck up to heels, etc.
5. There's been no movement for that to happen. I expect they view the situation as honoring Sunny but distancing themselves from Tammy Sytch's actions.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Swerved lawsuit update, Rey trademarks wrestling name for his son, Undertaker-WWE update, another guest coach coming, superstars when they were fans, Interview with Poffo, legend set for WM35, WWE charity, Rock on Stone Cold beer bash, WWE opposing Abigail trademark, NXT star challenging for EVOLVE Championship, Festival of Honor host, Supercard bout official, Raw+NXT live event notes, and Questions on Strickland's status, when DJZ will join NXT, live injuries, WM35 weather plans, and where things go with Kofi
WWE is still part of the "Swerved" lawsuit after an attempt to be removed as a defendant was shot down. WWE had argued that since they were a Connecticut-based company, a Florida court didn't have jurisdiction over them. Of course, WWE does business regularly in Florida through the WWE Performance Center and NXT on top of other occasional events in the area.
Rey Mysterio has trademarked "Prince Mysterio" for future use by his son Dominic. There's potential for Dominic to jump right into working with Samoa Joe before potentially moving to NXT.
The Undertaker and Michelle McCool were at the WWE Performance Center recently. It's unknown exactly what they did there, but obviously this means they're all still on good terms after the Starrcast announcement.
Santino Marella will be a WWE Performance Center guest coach shortly. He has a training facility in Ontario.
WWE posted a gallery of current wrestlers when they were fans. It's amazing to see some of them next to people they now work with!
Lanny Poffo promoted 350 Days, discussing fighting fans after insulting Boston sports teams. Great times.
Hulk Hogan is set to be part of WrestleMania weekend. His role is currently unknown, but certainly at a milestone WrestleMania, it would make sense to use him to talk about the SuperSilverDome, brother.
Bayley and Titus O'Neil met with children on behalf of UNICEF.
The Rock talked about Stone Cold spraying him with beer. Classic moment.
WWE is opposing the Sister Abigail trademark. Notably the party who trademarked it first worked as an extra for WWE and wanted to portray that character.
Kyle O'Reilly will challenge for the EVOLVE Championship at EVOLVE 125 on April 4. That's pretty cool.
Festival of Honor will be hosted by Kid Cadet. I'm curious how that will go over.
Supercard has added RUSH vs. Dalton Castle.
At Raw's March 22 live event in New Jersey:
- No Way Jose worked his first live event since January 13, defeating EC3.
- Harper lost to Apollo Crews. We'll see what Harper's future holds.
- Nikki Cross teamed with Natalya in a win over Alexa Bliss and Lacey Evans, so Cross and Lacey are on Raw's shows this weekend. WWE is still figuring out how to fit them into things. They've been in a lot of different pairings lately.
At NXT's March 22 live event in Florida:
- The former Stokely Hathaway debuted as Court Moore in the corner of Babatunde Aiyegbusi in a victory over Nick Comoroto.
- Jessie Elaban and MJ Jenkins teamed in a loss to Aliyah and Vanessa Borne, so Elaban and MJ are being tested as a team
- Kassius Ohno and Luke Menzies teamed in a loss to the War Raiders
- Jeet Rama competed for the first time since February 14, losing to Shane Thorne
- Robert Strauss was in Riddick Moss' corner as Moss lost to Dominik Dijakovic
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. He and KUSHIDA will likely be figured into things shortly after Takeover:New York. They could easily be in the crowd that night.
2. He's scheduled for PROGRESS' Super Strong Style 16 tournament in early May, but obviously he can work there as part of WWE. He's got at least one booking in mid-April, so he'll do that before joining the WWE Performance Center.
3. Both sound awful!
4. I'm not sure what they'll do for the entrance way, but they definitely have the ring prepared.
5. Kofi wins the title at WrestleMania. Fans turn on him/move on to other talents by Summerslam. Probably right back where he was before this angle by Royal Rumble 2020.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Rey Mysterio has trademarked "Prince Mysterio" for future use by his son Dominic. There's potential for Dominic to jump right into working with Samoa Joe before potentially moving to NXT.
The Undertaker and Michelle McCool were at the WWE Performance Center recently. It's unknown exactly what they did there, but obviously this means they're all still on good terms after the Starrcast announcement.
Santino Marella will be a WWE Performance Center guest coach shortly. He has a training facility in Ontario.
WWE posted a gallery of current wrestlers when they were fans. It's amazing to see some of them next to people they now work with!
Lanny Poffo promoted 350 Days, discussing fighting fans after insulting Boston sports teams. Great times.
Hulk Hogan is set to be part of WrestleMania weekend. His role is currently unknown, but certainly at a milestone WrestleMania, it would make sense to use him to talk about the SuperSilverDome, brother.
Bayley and Titus O'Neil met with children on behalf of UNICEF.
The Rock talked about Stone Cold spraying him with beer. Classic moment.
WWE is opposing the Sister Abigail trademark. Notably the party who trademarked it first worked as an extra for WWE and wanted to portray that character.
Kyle O'Reilly will challenge for the EVOLVE Championship at EVOLVE 125 on April 4. That's pretty cool.
Festival of Honor will be hosted by Kid Cadet. I'm curious how that will go over.
Supercard has added RUSH vs. Dalton Castle.
At Raw's March 22 live event in New Jersey:
- No Way Jose worked his first live event since January 13, defeating EC3.
- Harper lost to Apollo Crews. We'll see what Harper's future holds.
- Nikki Cross teamed with Natalya in a win over Alexa Bliss and Lacey Evans, so Cross and Lacey are on Raw's shows this weekend. WWE is still figuring out how to fit them into things. They've been in a lot of different pairings lately.
At NXT's March 22 live event in Florida:
- The former Stokely Hathaway debuted as Court Moore in the corner of Babatunde Aiyegbusi in a victory over Nick Comoroto.
- Jessie Elaban and MJ Jenkins teamed in a loss to Aliyah and Vanessa Borne, so Elaban and MJ are being tested as a team
- Kassius Ohno and Luke Menzies teamed in a loss to the War Raiders
- Jeet Rama competed for the first time since February 14, losing to Shane Thorne
- Robert Strauss was in Riddick Moss' corner as Moss lost to Dominik Dijakovic
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. He and KUSHIDA will likely be figured into things shortly after Takeover:New York. They could easily be in the crowd that night.
2. He's scheduled for PROGRESS' Super Strong Style 16 tournament in early May, but obviously he can work there as part of WWE. He's got at least one booking in mid-April, so he'll do that before joining the WWE Performance Center.
3. Both sound awful!
4. I'm not sure what they'll do for the entrance way, but they definitely have the ring prepared.
5. Kofi wins the title at WrestleMania. Fans turn on him/move on to other talents by Summerslam. Probably right back where he was before this angle by Royal Rumble 2020.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Friday, March 22, 2019
WM35 match planned, ROH attendance notes, AEW match confirmed for title match, LU name pulled from Impact shows, AAA planning MSG event, NJPW working on major Australian event, AEW signing done with DDT, WOH title to be defended in Stardom, trainee charged with attempted murder, MLW drops AAA name, MLW name wrestling after cancer diagnosis, MLW looking to add titles, MLW international deals close, MLW planning 2020 PPV, ROH upset at challenger promo, Lucha Bros-US update, Cody trademarks note, AEW signs Impact name and UK name, UFC name looking to wrestle, Undertaker set for WWE show, WWE retirement official, NXT signing likely imminent, WWE up for media awards, why NXT team lost EVOLVE title, possible Horsewomen plans, new Hidden Gem, assorted wrestling press, Impact-UCW matches set, Cornette appearances set, MLW backstage updates, Kane book update, AEW signs former WWE backstage name, AEW casting character, Supercard match official, former Impact World Champion's contract ending soon, Impact tapings sell out, more on JR post-WWE, WWE execs donate $1M to children's hospital, Flip's return set, CMLL names working ROH, ROH contract expires, Impact producer update, Crockett Cup qualifier released, and NXT live event notes
WrestleMania 35 is expected to have another women's battle royal. I expect NXT and NXT UK cameos there given how many other women are in other matches.
ROH's 17th anniversary PPV was legitimately a sellout with 900 fans. I can see why The Elite went out on their own to work in front of bigger audiences.
Double or Nothing's Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros match is for the AAA World Tag Team Championship. That's a big U.S. stage for AAA.
Impact will no longer have El Hijo del Fantasma at WrestleMania weekend, seemingly due to AAA pulling him as fallout for suing over his Lucha Underground contract.
AAA is negotiating a Madison Square Garden show for this fall. That could definitely be major for them; I'm curious how much of a success it would be.
NJPW is planning a major Australian show for summer, following the success of Super Show-Down. That's a natural market to expand to.
AEW's Michael Nakazawa has finished his DDT tenure. AEW already feels pretty global.
Mayu Iwatani will defend the WOH Championship in Stardom on March 28 against Natsuko Tora.
Team Vision Dojo student Ian Anselmo was arrested for attempted murder and battery on his pregnant stepmother. That is absolutely sickening.
MLW will no longer use Puma King after he double-booked himself for a WrestleMania week date. King looked to make sure he could work both events.
MLW's Samu is looking to do another match as he continues to battle cancer. He had previously thought he had wrestled his last match.
MLW is looking to add another singles championship as well as a six-man tag team championship. That's ambitious!
MLW's weekly show is expected to start airing internationally soon.
MLW is looking to do a PPV in 2020, as well as a show in Hawaii. I'm impressed with their ability to make milestones happen.
ROH was upset at Israel's David Starr criticizing Sinclair Broadcasting in a promo for his upcoming ROH Championship match in Israel. Starr removed the promo in question as a result. It definitely moved from being a wrestling promo to a political one, which could distract from the championship and match.
ROH's March 16 TV taping drew around 500 fans. Running the same venue two nights in a row can be difficult.
AEW is working on having the Lucha Bros be exclusive to their promotion when running the U.S. This of course would pull them from Impact and MLW, and would be a pretty major shift for them. The pair would continue to work AAA.
Cody's recent trademarks are not AEW related. Instead he's trying to own content his father is associated with.
AEW has signed UK talent Sadie Gibbs, who has worked Stardom and has a background in gymnastics and other athletic ventures.
UFC's Cain Velasquez is in talks to wrestle in 2019. UFC would have to approve this, as he is still under contract.
The Undertaker is set to work the Saudi Arabia PPV on May 3. He is still not part of WrestleMania.
Brie Bella has officially announced her retirement. That was more or less expected. She probably would have retired sooner if it wasn't for the Ronda Rousey angle.
Garza Jr. is expected to start in NXT right after WrestleMania. He has announced his March 23 appearance for Crash will be his final match there. He was initially set to join NXT at the same time as Humberto Carrillo.
WWE and wrestling content have been nominated for quite a few Cynopsis sports media awards:
- Awareness Campaign for a Social Good Initiative for WWE's work with Make-A-Wish
- Brand Activation at Live Events for WWE's Connor's Cure campaign
- Digital Executive for WWE's Jayar Donlan
- Documentary Special/TV Movie for Showtime's "Bipolar Rock 'N' Roller"
- Over The Top Content Service for WWE Network
- Social Good TV Special or Episode for WWE announcing partnership with the 2018 Special Olympics in the U.S.
- Spot (Over 30 Seconds) for Showtime's "Bipolar Rock 'N' Roller" trailer
- Use of Facebook for Mixed Match Challenge
The Street Profits are no longer EVOLVE Tag Team Champions due to being booked as singles stars there going forward. Interesting direction with them teaming in NXT, but it also gets them some varied experience.
NXT could split Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke is Shayna Baszler joins Raw or Smackdown Live after WrestleMania. Shafir could join the Undisputed Era given her marriage to Roderick Strong.
WWE Network's latest Hidden Gem is the "March to WrestleMania X" special from 1994 featuring:
- Lex Luger vs. Jimmy Del Ray
- Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Ben Jordan
- Razor Ramon vs. Tony DeVito for the Intercontinental Championship
- Earthquake vs. The Executioner
- Bret Hart vs. Crush
- The Quebecers vs. Mike Bell/PJ Walker for the Tag Team Championship
- Yokozuna vs. Tatanka
New Day also appeared on "Drop the Mic," battling with SWV.
FOX featured The Usos in a commercial for their fall lineup, which will of course feature Smackdown Live.
Alexa Bliss promoted a Raw live event.
WWE has new Chalk Line jackets for Ronda Rousey, Alexa Bliss, Ric Flair, and Dude Love.
Baron Corbin and Capital Tacos raised $1,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Impact and UCW's April 13 event has announced:
- Johnny Impact vs. Chris Michaels for the Impact World Championship
- Brian Cage vs. Madman Fulton
- Rich Swann vs. Scott Sexton for the Impact X-Division Championship
- oVe vs. Chase Stevens/The Maddox Brothers
Jim Cornette will have meet-and-greet sessions before MLW's WrestleMania weekend events.
MLW's Salina de la Renta is working behind-the-scenes with Mexican talent. She recently had meetings in Mexico on behalf of the promotion.
MLW has hired former NJPW and ROH staff member George Carroll as senior coordinator.
WWE stars will appear on Nickelodeon's Double Dare during the week of April 8.
The New York Mets' WWE Day game will feature Drew McIntyre, Corey Graves, Mickie James, and Curt Hawkins.
Kane's upcoming book is not being done through WWE.
AEW has signed Allie, who has been a prominent part of Impact storylines. That's definitely a blow to Impact's Knockout division, and a significant addition to AEW's women's division.
- Allie's Impact contract expired at the end of 2018. She had been working on a per-date basis since then, but was not signed to a deal.
- Impact decided to stop using Allie after the most recent TV tapings in order to focus on fresh characters. That's frankly quite surprising given how much they had featured here. They can definitely open the door for new talents with her gone, but she was one of their most prominent homegrown characters.
AEW has signed former WWE seamstress Sandra Grey to do a similar role for them.
The Elite will be at C2E2 this weekend.
AEW is casting a character called The Librarian, which fans can send auditions for. That's a pretty clever idea to engage their fans.
G1 Supercard has officially added Jeff Cobb vs. Will Ospreay for both the ROH Television and NEVER Openweight Championships.
Eli Drake's Impact contract ends around the time of Rebellion. Notably he's in the poster for that event but not listed as one of the talents appearing. If they are looking to change the roster around, he could be leaving as well.
Impact's TV tapings this weekend have both sold out.
Impact will air an eSports battle royale with St. Clair College during tonight's episode.
Jim Ross is in discussions with AEW. He still wants to contribute in a prominent role. We'll see if AEW wants that.
WrestleMania advertisements have sprung up locally.
Charlotte Flair promoted Smackdown Live at Fox Sports headquarters.
WWE moving its headquarters got local press.
Tony Nese spoke about his upcoming WrestleMania championship match. That would definitely be a major moment for the local star.
Vince McMahon promoted this year's Warrior Award winner. I'm very glad to see her honored.
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon donated $1 million to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children's Hospital to combat child cancer. That's an awesome step from those two. Great, great work.
Flip Gordon will return at ROH's March 31 Honor Club event in Maryland. His opponent has not yet been named.
CMLL's Caristico and Soberano Jr. are booked for ROH's April 13 TV taping in Pennsylvania and April 14 Honor Club event in Ohio. Caristico is the original Sin Cara.
Chris Sabin's ROH contract has expired without him signing a new deal. Impact will be using him as a producer this weekend. He has not yet had surgery on his torn ACL, which is notable since it's been two months since he learned of the injury.
- Impact is rotating a number of different producers before deciding more permanent replacements for Sonjay Dutt and Abyss.
Becky Lynch discussed her journey to WWE with ESPN.
WWE covered how their rings are made. That's pretty fascinating!
The Miz looked back at his Real World days. He's REALLY progressed since then.
NWA released a Crockett Cup qualifying match where The Briscoes defeated Jeff Cobb and Willie Mack. This was taped the night after ROH's 17th anniversary PPV.
At NXT's Florida live event on March 21:
- Robert Strauss (the former Robbie E) debuted in the corner of Saurav Gurjar alongside Rinku Singh. Gurjar defeated Jermaine Haley, formerly Jonah Rock. Strauss cut a promo before the match. It's interesting he didn't wrestle, although he does have mic skills.
- Shane Thorne lost to Danny Burch in Thorne's first match since February 1.
More wrestling tomorrow.
ROH's 17th anniversary PPV was legitimately a sellout with 900 fans. I can see why The Elite went out on their own to work in front of bigger audiences.
Double or Nothing's Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros match is for the AAA World Tag Team Championship. That's a big U.S. stage for AAA.
Impact will no longer have El Hijo del Fantasma at WrestleMania weekend, seemingly due to AAA pulling him as fallout for suing over his Lucha Underground contract.
AAA is negotiating a Madison Square Garden show for this fall. That could definitely be major for them; I'm curious how much of a success it would be.
NJPW is planning a major Australian show for summer, following the success of Super Show-Down. That's a natural market to expand to.
AEW's Michael Nakazawa has finished his DDT tenure. AEW already feels pretty global.
Mayu Iwatani will defend the WOH Championship in Stardom on March 28 against Natsuko Tora.
Team Vision Dojo student Ian Anselmo was arrested for attempted murder and battery on his pregnant stepmother. That is absolutely sickening.
MLW will no longer use Puma King after he double-booked himself for a WrestleMania week date. King looked to make sure he could work both events.
MLW's Samu is looking to do another match as he continues to battle cancer. He had previously thought he had wrestled his last match.
MLW is looking to add another singles championship as well as a six-man tag team championship. That's ambitious!
MLW's weekly show is expected to start airing internationally soon.
MLW is looking to do a PPV in 2020, as well as a show in Hawaii. I'm impressed with their ability to make milestones happen.
ROH was upset at Israel's David Starr criticizing Sinclair Broadcasting in a promo for his upcoming ROH Championship match in Israel. Starr removed the promo in question as a result. It definitely moved from being a wrestling promo to a political one, which could distract from the championship and match.
ROH's March 16 TV taping drew around 500 fans. Running the same venue two nights in a row can be difficult.
AEW is working on having the Lucha Bros be exclusive to their promotion when running the U.S. This of course would pull them from Impact and MLW, and would be a pretty major shift for them. The pair would continue to work AAA.
Cody's recent trademarks are not AEW related. Instead he's trying to own content his father is associated with.
AEW has signed UK talent Sadie Gibbs, who has worked Stardom and has a background in gymnastics and other athletic ventures.
UFC's Cain Velasquez is in talks to wrestle in 2019. UFC would have to approve this, as he is still under contract.
The Undertaker is set to work the Saudi Arabia PPV on May 3. He is still not part of WrestleMania.
Brie Bella has officially announced her retirement. That was more or less expected. She probably would have retired sooner if it wasn't for the Ronda Rousey angle.
Garza Jr. is expected to start in NXT right after WrestleMania. He has announced his March 23 appearance for Crash will be his final match there. He was initially set to join NXT at the same time as Humberto Carrillo.
WWE and wrestling content have been nominated for quite a few Cynopsis sports media awards:
- Awareness Campaign for a Social Good Initiative for WWE's work with Make-A-Wish
- Brand Activation at Live Events for WWE's Connor's Cure campaign
- Digital Executive for WWE's Jayar Donlan
- Documentary Special/TV Movie for Showtime's "Bipolar Rock 'N' Roller"
- Over The Top Content Service for WWE Network
- Social Good TV Special or Episode for WWE announcing partnership with the 2018 Special Olympics in the U.S.
- Spot (Over 30 Seconds) for Showtime's "Bipolar Rock 'N' Roller" trailer
- Use of Facebook for Mixed Match Challenge
The Street Profits are no longer EVOLVE Tag Team Champions due to being booked as singles stars there going forward. Interesting direction with them teaming in NXT, but it also gets them some varied experience.
NXT could split Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke is Shayna Baszler joins Raw or Smackdown Live after WrestleMania. Shafir could join the Undisputed Era given her marriage to Roderick Strong.
WWE Network's latest Hidden Gem is the "March to WrestleMania X" special from 1994 featuring:
- Lex Luger vs. Jimmy Del Ray
- Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Ben Jordan
- Razor Ramon vs. Tony DeVito for the Intercontinental Championship
- Earthquake vs. The Executioner
- Bret Hart vs. Crush
- The Quebecers vs. Mike Bell/PJ Walker for the Tag Team Championship
- Yokozuna vs. Tatanka
New Day also appeared on "Drop the Mic," battling with SWV.
FOX featured The Usos in a commercial for their fall lineup, which will of course feature Smackdown Live.
Alexa Bliss promoted a Raw live event.
WWE has new Chalk Line jackets for Ronda Rousey, Alexa Bliss, Ric Flair, and Dude Love.
Baron Corbin and Capital Tacos raised $1,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Impact and UCW's April 13 event has announced:
- Johnny Impact vs. Chris Michaels for the Impact World Championship
- Brian Cage vs. Madman Fulton
- Rich Swann vs. Scott Sexton for the Impact X-Division Championship
- oVe vs. Chase Stevens/The Maddox Brothers
Jim Cornette will have meet-and-greet sessions before MLW's WrestleMania weekend events.
MLW's Salina de la Renta is working behind-the-scenes with Mexican talent. She recently had meetings in Mexico on behalf of the promotion.
MLW has hired former NJPW and ROH staff member George Carroll as senior coordinator.
WWE stars will appear on Nickelodeon's Double Dare during the week of April 8.
The New York Mets' WWE Day game will feature Drew McIntyre, Corey Graves, Mickie James, and Curt Hawkins.
Kane's upcoming book is not being done through WWE.
AEW has signed Allie, who has been a prominent part of Impact storylines. That's definitely a blow to Impact's Knockout division, and a significant addition to AEW's women's division.
- Allie's Impact contract expired at the end of 2018. She had been working on a per-date basis since then, but was not signed to a deal.
- Impact decided to stop using Allie after the most recent TV tapings in order to focus on fresh characters. That's frankly quite surprising given how much they had featured here. They can definitely open the door for new talents with her gone, but she was one of their most prominent homegrown characters.
AEW has signed former WWE seamstress Sandra Grey to do a similar role for them.
The Elite will be at C2E2 this weekend.
AEW is casting a character called The Librarian, which fans can send auditions for. That's a pretty clever idea to engage their fans.
G1 Supercard has officially added Jeff Cobb vs. Will Ospreay for both the ROH Television and NEVER Openweight Championships.
Eli Drake's Impact contract ends around the time of Rebellion. Notably he's in the poster for that event but not listed as one of the talents appearing. If they are looking to change the roster around, he could be leaving as well.
Impact's TV tapings this weekend have both sold out.
Impact will air an eSports battle royale with St. Clair College during tonight's episode.
Jim Ross is in discussions with AEW. He still wants to contribute in a prominent role. We'll see if AEW wants that.
WrestleMania advertisements have sprung up locally.
Charlotte Flair promoted Smackdown Live at Fox Sports headquarters.
WWE moving its headquarters got local press.
Tony Nese spoke about his upcoming WrestleMania championship match. That would definitely be a major moment for the local star.
Vince McMahon promoted this year's Warrior Award winner. I'm very glad to see her honored.
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon donated $1 million to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children's Hospital to combat child cancer. That's an awesome step from those two. Great, great work.
Flip Gordon will return at ROH's March 31 Honor Club event in Maryland. His opponent has not yet been named.
CMLL's Caristico and Soberano Jr. are booked for ROH's April 13 TV taping in Pennsylvania and April 14 Honor Club event in Ohio. Caristico is the original Sin Cara.
Chris Sabin's ROH contract has expired without him signing a new deal. Impact will be using him as a producer this weekend. He has not yet had surgery on his torn ACL, which is notable since it's been two months since he learned of the injury.
- Impact is rotating a number of different producers before deciding more permanent replacements for Sonjay Dutt and Abyss.
Becky Lynch discussed her journey to WWE with ESPN.
WWE covered how their rings are made. That's pretty fascinating!
The Miz looked back at his Real World days. He's REALLY progressed since then.
NWA released a Crockett Cup qualifying match where The Briscoes defeated Jeff Cobb and Willie Mack. This was taped the night after ROH's 17th anniversary PPV.
At NXT's Florida live event on March 21:
- Robert Strauss (the former Robbie E) debuted in the corner of Saurav Gurjar alongside Rinku Singh. Gurjar defeated Jermaine Haley, formerly Jonah Rock. Strauss cut a promo before the match. It's interesting he didn't wrestle, although he does have mic skills.
- Shane Thorne lost to Danny Burch in Thorne's first match since February 1.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
More Cody trademarks, Crockett Cup VIP setup, Horsemen at Wrestlecon, New Day teasing quitting, Interviews with Dawson/Waltman, Henry watching Raw with fans, WWE executive honored, SDL audience, WWE HQ moving, and a Question on Vince not changing things
Cody has filed for trademarks on the following terms:
- Prince of Wrestling
- Battlebowl
- Bash at the Beach
- Bunkhouse Stampede
-- The latter three refer to event and match names associated with Dusty Rhodes' tenure in various companies. I'm a little surprised WWE will hypothetically allow a former WCW PPV name to potentially be reused by AEW. And, really, should AEW be trying to recreate those concepts? NWA I could understand, but it doesn't seem to fit AEW.
NWA has set up VIP events for Crockett Cup.
The Four Horsemen will appear at WrestleCon. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, Lex Luger, and JJ Dillon will all be available for picture opportunities.
New Day is teasing quitting WWE, with promos from Big E, Xavier Woods, and New Day as a group. I'd like to see the Smackdown Live babyfaces threaten a walkout if Kofi doesn't get a fair chance at WrestleMania.
Scott Dawson discussed tag team wrestling and who he'd like to see in the WWE Hall of Fame. The Midnight Express are unquestionably deserving, although of course WWE doesn't give tag teams a huge priority.
Mark Henry is doing meet-and-greets during upcoming Raws. That's a cool idea.
WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson was honored as a wonder woman by Multichannel News.
Smackdown Live drew 2.21 million viewers Tuesday night, very close to last week's number.
Sean Waltman discussed working at the WWE Performance Center recently and more. Here are highlights. They run the same small venues in Florida so much the audience probably is entitled to a degree. To an extent, those shows are more for people to practice things and for producers to see how they're progressing, etc.
WWE headquarters is moving to another Connecticut building in early 2021 or thereabouts in order to have a building that has more potential for production work. Wow. They're making a big long-term move there.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com question:
1. I don't have much to add. As long as Vince can keep doing the things the way he likes to do them and continue to pull in hundreds of millions of dollars from TV deals, he's not going to change much. I do agree the talents who are closer to 45 should be used to help establish the talents that are closer to 30. Right now it feels like everyone gets pushed aside for the people who were over in 2002. WWE is hesitant to embrace a new generation because those talents don't resemble people who were over in the '80s and '90s. I compare this to music. While there are definitely musicians having successful tours who were hot in previous decades, more fans are gravitating toward talents who have emerged more recently and are in their twenties and thirties. And those musicians who are successful in their twenties and thirties aren't successful because they're trying to emulate musicians who were popular in past generations. They're doing something relevant to the current audience.
More wrestling tomorrow.
- Prince of Wrestling
- Battlebowl
- Bash at the Beach
- Bunkhouse Stampede
-- The latter three refer to event and match names associated with Dusty Rhodes' tenure in various companies. I'm a little surprised WWE will hypothetically allow a former WCW PPV name to potentially be reused by AEW. And, really, should AEW be trying to recreate those concepts? NWA I could understand, but it doesn't seem to fit AEW.
NWA has set up VIP events for Crockett Cup.
The Four Horsemen will appear at WrestleCon. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, Lex Luger, and JJ Dillon will all be available for picture opportunities.
New Day is teasing quitting WWE, with promos from Big E, Xavier Woods, and New Day as a group. I'd like to see the Smackdown Live babyfaces threaten a walkout if Kofi doesn't get a fair chance at WrestleMania.
Scott Dawson discussed tag team wrestling and who he'd like to see in the WWE Hall of Fame. The Midnight Express are unquestionably deserving, although of course WWE doesn't give tag teams a huge priority.
Mark Henry is doing meet-and-greets during upcoming Raws. That's a cool idea.
WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson was honored as a wonder woman by Multichannel News.
Smackdown Live drew 2.21 million viewers Tuesday night, very close to last week's number.
Sean Waltman discussed working at the WWE Performance Center recently and more. Here are highlights. They run the same small venues in Florida so much the audience probably is entitled to a degree. To an extent, those shows are more for people to practice things and for producers to see how they're progressing, etc.
WWE headquarters is moving to another Connecticut building in early 2021 or thereabouts in order to have a building that has more potential for production work. Wow. They're making a big long-term move there.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com question:
1. I don't have much to add. As long as Vince can keep doing the things the way he likes to do them and continue to pull in hundreds of millions of dollars from TV deals, he's not going to change much. I do agree the talents who are closer to 45 should be used to help establish the talents that are closer to 30. Right now it feels like everyone gets pushed aside for the people who were over in 2002. WWE is hesitant to embrace a new generation because those talents don't resemble people who were over in the '80s and '90s. I compare this to music. While there are definitely musicians having successful tours who were hot in previous decades, more fans are gravitating toward talents who have emerged more recently and are in their twenties and thirties. And those musicians who are successful in their twenties and thirties aren't successful because they're trying to emulate musicians who were popular in past generations. They're doing something relevant to the current audience.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
MLW signing, new WWE merch, Ronda vs. Dana fallout, territory era NWA star passes, more on Angle-WM35, Impact working with OVW again, Raw name works ill, Batista-Raw note, ROH name cleared to return, Angle's brother charged with assault, Raw audience, new ROH DVD set, Lethal meets MLB player, SDL women's contender next week, SDL dark matches, and Questions on why Charlotte was added to Ronda-Becky, Cena's non-PG move name, partners pinning each other in a multi-team match, AJ's future, and Warrior winning more titles changing how he's viewed
MLW has signed Air Wolf. That's got to be one of my favorite wrestling names now. I'm impressed with how quickly he's made an impact in the business.
WWE has new Chalk Line shorts for Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Rick Rude, and Dude Love.
Dana Brooke was "evaluated by a local medical facility" after facing Ronda Rousey on Raw. Be careful whom you step to!
- Ronda Rousey's husband Travis Browne has been "banned from Raw" for his actions Monday.
Former NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Roger Kirby passed away at 79 due to pancreatic cancer. PWInsider.com ran down his career.
Kurt Angle vs. Baron Corbin is the legitimate current plan for WrestleMania 35. There was speculation the direction is leading to something else on that show, but currently that match is scheduled to take place. Angle understandably hoped for something more major at the event.
Impact and OVW have entered a new agreement for OVW to be Impact's developmental system, as the company was from 2012-2014. That definitely opens up talent opportunities for Impact.
Drew McIntyre worked Raw and the previous days' live events while sick. He's still expected for WrestleMania.
Batista's "home" interview was taped in Pennsylvania before last week's Raw.
Flip Gordon has been cleared to return to the ring. So, he is eligible to work G1 Supercard. Notably, Bully Ray has an open challenge that night.
Eric Angle was charged with assault after lifting a young amateur wrestler he was coaching by the neck following a loss. That's really egregious. I hope steps are taken to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Raw drew 2.70 million viewers Monday, down from 2.82 million last week.
ROH has released a new Marty Scurll DVD set. Perfect timing before his big G1 Supercard match.
Jay Lethal met New York baseball player Nick Swisher as part of ROH promotion for G1 Supercard.
WrestleMania's Smackdown Live Women's Championship number one contender will be declared on Tuesday's episode as a result of Naomi vs. Carmella vs. Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville.
Before Smackdown Live, Ricochet and Heavy Machinery defeated all three members of SAnitY.
After Smackdown Live, Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. It wouldn't shock me if Becky defeats Charlotte, but Charlotte definitely wasn't added just so Ronda wouldn't have to take the loss. WWE wants Charlotte to share in that milestone, and they also have more confidence in the match's quality with her involved.
2. I expect whomever approved the move name didn't know what it meant and/or was given a kayfabe PG explanation for the term. They also changed the FU because it was originally a knock on the F5, and obviously Cena used it on a lot of other opponents post-Lesnar!
3. I swear the New Age Outlaws or someone did that once and the rules got changed to make it illegal. There is that loophole that was mentioned, though.
4. Of course he just signed a new WWE contract, so that won't be his final feud!
5. I also don't know if that was in the cards, but I don't think Meltzer is intentionally misleading anyone. It's possible more title runs would have elevated Warrior's status, but there was still quite a bit to turn people off of him as a worker and a person.
More wrestling tomorrow.
WWE has new Chalk Line shorts for Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Rick Rude, and Dude Love.
Dana Brooke was "evaluated by a local medical facility" after facing Ronda Rousey on Raw. Be careful whom you step to!
- Ronda Rousey's husband Travis Browne has been "banned from Raw" for his actions Monday.
Former NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Roger Kirby passed away at 79 due to pancreatic cancer. PWInsider.com ran down his career.
Kurt Angle vs. Baron Corbin is the legitimate current plan for WrestleMania 35. There was speculation the direction is leading to something else on that show, but currently that match is scheduled to take place. Angle understandably hoped for something more major at the event.
Impact and OVW have entered a new agreement for OVW to be Impact's developmental system, as the company was from 2012-2014. That definitely opens up talent opportunities for Impact.
Drew McIntyre worked Raw and the previous days' live events while sick. He's still expected for WrestleMania.
Batista's "home" interview was taped in Pennsylvania before last week's Raw.
Flip Gordon has been cleared to return to the ring. So, he is eligible to work G1 Supercard. Notably, Bully Ray has an open challenge that night.
Eric Angle was charged with assault after lifting a young amateur wrestler he was coaching by the neck following a loss. That's really egregious. I hope steps are taken to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Raw drew 2.70 million viewers Monday, down from 2.82 million last week.
ROH has released a new Marty Scurll DVD set. Perfect timing before his big G1 Supercard match.
Jay Lethal met New York baseball player Nick Swisher as part of ROH promotion for G1 Supercard.
WrestleMania's Smackdown Live Women's Championship number one contender will be declared on Tuesday's episode as a result of Naomi vs. Carmella vs. Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville.
Before Smackdown Live, Ricochet and Heavy Machinery defeated all three members of SAnitY.
After Smackdown Live, Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. It wouldn't shock me if Becky defeats Charlotte, but Charlotte definitely wasn't added just so Ronda wouldn't have to take the loss. WWE wants Charlotte to share in that milestone, and they also have more confidence in the match's quality with her involved.
2. I expect whomever approved the move name didn't know what it meant and/or was given a kayfabe PG explanation for the term. They also changed the FU because it was originally a knock on the F5, and obviously Cena used it on a lot of other opponents post-Lesnar!
3. I swear the New Age Outlaws or someone did that once and the rules got changed to make it illegal. There is that loophole that was mentioned, though.
4. Of course he just signed a new WWE contract, so that won't be his final feud!
5. I also don't know if that was in the cards, but I don't think Meltzer is intentionally misleading anyone. It's possible more title runs would have elevated Warrior's status, but there was still quite a bit to turn people off of him as a worker and a person.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Smackdown Live and 205 Live Reax - 3/19/19
Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown Live and 205 Live.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Interview with Evans, assorted wrestling press, advertised WWE/Impact/ROH matches, AJ signs new WWE deal, HOH sets June tour, new Creative hire official, former X-Division champion to NXT, Club pulled from live events, WWE exec honored wih Warrior Award, wrestling merch sites merge, Swoggle/Titus/Kane book updates, Supercard ROH title match changed, former WWE name retiring, SDL star signs new deal, Batista note, NXT tour set, WarGames III announced, what happened after Raw, and Questions on matches being announced on Twitter, Vince as a judge of talent, faces overcoming ridiculous odds, what will headline WM35, Ronda and Becky's relationship, and who's booking "shoots" in WWE
Lacey Evans is on Lilian Garcia's latest podcast, going into her background and more.
Alexa Bliss was at Mexico's La Mole 2019.
Smackdown Live's May 10 Finland event is advertising:
- Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens for the WWE Championship
- Samoa Joe vs. R-Truth vs. AJ Styles for the United States Championship
- The Usos vs. New Day vs. Ricochet/Aleister Black vs. Rusev/Shinsuke Nakamura for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship
- Asuka vs. Mandy Rose for the Smackdown Women's Championship
- Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade
- Carmella vs. Lacey Evans
-- Of course, with the Superstar Shakeup, this is all tentative. It is notable the Usos are advertised after their current contracts' expiration date in April.
AJ Styles has signed a new contract with WWE. His current deal was set to end in April. There is no word on the length of the deal at this time, but it's certainly possible this is his last contract given he's just a few months from turning 42. Notably this signing means he won't be joining AEW, which would have been a natural fit for him with his friends there.
Madison Rayne has a new Impact T-shirt.
House of Hardcore has announced events for:
- June 1 in Tennessee as the advertised final event at the former TNA Asylum
- June 8 in Pennsylvania at the former ECW Arena
- June 9 in New York
- June 15 in Ontario
-- So, the promotion is in fact still in existence. AEW's Billy Gunn is working the advertised events, so he's still able to take bookings outside of that company.
Dana Warrior has officially joined WWE Creative full-time after trying out for the role in recent weeks. She approached WWE about joining several weeks ago. I'm curious what change she'll bring to things.
NXT has signed former X-Division Champion DJ Z. Certainly he'd be eligible for 205 Live if they want to use him there. We'll see how he does as he gets acclimated.
The Club, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, have been removed from all upcoming Smackdown Live live events as a result of deciding to leave WWE at the end of their current contracts. The pair is still booked for TV tapings and PPVs going forward, and the two sides are still in negotiations, but it definitely looks like they're going to be free agents come September.
WWE has announced 33-year executive Sue Aitchison will receive this year's Warrior Award due to her community service work with the organization. I think that's fantastic.
- Ric Flair, Scotty 2 Hotty, and Justin Roberts praised the move.
Finn Balor got press for being part of boxer Mick Conlon's entrance.
Becky Lynch assisted a fan having a seizure at a recent autograph signing. That's AMAZING.
Pro Wrestling Tees has purchased Wrestle Crate USA as well as That Wrestling Club. The two purchased entities are now operating as Pro Wrestling Crate.
Daffney and Francine are raffling a dinner at WrestleCon.
Matt Morgan raised $8,000 for anti-concussion helmets during a return to the ring this past weekend. That's a great way to use his celebrity.
Hornswoggle's autobiography will release September 10.
- Hornswoggle was backstage at Smackdown Live's Monday live event in Wisconsin. He's local to the area.
Titus O'Neil has an autobiography coming out August 6, discussing his journey from being a "bad kid" to a role model.
Kane has a wrestling and politics autobiography planned for November. That should really be an interesting read. He's lived a unique life.
"Fighting With My Family" will be released on DVD May 14. That's a pretty quick turnaround.
Rusev and Lana will appear on this week's "Drop The Mic."
G1 Supercard's ROH Championship match will now be a ladder match with Jay Lethal vs. Marty Scurll vs. Matt Taven. If Taven's going to win, I hope they close the show with the IWGP World Championship match, because I don't think this is how they want to end their stay in Madison Square Garden.
Extreme Rules will be in Pennsylvania on July 14. Currently advertised:
- Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin
- Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre
ROH's March 31 HonorClub event in Maryland has announced:
- PJ Black vs. Kenny King
- Silas Young vs. Mark Haskins
- RUSH vs. Tracy Williams
The former Adam Rose has announced he will retire after completing his currently announced bookings. Rose turns 40 in July. I'm curious what he does after wrestling.
WWE has signed Sin Cara to a new three-year deal. He has not wrestled since August, but has been training at the WWE Performance Center for a return and has been backstage at Smackdown Live a number of times.
Impact's TV tapings in Ontario will feature:
-- March 22:
- Josh Alexander in action
- Rosemary vs. Su Yung
- Jordynne Grace vs. Madison Rayne
- Sami Callihan/Madman Fulton vs. Rich Swann/Willie Mack
- Moose vs. Zachary Wentz
- Petey Williams vs. Ace Austin vs. Idris Abraham vs. Aiden Prince vs. Trey Miguel vs. Jake Crist
-- March 23:
- Johnny Impact/LAX vs. Brian Cage/Lucha Bros
- Killer Kross vs. Willie Mack
- Tommy Dreamer vs. Madman Fulton
- Moose vs. Dezmond Xavier
- Cody Deaner/Jake Something vs. Idris Abraham/Joe Coleman
-- As usual, local talent are mixed in with the Impact stars
Batista was not at Raw. It's possible he was on set for "Dune," which has begun filming in Europe. Of course, Batista is still set for WrestleMania.
NXT has announced live events for:
- April 25 in Nebraska
- April 26 in Iowa
- April 27 in Wisconsin
- April 28 in Minnesota
NXT Takeover:WarGames III is set for November 23 in Illinois, at the same site as Survivor Series the following night. Smackdown Live (November 22) and Raw (November 25) will also be in the venue.
After Raw, Baron Corbin looked to attack Seth Rollins. Dean Ambrose saved his Shield partner.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1.a. Vince was appealing to those millennials by using Twitter, dammit! I concur talent should know about such things before the Internet does.
1.b. It was tongue-in-cheek. Vince is playing something of a parody of himself (as Charlotte is). I laughed out loud.
2. I'm willing to see what they do with the gauntlet. It probably is a little overdone but he flipside is they hypothetically value Kofi enough to have him overcome the odds.
3. Honestly it could change the day of the show. The current plan is to headline with the Ronda match, though.
4. To the best of my knowledge, they get along well. It wouldn't shock me if they get along great, actually, as far as having mutual admiration for each other and wanting to make this opportunity as big as possible. I can't say I've heard anyone being negative toward Ronda since she is such a big star and is working so hard to put on the biggest and best performances possible.
5. It's definitely not Russo. I will say we haven't hit the point where announcers are saying "this wasn't on the script" or what have you. Hopefully I didn't just give anyone any ideas!
More wrestling tomorrow.
Alexa Bliss was at Mexico's La Mole 2019.
Smackdown Live's May 10 Finland event is advertising:
- Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens for the WWE Championship
- Samoa Joe vs. R-Truth vs. AJ Styles for the United States Championship
- The Usos vs. New Day vs. Ricochet/Aleister Black vs. Rusev/Shinsuke Nakamura for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship
- Asuka vs. Mandy Rose for the Smackdown Women's Championship
- Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade
- Carmella vs. Lacey Evans
-- Of course, with the Superstar Shakeup, this is all tentative. It is notable the Usos are advertised after their current contracts' expiration date in April.
AJ Styles has signed a new contract with WWE. His current deal was set to end in April. There is no word on the length of the deal at this time, but it's certainly possible this is his last contract given he's just a few months from turning 42. Notably this signing means he won't be joining AEW, which would have been a natural fit for him with his friends there.
Madison Rayne has a new Impact T-shirt.
House of Hardcore has announced events for:
- June 1 in Tennessee as the advertised final event at the former TNA Asylum
- June 8 in Pennsylvania at the former ECW Arena
- June 9 in New York
- June 15 in Ontario
-- So, the promotion is in fact still in existence. AEW's Billy Gunn is working the advertised events, so he's still able to take bookings outside of that company.
Dana Warrior has officially joined WWE Creative full-time after trying out for the role in recent weeks. She approached WWE about joining several weeks ago. I'm curious what change she'll bring to things.
NXT has signed former X-Division Champion DJ Z. Certainly he'd be eligible for 205 Live if they want to use him there. We'll see how he does as he gets acclimated.
The Club, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, have been removed from all upcoming Smackdown Live live events as a result of deciding to leave WWE at the end of their current contracts. The pair is still booked for TV tapings and PPVs going forward, and the two sides are still in negotiations, but it definitely looks like they're going to be free agents come September.
WWE has announced 33-year executive Sue Aitchison will receive this year's Warrior Award due to her community service work with the organization. I think that's fantastic.
- Ric Flair, Scotty 2 Hotty, and Justin Roberts praised the move.
Finn Balor got press for being part of boxer Mick Conlon's entrance.
Becky Lynch assisted a fan having a seizure at a recent autograph signing. That's AMAZING.
Pro Wrestling Tees has purchased Wrestle Crate USA as well as That Wrestling Club. The two purchased entities are now operating as Pro Wrestling Crate.
Daffney and Francine are raffling a dinner at WrestleCon.
Matt Morgan raised $8,000 for anti-concussion helmets during a return to the ring this past weekend. That's a great way to use his celebrity.
Hornswoggle's autobiography will release September 10.
- Hornswoggle was backstage at Smackdown Live's Monday live event in Wisconsin. He's local to the area.
Titus O'Neil has an autobiography coming out August 6, discussing his journey from being a "bad kid" to a role model.
Kane has a wrestling and politics autobiography planned for November. That should really be an interesting read. He's lived a unique life.
"Fighting With My Family" will be released on DVD May 14. That's a pretty quick turnaround.
Rusev and Lana will appear on this week's "Drop The Mic."
G1 Supercard's ROH Championship match will now be a ladder match with Jay Lethal vs. Marty Scurll vs. Matt Taven. If Taven's going to win, I hope they close the show with the IWGP World Championship match, because I don't think this is how they want to end their stay in Madison Square Garden.
Extreme Rules will be in Pennsylvania on July 14. Currently advertised:
- Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin
- Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre
ROH's March 31 HonorClub event in Maryland has announced:
- PJ Black vs. Kenny King
- Silas Young vs. Mark Haskins
- RUSH vs. Tracy Williams
The former Adam Rose has announced he will retire after completing his currently announced bookings. Rose turns 40 in July. I'm curious what he does after wrestling.
WWE has signed Sin Cara to a new three-year deal. He has not wrestled since August, but has been training at the WWE Performance Center for a return and has been backstage at Smackdown Live a number of times.
Impact's TV tapings in Ontario will feature:
-- March 22:
- Josh Alexander in action
- Rosemary vs. Su Yung
- Jordynne Grace vs. Madison Rayne
- Sami Callihan/Madman Fulton vs. Rich Swann/Willie Mack
- Moose vs. Zachary Wentz
- Petey Williams vs. Ace Austin vs. Idris Abraham vs. Aiden Prince vs. Trey Miguel vs. Jake Crist
-- March 23:
- Johnny Impact/LAX vs. Brian Cage/Lucha Bros
- Killer Kross vs. Willie Mack
- Tommy Dreamer vs. Madman Fulton
- Moose vs. Dezmond Xavier
- Cody Deaner/Jake Something vs. Idris Abraham/Joe Coleman
-- As usual, local talent are mixed in with the Impact stars
Batista was not at Raw. It's possible he was on set for "Dune," which has begun filming in Europe. Of course, Batista is still set for WrestleMania.
NXT has announced live events for:
- April 25 in Nebraska
- April 26 in Iowa
- April 27 in Wisconsin
- April 28 in Minnesota
NXT Takeover:WarGames III is set for November 23 in Illinois, at the same site as Survivor Series the following night. Smackdown Live (November 22) and Raw (November 25) will also be in the venue.
After Raw, Baron Corbin looked to attack Seth Rollins. Dean Ambrose saved his Shield partner.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1.a. Vince was appealing to those millennials by using Twitter, dammit! I concur talent should know about such things before the Internet does.
1.b. It was tongue-in-cheek. Vince is playing something of a parody of himself (as Charlotte is). I laughed out loud.
2. I'm willing to see what they do with the gauntlet. It probably is a little overdone but he flipside is they hypothetically value Kofi enough to have him overcome the odds.
3. Honestly it could change the day of the show. The current plan is to headline with the Ronda match, though.
4. To the best of my knowledge, they get along well. It wouldn't shock me if they get along great, actually, as far as having mutual admiration for each other and wanting to make this opportunity as big as possible. I can't say I've heard anyone being negative toward Ronda since she is such a big star and is working so hard to put on the biggest and best performances possible.
5. It's definitely not Russo. I will say we haven't hit the point where announcers are saying "this wasn't on the script" or what have you. Hopefully I didn't just give anyone any ideas!
More wrestling tomorrow.
Monday, March 18, 2019
New WWE Photo Shoot, Matt Hardy back on the road, Angle WM35 challengers, Trish+Lita DVD coming, and Questions on Heyman's role in the Ronda-Becky angle, the state of the brand split, Owens getting a title match from Vince, Ronda post-WM35, Beth replacing Graves on SDL, and WM35 weather
"WWE Photo Shoot" with Natalya will air after Raw.
Matt Hardy worked his first live event since September 15 this weekend, teaming with Jeff Hardy to defeat Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura. Interestingly he's teasing his career is winding down - his current deal runs through WrestleMania 36.
Kurt Angle's WrestleMania 35 challenge has seen offers from Matt Riddle and Shelton Benjamin. Both would be awesome, but I'm not complaining if it's someone like Cena or Undertaker.
A Trish Stratus and Lita DVD is coming in June to the UK. At one point those two were set to be part of WrestleMania, but it doesn't look like that's happening now.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1.a. I think Heyman is working with the duo on their lines, tweets, etc. but the overall direction is Vince.
1.b. No, Becky is not legitimately injured. They're setting her up to be an underdog overcoming the odds.
1.c. Charlotte has been feuding with Becky quite a bit and of course wrestled Ronda at Survivor Series. She's also a clear heel. The hope is for Charlotte and Becky to both get the rub from the placement on the card and working what could be Ronda's last match. That way if one of them unexpectedly gets dropped from things (like Roman with his diagnosis), they still have the other.
2.a. Now that the McMahons are in control of both shows, it's easier to switch people around. Those darn GMs just complicated things!
2.b. Vince probably likes his RUTHLESS AGGRESSION, Pal! And clearly Vince thought he'd be a bigger box office draw for Fastlane than Kofi. It's best for business, dammit!
3. I am curious what they do with Ronda after the (presumed) loss. They can definitely have her get fed up with WWE and its fans and say they're not worthy of seeing her, etc. But yes Becky will scorch her for it.
4. That would definitely be a nice change of pace and further the move to have more women at the booth.
5. They're definitely going to keep the ring dry. Other than that, there's not much they can do.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Matt Hardy worked his first live event since September 15 this weekend, teaming with Jeff Hardy to defeat Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura. Interestingly he's teasing his career is winding down - his current deal runs through WrestleMania 36.
Kurt Angle's WrestleMania 35 challenge has seen offers from Matt Riddle and Shelton Benjamin. Both would be awesome, but I'm not complaining if it's someone like Cena or Undertaker.
A Trish Stratus and Lita DVD is coming in June to the UK. At one point those two were set to be part of WrestleMania, but it doesn't look like that's happening now.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1.a. I think Heyman is working with the duo on their lines, tweets, etc. but the overall direction is Vince.
1.b. No, Becky is not legitimately injured. They're setting her up to be an underdog overcoming the odds.
1.c. Charlotte has been feuding with Becky quite a bit and of course wrestled Ronda at Survivor Series. She's also a clear heel. The hope is for Charlotte and Becky to both get the rub from the placement on the card and working what could be Ronda's last match. That way if one of them unexpectedly gets dropped from things (like Roman with his diagnosis), they still have the other.
2.a. Now that the McMahons are in control of both shows, it's easier to switch people around. Those darn GMs just complicated things!
2.b. Vince probably likes his RUTHLESS AGGRESSION, Pal! And clearly Vince thought he'd be a bigger box office draw for Fastlane than Kofi. It's best for business, dammit!
3. I am curious what they do with Ronda after the (presumed) loss. They can definitely have her get fed up with WWE and its fans and say they're not worthy of seeing her, etc. But yes Becky will scorch her for it.
4. That would definitely be a nice change of pace and further the move to have more women at the booth.
5. They're definitely going to keep the ring dry. Other than that, there's not much they can do.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Main Event - 3/16/19, more trademarks, NXT UK switch, what's starting Smackdown, Arn and Kaufman get PWT stores, Bucks take AAA tag gold, WWE producers wrestling, NXT+NXT UK+SDL+EVOLVE event notes
-- Main Event:
- EC3 vs. Breeze:
WOWWWWW. I like Tyler and all, but damn. I expected more for EC3.
- LHP vs. Jinder/Singhs:
Basically a showcase for LHP.
LHP did well for the time they had. I'm sure they'd rather be doing more than this silliness.
Cody applied to trademark the name Dusty Rhodes. I would think WWE would have something to say about that.
Conrad Thompson has applied to trademark Jim Crockett Promotions and 10 Pounds of Gold. The latter refers to the NWA World Championship. We'll see how far he gets with those ideas.
NXT UK's Mark Andrews has been pulled from an Ontario wrestling event on March 24. Wolfgang will be replacing him. It's unknown why the change was made.
Smackdown Live will begin with Kofi Kingston's gauntlet match. I have feeling that match is going to be a really long performance for Kofi to show he's got the endurance and perseverance to be a major player.
- Also, The Miz will respond to Shane McMahon on the show.
Andy Kaufman and Arn Anderson now have Pro Wrestling Tees stores. Kaufman's store is authorized by his estate. That's pretty cool.
The Young Bucks won the AAA Tag Team Championship over the Lucha Bros in a surprise challenge to close Rey de Reyes 2019. The Lucha Bros had just won the championship in the previous match. I like AEW's tactic of popping up at other events to build hype for Double or Nothing.
- Jeff Jarrett competed at the event as well, teaming with Killer Kross and La Mascara in a loss to Psycho Clown, Mamba, and Maximo inside a cage. So, Jarrett is still wrestling with his current capacity in WWE Creative. It could be a case of him finishing up what he's already been booked for.
At NXT's March 16 Florida live event:
- Kacy Catanzaro lost to Deonna Purrazzo in Kacy's first live event appearance since Royal Rumble AXXESS.
- Sam Shaw debuted in a loss to Fabian Aichner.
- Saurav Gurjar lost to Mansoor Al-Shehail in Gurjar's first live event appearance since January 19.
At OTT Scrappermania 5 in Ireland:
- NXT UK's Zack Gibson teamed with Charlie Sterling and Sha Samuels in a loss to More Than Hype
- Hurricane Helms teamed with The Angel Cruzers to defeat Justy, Sammy D, and Team Prick .So Helms can still wrestle outside of WWE, too.
- British Strong Style of Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, and Tyler Bate won the promotion's tag team title in a losers leave town match, so they'll presumably continue wrestling there on top of NXT UK.
- NXT UK's Jordan Devlin defeated WALTER to become the new OTT World Champion. We'll see if that means anything for WALTER's future there.
At Smackdown Live's March 16 Iowa live event:
- Nikki Cross defeated Sonya Deville by DQ, leading to Nikki Cross and Carmella defeating Sonya Deville and Lacey Evans. So Nikki and Lacey are on Smackdown Live this weekend, and those pairings are being tested out. Mandy Rose lost to Asuka later in the show, so she didn't team with Deville here.
- Alexander Wolfe competed at his first WWE live event since February 4, teaming with Eric Young in a loss to New Day's Big E and Kofi Kingston. SAnitY has been working Smackdown Live dark matches, and Young has teamed with Dain on live events lately, but Wolfe hasn't wrestled on live events in that time period.
At EVOLVE 124 in New York:
- NXT's Adrian Jaoude defeated Wheeler Yuta
- Velveteen Dream and the Street Profits defeated Shane Strickland, Eddie Kingston, and Joe Gacy
- EC3 vs. Breeze:
WOWWWWW. I like Tyler and all, but damn. I expected more for EC3.
- LHP vs. Jinder/Singhs:
Basically a showcase for LHP.
LHP did well for the time they had. I'm sure they'd rather be doing more than this silliness.
Cody applied to trademark the name Dusty Rhodes. I would think WWE would have something to say about that.
Conrad Thompson has applied to trademark Jim Crockett Promotions and 10 Pounds of Gold. The latter refers to the NWA World Championship. We'll see how far he gets with those ideas.
NXT UK's Mark Andrews has been pulled from an Ontario wrestling event on March 24. Wolfgang will be replacing him. It's unknown why the change was made.
Smackdown Live will begin with Kofi Kingston's gauntlet match. I have feeling that match is going to be a really long performance for Kofi to show he's got the endurance and perseverance to be a major player.
- Also, The Miz will respond to Shane McMahon on the show.
Andy Kaufman and Arn Anderson now have Pro Wrestling Tees stores. Kaufman's store is authorized by his estate. That's pretty cool.
The Young Bucks won the AAA Tag Team Championship over the Lucha Bros in a surprise challenge to close Rey de Reyes 2019. The Lucha Bros had just won the championship in the previous match. I like AEW's tactic of popping up at other events to build hype for Double or Nothing.
- Jeff Jarrett competed at the event as well, teaming with Killer Kross and La Mascara in a loss to Psycho Clown, Mamba, and Maximo inside a cage. So, Jarrett is still wrestling with his current capacity in WWE Creative. It could be a case of him finishing up what he's already been booked for.
At NXT's March 16 Florida live event:
- Kacy Catanzaro lost to Deonna Purrazzo in Kacy's first live event appearance since Royal Rumble AXXESS.
- Sam Shaw debuted in a loss to Fabian Aichner.
- Saurav Gurjar lost to Mansoor Al-Shehail in Gurjar's first live event appearance since January 19.
At OTT Scrappermania 5 in Ireland:
- NXT UK's Zack Gibson teamed with Charlie Sterling and Sha Samuels in a loss to More Than Hype
- Hurricane Helms teamed with The Angel Cruzers to defeat Justy, Sammy D, and Team Prick .So Helms can still wrestle outside of WWE, too.
- British Strong Style of Pete Dunne, Trent Seven, and Tyler Bate won the promotion's tag team title in a losers leave town match, so they'll presumably continue wrestling there on top of NXT UK.
- NXT UK's Jordan Devlin defeated WALTER to become the new OTT World Champion. We'll see if that means anything for WALTER's future there.
At Smackdown Live's March 16 Iowa live event:
- Nikki Cross defeated Sonya Deville by DQ, leading to Nikki Cross and Carmella defeating Sonya Deville and Lacey Evans. So Nikki and Lacey are on Smackdown Live this weekend, and those pairings are being tested out. Mandy Rose lost to Asuka later in the show, so she didn't team with Deville here.
- Alexander Wolfe competed at his first WWE live event since February 4, teaming with Eric Young in a loss to New Day's Big E and Kofi Kingston. SAnitY has been working Smackdown Live dark matches, and Young has teamed with Dain on live events lately, but Wolfe hasn't wrestled on live events in that time period.
At EVOLVE 124 in New York:
- NXT's Adrian Jaoude defeated Wheeler Yuta
- Velveteen Dream and the Street Profits defeated Shane Strickland, Eddie Kingston, and Joe Gacy
Saturday, March 16, 2019
Flair surgery, Interviews with Arn/PJ, JBL WM35 ticket raffle, NJPW appearances pre-Supercard, podcast notes, assorted wrestling press, Flair statue coming, more Thunder on WWE Network, MLW signing, ROH pre-show online, Ronda "fined", Foley's pick for Angle's opponent, more on Jarrett vs. Anthem, NXT Championship update, Raw preview, NXT+Raw live event notes, EVOLVE notes, and Questions on The Club post-WWE, ECW in the WWE HoF, Heyman booking Ronda, Piper+Ventura on ABC, and Liger's last match
Ric Flair had an unspecified surgery Friday. No further information is currently available.
Arn Anderson discussed leaving WWE, appearing at Starrcast, and more. Nothing there indicates a scandal forcing him out as some have indicated. I'm sure he'll be asked about his exit at Starrcast, though.
JBL is hosting a WrestleMania 35 ticket raffle to benefit his African sporting foundation. That's great!
NJPW will have appearances in New York on April 4 to promote Supercard. Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi, BUSHI, and Toru Yano will all be in attendance.
Jim Cornette is on Jim Ross' latest podcast.
Finn Balor was also at the World Special Olympics.
Kyle O'Reilly is on Edge and Christian's latest podcast.
Ric Flair has a statue available soon. That's pretty amazing.
Zack Ryder met Joey Fatone at an airport. Pretty wild.
WWE Network will add WCW Thunder episodes from 1999 and 2000 on Monday.
Alexa Bliss will sign the WWE Cookbook in New Jersey on April 5.
Daniel Bryan and Becky Lynch will appear at the San Antonio Celebrity Fan Fest in June. I'm curious who will hold titles then.
PJ Black talked before ROH's 17th anniversary:
- I wasn't aware he had so many options. That's definitely a boon for ROH.
- I like Black being able to grow beyond the Gabriel character.
- Relocating to Florida for NXT isn't something every wrestler can do.
- Very interesting stuff about how things work in NXT.
- I always compare the transition from NXT to the transition from college to professional sports. Someone can be a great college star and then have to compete with people who have been putting up big numbers against tougher opponents for years. So it looks like a slump.
- Black/Gabriel would have to be a much bigger deal to warrant an entrance that elaborate. Nothing against him, but that's a big spectacle for someone who could easily be in the Andre battle royal or something.
MLW has signed Jordan Oliver. He's a lot of fun as a heel since he is so young and brash, and getting such a push at 19.
ROH released the pre-show to their 17th anniversary event online.
Ronda Rousey was "fined by WWE" for attacking referees on Raw. Gosh they might have to suspend her after WrestleMania if she keeps this up!
Mick Foley endorsed Drew McIntyre as Kurt Angle's WrestleMania opponent. That would definitely be a big WWE milestone for McIntyre. The two had some solid bouts in Impact.
Anthem Media is arguing Jeff Jarrett and Global Force never trademarked their content, so they have no grounds to sue over it.
Triple H will address the NXT Championship on Wednesday's episode. Obviously Takeover:New York is right around the corner.
Announced for Raw:
- Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre
- Ronda Rousey vs. Dana Brooke
- Bobby Lashley/Lio Rush vs. Finn Balor/a partner of Finn Balor's choosing (Ricochet??)
- Kurt Angle choosing his WrestleMania opponent
Finn Balor will accompany Irish boxer Mick Conlan to the ring on Sunday's Top Rank Boxing event. This is the second year Balor has appeared with Conlan for St. Patrick's Day. Pretty cool stuff.
At NXT's March 15 Florida live event:
- Australia's Elliot Sexton debuted under his real name of Brendan Vink. He defeated Nick Comoroto, who was also debuting.
- 3.0, Jeff Parker and Matt Lee, debuted in a loss to Humberto Carrillo and Raul Mendoza
- Rachael Ellering worked under her real name, losing to Deonna Purrazzo. She competed as Rachael Evers the previous night.
At Raw's March 15 Alberta live event:
- Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder worked their first live event since February 10, losing to The Ascension. The streak continues at 0-263.
- Lucha House Party worked their first live event since February 16, defeating Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers
At EVOLVE 123 in Massachusetts:
- NXT's Adrian Jaoude defeated Rory Gulak.
- Shane Strickland defeated Harlem Bravado. There was no indication this was the last we'll see of Strickland in EVOLVE.
- The Street Profits lost the EVOLVE Tag Team Championship to the team of Eddie Kingston (Impact's King) and Joe Gacy
- Velveteen Dream defeated Orange Cassidy
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I expect it to come down to AEW or NJPW, unless they can somehow work both.
2. That's an odd choice. I'd much rather talents specifically be honored. I don't dislike the idea of specific matches and events being inducted, but a whole promotion seems a little absurd.
3. Heyman is working closely with Ronda and her storylines. I hope he gets the same criticism for the "worked shoot" elements as Vince Russo would.
4. It is currently available online until/unless Disney looks to take it down.
5. Honestly I think it should be up to him, because that's a historic career coming to an end.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Arn Anderson discussed leaving WWE, appearing at Starrcast, and more. Nothing there indicates a scandal forcing him out as some have indicated. I'm sure he'll be asked about his exit at Starrcast, though.
JBL is hosting a WrestleMania 35 ticket raffle to benefit his African sporting foundation. That's great!
NJPW will have appearances in New York on April 4 to promote Supercard. Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi, BUSHI, and Toru Yano will all be in attendance.
Jim Cornette is on Jim Ross' latest podcast.
Finn Balor was also at the World Special Olympics.
Kyle O'Reilly is on Edge and Christian's latest podcast.
Ric Flair has a statue available soon. That's pretty amazing.
Zack Ryder met Joey Fatone at an airport. Pretty wild.
WWE Network will add WCW Thunder episodes from 1999 and 2000 on Monday.
Alexa Bliss will sign the WWE Cookbook in New Jersey on April 5.
Daniel Bryan and Becky Lynch will appear at the San Antonio Celebrity Fan Fest in June. I'm curious who will hold titles then.
PJ Black talked before ROH's 17th anniversary:
- I wasn't aware he had so many options. That's definitely a boon for ROH.
- I like Black being able to grow beyond the Gabriel character.
- Relocating to Florida for NXT isn't something every wrestler can do.
- Very interesting stuff about how things work in NXT.
- I always compare the transition from NXT to the transition from college to professional sports. Someone can be a great college star and then have to compete with people who have been putting up big numbers against tougher opponents for years. So it looks like a slump.
- Black/Gabriel would have to be a much bigger deal to warrant an entrance that elaborate. Nothing against him, but that's a big spectacle for someone who could easily be in the Andre battle royal or something.
MLW has signed Jordan Oliver. He's a lot of fun as a heel since he is so young and brash, and getting such a push at 19.
ROH released the pre-show to their 17th anniversary event online.
Ronda Rousey was "fined by WWE" for attacking referees on Raw. Gosh they might have to suspend her after WrestleMania if she keeps this up!
Mick Foley endorsed Drew McIntyre as Kurt Angle's WrestleMania opponent. That would definitely be a big WWE milestone for McIntyre. The two had some solid bouts in Impact.
Anthem Media is arguing Jeff Jarrett and Global Force never trademarked their content, so they have no grounds to sue over it.
Triple H will address the NXT Championship on Wednesday's episode. Obviously Takeover:New York is right around the corner.
Announced for Raw:
- Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre
- Ronda Rousey vs. Dana Brooke
- Bobby Lashley/Lio Rush vs. Finn Balor/a partner of Finn Balor's choosing (Ricochet??)
- Kurt Angle choosing his WrestleMania opponent
Finn Balor will accompany Irish boxer Mick Conlan to the ring on Sunday's Top Rank Boxing event. This is the second year Balor has appeared with Conlan for St. Patrick's Day. Pretty cool stuff.
At NXT's March 15 Florida live event:
- Australia's Elliot Sexton debuted under his real name of Brendan Vink. He defeated Nick Comoroto, who was also debuting.
- 3.0, Jeff Parker and Matt Lee, debuted in a loss to Humberto Carrillo and Raul Mendoza
- Rachael Ellering worked under her real name, losing to Deonna Purrazzo. She competed as Rachael Evers the previous night.
At Raw's March 15 Alberta live event:
- Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder worked their first live event since February 10, losing to The Ascension. The streak continues at 0-263.
- Lucha House Party worked their first live event since February 16, defeating Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers
At EVOLVE 123 in Massachusetts:
- NXT's Adrian Jaoude defeated Rory Gulak.
- Shane Strickland defeated Harlem Bravado. There was no indication this was the last we'll see of Strickland in EVOLVE.
- The Street Profits lost the EVOLVE Tag Team Championship to the team of Eddie Kingston (Impact's King) and Joe Gacy
- Velveteen Dream defeated Orange Cassidy
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. I expect it to come down to AEW or NJPW, unless they can somehow work both.
2. That's an odd choice. I'd much rather talents specifically be honored. I don't dislike the idea of specific matches and events being inducted, but a whole promotion seems a little absurd.
3. Heyman is working closely with Ronda and her storylines. I hope he gets the same criticism for the "worked shoot" elements as Vince Russo would.
4. It is currently available online until/unless Disney looks to take it down.
5. Honestly I think it should be up to him, because that's a historic career coming to an end.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Impact Wrestling Reax - 3/15/19
Read on for my thoughts on last night's edition of Impact Wrestling.
Friday, March 15, 2019
NXT injury, NOAH show free online, more Supercard plans, NJPW UK update, more on NJPW/ROH injury, WaleMania scheduled, Impact star working MLW more, ROH injury, Rayne's ROH pitch, why Impact changed Tessa match, NXT name being considered for brand change, WWE executive promoted, Stephanie at Special Olympics, WWE books released, Interview with Harlem Heat, new WM35 match, PWT signing, ROH PPV conference, Arn Anderson trademarks, Cody trademarks, NXT live event notes, and Questions on watching ROH, Aries leaving Impact, Gargano's logo, Taz's trademark situation, and Torrie in the HoF
NXT's Chelsea Green broke her wrist during Wednesday night's TV taping, where she had a dark match with Jessie Elaban. She will require surgery before returning to the ring. Green debuted for NXT in October, so she was just starting her tenure there.
Pro Wrestling NOAH's March 17 show will be on YouTube for free. It is the promotion's last show at Hakata Star Lanes before that venue is town down.
Supercard is expected to have at least one more championship vs. championship match.
NJPW is considering a UK tour in 2020 depending on the success of the April 31 London event.
David Finlay is expected to miss six months with a torn labrum. That's really unfortunate after just debuting in ROH, but hopefully he can rebound and get more focus when he returns.
WaleMania will take place on April 4 in New York, but this isn't affiliated with MLW as in years past. That's interesting.
Sami Callihan is going to be a regular for MLW now. He's definitely raised his profile since NXT.
Brody King is believed to have broken his hand in Australia, but he intends to work ROH's 17th anniversary PPV in a cast. As much as I look forward to that match, I'm not sure how wise that is.
Madison Rayne wanted to bring the Beautiful People gimmick to ROH. Velvet Sky has not wrestled since 2016, so she might have been replaced by Mandy Leon. I'm glad that didn't happen, and hopefully Impact doesn't do it, either. That gimmick's been run into the ground and Angelina and Velvet don't really add much as workers.
Eli Drake seemingly pulled out of facing Tessa Blanchard at United We Stand, since he didn't believe in doing an intergender match. So Joey Ryan replaced him. It is something a lot of fans don't enjoy.
NXT's Kairi Sane is being earmarked for Raw or Smackdown Live following WrestleMania. One would think there will be several other names leaving NXT (NXT UK?) for those shows soon.
WWE has promoted Stephanie Fiondella to be vice president of special events.
Stephanie McMahon appeared at the world Special Olympics opening ceremonies.
- She spoke to The National about the experience.
WWE released their cookbook and Pop Quiz Trivia Book.
Harlem Heat discussed going into the WWE Hall of Fame and more.
WrestleMania has officially added AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton.
Mick Foley will appear at Pro Wrestling Tees' Illinois store on April 27.
ROH did a press conference for their 17th anniversary PPV.
Arn Anderson has trademarked that wrestling name and applied to trademark the name "Four Horsemen." I don't know if that second one will get through. That trademark was from Conrad Thompson's company, so it looks like the two sides are working together in Anderson's post-WWE life.
Cody has trademarked "The American Dream" and "The American Nightmare."
At NXT's March 14 Florida live event:
- Sean Waltman was in attendance.
- Rachael Evers appeared for the first time since her NXT signing, teaming with Deonna Purrazzo in a loss to the team of Mia Yim and Taynara Conti. We'll see if either team makes it to TV.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. For those who can't/don't want to watch ROH on TV, it's free on FITE.TV.
2. It looks like it was supposed to be a "worked shoot" angle to get people talking about Aries' future. His contract expired with that show and the two sides have been cordial since then, but the ending was to make it look like he left in disgust after being booked to lose.
3. I'm not sure where they came up with that emoji logo, but it's something they've used with him.
4. As was said, ECW wasn't nearly as in the public eye as WWF was. WWF wanted to make sure Warner Bros. didn't have reason to claim confusion between the two Tazes.
5. Someone decided it was her year and she accepted! There's not much to the process other than that.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Pro Wrestling NOAH's March 17 show will be on YouTube for free. It is the promotion's last show at Hakata Star Lanes before that venue is town down.
Supercard is expected to have at least one more championship vs. championship match.
NJPW is considering a UK tour in 2020 depending on the success of the April 31 London event.
David Finlay is expected to miss six months with a torn labrum. That's really unfortunate after just debuting in ROH, but hopefully he can rebound and get more focus when he returns.
WaleMania will take place on April 4 in New York, but this isn't affiliated with MLW as in years past. That's interesting.
Sami Callihan is going to be a regular for MLW now. He's definitely raised his profile since NXT.
Brody King is believed to have broken his hand in Australia, but he intends to work ROH's 17th anniversary PPV in a cast. As much as I look forward to that match, I'm not sure how wise that is.
Madison Rayne wanted to bring the Beautiful People gimmick to ROH. Velvet Sky has not wrestled since 2016, so she might have been replaced by Mandy Leon. I'm glad that didn't happen, and hopefully Impact doesn't do it, either. That gimmick's been run into the ground and Angelina and Velvet don't really add much as workers.
Eli Drake seemingly pulled out of facing Tessa Blanchard at United We Stand, since he didn't believe in doing an intergender match. So Joey Ryan replaced him. It is something a lot of fans don't enjoy.
NXT's Kairi Sane is being earmarked for Raw or Smackdown Live following WrestleMania. One would think there will be several other names leaving NXT (NXT UK?) for those shows soon.
WWE has promoted Stephanie Fiondella to be vice president of special events.
Stephanie McMahon appeared at the world Special Olympics opening ceremonies.
- She spoke to The National about the experience.
WWE released their cookbook and Pop Quiz Trivia Book.
Harlem Heat discussed going into the WWE Hall of Fame and more.
WrestleMania has officially added AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton.
Mick Foley will appear at Pro Wrestling Tees' Illinois store on April 27.
ROH did a press conference for their 17th anniversary PPV.
Arn Anderson has trademarked that wrestling name and applied to trademark the name "Four Horsemen." I don't know if that second one will get through. That trademark was from Conrad Thompson's company, so it looks like the two sides are working together in Anderson's post-WWE life.
Cody has trademarked "The American Dream" and "The American Nightmare."
At NXT's March 14 Florida live event:
- Sean Waltman was in attendance.
- Rachael Evers appeared for the first time since her NXT signing, teaming with Deonna Purrazzo in a loss to the team of Mia Yim and Taynara Conti. We'll see if either team makes it to TV.
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. For those who can't/don't want to watch ROH on TV, it's free on FITE.TV.
2. It looks like it was supposed to be a "worked shoot" angle to get people talking about Aries' future. His contract expired with that show and the two sides have been cordial since then, but the ending was to make it look like he left in disgust after being booked to lose.
3. I'm not sure where they came up with that emoji logo, but it's something they've used with him.
4. As was said, ECW wasn't nearly as in the public eye as WWF was. WWF wanted to make sure Warner Bros. didn't have reason to claim confusion between the two Tazes.
5. Someone decided it was her year and she accepted! There's not much to the process other than that.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)