A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE NXT TakeOver: Portland special.
McKenzie Mitchell announced on WWE Now that Dakota Kai vs. Tegan Nox will take place in a Street Fight at this show.
The two stars just battled in a singles match on this week’s episode of WWE NXT in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University on the USA Network that saw Nox go over.
This rivalry dates back to November’s TakeOver: WarGames event where Kai turned heel by attacking her former best friend.
WWE presents the NXT TakeOver: Portland event on Sunday, February 16, 2020 in Portland, Oregon at the Moda Center and will air on the WWE Network. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming days. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE NXT TakeOver: Portland Card
NXT Champion Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa
NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle
Finn Balor vs. Johnny Gargano
NXT Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair
Dakota Kai vs. Tegan Nox – Street Fight
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
Another year, another time for The Revival to convince WWE management to be released.
News broke on Friday from Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live that Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder had requested their release from the company last week. They still have time on the deals and clearly wants out of them early.
However, as of this writing, they have yet to be granted their release. The Revival has filed to trademark their finisher, “Shatter Machine,” and “#FTRKO,” which is seen as a step towards life outside of the company.
In January 2019, it was reported that The Revival was unhappy about their position in the company and requested their releases. Later that year, it was reported they were offered five-year, $500,000 per year deals to stay with WWE, but haven’t accepted.
Co-host of Busted Open Radio Tommy Dreamer recently commented on the return of WWE Superstar Edge. The ‘Rated R Superstar’ made an incredible and unlikely comeback during the 30-man Rumble match to a huge reaction.
“You know Edge…listen, I’m friends with the guy I don’t think Edge is returning”
Edge and Dreamer are longtime friends, and Dreamer recently claimed that he didn’t believe that Edge would be returning to wrestling at all. “You know Edge…listen, I’m friends with the guy I don’t think Edge is returning” Dreamer said back in January. “He [Edge] is feeling good, he’s doing a lot of outside projects. If Edge did come back it would be an amazing amazing thing. It’s just I don’t know if he’d want to risk his health and overall well being.”
“I’m super duper close with Edge”
Dreamer has now confirmed that he DID in fact know that Edge would be returning to WWE. The ECW legend did explain himself during the Busted Open broadcast, saying “I will confess to a lot of fans. I’m super duper close with Edge. He had confided in me a long time ago that he was going back to WWE.”
Dreamer elaborated further, saying that “we kind of laid some foundation, kind of fantasy booking with each other. There’s a friendship. I love the guy and I would never betray that friendship, for whatever rumours, speculation, anything that comes out there. And also, I always open up Christmas presents on Christmas not on Christmas eve. And for when there was speculation going around, or all the social media buzz about it…why? I know we like to guess about it. Even spoilers, I cannot stand them. So, I’m never going to ruin [the outcome]. I wish Edge never told me, because I wanted to see [it first hand]. I wasn’t sure he was going to debut at the Rumble, but that was what was on the table.”
“I don’t feel it’s deceiving the fans”
Dreamer finished by discussing how he feels hiding information like this is not ‘deceiving’ the fans, due to the good intention. “I don’t feel it’s deceiving the fans because the end result is ‘wow I got to see something special.'” It is true that we got one hell of a moment when Edge returned last Sunday.
WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre will be heading to the WrestleMania main event after winning this past Sunday’s Men’s Royal Rumble match. The Scottish born Superstar outlasted 29 other men (including WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, whom he eliminated) to guarantee his spot at the ‘show of shows.’
McIntyre’s history with the company has been well documented, including his release back in 2014, when it seemed as though McIntyre would be relegated to a lower card slot for the company, if he were to stay, for the rest of his career. McIntyre was part of the successful comedy trio 3MB, alongside Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal.
“I knew Drew McIntyre when he first came up in WWE”
Co-host of Busted Open Radio Tommy Dreamer recently revealed that WWE wanted Drew to go away and ‘re-invent’ himself when he was fired back in 2014. “I knew Drew when he first came up in WWE, I had wrestled Drew,” Dreamer began. “They [WWE] had big plans for him. A long time ago if [you] remember he was kind of like the hand picked ‘chosen’ person. And then that fell by the wayside, to the point where he was actually let go by WWE.”
“Find yourself”
Dreamer elaborated further, saying “you you look at someone who looks the way he looks, but it was like, go out there. Find yourself. I was the one who got him hired in IMPACT Wrestling. He had a nice little run for himself. But what he did was he went out there and he worked everywhere. He worked everywhere in the UK, he continued on this path to better himself.”
“they [WWE] were straight up with Drew McIntyre”
Dreamer re-iterated the point later in the broadcast, saying “they [WWE] were straight up with him; ‘Go and re-invent yourself.’ He did that, he came back and he was rewarded.”
Today, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold the first day of their two-day event, The New Beginning in Sapporo. The event will be held at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center in Sapporo City, Japan. This event will be available to watch on their live streaming service, NJPW World. English and Japanese commentary are available.
Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) def.Tiger Mask IV & Yuya Uemura The match began with both members of Bullet Club taking turns beating up Yuya Uemura. This built up to the hot tag to Tiger Mask. The crowd went wild as Uemura managed to put Phantasmo in a Boston Crab and hit him with his overhead suplex. Uemura got several near falls with a school boy and a small package hold. Taiji Ishimori submitted Yuya Uemura with the Yes Lock. (8:13)
Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi & Yota Tsuji Exactly three weeks from today, Manabu Nakanishi will retire from professional wrestling. The youngest and most sprightly wrestlers in this match, Tsuji and Toa Henare, made for the high point of this match as they fought. Toa Henare pinned Yota Tsuji with the Toa Bottom uranage. (9:41)
SHO, YOH, Will Ospreay & Ryusuke Taguchi def. Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI) This was a fast-paced match, no surprise considering the majority were junior heavyweights. The main focus was on the two upcoming title matches involving the participants: Zack Sabre Jr. defending the Rev Pro British Heavyweight Championship against Will Ospreay tomorrow, and Roppongi 3K defending against Desperado and Kanemaru next week. Ryusuke Taguchi pinned DOUKI with the Dodon. Also, DOUKI brought a new metal rod, that was a little more professional than the one he was using before. (11:45)
Ryu Lee & Robbie Eagles def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) Hiromu Takahashi and Ryu Lee were not waiting until their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match at The New Beginning in Osaka to go to war. Their rivalry that has gone on since Hiromu’s excursion to CMLL is revered for good reason: the two men never hold back around each other. Robbie Eagles also performed well. He may have felt slighted for not getting his own title match after pinning Hiromu in his return match last December. Robbie submitted BUSHIH with the Ron Miller Special, an inverted figure four leg lock. (11:47)
Bullet Club (KENTA & Jay White) def.Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & SANADA) This tag team match was a preview for two singles matches at The New Beginning in Osaka: SANADA versus Jay White and Tetsuya Naito defending his IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships against KENTA. It could be said that this match was a tale of two matches. The first half could have been described more as physical banter than proper wrestling. Naito and KENTA taunted each other, entered the ring only to leave immediately, and generally tried not to take each other seriously. As the match progressed, all wrestlers involved became more urgent in their actions, and this gradual escalation made for a high-quality match. Jay White pinned SANADA with a victory roll. (18:42)
Suzuki-gun (Taichi & Minoru Suzuki) def.Kazuchika Okada & Jon Moxley Kazuchika Okada in a tag team match with Jon Moxley as his partner was something that no one could have predicted a year earlier. Okada against Taichi is the main event of tomorrow’s show, but the stars of this match were Moxley and Suzuki. It was not lost on them as to how much people are anticipating their IWGP US Heavyweight Championship match next Sunday, and gave the crowd today a delightful appetizer. They beat each other every which way, hit each other with guardrails and fans’ seats, spent a clearly illegal amount of time outside the ring, and traded their hardest hits. Suzuki pinned Moxley with the Gotch-style piledriver. (17:48)
After the match ended, Okada tried to hit a Rainmaker on Taichi, but Taichi avoided hit and knocked Okada down with the Iron Finger from Hell. Will Ospreay came out to apprehend Taichi, but Zack Sabre Jr. showed up to stop him. Taichi hit a Black Mephisto on Okada on the ramp.
Tomohiro Ishii def. EVIL It was known all along that this match would be, as another wrestler put it “two meaty men slapping meat” and it lived up to that expectation. These two fridge-shaped men traded chops and lariats as close to the larynx as possible, and EVIL even seemed at times to have a hoarse voice from them. EVIL accidentally didn’t get enough lift on a corner suplex and Ishii fell on his head, but the match seemed to pick up from there, so maybe it energized him. EVIL used Ishii’s trademark superplex, but it only netted him a near fall, as did a following Darkness Falls. After a white-hot closing stretch, Tomohiro Ishii pinned EVIL with the vertical drop brainbuster. (21:14)
NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Shingo Takagi def. Hirooki Goto Shingo and Goto were clearly not content to be outdone by the previous battle of rectangular, heavy men. So many lariats were traded, so many angry Japanese words that are probably inappropriate were said, and so much sweat flew. After landing a monstrous lariat, Goto was too tired to stand up, so Shingo lifted him to the top rope and hit him with an avalanche brainbuster known as the Stay Dream. To add insult to injury, Takagi landed a rope-hung GTR on Goto, which he had been referring in the lead-up to this match as the Great Takagi Revolution. Goto got a second wind and hit the Shouten Kai for a near fall. Goto hit the reverse GTR and was winding up for the regular version, but Shingo countered it into Made in Japan. He followed up with Last of the Dragon to win the NEVER Openweight Championship. (20:10)
Hirooki Goto’s reign lasted 25 days with 0 successful defenses.
WWE SmackDown aired live from the Bok Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma tonight. This week’s episode was advertised as “Super SmackDown” and featured Shinsuke Nakamura versus Braun Strowman for the Intercontinental Championship.
SmackDown Results (1/31)
The Miz & John Morrison def. Heavy Machinery, Lucha House Party, and The Revival
Braun Strowman def. Shinsuke Nakamura to win the Intercontinental Championship
Roman Reigns & The Usos def. King Corbin, Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler
Here are 5 takeaways from this week’s show:
Morrison & The Miz Earned A Title Shot
Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight) vs. John Morrison & the Miz vs. Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Kalisto & Lince Dorado) vs. The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson) battled tonight to determine the #1 contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
Match Recap: Heavy Machinery took control early as Otis planted Miz with a Powerslam. Tucker leveled The Revival as Otis connected with a double Caterpillar. Miz battled back and went for a Crossbody off the second rope but Otis caught him. A massive brawl broke out that wound up with Miz and Dawson in the ring. Miz connected with the Skull Crushing Finale as Morrison tagged himself in. John hit the Starship Pain on Dawson for the pinfall victory. John Morrison and The Miz are the new #1 contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. They will face New Day at WWE Super ShowDown for the titles.
After the match, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville approached Otis and Tucker backstage. Mandy thanked Otis for helping her during the women’s Royal Rumble match and Otis responded by asking Rose out for a date next Friday. Mandy stated that she had plans and Otis looked upset. Rose told Otis that she doesn’t have plans the following Friday and Tucker pointed out that their date is on Valentine’s Day.
Braun Strowman Captured The IC Title
Shinsuke Nakamura defended his Intercontinental Championship against Braun Strowman tonight on SmackDown. Sami Zayn and Cesaro were ringside for the match.
Match Recap: Nakamura tried to lock in a Sleeper Hold but Strowman quickly escaped by slamming Shinsuke into the turnbuckle. Sami hopped up on the ring apron for a distraction and Nakamura took control of the match. Zayn then got in a cheap shot as the referee was distracted by Shinsuke.
Braun battled back and connected with a Splash in the corner. Shinsuke tried to regroup outside the ring but Strowman went after him and connected with a massive shoulder tackle. Back in the ring, Sami started to take off the padding of the top turnbuckle. The referee prevented Cesaro from hitting Strowman with a cheap shot, which allowed Braun to send Nakamura into the exposed turnbuckle. Strowman followed it up with the Running Powerslam for the pinfall victory. Braun Strowman is the new Intercontinental Champion.
Opinion: There was a time where Braun Strowman should have been the WWE Champion but he wasn’t given the title for whatever reason. I hope this helps Strowman regain some of that popularity and he can begin to get himself back to that level.
Sheamus squared off with Shorty G once again tonight. Sheamus defeated Shorty G during the Royal Rumble Kickoff Show this past Sunday night.
Match Recap: Shorty G attacked Sheamus from behind during his entrance. Shorty G ran down to the ring as Sheamus got up with a pissed off look on his face. Sheamus dominated the match early and hit a Rolling Senton outside the ring. Back in the ring, Shorty G hit a headbutt and followed it up with a Dropkick off the top rope. Shorty G hit a Cannonball in the corner of the ring and made his way back to the top rope. Shorty G hit a Moonsault and went for the cover but Sheamus somehow was able to kick out at two. Sheamus quickly took back control and hit the Irish Curse Backbreaker. Sheamus followed it up with the Brogue Quick for the pinfall victory.
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley came down to the ring to a chorus of boos from the crowd. Bayley referred to herself as a role model as she bragged about retaining over Lacey Evans at the Royal Rumble.
Bayley added that Lacey’s daughter now has to look at her mother and know that she is a loser. She said that she can watch from the crowd with the rest of the sheep is she needs someone to look up to.
Bayley claimed that it was a given that Flair was going to pick her for WrestleMania and asked for her to come to the ring. Naomi interrupted and had a LED helmet/ mask on.
Naomi stated that Bayley has never defeated her and that the SmackDown Women’s Championship could use some glow. Bayley then hit Naomi in the face with the title and beat her down. Naomi battled back and hit Bayley with a kick to the face that sent the SmackDown Women’s Champion retreating.
Roman Reigns and The Usos started off this week’s episode with a promo. Roman bragged about whooping Corbin’s ass all over the baseball stadium.
Corbin interrupted alongside Ziggler and Roode. Corbin claimed that Roman wouldn’t have won the match at the Royal Rumble if it wasn’t for The Usos getting involved. He then rolled footage of Reigns being covered in dog food and Roman wondered if they had a dog food fetish. Roman suggested that the losing team had to eat dog food tonight and King Corbin accepted the stipulation. That match wound up being the main event of the show.
Match Recap: Corbin, Roode, and Ziggler dominate the action early and send The Usos flying out of the ring. Graves and Cole make sure to comment about how gross the dog food smells as SmackDown went to a break. Back from the break, Corbin tagged in and hit Reigns with a cheap shot on the apron. Roman eventually got the tag and got a great reaction from the crowd. Corbin planted Reigns with a Chokeslam and went for the cover but Roman kicked out. King Corbin followed that up with the Deep Six but once again Reigns kicked out at two. Jimmy took out Roode with a Suicide Dive that sent him over the table. Jey then did the same to Ziggler as Reigns rolled up Corbin for the victory.
After the match, Reigns and The Usos handcuffed King Corbin to the ring post. They then flung some dog food on Corbin before pouring a ton of it on top of him. Reigns, Jimmy, and Jey then posed for a bit before celebrating in the ring to close the show.
Opinion: WWE advertised this show as “Super SmackDown”, when in reality it was just several matches we have already seen before. Strowman capturing the Intercontinental Championship was easily the best moment of the night. The rest of the show was pretty forgettable.
On the January 31 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, Braun Strowman captured the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Shinsuke Nakamura. Besides that, number one contenders were determined and a few major segments have now been announced for the next week’s episode of SmackDown.
John Morrison and The Miz earn SmackDown tag title match in Saudi Arabia, and are bringing back The Dirt Sheet
A Fatal 4-Way number one contender match was put together as The New Day needed new challengers for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. The Miz & John Morrison emerged victorious from their opponents The Revival, Heavy Machinery, and Lucha House Party. They will face The New Day on February 27 in Saudi Arabia at Super Showdown.
But before that, WWE has announced that the duo is bringing back The Dirt Sheet to SmackDown. This segment will be a good point to build up the with the New Day before their match.
Bray Wyatt will be bringing the Firefly Fun House next week on SmackDown. The Fiend will be coming off fresh from the Strap Match win against his challenger for the Universal Title, Daniel Bryan. Speaking of which…
Daniel Bryan also returning to SmackDown
Daniel Bryan will return to the blue brand for the first time after suffering the brutal loss to Bray Wyatt at Royal Rumble for the Universal Title. It will be interesting to see what’s planned next for him.
The first trailer for F9, the upcoming movie from the Fast and Furious franchise has arrived, and it reveals what character John Cena is going to play.
Cena was announced to be joining the film last June, and there was no word on what role he would be playing in the movie, until now. The trailer reveals that John Cena will be playing the role of the brother of Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel).
In the three minutes long trailer, it is revealed that John Cena’s character Jakob, is Dom’s long-lost brother and he has teamed up with Cipher (played by Charlize Theron) to take down Dom.
The film seems to be focusing on the sibling rivalry as John Cena will play the role of the main antagonist, besides Cipher. John Cena’s Jakob is a master thief, assassin, and a high-performance driver, and it can be seen in the trailer how far he’ll go to take down Dom and his crew.
The film will release in theatres on May 22. The film stars Vin Diesel, John Cena, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang (yes, apparently his character’s alive), Charlize Theron and Cardi B, who will play a new character named Leysa, shown to be a woman who has a connection to Dom’s past. You can watch the trailer below:
Braun Strowman has finally won his first singles title in WWE.
Strowman faced Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura on Friday night’s SmackDown with Sami Zayn and Cesaro at ringside.
Nakamura attempted to throw Strowman into the turnbuckles after the padding was taken off of them while the referee was distracted, but it backfired as Strowman stopped Nakamura and threw him into it instead. A running power slam later Strowman was able to pin the Nakamura for the win.
While Braun Strowman has held the Raw Tag Team Championships twice, he has never won a singles title before. The Monster Among Men had this a long time coming, and some might even argue that this push is a bit late for him.
After headlining many pay-per-view events, winning the Money in the Bank contract, the Greatest Royal Rumble, the unstoppable monster has finally captured gold for himself.
As for Nakamura, the IC reign with him was lacklustre so here’s hoping the same does not happen with Strowman’s. Zayn’s duo also seems to be falling apart as Nakamura is no longer champion and not a lot of things are going right for them. It may not be a huge surprise if they went their separate ways after this.
Mickie James was involved as a producer for the women’s Royal Rumble match, according to a report.
Along with Mickie were other producers like Michael Hayes, Tyson Kidd, Adam Pearce, and Triple H who all put together the women’s Royal Rumble match. This report comes from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer.
Michael Hayes has worked in backstage roles since 1999 for WWF. Tyson Kidd was hired as a full-time producer in 2017, after suffering a career-ending injury in 2015. Adam Pearce, on the other hand, signed a contract with WWE as an NXT trainer in 2015 but was moved to a producer role.
The reason why Mickie James didn’t appear in the Royal Rumble is because of the ACL injury she suffered during a live event in June, and she has been out of action since.
She has competed in the 2018 and 2019 Royal Rumble matches before. In the 2018 match, there was a memorable moment when Mickie was face to face with Trish Stratus in the ring. Mickie has had zero eliminations in the event so far.
Mickie underwent successful surgery for her torn ACL in July. During this time, she appeared on WWE Main Event as a commentator and was made a free agent after the 2019 WWE Draft.
Rhea Ripley shared the touching moment that she had with WWE COO Triple H after her match at NXT TakeOver: War Games on November 23, 2019.
The WarGames match at the event involved Team Ripley (Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Tegan Nox, and Dakota Kai) and Team Baszler (Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, and Kay Lee Ray). Ripley was the one who won the match by performing the Riptide on the Baszler through two chairs.
Ripley was interviewed by talkSport recently and was asked about Triple H’s reaction on her performance. Ripley recounted the moment after the WarGames match when she went backstage and saw Triple H in tears of happiness.
“Yeah, they were. And it was really, really cool. I remember coming back from War Games – because that was all the same weekend – coming back from the War Games match and having Triple H there almost in tears of happiness. He hugged Candice [LeRae] and I and I was just like ‘this is a dream to me!’ [laughs]. I’m like, you’re the reason I started wrestling, started watching wrestling, it’s so, so cool. And he was just so proud of all of us because he knows we were all stressed with the mad weekend, so to make him proud is just so awesome.”
She also talked about the Survivor Series match where she won the triple threat match with Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks. Ripley cradled Charlotte when she was using the Figure Eight move on Banks.
Rhea Ripley was asked whose idea the finish was, and she revealed that it was Charlotte’s. “It was Charlotte! She’s so smart, she was coming up with the coolest things. I felt so stupid [by comparison]. I took so much credit for it and I was like ‘yes, give me the credit’ [laughs].”
The NXT Women’s Champion most recently beat NXT UK star Toni Storm at the Worlds Collide event from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday, January 25, 2020. Ripley will be defending the title next against Bianca Belair at NXT TakeOver: Portland on Sunday, February 16 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.
We last saw Ronda Rousey in the WWE ring when she lost to Becky Lynch in the main event of WrestleMania 35 in 2019. Since then, there has been no indication from the former UFC star about her return to the squared circle, until now.
The Royal Rumble just concluded a few days ago and Rousey’s fans speculated that she might make a return on the pay-per-view event. That didn’t happen, and Rousey even went on Twitter to troll the fans who were expecting her return.
After the Royal Rumble, Rousey also went on the WWE podcast After The Bell with Corey Graves, and there she was asked about when she will make her return to wrestling. Rousey said that she’ll make her return if WWE lets her appear just on the live shows. She added that she misses wrestling at the live shows.
“Probably, whenever the hell I feel like it. If they would just let me show up at live events, probably very soon,” Rousey said.
Rousey said that she liked live shows better because she wouldn’t get her hair and makeup done during them and she prefers the laidback backstage environment of a live show.
“I love the camaraderie and the kind of laidback feeling of live show days. Jump in the car afterwards and go to the next town. Never being able to find food and eating beef jerky all night. I miss that.”
NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley was mentioned by Rousey a couple of times during the podcast, as Rousey said she would like to face Ripley if she returns to the WWE. Ronda Rousey is under contract with WWE until April 10, 2021, so we can expect her to make a return this year.
Recently on the Jericho Cruise, several former members of the New World Order took part in a panel discussion. During the conversation, the topic of what NWO members should be included in the WWE Hall of Fame induction was brought up. The sentiment amongst the panel was that Eric Bischoff should be one of the members going into the Hall of Fame in Tampa Bay before WrestleMania this year.
“You know how things operate up there, it’s not about what you produced or ticket sales,” Hall said when asked what NWO members should be going in. “I certainly think, I would start with Eric (Bischoff).”
Jericho then chimed in on the topic as well.
“I agree times a thousand,” Jericho said. “I think the reason why (Bischoff’s) probably not going in is there’s still the residual heat.”
“Who knows? I don’t think about it too much,” Bischoff himself mentioned.
Hall then joked that Bischoff only thinks about it every time he does his podcast.
“I think it’s crazy, I’m bummed out that Eric Bischoff is not in on this. I feel bad for that, I actually feel bad about that. It goes without saying,” Waltman said about Bischoff not being included.
Bischoff would later react to Waltman’s comments.
“That’s nice of him to say, but he’s not calling the shots, so it really doesn’t matter. I wish he was. That’d be great. I’d like to hang out with my buddies at WrestleMania, that’d be wonderful, but I don’t worry about that. I knew as soon as I saw that, I go, ‘Oh my gosh, my Twitter feed is going to be overloaded with comments about this, I’m going to be dealing with it now for weeks.’ But I love those guys. Those four guys, especially Hulk, these are guys that I have deep affection for, and respect for, so I couldn’t be happier.”
In a recent interview with SI.com, John Cena says that Brock Lesnar is the greatest WWE performer of all-time. Cena discussed watching the Royal Rumble from his home on the WWE Network and how he doesn’t feel his presence was missed on the show.
“I can say with the utmost sincerity that I believe Brock Lesnar is best in-ring performer that I’ve seen and I know it’s an opinion, and if you want a cool quote, here it is: I think he’s the best in-ring performer of all time,” Cena said during the interview.
Cena would continue to talk about Lesnar’s performance in the men’s Royal Rumble match.
“I thought his performance at the Rumble was a clinic on how to establish yourself, how to establish those around you, establish the championship, establish the importance of one event.”
Cena then double-down on his comments regarding Lesnar being the best performer in WWE history.
“I really do think so. I genuinely think he has a good understanding of who he is.”
Cena then said he believes Lesnar has a great presence in the ring.
“He believes so much in his presence, and he has such a definable presence you can’t ignore him and he never wastes anyone’s time and everything he does is special and everything he does meaningful and it’s not all selfish. He’s one of the most giving performers in the WWE and that is the mark of a true craftsman and a true professional. It was awesome to watch. My jaw dropped when I watched the Rumble.”
Cena continued to talk about if he’ll be at WrestleMania and more of his thoughts about the Royal Rumble. The full interview with SI.com can be read here.
Next week on AEW Dynamite, Cody Rhodes will be forced to take 10 lashes from his rival, Maxwell Jacob Friedman. MJF insisted on the stipulation as well as several others in order for Cody to receive a match against him at Revolution on February 29th. He explained the stipulation recently in a video posted to AEW’s social media accounts.
“Cody, a lot of people on the internet, they’re wondering ‘MJF, why 10 lashes? Why that stipulation?’ So specific, so vicious,” MJF says in the video. “It is specific. Allow me to specify why this is going to happen to your hero Cody Rhodes. A wise man once said, if you’re a walk-behinder the view never changes. And oddly enough, Cody Rhodes, that’s exactly was what you were going to allow me to be for the rest of my career. “
“Every lash will be with all my power and all my might and every single time that leather meets your skin it will symbolize all your lies and all your empty promises and you’re going to quit. You won’t make it to 10, hell you might not make it to 8. Do you want to know why Cody? I’ll tell you why. It’s because I’m better than you and you know it.”
AEW posted the below video of MJF cutting a promo on Cody and talking about why he decided on the 10 lashes stipulation.
SOCIAL EXCLUSIVE: "…and every single time that leather meets your skin. It will symbolize all of your lies & all of your empty promises." – @the_MJF.
Next week @CodyRhodes will receive 10 lashes on Dynamite!
In the summer of 1996, there was no bigger angle in wrestling than the NWO teasing they would reveal their 3rd member at Bash at the Beach. Hulk Hogan would famously turn heel and align with Hall and Nash.
In the years since the famous angle, numerous reports have come out about other wrestlers who were considered for the role. Bischoff addressed those rumors on a recent edition of his podcast. According to Bischoff, no names other than Hogan and Sting were ever discussed.
Eric Bischoff on Bret Hart & Others Being The NWO’s 3rd Man
“Bret Hart was never a syllable in any statement that was in any part of any conversation as an option,” Bischoff said. “Never happened. Put that one to bed. Had I talked to Bret? I don’t think at that point I’d talked to Bret, I think I met Bret after that for the very first time.”
“To me, it was always going to be the 3 that I chose,” Bischoff continued. “And Sting was going to be the guy that was going to turn because I wasn’t sure about Hulk.”
“I wasn’t looking for anyone outside that equation.”
Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:
The main event of this week’s NXT saw the conclusion of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne dubbed the ‘Broserweights’ faced off against NXT UK’s James Drake and Zack Gibson, the Grizzled Young Veterns.
Both teams has strenuous journies to the final. The Broserweights defeated Mark Andrews and ‘Flash’ Morgan Webster and Imperium. Whereas, Grizzled Young Veterans defeated the Timesplitters and Undisputed Era to earn their spot.
On the line was a shot at the NXT Tag Team Championships at NXT Takeover: Portland against Undisputed Era.
Broserweights vs Grizzled Young Veterans: The Match
Unfortunately, this tag team classic was interrupted by a non-‘picture in picture’ commercial break. Therefore, these statistics cover televised action only. However, there was a rather stacked 18 minutes and 9 seconds of this!
These 18 plus minutes saw a notable total of 195 offensive attacks. This averages out at an electric 10.7 manoeuvres per minute.
In terms of tide changes, this tag-team bout contained 55. Thus averaging out to 3 tide changes per minute.
Broserweights vs Grizzled Young Veterans: Match Report
The Broserweights would eventually walk out winners earning the Dusty Cup and the NXT Tag Team Championship shot at NXT Takeover: Portland. Their superiority showed throughout the match as they took 8% more of the total offence in comparison to their foes.
The first five minutes of this match saw the Broserweights explode into action. An avalanche of strike downs and grapples gave Riddle and Dunne the advantage early in the bout.
The second five was a more balanced affair. Both teams employing double team manoeuvres as things became competitive. This five also saw the teams teeing off on each other in a ferocious war of strikes.
The third five saw the Grizzled Young Vets take control at last. Their output dwarfed the Broserweights in this portion of the match. This was achieved via a plethora of strong strikes resulting in strike downs constantly. Gibson finished this five with the Shankley Gates.
The last few minutes of this encounter saw Broserweights bounce back and dominate the Grizzled Young Vets. Three double teams in three minutes led to the win for the Broserweights.
This competitive contest saw both teams enjoy flurries of significant offence. This match was less back and forth and more periods of sustained offence being traded by the competitors.
On average the Broserweight’s flurries tended to be more significant however the Grizzled Young Vets achieved the biggest flurry of the contest in the thirst five of the contest.
Also notable from the chart is the trend in significance of the offence. As the match progressed flurries became larger and larger. Thus leading to the biggest flurry of the match and the Broserweights ultimate victory.
Broserweights vs Grizzled Young Veterans: The Margins of Victory
The Grizzled Young Veterans have been a tag team for years whereas the Broserweights only formed for the Dusty Classic and this was their third match as a tag team. This makes their superior use of double team manoeuvres more impressive.
It was this trend that led to the victory. In the last three minutes of the match, Riddle and Dunne hit three double team moves, the last of which resulted in the winning pin fall.
AJ Styles was on his Mixer channel last night playing video games and talking about his recent injury. Styles suffered a shoulder injury during the Royal Rumble match after taking a Spear from Edge in a rather dramatic fashion. Styles did a flip when taking the move and ended up landing on his shoulder.
During his Mixer stream last night, Styles emphasized that the injury was not Edge’s fault in the least.
“Just so everything is clear, Edge did nothing, absolutely 100% nothing wrong. His move, his spear, everything was perfect the way he did it. If there is any blame put on anybody about what I’m dealing with, my shoulder, it’s me. 100% me. I was ‘over-brothered’ as they say. I just went crazy with my bump there. The only problem with flipping over the way that I did was the first thing to hit was my left shoulder. And I thought I had dislocated my shoulder.”
Styles continued to talk about the moments following his injury.
“They wanted to get me out of there right away and I told them I can’t roll under the bottom rope. That’s not how the Rumble works. I said ‘I’m staying in, somebody is going to have to throw me over.’”
It was reported on a recent Wrestling Observer Radio that Styles hopes to be fully recovered in 4-6 weeks. This would mean he’s back in time for WrestleMania.
MVP took to social media recently to thank WWE for what he is referring to as his final match with the company. The 46-year-old was a surprise appearance in the Royal Rumble match on Sunday and then dropped a single’s match to Rey Mysterio on RAW the following night.
Here is what MVP posted to social media:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B77c2ayn0ab/
“Salute to you boss! You’ve had one hell of a run. Next stop, Hall of Fame!” wrote AEW’s Scorpio Sky.
Mad respect…… &…… if it was the last one in WWE, it was a pleasure and an honor to be part of that chapter! ???? https://t.co/5n5KoVKlw0
People keep asking me about the "deal I signed" with WWE. I never signed a deal. I came back so that my son could see me wrestle in person and for him to see me wrestle his favorite wrestler. As usual the industry leeches are reporting misinformation as fact.??? Idiots.
Speaking to Vice, MVP opened up about how going to prison led to the start of his wrestling career.
“My life is an open book,” MVP said. “As a teenager I was into gangs and guns and nonsense. I was all about robberies, I used to say the world was my ATM, I ended up doing six-and-a-half months in the juvenile facility for robbery, armed robbery, aggravated assault, grand theft auto, resisting arrest. It was a nice little crime spree I was on.”
“When I was in work release that’s where I met my buddy, Prime Time Daryl D, aka Daryl Davis, who is a correctional officer and was also an independent pro wrestler.”
Bret Hart posted on Facebook recently that the doctors discovered a basal cell carcinoma on his shoulder. The Hitman also noted that he has surgery scheduled to have the skin cancer removed next week.
Hart posted the following to his official Facebook page:
“Goal for 2020 and beyond: wear more sunscreen! Basal cell carcinoma removal scheduled soon. Another opportunity to remind everyone to look after your health and #getchecked.”
Bret Hart Upcoming Appearances
Hart is booked at the upcoming WrestleCon event in Tampa Bay over WrestleMania weekend. He will be at George Steinbrenner Field on April 4th and 5th. Hart advertised the appearances on Instagram recently:
Jim Ross recently spoke about Bret Hart’s return to WWE in 2010 on an episode of his podcast.
“I was happy. Anytime you can spend quality time with Bret Hart, you are better off for it,” Jim Ross said on the show.
“I’m shocked that somebody isn’t using Bret to help coach, teach, motivate young talents,” he continued. “He’s brilliant, brilliant mind. Great worker, one of the best I ever saw in my entire life.”
WWE United States Champion Andrade has been suspended by WWE for 30 days. The suspension is due to the Superstar’s first violation of the company’s Wellness Policy. WWE has not announced what caused Andrade to fail the test.
Andrade posted the following to social media recently:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B76ffSwnJFR/
“Never give up because things got tough, remember where you come from and where you are going.”
Andrade also recently spoke to Seconds Out about his initial frustrations while training at the WWE Performance Center.
“When you would work out with the guys who have never wrestled in their life? I’ve been wrestling for nine years in this moment and some of these guys don’t know a wristlock, or waist lock, or headlock,” Andrade explained. “I stay in the corner and say, ‘Ugh! Three hours?’ Because the class is three hours.”
“I have to stay in the ring because I’m learning headlocks, or a spot, or a little wrestling. And I’ll say, ‘Okay, Norman Smiley, next.’ People are standing in the ring while he says, ‘A headlock is this, a headlock is this, a headlock is this.’ Norman Smiley keeps saying wait, wait, and he understands because he speaks Spanish and says, ‘Hey, tranquilo, tranquilo, tranquilo, relax, wait, wait.’”
George Barrios and Michelle Wilson have been removed from the WWE Board of Directors effective immediately. WWE sent out a press release thanking both Barrios and Wilson for their time with the company.
The WWE stock is down significantly in response to the news. The company is scheduled to announce its 2019 4th quarter earnings next Thursday. Some are speculating Barrios and Wilson’s departures could be in response to lower than expected results.
WWE also announced that Frank A. Riddick III has been named the new Chief Financial Officer and will report directly to Vince McMahon. Riddick has been on the WWE board of directors for 11 years.
Wilson and Barrios had been Co-Presidents since 2018.
WWE Press Release Announcing George Barrios and Michelle Wilson’s Departures From The Company
“I would like to thank George and Michelle for their 10+ years of service and contributions to the organization,” said Vince McMahon in WWE’s press release. “I am grateful for all that was accomplished during their tenure, but the Board and I decided a change was necessary as we have different views on how best to achieve our strategic priorities moving forward.
A new episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown is here and it’s a loaded show.
With just hours until bell time, it’s time to look ahead starting with tonight’s episode of SmackDown.
Several segments and matches have been announced thus far for this show including Roman Reigns, The Usos to take on King Corbin, Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler in a six-man tag team match. Also, Braun Strowman vs. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura is booked.
WWE holds this show from the Tulsa, OK at the BOK Center. WWE is advertising the following items for tonight’s broadcast:
The Miz, John Morrison vs. The Revival vs. Lucha House Party vs. Heavy Machinery – Fatal 4-Way #1 Contender’s Match
Braun Strowman vs. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura
Roman Reigns, The Usos to take on King Corbin, Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler in a six-man tag team match
Shorty G vs. Sheamus
WWE will also be announcing matches for existing feuds that will take place heading into the Super ShowDown pay-per-view event.
As usual, fans should expect more matches and segments to be revealed this afternoon for SmackDown.
Join us here later tonight for WWE SmackDown Results and our post-show SmackDown Takeaways feature.
Viewership data is in for this week’s battle in the WWE NXT vs. AEW Dynamite Wednesday Night War.
This week, AEW won in total viewers. It was close in every demographic group except Adults 50+, where NXT had a significant edge as they usually do.
Here is the breakdown of the live and same-night DVR viewership, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:
WWE NXT Viewership
NXT on the USA Network averaged 712,000 viewers, which is down from 769,000 last week. In the 18-49 demo, they drew a 0.22 rating, down from 0.24 the previous week.
The episode featured The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle in Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals, Tegan Nox vs. Dakota Kai, Finn Balor defeats Trent Seven, Dominik Dijakovic defeats Damian Priest, and there was a contract signing for the Tommaso Ciampa-Adam Cole NXT Title Match at NXT TakeOver: Portland.
AEW Dynamite on TNT was watched by 828,000 viewers, down from the 871,000 last week. In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite pulled in a 0.34 rating, down from the 0.35 rating that the show did last week.
AEW Dynamite featured matches such as Kip Sabian (w/ Penelope Ford) vs. Cody Rhodes (w/ Arn Anderson), The Young Bucks vs. The Butcher and The Blade (w/ The Bunny), AEW World Champion Chris Jericho, Santana and Ortiz vs. Darby Allin and Private Party
Next week’s battle will be very interesting to see which show wins the ratings battle as NXT will be getting closer to their next special, TakeOver: Portland while AEW edges closer to Revolution.
AEW Dynamite aired live tonight from the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
AEW Dynamite Results (1/29)
Young Bucks def. Butcher & Blade
Nyla Rose def. Big Swole
SCU def. Hybrid 2
Cody Rhodes def. Kip Sabian
Inner Circle def. Private Party & Darby Allin
Here are 5 takeaways from this week’s show:
Moxley Sent A Message To Jericho & Inner Circle
Jon Moxley made his way to the ring to kick off this week’s episode. Moxley said it occurred to him that the fun and games were over with Jericho after he stabbed him in the eye.
Moxley added that Jericho might be the greatest of all-time but hides behind the Inner Circle. Jon stated that he was no role model but makes sure that he can look himself in the mirror at the end of the day. He called Jericho an insecure maniac and a bully.
Jon vowed to take the AEW Championship from Jericho at Revolution. Moxley challenged Jericho to come to the ring and for once in his life take a beating like a man. AEW Champion Chris Jericho came to the entrance ramp and stood there in silence as the crowd booed.
Jericho called the crowd idiots and claimed that Moxley deserved a spike to the eye because he refused to join Inner Circle. Jericho claimed that he saw Jon’s mother backstage and she was looking fetching, and that he told her all of this was Moxley’s fault. Chris said Cleveland doesn’t deserve to see Le Champion one-on-one tonight and called Inner Circle down to the ramp.
Moxley said that he was born and raised in the great state of Ohio and that it will be Inner Circle versus him and the entire arena. Jon hopped out of the ring and Jericho called him a stupid son of a bitch. Jericho brought out 5 more street thugs and all 10 men started marching down the ramp. Jon took out Ortiz with a DDT and attacked Inner Circle before security broke it up.
The Butcher & Blade faced The Young Bucks tonight on Dynamite. Before the match, a great video package was shown with MJF delivering a payment to The Bunny and his request was for them to hurt Matt and Nick Jackson.
MJF joined commentary for the match and claimed that Matt and Nick tried to murder him last week when they threw him in the pool because he cannot swim. The Bunny was ringside for the match.
Match Recap: Matt and Nick isolated Blade in the corner and controlled the match early. The Bunny tripped up Nick Jackson and Butcher took him out with a Crossbody. Blade planted Nick with a Powerbomb and went for a cover but Matt broke it up. Matt tagged in and hit Blade with an Elbow Drop off the top rope for a near fall. Young Bucks followed it up with the Meltzer Driver on Blade for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Butcher and Blade attacked the Young Bucks but Kenny Omega made the save. Hangman Adam Page came down to the ring with a beer and handed it to Matt Jackson. Hangman leveled Blade with a massive Buckshot Lariat and left the ring.
Kip Sabian squared off against Cody tonight. Penelope Ford and Arn Anderson were ringside for the match.
Match Recap: Cody accidentally elbowed Penelope Ford outside the ring and made it seem like she was knocked out. Cody picked her up and Kip capitalized with a boot to the face. Kip and Penelope then kissed as Dynamite went to a break. Back from the break, Cody hit the Disaster Kick for a near fall. Penelope launched her shoe into the ring for a distraction.
Arn grabbed the shoe and threw it into the crowd. Anderson bumped into the referee and he threw him out. Sabian distracted the referee and Penelope hit Cody with a Hurricanrana. Penelope and Kip went to kiss again before Joey Janela came out of nowhere and stuck his face in between them. Joey then flipped them the bird before escaping through the crowd. Cody hit three Cross Rhodes in a row for the pinfall victory.
Opinion: Both the Janela and Hangman Adam Page spots were hilarious tonight. It was announced that Cody will get the 10 lashes from MJF on next week’s episode and that should be quite the segment.
Tony Schiavone interviewed Britt Baker once again tonight. Baker referred to Tony as Mr. Starbucks and then took the microphone from him.
Britt told Jim Ross to never interrupt her when she is speaking again. Baker added that all Jim Ross talks about is her being a dentist when she wrestles.
Baker called Jim a “sloppy BBQ sales rep who cannot even get the AEW roster’s names right”. She pointed out that the AEW Women’s Champion Riho is never on the show before diagnosing Tony with gingivitis. Britt then told the Cleveland crowd that they finally have a Baker they can believe in.
Opinion: Britt Baker cut an awesome tonight and she definitely isn’t wrong about Jim Ross. Jim has made a lot mistakes and made another one tonight by referring to Maxwell Jacob Friedman as “Matthew Jacob Friedman” tonight. I wasn’t a fan of Britt’s match or promo last week but this was great.
Chris Jericho, Santana, and Ortiz faced Private Party & Darby Allin in the main event of this week’s show. Jake Hager and Sammy Guevara were ringside.
Match Recap: Inner Circle dominated early and isolated Marq in the corner. Isiah Kassidy tagged in and rolled up Ortiz for a two count. Jericho tagged in and beat Kassidy down as Dynamite went to a break. Back from the break, Darby Allin tagged in and hit Ortiz with a Stunner. Darby planted Santana with a Sunset Flip Powerbomb and went for the cover but Jericho broke it up. Allin hit Jericho with a Moonsault for a two count. Allin hit Jake Hager with a Coffin Drop as Kassidy tagged in. Isiah hit a Senton off the top rope on Jericho and went for the cover but the AEW Champion kicked out at the last second. Jericho hit Kassidy with the Judas Effect out of nowhere for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Inner Circle attacked Private Party and Darby Allin. Sammy broke Darby’s skateboard and shared a hug with Jericho. Inner Circle then placed the skateboard on Darby’s throat and slammed him to the canvas. Moxley rushed the ring with a baseball bat and sent Inner Circle on the retreat to end the show.
Opinion: This week’s episode of Dynamite was another solid show. There are several storylines that I’m interest in right now. Moxley versus Jericho/ Inner Circle, MJF versus Cody, and Hangman Adam Page’s relationship with The Elite are all entertaining and give people a reason to tune in every week.
