The Texas Rattlesnake opened up about his feud with Johnson during a recent interview with ESPN’s Peter Rosenberg. The two WWE Legends had a trilogy of matches on “The Show of Shows” at WrestleMania XV, WrestleMania X-Seven and WrestleMania XIX.
“Well, [WrestleMania] 15 was a good match, and of course me and The Rock had instant chemistry. We both loved working with each other and got along like gangbusters, you know, in the ring, out of the ring, you know, everywhere,” Austin explained.
“So 15 was really cool and for Jim Ross to call that match, but, you know, I was mad at 15 because I was going through a h— of a divorce, forgot my d— ring vest and so I had to walk to the ring in a T-shirt. And you never want to walk to the ring in a t-shirt when it’s WrestleMania, and you wanna look like a million bucks in full gimmick. You know, you’re not trying to sell a t-shirt, you’re trying to put on a show.”
Steve Austin On WrestleMania X-Seven
Austin explained how WrestleMania X-Seven was a great experience for him. He noted how the Houston Astrodome had a special meaning for him as he had seen several sporting events there as a kid.
He continued, “[…] so to go there and do that great buildup with The Rock and, you know, Jim Ross, we did that sit-down conversation in the locker room, that pre-match package, that build package they put together has never been duplicated with that Limp Bizkit song, it was just off the charts to set an attendance record at WrestleMania and take the crowd on that ride. […] And to be the main and to be able to go out there and have that kind of match between two of the hottest guys that were on planet Earth in the wrestling business was really, really cool.”
“The Show Must Go On”
Steve Austin then addressed WWE’s decision to continue with WrestleMania 36 this year despite coronavirus concerns. He admitted he didn’t know what to think about the situation but noted how “that’s Vince’s mentality.” He then referenced the tragic passing of Owen Hart and how the attitude was that the “show must go on.”
“[The] show must go on. You know, way back in Kansas City, Owen fell to his death, the show went on, so, you know, that’s his mentality. And God rest his soul but you know, it’s tough.”
WWE RAW Superstar Drew McIntyre believes that WWE has done the right thing by splitting WrestleMania 36 across two nights. McIntyre shared his thoughts on the subject during an interview with Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet.
“Yeah. I think WrestleMania would be good over two days. Especially if we’re gonna do it the way we’ve done it for the past few years, because it’s too long (for one),” McIntyre explained. “But also, it’s once a year and the fans look forward to it, and generally they travel from all over the world.”
He continued, “To spread that over two days to give them something really big to look forward to, so you have that one night and you’re talking about it the next day, and you’re all excited like “Oh I want to do it again.” Then you will be able to do it again the next day and it’ll give you an even bigger memory when you’re going home.”
Drew McIntyre Defends Delivering WrestleMania
Drew McIntyre argued that this year is an ideal time to test out a two-day event. He noted how spreading it across a weekend gives people something to look forward to, especially in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think this is the ideal year to start it and test it out. Spreading it out over two days gives people something to look forward to in these times, but going forward I really think it would be a good model so it’s not overkill.”
Drew McIntyre competes against Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship this weekend at WrestleMania 36. The event was initially intended to take place on April 5 from Raymond Jams Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The coronavirus outbreak forced WWE to relocate, eventually pre-recording the event. “The Show of Shows” now takes place on April 4 and April 5.
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch has revealed her dissatisfaction regarding her previous clash with Shayna Baszler. Lynch opened up about their last meeting during an interview with Sports Illustrated.
The last time the two shared a ring, they were competing in an inter-promotional Triple Threat matchup at last year’s Survivor Series. That match also included Bayley. Baszler, who was the then-NXT Women’s Champion, would secure the victory for the black-and-gold brand.
According to Lynch, their triple threat did not meet her standards for a main event clash. Four of the seven matches scheduled for that night’s Survivor Series were triple threat matches.
Becky Lynch On Receiving Criticism
When asked if the fact it was a women’s match headlining the show, Becky Lynch was quick to say, “It shouldn’t be about women—people shouldn’t use it as a chance to say, ‘That’s why women shouldn’t be main-eventing. You can’t wipe out an entire gender based on your opinion to a match.”
Lynch added, “No excuses, I’m open to criticism. Give me your opinion, I’ll take it. This is what anyone in the main event, male or female, has to deal with. If you ever have a bad night or a match that people don’t agree with, you’re the one out there that has to change and adjust. It makes you better in the long run.”
Triple H has shared his relief at not having to compete during this year’s WrestleMania. “The Game” joined ESPN SportsCenter for an interview where he spoke about how his current role demands his attention full-time. He explained how he wouldn’t have been able due to his current responsibilities. If he had been expected to wrestle, Triple H noted how it would just be an “added burden.”
“Right now, I’m a full-time office guy. It’s funny, ironically I wasn’t scheduled to be in this year’s WrestleMania anyways. Every year as time goes by, it gets more and more hectic for me. Getting in the ring just becomes an added burden.”
Triple H continued, “Especially this year, with the way things turned out, and what we wanted to accomplish, I was very thankful I wasn’t scheduled to be in the ring this year, because it would have been almost virtually impossible to do everything else that’s happening.”
Triple H’s New Role
“The Game” hasn’t been a full-time competitor for several years now, rarely competing. When he does, however, it tends to be in a marquee matchup. Triple H’s comments come following the revelation that his job role recently changed.
During the interview, Triple H also addressed Roman Reigns’ decision to pull out of WrestleMania 36. He noted how Reigns’ pre-existing condition could potentially make him more susceptible. Reigns has previously twice beaten leukemia.
WrestleMania 36 airs on April 4 and April 5. The event, which has been pre-recorded, was relocated from Raymond James Stadium out of concern of the coronavirus pandemic.
WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry has shared his thoughts on who should fill in for Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 36. For “The World’s Strongest Man,” the answer is simple: Matt Riddle. Henry addressed the subject during a recent episode of Busted Open Radio.
“It’s easy to work with somebody that people want to see you work,” Henry said. “They [the fans] want this. Man, I love things that go together. I like peanut butter. I like jelly, I like milk, and I like cereal. And I definitely like meat on my sandwiches so I mean you gotta be able to put things together that match, that go together. that everybody wants to see.”
Mark Henry would detail the issues between Riddle and Goldberg. He pointed to Riddle’s perceived lack of respect for the former WCW Champion.
“Matt Riddle and Goldberg had an issue. Some of them based off respect [on Riddle’s side]. ‘You know, you overstepping your bounds, like you haven’t paid enough dues to be comfortable like that.’” Henry said. “And whatever the case may be, but I’m just saying. If you have an issue, and it’s gonna go to blows and it almost went to blows a couple of times. Yep. let em fight, put it together.”
Roman Reigns Out Of WrestleMania 36
Reigns recently confirmed that he had pulled out of his scheduled matchup with Goldberg. The two were due to face off for Goldberg’s WWE Universal Championship. Reigns had reportedly refused to compete out of concern of the coronavirus as he has battled leukemia twice and has a weakened immune system.
In a video statement, Reigns explained, “You don’t know the whole story, all you know is what you think. You don’t know what else is going on in my life. You don’t know if I have newborns, if I have family in my household, older family.”
At the time of writing, it has been speculated that Braun Strowman will be the Superstar to replace Reigns.
WWE RAW aired from the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. It was the final episode of RAW before WrestleMania 36 this weekend.
WWE RAW Results (3/30)
The Undertaker responded to AJ Styles
Shayna Baszler attacked Becky Lynch
Aleister Black def. Jason Cade
Kevin Owens & Street Profits def. Austin Theory, Angel Garza, and Seth Rollins
Asuka def. Kayden Carter
Edge sent a message to Randy Orton
Charlotte attacked Rhea Ripley as she arrived to the PC
Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman closed the show with a promo
Here are 5 takeaways from this week’s show:
The Undertaker Warned AJ Styles
The Undertaker cut a promo and referred to AJ Styles as “Allen Jones”. Taker stated that Styles’ mouth is writing checks that his ass cannot cash.
He added that he has heard a lot worse from far better Superstars than AJ. Undertaker claimed Styles was content being a big fish in a little pond because he knew he couldn’t hang with the likes of Undertaker, Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, etc.
Undertaker said that AJ waited until they were all gone but he is still here. He claimed that AJ’s foolish pride is getting the better of him and he crossed the line when he mentioned his wife. Undertaker stated that Michelle McCool does the Faith Breaker (Styles Clash) better than AJ and he is jealous.
Taker dared AJ to try him at WrestleMania because he will make Styles famous. Undertaker added that he wants AJ to bring Gallows and Anderson with him so he can take them all out in the Boneyard Match. Undertaker closed the promo by saying that AJ will RIP as a gravestone with Styles’ name on it appeared behind him.
Opinion: I thought Undertaker delivered an excellent promo tonight and it got me more invested in this match. Up until this point, Styles versus Undertaker has felt underwhelming for what should be a dream match. That is not the case anymore and I’m hoping they deliver in their Boneyard match at WrestleMania.
Lynch cut a promo directly into the camera and pointed out that she defeated two champions at last year’s WrestleMania, Lynch and Ronda Rousey. WWE then rolled the entire Triple Threat match from last year’s WrestleMania.
45-minutes later, Becky was still standing on the entrance ramp and said that a lot of people have tried to take the title from her and failed. Lynch brought up Baszler claiming that taking the title from her would destroy her and said that Shayna was right.
Becky admitted that she doesn’t know who she is without being the champ and claimed that Shayna has demons too. Lynch said that Baszler is come in fighting with emotion to do the thing that Ronda Rousey couldn’t do. She added that if Shayna beats her and will finally step out of Ronda’s shadow. Shayna Baszler attacked Becky from behind and locked in the Kirifuda Clutch before brutally swinging her into the announce table.
Opinion: It was a pretty goofy setup to make it seem like Becky was just standing around on the entrance ramp for 45-minutes waiting to finish her promo. Having said that, the promo was still solid and Shayna’s attack to conclude the segment was awesome.
RAW Tag Team Champions Street Profits team up with Kevin Owens to face Seth Rollins, Andrade, and Angel Garza. Before the match, Zelina Vega said that Andrade suffered a serious injury to his ribs and has been declared medically unable to compete. Vega announced Austin Theory will take his place.
Match Recap: Rollins immediately tagged in Austin Theory and Owens beat him down in the corner. Ford knocked Theory and Garza out of the ring and flipped onto them as RAW went to a commercial break. When RAW returned, Garza hit a Dropkick before tagging Theory back in. Dawkins tagged in and planted Austin with a Suplex.
Angelo followed it up with a massive shoulder tackle but turned around into a Superkick from Rollins. Seth stomped on Angelo a few times while taunting Owens in the corner. Garza tagged in and locked Dawkins in the Camel Clutch. Seth tagged in and got distracted by Owens. Dawkins went for a roll-up but Rollins kicked out and planted him with a Slingblade.
Dawkins blocked a Superkick and absolutely leveled Seth with a punch to the face. Owens went right after Rollins but he cowered to the corner and tagged in Garza. Owens took out his frustrations on Garza and hit him with a Senton. Owens followed it up with a Cannonball and then a Senton off the top rope. Owens went for the cover but Theory broke it up at the last moment.
Montez Ford went for a flip onto Theory but wound up crashing on the entrance ramp. Back in the ring, Owens hit Garza with a Stunner for the pinfall victory. After the match, Rollins hit Owens with the Stomp.
Kevin Owens then cut a promo after the commercial break and said he has been thinking a lot about what Rollins said last week. Owens brought up Rollins claiming that the Performance Center was built on his blood, sweat, and tears. Kevin said he has heard that the PC was built in spite of Rollins and that Seth was a nightmare to deal with. He added that nobody could stand Rollins and that Seth has done an outstanding job of proving everyone right.
Owens called Rollins a dipshit and added that he was delusional and mocked him for referring to himself as a god. Owens admitted that while he doesn’t have the WrestleMania moments like Rollins, he was Universal Champion well before Seth. Kevin said he is man enough to admit that he didn’t all his achievements on his own because he had someone watching his back. He pointed out that Rollins has always had backup as well and that Seth needs to be honest with himself. Owens vowed to show Rollins that he is not a profit, or a god, and will take his first WrestleMania moment from Seth this Saturday night.
Opinion: The spot with Montez leaping over the ropes was tough to watch. It looked like Rollins tried to trip up Montez Ford but he just ran through it. I’m not sure if Theory was ready for the spot because he didn’t break his fall and Ford landed hard on his back on the entrance ramp. Last week, Seth Rollins cut an awesome promo on Owens and Kevin responded with a great promo tonight.
Edge cut a backstage promo on tonight’s RAW in regards to his Last Man Standing match against Randy Orton at WrestleMania 36.
He admitted that Adam Copeland is a junkie for Edge because he loves the reaction from the crowd when he is music hits. Edge said that every superstar is a junkie for this and that those who are not are just in his way.
Edge said that clearly they have different definitions of the word grit and mocked Orton for resting on the laurels of his family name. He claimed that Randy is okay with being okay and having spurts of magic once in a while. Edge got fired up and stated that grit is forging your own HOF career and spending 9-years thinking about getting back to end it on his own terms.
Edge claimed that Orton was jealous of his passion because the only time Randy has it is when he is around. He added that the last time Orton was ever this good was 9-years ago and that scares Randy. Edge told Orton that he made a horrible mistake when he attacked Beth and uttered the names of his little girls. He closed the promo by saying that Randy has dug himself another hole but this time he isn’t going to dig him out. Instead, he is going to push him so far in that he will never get out.
Opinion: The build to this match has been excellent and Edge’s promo tonight was fantastic. He actually has good point too with Orton being the best when he is around. Orton’s feuds with Jinder Mahal and Kofi Kingston, etc have all been lackluster. This feud has the best story out of every match on WrestleMania’s card and is by far the match I’m most looking forward to.
"You dug yourself another hole, didn't you @RandyOrton? This time, I'm not gonna pull you back out. I am gonna push you so far in, you will NEVER get back out!" – @EdgeRatedR
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman stood in the ring in the final minutes of this week’s show. Heyman said that he loves being in a business where they take larger than life personalities and market them to a global audience.
Heyman pointed out that this is the final segment of the final RAW before WrestleMania. Paul stated that we are all living through the most unique time in our lives and they call this the go-home segment for the go-home RAW before WrestleMania.
Heyman added that more often than not Brock Lesnar is champion and is featured in this segment because year after year, Lesnar is the one to beat on the biggest show of the year.
Paul complimented Drew McIntyre for stepping up and added that he is special compared to the locker room in WWE. Heyman said that The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Randy Couture, Shane Carwin, The Undertaker, and John Cena were also special but Brock Lesnar wound up making them his bitch.
Heyman noted that the Claymore Kick is special but the People’s Elbow, the AA, the Tombstone couldn’t put Lesnar down. Paul said that we will find out if the Claymore Kick can take Lesnar down at WrestleMania. Heyman guaranteed that Brock Lesnar will be standing here on the go-home RAW with the title. He closed that show with saying Brock Lesnar is going to beat McIntyre “fugly” at WrestleMania and Drew McIntyre will walk out of the show just like everyone else, nothing more than Brock’s bitch.
Opinion: The best thing to come out of this awful situation for WWE is that their promos have been terrific the past couple of weeks. Heyman’s promo tonight was great and I’m looking forward to the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania as well. Overall, I really enjoyed this show and thought WWE did a solid job of hyping up this year’s WrestleMania.
Just days after it was reported, WWE has confirmed that one title match at WrestleMania 36 has been changed.
On Monday’s episode of RAW, WWE announced that The Street Profits will now defend the RAW Tag Team Titles against Angel Garza and Austin Theory at this show.
This is a change from Andrade being in the match as he was replaced by Theory. Last week, it was reported that Andrade had suffered a rib injury, which WWE confirmed to be true.
Kevin Owens and The Street Profits beat Seth Rollins, Garza and Theory in a six-man tag team match on Monday’s show, which marked Theory’s main roster debut.
WWE presents the WrestleMania 36 pay-per-view event as a two-night event on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center. Both nights start at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT will air on the WWE Network.
Updated WWE WrestleMania 36 Card
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker – Boneyard Match
Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins – Singles Match
WWE Universal Champion Goldberg vs. TBA
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt – Singles Match
Edge vs. Randy Orton – Last Man Standing Match
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Lacey Evans vs. Tamina vs. Naomi vs. Sasha Banks – Five Pack Challenge
Baron Corbin vs. Elias
Bobby Lashley vs. Aleister Black
WWE RAW Tag Team Champions The Street Profits vs. Angel Garza & Austin Theory
WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan
Eric Bischoff has opened up on his departure from WWE after serving as the SmackDown Executive Director for a few months in 2019.
Bischoff has been replaced by Bruce Prichard as the Executive Director of SmackDown. Bischoff did so a bonus episode of “83 Weeks” available on Patreon only.
Bischoff told a story about how the idea of him coming back to the company started after having breakfast with Bruce Prichard, whose idea it was. This led to him being set up with a casual meeting with Vince McMahon at WWE HQ.
At this point, he wasn’t convinced that coming back full-time was something that he wanted to do nor need it for financial gain. After the meeting, several weeks later, he got a second meeting where he was offered the job.
“I didn’t think about it enough, I had to do some internal inventory and make sure that I was mentally and emotionally prepared to make a change as drastic as picking up, moving all my sh*t from Wyoming … not all of it.
He later stated, “I suspected that there was a good chance that it would be a short-term relationship. I didn’t think it was gonna be quite as short-term as it WAS, but in my own mind I put kind of a two-year ticker on it.”
Bischoff continued that news of him getting the job with WWE was made official within 24 hours of him agreeing to the job.
He talked about how his role was to work with every department related to SmackDown. He made it clear that McMahon told him at the start that Bischoff wasn’t to be involved with creative but to just oversee the process.
Bischoff credits the relationship not working because he wasn’t prepared for the radical change in scenery nor fully understanding his ability to adapt to the situation upon starting his job at WWE.
Bischoff stated that he felt like he was drowning due to a number of things like SmackDown moving to FOX and the uncertainty of the brand split. He also praised Paul Heyman for being able to handle and overcome challenges of the workload in WWE including being on someone else’s schedule.
“I knew about six weeks in, eight weeks in, it just wasn’t going to work out. I knew I wasn’t fitting and it wasn’t a secret. It just wasn’t right,” he went on to add. “Vince wanted it to work. I believe that. I absolutely believe that. There was no reason for him to set me up this way. The opportunity that he gave me was amazing.”
Bischoff thinks that both he and McMahon knew it wasn’t working out. He also stated that he was disappointed because he didn’t live up to Vince’s expectations.
Finally, regarding his dismissal, he recalled being told on a Tuesday by someone not named McMahon in the office that the two sides were going to part ways.
“I had to fit in the system and I wasn’t able to do it in the timeline it needed to be done.”
All Elite Wrestling will soon introduce a new championship title: the AEW TNT Championship.
On Monday evening, All Elite Wrestling announced via a press release and on the latest episode of the “Road To” YouTube series that an eight-man tournament will kick off on the Wednesday, April 8th episode of Dynamite to crown its inaugural TNT Champion.
It was noted that the single-elimination tournament will feature the biggest names in AEW all vying for the inaugural TNT championship belt.
Competitors in the first half of the tournament bracket will be revealed this Tuesday, March 31, on AEW’s YouTube show, AEW Dark.
The second half of the bracket will be announced this Wednesday, April 1, during the live AEW Dynamite show on TNT.
The finals of the tournament will take place at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view event on Saturday, May 23, in Las Vegas.
“It’s been a privilege working with Kevin Reilly and TNT to bring fans the best live wrestling show week after week on AEW: DYNAMITE, especially during these tumultuous times,” said Tony Khan, president and CEO of AEW.
“I’m glad we’re now able to announce the TNT CHAMPIONSHIP. The first ever titleholder will be determined by an unforgettable tournament that fans will not want to miss, and that our wrestlers will be desperate to win. I’m excited for the announcement of the full bracket live on Dynamite this week. And, it’s only fitting that the champion and the title belt will carry the logo of the globally-respected TNT brand, and that they’ll represent not only AEW but also the great quality programming, massive reach, and storied history in the wrestling business that are all associated with TNT.”
The AEW TNT Championship is the latest show of solidarity between All Elite Wrestling and its cable television partner. Just three months after the premiere of AEW Dynamite, AEW and TNT entered into a new longterm partnership that will keep the show on the network through 2023.
There has been a lot of criticism over WWE deciding to go forward with WrestleMania 36 despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
WWE will be holding WrestleMania 36 in front of an empty crowd inside the Performance Center from Orlando, Florida. Many talents have been pulled from the card due to health concerns. Roman Reigns, who has battled leukemia twice now, was removed from his scheduled Universal Title match with Goldberg. Braun Strowman now takes his place.
Also, WrestleMania is being stretched out over two days. The first will be Saturday, April 4, and will conclude on Sunday, April 5. Like many other major sports leagues, WWE is being called on to postpone their biggest event of the year until things subside. However, Vince McMahon has opted for the show to go on. Now, speaking on the Wrestling Observer Radio program, WWE Hall Of Famer and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) commentator Jim Ross has offered his thoughts on the situation.
If it were up to Ross, he’d pull the plug on WrestleMania and save the event for a later date.
“I would’ve waited until I could’ve got it to an arena, or a stadium, and I would’ve made a big celebration out of it that we’re back, America’s back, the virus is gone, celebratory WrestleMania probably,” Ross said. “But here’s the problem with that, that’s already been, I’m sure, budgeted in for a certain amount of money, and because of the uncertainty of the virus we don’t know when that date would be to run the stadium show as the make good, the celebratory WrestleMania as I call it, and so I can understand it budgetarily, they’re a publicly traded company, they have to make money for their stockholders, their stock needs to rebound, blah blah blah.
“So I don’t know if my suggestion is a great one whatsoever, but I can tell you it would be so easy to replicate amazing enthusiasm, anticipation and excitement in a make good, celebratory WrestleMania, vis-a-vis it’s a television vehicle like we’ve done on AEW the last few weeks, like WWE has done, in a closed set. The empty arena thing. The empty arena thing is okay to keep programming on, but it’s not much fun to work at because you get used to that adrenaline that the fans provide. There’s nothing like that.”
WWE has released a new commercial to promote Monday Night RAW on the USA Network that features Samoa Joe.
The “RAW: Must Be Monday” commercial also features Ricochet, RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, WWE United States Champion Andrade, Charlotte Flair, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley.
It turns out that this is the same commercial where Joe suffered a concussion while filming it. WWE Backstage analyst Ryan Satin noted the news on Twitter.
The commercial was filmed back in early February. At the time, it was reported Joe suffered the concussion while taking a bad table bump during a commercial shoot. You can check it out here:
Joe was given his first 30-day suspension for his first violation of the WWE Wellness Policy a month ago but is now eligible to return to the ring. The suspension expired last week.
Despite the fact that the suspension is up, there’s been no word yet as to whether Joe has been medically cleared to compete. This was a significant concussion for the pro wrestling veteran as it marked his second concussion in less than 1 month.
He also suffered a broken thumb back in September and he didn’t return to in-ring action until late December. WWE even had him be part of the commentary team during this time in order to keep him on television.
The other concussion took place back on the January 27th episode of RAW while doing a dive. However, he was back in action just one week later until he suffered the second concussion at the commercial shoot.
WWE Hall of Famer Edge did a recent interview with ESPN to promote WrestleMania 36 where he spoke about a wide range of topics.
During the interview, he discussed making his return to in-ring action. It turns out that the moment that it dawned on him that he could make a return was when he filmed an episode of Sheamus’ workout series on YouTube.
He was on a mountain bike and was going down a hill in order to hit a jump. He wiped out at high speeds and had cuts but rolled up on his feet. He went to see a family doctor and spine specialist to make sure that his neck was fine considering that spinal stenosis is what led to his pro wrestling retirement in 2011.
Despite the incident, he felt fine. After getting word from the doctors that his neck wasn’t further injured, it started to make him think that he could wrestle again.
After making an appointment in Birmingham, Alabama with Dr. James Andrews’ team and Dr. Andrew Cordover, “that’s when we started to realize this could actually happen.”
He got the green light from WWE’s medical team in order to be medically cleared. That’s when he contacted WWE and started training with his wife, WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, and The Revival’s Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder.
“I talked to [Triple H], and I said, ‘I can’t go to a ring anywhere because people will start seeing me. I can’t go to the PC.’ So they sent me a ring,” Edge said. “I got a warehouse space, and I set up a ring and basically had my own personal ‘Field of Dreams,’ and I just got in there and got to work.
Thankfully, I’m married to another Hall of Famer who can pick up and body slam me, which you can’t say for a lot of wives. The Revival, they both live in Asheville, so they’d come, and they’d get in there with me, and they’d put me through my paces.”
Edge noted how he was keeping up with them and wasn’t tired or sore. That’s when he knew that a return to action was going to happen and at a level that he wanted.
He made it known that he didn’t want to come back and be anything less than what he was but knew he had to work differently as he would have different limitations.
Roman Reigns was slated to challenge Goldberg for the Universal Title at WrestleMania 36 this weekend.
However, Ryan Satin reported last week that Reigns had pulled out of the contest due to his concerns about the coronavirus as he has a weakened immune system with his leukemia battle.
Reigns posted a video on Instagram where he confirmed that he has indeed pulled out of WWE WrestleMania 36. After talking about how he noticed how social distancing has made people nicer and kinder, he made his comments about the decision.
Roman Reigns Confirms The News
“You already know what’s going on, it’s all over the news, the dirtsheets, whatever you wanna call them that I pulled out of WrestleMania. It’s funny because, for years, people were like ‘don’t show up to WrestleMania, we don’t want you in it.”
Reigns stated that there was a handful of people that didn’t want him there but the moment that he makes a choice for him and his family, he gets called a coward or a sissy.
“You don’t know the whole story, all you know is what you think. You don’t know what else is going on in my life. You don’t know if I have newborns, if I have family in my household, older family.”
Reigns stated that he’s sorry to his fans for not working the show but did note that he was in Orlando last week for the tapings and made a decision for himself and his family.
WWE has yet to confirm Reigns is out of the match and still promoting it. That will have to change sometime this week.
Reigns’ comments about WrestleMania are around the 2:30 mark in the video you can watch here.
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley’s next title defense has been revealed and in fact, has already been filmed.
According to comments made by Jim Ross recently on Wrestling Observer Radio, an AEW World Championship match between Jon Moxley and Jake Hager has already been filmed. There is no word on who won the match or what happened during it, however.
AEW is reported to have filmed a lot of content from Daily’s Place last week in Jacksonville. The decision to do so likely was made out of uncertainty regarding the possibility of continuing to air shows live on Wednesday nights.
On last week’s edition of Dynamite, Moxley confronted Hager after the Inner Circle member made quick work of his opponent in a single’s match.
The segment can be viewed in the player below:
AEW World Championship Title Matches
There have been a total of 5 AEW World Championship matches since the title was introduced.
8/31/19: Chris Jericho defeated Adam Page (wins inaugural title)
10/16/19: Chris Jericho (c) defeated Darby Allin
11/9/19: Chris Jericho (c) defeated Cody
11/27/19: Chris Jericho (c) defeated Scorpio Sky
2/29/20: Jon Moxley defeated Chris Jericho (c) – New Champion
D’Lo Brown recently took part in an interview with Talk Sport in the UK. During the interview, the former 4x WWE European Champion talked about Tessa Blanchard’s world title win and his role backstage in Impact Wrestling.
D’Lo was asked about the criticisms lobbied against Blanchard by some former co-workers about her backstage behavior leading up to the Hard to Kill PPV.
“I still think it was a big moment for her and for IMPACT,” Brown said about Blanchard winning Impact World Championship on the show. “Seeing it live and being there and hearing the reaction of the crowd, seeing responses days and weeks later – it was still a big moment. As far as the rumour and innuendo that was out there before? There’s nothing to speak on. I don’t know because I wasn’t there.”
Brown would continue to say he considers Blanchard a friend and a fine person.
“All I know is how Tessa is with me as an individual and I know she is one fine person, one fine individual and someone I’m proud to call a friend and confidant. To me, it was a big moment and she has many, many more to come.”
D’Lo Brown On The Impact Wrestling Roster
Brown was also asked about his backstage role in Impact Wrestling. He talked about some of his favorite people to work with on the roster.
“Anytime I’m involved with Sami Callihan, Tessa Blanchard, Eddie Edwards, Michael Elgin, The North, people like Rich Swann and Willie Mack – it’s fun to have that collaborative process, put together ideas and see them go out there and they become really great matches,” Brown said.
“That’s really fun for me. We have such an incredible roster, a really talented roster here at IMPACT. Anytime I get to work with any of them, I enjoy it immensely,” he continued.
Impact Wrestling recently announced they would not be hosting the Rebellion PPV in New York at Terminal 5. The promotion is said to be looking at alternative ways to produce the show, however. This week’s episode on AXS TV will be followed by a special “TNA One-Night-Only” special.
The interview covers many other topics as well. Brown spoke about the influence Ron Simmons had on his career and his time in the Nation of Domination. The full interview with D’Lo Brown can be read here.
On last week’s episode of Fusion, King Mo, Dan Lambert, and American Top Team merged with Tom Lawlor’s Team Filthy. The merger was announced shortly after King Mo attacked Killer Kross with a bat. MLW issued a suspension to Mo for the attack by the American Top Team’s lawyers have appealed and Mo will be allowed to compete while the appeal is taking place.
This week, King Mo was scheduled to face former MLW World Champion Low-Ki in single’s competition. Mo has been taunting Low-Ki in recent weeks about Low-Ki’s training with the Gracie family and Mo’s victory over Roger Gracie in MMA. Each wrestler has been claiming to be the knockout king of MLW as well.
Mo would pick up the victory over Low-Ki but not via knockout. Team Filthy found an altogether cheap way to gain the win. Low-Ki had Mo locked in a choke when Team Filthy members Erick Stevens and Dominic Garrini ran in. Ross Von Erich was already ringside as he was cornering Low-Ki and his brother Marshall also came out to fend off the Team Filthy members. This allowed Tom Lawlor to slip into the ring unnoticed. Lawlor broke up the submission by hitting Low-Ki with an umbrella. Dan Lambert then threw in the towel that Ross Von Erich had been holding and convinced the referee that Low-Ki’s corner had tossed it in as a submission. The referee then awarded the victory to King Mo as the crowd erupted in boos. Team Filthy then blasted the Philadelphia crowd while proclaiming King Mo the new knockout king in MLW to end the segment.
Injustice Attacks Brian Pillman Jr. With Cinderblock
Brian Pillman Jr. was scheduled to face Jordan Oliver this week on Fusion. Pillman is focussed on going after Myron Reed’s Middleweight Championship and has even reportedly begun eating a keto diet to drop enough weight to compete in the division.
As this episode of Fusion continued, however, it became clear that nobody had heard from or seen Pillman. The match against Oliver appeared to be in doubt.
In a backstage segment, Injustice then said they had some footage to show everyone. The video was then shown in the final segment of the night. In the video, Injustice attacked Pillman in the parking lot and gave him a curb stomp on top of a cinderblock causing it to crumble. There was no medical update on Pillman’s condition immediately available.
A pivotal match takes place inside an empty arena next week between Mance Warner and Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Warner was recently attacked at “the pay window” by MJF and his Dynasty cronies as the rivalry between the Southern Psychopath and the entitled faction has reached a boiling point.
Next week it is all one the line between the two as the loser will be forced to leave the territory.
Alexander Hammerstone Successfully Defends Title Against T-Hawk
You have to hand it to Alexander Hammerstone. He managed to pick up a clean victory over some tough competition this week. “Clean” victory might not be the correct word for it, however, as there has been rumors the powerful wrestler has been helped by some “supplements” he picked up during a recent trip to Mexico.
The Philly crowd was heavily behind OWE’s T-Hawk during this match and Hammerstone didn’t hesitate to rub it in their faces when he had the match going the way he wanted.
T-Hawk made an ill-advised trip to the turnbuckle and was suplexed off the top by the champion. This set-up Hammerstone then hitting the Nightmare Pendulum for the win and successful title defense.
All the mysterious Dr. Drax had to do to earn $1000 in this match was last 5-minutes with the Team Filthy jiu-jitsu master. As it turns out, Garrini was able to dispatch his opponent this week in a little over 20% of the time he had available to him. Drax tapped out to a submission just over a minute into the match.
It was certainly a big week for Team Filthy as they scored 2 big victories.
Chris Jericho says if it wasn’t for the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, he would have probably been working with AEW star Jungle Boy of the Jurassic Express.
Jericho and Jungle Boy had a 2-week back in December 2019. Jungle Boy and the former AEW World Champion wrestled a singles match on Dynamite. The match went to a 10-minute time limit draw, but it was seen as a victory for the 22-year-old babyface.
A fan on Twitter mentioned to Dave Meltzer that AEW did not get enough out of the Chris Jericho vs. Jungle Boy feud. Meltzer agreed, saying that , that Jericho and Jungle Boy needed a follow-up series of matches. At the time, Jericho busy with Jon Moxley, but things have moved on since then. Moxley is the AEW World Champion, having defeated Jericho at AEW’s latest pay-per-view.
The Inner Circle is feuding with The Elite and the entire world is on hold because of this Coronavirus outbreak.
Chris Jericho saw Meltzer’s comment about Jungle Boy and provided some insight. Referencing his angle with Jungle Boy, Le Champion wrote, “Had the world not gone crazy, we would be revisiting that now.”
Once things do get back to normal, there’s no question that Jungle Boy would benefit from working with Jericho again.
“The Nature Boy” Ric Flair appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter recently. During the interview, he talked about what he is most proud of in his epic career. According to the Nature Boy, being able to stay at the top of the game throughout many periods in wrestling history is something he is particularly proud of.
“You know what I’m most proud of is the fact that I’ve been able to adjust to the differences from the 70s,” Flair said. “It’s changed drastically. I think that so many people weren’t able to adjust with the fact that we were sports entertainment. My god, to call ourselves entertainers, which is all we are. At the end of the day, very athletic, hopefully, entertainers.”
Flair then continued to say he was very happy to be where he is today and watching his daughter become the big star that she is.
The topic of the ESPN 30 for 30 on Flair was also brought up on the show. Flair was asked about his initial reaction to the documentary.
“First of all, I was mad at a lot of people,” Flair said. “When you sign up for this you realize that you are opening your life to scrutiny.”
Flair would then say that while he was initially upset with the documentary, he eventually realized that the people interviewed about him were telling the truth.
“I was upset with family members, I was upset with Jim Ross and Shawn Michaels. I’ve since apologized to all of them because they were telling the truth.”
Flair was also asked about what it’s like watching his daughter, Charlotte Flair, perform.
“Well, it makes me want to cry because nobody knows how hard she’s had to work. Carrying my last name, there’s a lot of good that goes with that and there’s a lot of hardship. You think you walk in the door and your Charlotte Flair and yes the door is open but then it’s twice as hard to live up to that mantle.”
Flair’s appearance on ESPN SportsCenter can be viewed in the player below:
It has been widely reported that Roman Reigns will not appear on the pretaped WrestleMania 36. WWE has yet to acknowledge that Roman will not be on the show, however. Reigns had been scheduled to take on Bill Goldberg for the WWE Universal title on the card.
Triple H recently appeared on ESPN Sportscenter and addressed WWE talent missing the event.
“You know, there are various talents, and I don’t wanna get into the specifics of WrestleMania because that’s a must-see event, but we don’t like to take precautions with our talent, any more so than we need to, and all of our talents are in this in a voluntary capacity,” Triple H said on the program.
He would continue to mention Roman Reigns specifically on the show. Triple H noted that Roman Reigns’ pre-existing condition (Roman has twice beaten Leukemia) could potentially make him more susceptible.
“If they don’t want to be a part of this, they feel there’s a risk, for whatever reasons, be it themselves or somebody around them, they don’t have to be here. Nothing is held against them for that. Same with our crew and everybody else. We don’t want to take chances on that, and with Roman having a pre-existing condition, that would make him more susceptible to something, it’s understandable.”
While this show was taped last week, WWE RAW will serve as an important show ahead of WrestleMania 36.
Thus, it’s time to look ahead starting with tonight’s episode of Monday Night RAW. This show is the go-home edition of RAW for WrestleMania 36 that takes place this Saturday and Sunday.
WWE holds this show in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center. The show has several segments advertised with top stars but no matches have thus far been announced. The likes of The Undertaker and WWE Hall of Famer Edge are slated to appear on this show.
As usual, fans should expect more matches and segments to be revealed this afternoon for RAW. WWE is advertising the following items for tonight’s broadcast:
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar makes final pre-WrestleMania appearance
The Undertaker rises before Boneyard battle with AJ Styles
Edge returns following Orton’s Last Man Standing acceptance
Becky Lynch prepares to close out against Shayna Baszler
WWE will also be building on the hype for existing feuds that will take place heading into the WrestleMania 36 pay-per-view event.
Join us here later tonight for our WWE RAW Results and post-show Takeaways feature.
Seth Rollins returned to his roots and once again turned heel last year after losing the Universal Championship to Bray Wyatt during Hell In A Cell in October.
Surprisingly during the interview, Rollins revealed that
initially, he wasn’t very excited about his heel turn because he felt like he
got the raw end of the deal:
“The short answer is no [excited about turning heel]. It wasn’t something that I was excited about out of the gate. I feel like I got a raw end of the deal, a raw shake, when it came to what I was doing at the time,
And the position I was put in with The Fiend character and the Hell in a Cell and the Super ShowDown [Crown Jewel] matches after I had just come off what I thought was an incredible match and long story with Brock Lesnar from SummerSlam.”
Though Seth Rollins seems to have embraced his new role since then and he has gone on to form a faction with former NXT Tag Team Champions AOP and former Cruiserweight Champion Murphy.
The Architect is currently scheduled to face Kevin Owens in a one on one match at WrestleMania and it appears that he will have no one in his corner for this bout because Murphy has been pulled from the show as well.
Former US Champion Rusev has joined the list of superstars with a clean shaved head and he has shaved his head while staying in the home after his contract dispute with WWE.
The former NXT Superstar showed this new look during a WWE Live Feed on Instagram yesterday. You can check out some photos of the same below:
Rusev was involved in a storyline with Lana and Bobby Lashley the last time we saw him and WWE had added Liv Morgan to this angle later on as well.
However, the company decided to pull him from TV due to a contract dispute and the former champion has not been seen on WWE Programming since January.
In an interview, Bobby Lashley had said that he is not sure if their angle was over and he had hoped that he can still have a WrestleMania match with The Bulgarian Brute.
However, there is no news of Rusev being brought in for the latest WWE tapings and Lashley has been in quarantine after returning from a trip to South Africa, so it’s unlikely that we will see either of them at the Show Of Shows.
There aren’t many details available regarding the contract dispute between the wrestling star and WWE. So it’s hard to say when or if he will return to WWE TV but we will keep you posted on his status.
The main event segment of this week’s Dynamite saw Matt Hardy confronting the former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho after his debut on last week’s episode of the show.
During the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer talked about this angle and revealed some interesting titbits about whole thing.
According to Meltzer, most of the things on Dynamite were
produced live and the confrontation angle was one of the few things to be taped
beforehand on Tuesday.
However, Chris Jericho did not like the taped version of the
segment and he wanted it to be reshot. Though they could not shoot it in the
day time because the difference would have been obvious on TV.
So the company shot the angle again during the Kip Sabian vs. Darby Allin match which was the only bout of the night that had been shot beforehand.
The production team then had just 15 minutes to edit the
whole thing before it aired on TV and it’s an impressive feat of achievement
considering the fact that AEW has been doing live TV for less than a year.
Chris Jericho also confirmed this story on a Facebook Live Stream, noting that they planned to shoot the angle before Dynamite went on air but they couldn’t do it because the sun had not gone down yet.
Seth Rollins has been part of groups like the Shield and The Authority during his WWE career and the former Champion has recently formed another faction with AOP and Murphy.
So far this group has not found its name but the former Universal Champion believes that they might get one after this year’s edition of WrestleMania.
Rollins talked about potential names for his group when he
appeared on WWE’s The Bump. He revealed that he has some ideas and they might
get a name after the Show Of Shows:
“Yeah, I have some ideas [on names]; I’ve had some cool
names in the past, so we’ll see where it lands. Maybe, post-WrestleMania. But,
I’ve got some things brewing.”
Seth Rollins also talked about his chemistry with the group saying that both AOP and Murphy are very talented but they had been sitting on the sidelines since coming to main roster and they were missing the right guidance.
Though while the Architect is planning the future of his group, latest reports suggest that we can see a major shakeup to his faction in the upcoming time due to Rezar’s injury.
This will leave Rollins with only Murphy on his side and it would be interesting to see if the company adds more members to his group to continue this storyline.
The former World Champion recently held a Q&A session on his Instagram account where he talked about things like his feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin and more.
When asked who would be on his Mount Rushmore of wrestling, the Rock revealed three names and said that he keeps going back and forth on the last entry:
“My wrestling Mount Rushmore would be ‘The Immortal’
Hulk Hogan, ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair, ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’ Steve Austin,
that fourth person; I always kind of keep blank because I vacillate back and
forth between “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, Randy
“Macho Man” Savage, Dusty Rhodes.”
A fan then asked the People’s Champion where he sees himself in the mountain and the former champion said that he is on the back part of it which you can’t see:
“Where am I on Mount Rushmore? I would say I’m on the back of Mount Rushmore, that’s the part you don’t see. I’m on the back all by myself and I’m raising my eyebrow and ‘If you smell!’ and I’m doing all that sh-t. That’s me on the back.”
The Rock also explained the reasoning behind his picks saying that you want to pick people who have had the most impact on the wrestling business and also had the ‘X-factor’
