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WWE announced today that both JBL and Ron Simmons will be inducting Teddy Long into the WWE Hall of Fame. Simmons, a fellow Hall of Famer, was managed by Teddy Long in WCW during the early 1990’s.
The 2017 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony takes place on Friday night, March 31st from Orlando, FL.
Bruce Pritchard and Dutch Mantell convince El Patron to vacate the Impact Wrestling world championship he won last week due to all the chicanery involved in his match with Bobby Lashley. They also inform him he can’t have a title rematch unless Lashley agrees to it.
El Patron Calls Out Lashley, Gets EC3
El Patron calls out Bobby Lashley for a title match, but EC3 comes out to challenge him instead. El Patron refers to EC3 as “the b**ch*. It is later announced that EC3 and El Patron will wrestle tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbU8s5kPyxk
After viewing a highlight package of Decay stealing the tag titles from the Hardys via teleporting through time and deleting them, we go back to the Impact Wrestling boardroom where management discusses the need to make some decisions over who the tag belts belong to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c4TiXfX21A
Eli Drake and Tyrus vs. Laredo Kid and Garza Jr.
Before the match we are shown a video package detailing Drake and Tyrus’ history together. Laredo Kid and Garza Jr. are both from the Crash promotion, and had recently defected there from AAA. Garza Jr. rolled up Eli Drake for the pin.
Winners: Laredo Kid and Garza Jr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQqIR3huRg
Video highlights of Moose, Eddie Edwards and James Storm in Japan wrestling with NOAH.
Kacey Quinn vs. Brandi Rhodes
Just before the match starts Cody comes to the ring with his Global Force Wrestling title belt. Cody says the match isn’t going to happen, and then offers Quinn $45 to leave the ring. He runs down Moose a bunch, and then says he wants to take on Moose for the Impact Grand Championship.
Then everyone left the ring and there was no match for some reason. Winner: No Contest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lddCWETNeFg
We come back from commercial and Rosemary is beating up Kacey Quinn. She gives her “Red Wedding”, her music played and the segment ended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDztYZw_e8k
3. Alberto El Patron vs. EC3
For the second week in a row El Patron faces a top talent on Impact. After a back and forth match with Patron concentrating on EC3’s arm, it looked as though EC3 was going to use a chair and get himself DQ’ed. He had second thoughts however, and his hesitation was just the opening Patron needed to hit a kick to the face and lock him in the arm bar. EC3 tapped and commentary played up that he has never done that before.
After the match El Patron clapped for Ec3 and the fans chanted for him. El Patron says that EC3 gave him one of the best matches of his career. Winner: El Patron via submission
Backstage: Reno Scum cut a promo backstage, say they are in Impact to win the tag team championships. They then said “Oi!” into the camera several times.
EC3 is upset backstage after his loss, Bruce Pritchard attempts to calm him down but we don’t get any audio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIRJ9CYACZs
4. X-Division Championship Match
4-Way
Suicide vs. Andrew Everett vs. Braxton Sutter vs. Trevor Lee (c) w/ Shane Helms
Several back and forth X-division spots were followed by Laurel Van Ness coming to ringside, still in her wedding dress. She waved and blew kisses at Allie until Sienna came to the ring. Sienna told the Allie and Braxton Sutter they would meet their “tragic demise”.
Tag Team Division Turmoil
Bruce Pritchard came out to address the tag team title situation, which brought out several teams from the division. Pritchard announced that in 2 weeks there would be 4 teams competing for the championships. Reno Scum, Laredo Kid & Garza Jr, and Decay were already out there so there was only one spot left.
The returning LAX crashed the party and took out everyone in the ring. This new version of LAX includes old members Konnan and Homicide along with new members Mike Draztik, Angel Ortiz and Angel Rose.
Southpaw Regional Wrestling has arrived. Episodes 1-4 of WWE’s new series fare now live and you can check them out below.
The discovery of a VHS cassette reveals the bizarre and hilarious history of a wrestling promotion once thought lost to time: Southpaw Regional Wrestling.
The villainous banker ruins Big Bartholomew’s life, Chett Chetterfield makes an impassioned plea to his wife, and a hot new tag team soaks up the scene.
Big Bart and Christian Joy freak out about the banker’s challenge, Lance Catamaran pines for Utica, N.Y., and a very hairy wrestler makes his presence felt.
The banker reveals his final deception, Tex Ferguson hits the end of his rope, and Lance Catamaran gets bad news about Lethal Leap Year.
Mauro Ranallo missed this week’s Smackdown Live, allegedly due to a snowstorm affecting his travel plans. On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer radio however, Dave Meltzer said there’s more to Mauro’s absence than inclement weather, but wouldn’t provide additional details.
Adding to the speculation is that Ranallo, an active social media user, has gone radio silent across his networks for three days. The last tweet he sent out suggested he may miss Smackdown this week.
Mauro missing SmackDown due to ‘weather conditions’ caught the attention of two former SmackDown announcers, Taz and Josh Mathews. Both of them expressed disbelief with Mauro’s absence, since they did whatever was necessary to make all shows.
With @OfficialTAZ in the car, I once drove us 2 days to Indianapolis to make a TAPED Smackdown show from NYC. #JustSayin'
Taz: “You can not miss a show. You can’t. You can’t miss a show. When you miss a show – in no order of preference – you get heat with the locker room, you get heat with your boss, you get heat with your broadcast colleagues. It’s just not a regular job. You are there once a week, and you are making a lot of money with a massive, massive platform. You’ve got to be there. You’ve got to make the shot. No matter what happens. Mauro is from Canada, okay, so he’s well-versed when it comes to weather and snow. People knew the storm was coming for days. You have to prepare yourself to get to that town early.”
JBL responded to Taz’s rant, “Great video” and told Mauro, “I made the show, everyone made the show, everyone. Maybe he shouldn’t have bashed me if he wasn’t going to show up.” That message was later deleted.
JBL also referenced Mauro Ranallo on this week’s Bring It To The Table show, getting ‘hot’ over the fact that Mauro was named Announcer of the Year by the Wrestling Observer.
The 47-year old Ranallo has a long history of commentating for combat sports. He has called MMA bouts for Pride FC, Strikeforce and EliteXC. Ranallo has called many great boxing matches for Showtime boxing, as well as kickboxing events for Glory. Some believe he is on Dana White’s radar as a potential addition to the UFC commentary team to replace Mike Goldberg.
Mauro Ranallo is one of the best announcers in WWE, so hopefully this blows over and he’s back calling the action from ringside next week.
Rob Van Dam seems to be hinting he could be returning to the WWE this summer, possibly in order to join the company in time for a tour of Australia.
A fan from Australia asked Rob if he would be touring the country with Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion in June, but RVD’s response left more questions than answers. RVD stated he would be in Australia in August, which happens to be when WWE will be touring the country.
The 46-year old Rob Van Dam has had a rocky on-again off-again relationship with WWE over the years. He wrestled with the company from 2001 to 2007, where he became one of the most popular stars on the roster. Shortly after the failed ECW relaunch, his suspension for marijuana possession, and general downturn in the company, RVD left in 2007.
He wrestled for a few years in TNA before briefly returning to WWE in 2013-14.
RVD has always had a cult like following and strong merchandise sales, making him an appealing talent for WWE.
Don’t expect to see WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania. The 12-time world champion will be in Orlando during Mania weekend, but confirmed on Thursday night that he has no plans to attend WWE’s biggest show of the year.
Maniacs I have no plans to be at WM33,I will be at Hogans Beach Shop Orlando on International Dr,March 29/April 3D-? See u at HBS! BrotherHH
Hulk Hogan and the WWE cut ties when recordings of Hogan using racially charged language were made public last year. The recordings led to Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker Media which ended up bankrupting the company. Throughout the trial, Hogan had to demonstrate how badly his leaked sex tape (featuring the racist comments) hurt his ability to earn revenue. WWE severing ties with him was a clearcut way to show that the recordings harmed him financially. Whether WWE cut ties with him because they didn’t want to be associated with him because of the recordings, or to help Hogan show damages in his lawsuit is something probably only Vince McMahon knows.
With the lawsuit over, it’s been widely speculated that an Hogan will wind up back in WWE sooner than later. Apparently WWE didn’t think the time was right for the Hulkster to walk that aisle one more time just yet.
SmackDown Live star and former Wyatt Family member Luke Harper recently appeared on the Gorilla Position podcast and expressed his frustration with his current role in WWE. Harper says he doesn’t miss playing second-fiddle to Wyatt and is disappointed to not have a match at WrestleMania.
Harper says he felt like a “back-up dancer” in the Wyatt Family and grew frustrated with not being able to showcase his skills. “For a performer like me, that’s hard to take and hard to deal with and I thought that the coming out party of the last six weeks was very eye opening and, ya know, showed me what was out there,” he said.
While he’s excited about going solo, the former Intercontinental and Tag Team champion says he feels “bitter” about not being on the biggest pay-per-view of the year. When asked about what his WrestleMania dream match would be, Harper indicated he would want something more violent than what Vince McMahon currently allows on his programming.
“It would probably be a three-way dance between me, Bruiser Brody, and Terry Funk in a “No Holds Barred” match,” Harper said. “And maybe Vince [McMahon] isn’t watching. So we can do some real crazy stuff.”
You can listen to Harper’s whole interview on Gorilla Position.
As noted earlier this week, Rusev is out of action with a shoulder injury and won’t be competing at WrestleMania 33. Following up on this story, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Rusev underwent shoulder surgery back on 3/9 and is expected to be out of action for two months.
It was known for a few months that Rusev needed the surgery and he was reportedly trying to put it off a little longer so he could work WrestleMania. His most recent match took place at Fastlane (3/5) when he suffered a decisive loss to Big Show. The surgery and subsequent recovery period is the reason his team with Jinder Mahal was split up so abruptly.
While Rusev is out of action, Lana is continuing her in-ring training. She was spotted at the WWE Performance Center last week and we’ll probably see her working occasional NXT live events.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will host the season finale of Saturday Night Live. The episode airs Saturday, May 20th on NBC. This will be his fifth time hosting SNL.
Monday’s WWE RAW from Detroit drew 3.232 million viewers, up from last week’s 3.216 million viewers.
The show featured an appearance by Brock Lesnar but the only match advertised was Sheamus and Cesaro vs. Enzo and Cass in a #1 contenders bout. The main event segment featured Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon, leading to Triple H and Seth Rollins appearing.
Here’s the hourly breakdown, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:
Hour 1: 3.176 million viewers
Hour 2: 3.323 million viewers
Hour 3: 3.197 million viewers
RAW was #2 in viewership and #2 in the 18-49 demographic on cable for the night.
Earlier this week, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross pitched Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns as the main event of next year’s WrestleMania. In a blog at JRsBarBQ.com, JR wrote, “I like it as it would give Lesnar a one year run as champ which also would necessitate Lesnar working a few more dates on his last year of his current contract. Seems logical to me. Lesnar could defend the title monthly, if required, quite easily on an enhanced albeit manageable schedule.”
As it turns out, that’s exactly what WWE has planned. According to the the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is hell bent on positioning Roman Reigns as “the next John Cena” and he’ll get another crack against Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania next year. From the Observer:
“The plan is to once again build for a year and have the big coronation at WrestleMania. The idea between now and then is for Reigns to be the face, not just when he wins the title, but to fully replace John Cena as the lead babyface of the company.”
“The goal is very much to make Reigns the next Cena, which was the plan for Santa Clara two years ago, until they decided to delay it based on fan reaction.”
In just a few weeks at WrestleMania 33, Brock Lesnar challenges Goldberg for the RAW Universal Championship and Roman Reigns faces The Undertaker. It’s widely expected that Lesnar will finally get revenge on Goldberg and capture the Universal title at Mania. Lesnar defending that championship against Roman Reigns at 34 doesn’t necessarily mean that Lesnar will have a year-long title reign, but it would be an interesting way to elevate that title and build up the significance of whoever dethrones The Beast.
WWE has been positioning Roman Reigns as the company’s next top babyface for 3 years now.
WrestleMania 34 takes place on Sunday, April 8, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Visit f4wonline.com for details on how you can subscribe to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
WWE announced on Thursday that John Cena will be the man to induct Kurt Angle into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania weekend.
John Cena and Kurt Angle have a lot of history together. Cena made his WWE television debut back in June of 2002 when he answered an open challenge by the Olympic gold medalist. 15 years later, we’ve come full circle and it will be Cena honoring Angle as he takes his rightful place amongst the sport’s top legends.
Since the announcement of Angle’s Hall of Fame induction, he’s done various interviews talking about who he wanted to induct him. On multiple occasions, he said that he requested The Undertaker, John Cena or Stone Cold Steve Austin.
American Alpha recently spoke with the The Sun and gave their thoughts on Kurt Angle. SmackDown’s tag team champions acknowledged that they’ve been compared to Angle and sound excited about the prospect of working with him in some capacity.
Jason Jordan: “It would be great to work with Kurt. He paved the way for us amateur wrestlers. Also, his mind – the way he works in ring – it’s a thing of beauty. It’s amazing.
“There are all these stories we’ve heard about Kurt Angle – and obviously we’ve gotten some comparisons – but it would be really nice to work hand-in-hand with him, help get our game to the next level.
“Obviously he has so much experience that he can put upon us. It would be great to just sit under the tree of knowledge and let him talk with us and give us some pointers.”
Chad Gable: “We’re really looking forward to Orlando. Maybe we’ll get a minute to sit down with him and ask a few things.
“He did the exact path that we’re trying to do right now and succeeded in the biggest possible way. If there’s anyone that’s going to help Jason and I, he’s the man for the job.”
Kurt Angle takes his place in the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday night, March 31st from Orlando.
The Hardy brothers and Young Bucks will continue their epic rivalry on April 1st in Lakeland FL at Supercard of Honor XI. The show is ROH’s annual event during WrestleMania weekend. The Bucks have confirmed the news Jeff Hardy first told us during our exclusive interview earlier this week: the ROH tag titles will be on the line in a Ladder Match.
The Hardys defeated the Young Bucks at Manhattan Mayhem earlier this month, not long after announcing they were leaving Impact and joining Ring of Honor. At the company’s 15th anniversary show on Friday, the Hardys retained the titles in a triple threat street fight against both the Bucks and Roppongi Vice.
After the match on Friday night, Matt and Jeff stole the Young Bucks’ “Superkick Party” title belts as well. ROH still has two weeks of television to air until the show however, so more changes could still be to come.
Following his unsuccessful NXT championship match against Bobby Roode this week, Kassius Ohno was confronted by Elias “the Drifter” Samson backstage. This led to a Ohno challenging Samson to a “Loser Leaves NXT” match for next week.
On the surface a loser leaves NXT match could lead to a main roster debut for either superstar. It seems unlikely the 37-year old Ohno would debt on the main roster anytime soon, having just debuted on NXT television. Stranger things have happened however.
As for Samson, two possibilities exist. If he loses to Ohno next week he could find himself on the main roster, where it is doubtful he would be placed in a high profile role. Samson could undergo a gimmick change and stay in NXT as well however. After WrestleMania is a common time for new wrestlers to debut on the main roster, so it is more likely than not the loser of this match next week ends up on Raw or Smackdown after WrestleMania.
ROH TV
air date: March 15th 2017 (on Comet and the Fite App)
Pittsburgh, PA
Ian Riccaboni & Alex Shelley on commentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDCOwoZ-OQo
1. the Young Bucks vs. Coast to Coast (non-title match)
The young Coast to Coast team of Shaheem Ali and Leon St. Giovanni got in their offence but ultimately lost to the Young Bucks, who were tag team champions at the time of this match. Their tag title loss to the Hardyz took place after this match. The Bucks taunted Jeff and Matt Hardy during the match, even delivering a twist of fate followed by a Senton to their opponents. They also led the crowd in chants of “Delete! Suck it!”. Commentary hyped the Supercard of Honor match between the Hardyz and Young Bucks in Lakeland, FL over WrestleMania weekend. Bucks win after Nick Jackson hit a 450 splash and pinned Ali. Winners: the Young Bucks
Ian Riccaboni conducted an interview with Lio Rush regarding his relationship with the Rebellion. This brings out Kenny King who said Rush was a great aerial wrestler, but King “Gets live at 225lbs”. So something is building there between Rush and Kenny King, but nothing got physical during the interview.
2. 2017 Top Prospect Tournament
Preston Quinn vs. Curt Stallion
Preston Quinn is 40 years old and has been wrestling since 1996, proving the top prospects tournament is not just for young guys. He came out with a colourful manager, Andy Vineburg, who is living in the 1980s. Quinn wrestles on the indy scene mainly in Virginia and North Carolina. He looked good here too, with a lot of old school style offence. He missed an elbow however, and that was all the opening Stallion needed to hit a diving headbutt and get the pin. Winner: Curt Stallion
Cody Rhodes cut a promo on Jay Lethal. He brought out Hangman Page to join him in the ring, and challenged Lethal to a Texas Bullrope match.
3. Dalton Castle vs. Jonathan Gresham
Commentary played up how Dalton Castle will receive an ROH world championship opportunity at Supercard of Honor. At the moment that match would be against Christopher Daniels, but a lot could change in a few weeks, especially considering ROH just taped 4 weeks of television this weekend in Las Vegas.
Castle picked up the clean win here after countering a diving attack into the Bangarang. Winner: Dalton Castle
4. No DQ Match
BJ Whitmer and Punishment Martinez vs. War Machine
The sadistic team of Whitmer and Martinez, who we assume are mentored off camera by Kevin Sullivan, received a big opportunity here by taking on one of the promotion’s top tag teams. Martinez really stood out in this match and got the win by choke-slamming Hanson through a table. After the match he turned on his partner BJ Whitmer as well, choke-slamming him for good measure. Punishment Martinez is looking like he’s ready to make a move up the ROH rankings soon. Winners: Whitmer and Punishment Martinez
The New Japan Cup 2017 continued Wednesday in Japan. Unlike previous years the company is placing each quarter-final match on separate shows during the tour. With Evil and Bad Luck Fale already moving to the semi-finals, the 3rd quarter-final match took place on this show. The final quarter-final match, between Sanada and Tomohiro Ishii, will take place Friday.
Taka Michinoku and El Desperado (Suzuki-Gun) defeated Hirai Kawato and Tiger Mask
Non-Title Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Tomoyuki Oka and Jushin Liger
Tanga Roa and Tama Tonga (Bullet Club) defeated Yuji Nagata and Katsuya Kitamura
Jado, Gedo, Toru Yano and Hirooki Goto (CHAOS) defeated Taichi, Kanemaru, Iizuka, and Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki-Gun)
Hiromu Takahashi, Bushi, Evil, Sanada, and Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables) defeated David Finlay, Taguchi, Kushida, Michael Elgin and Hiroshi Tanahashi
New Japan Cup 2017 Quarter-Final Katsuyori Shibata defeated Juice Robinson
Yoshi-Hashi, Tomohiro Ishii, and Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS) defeated Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale, and Kenny Omega (Bullet-Club)
This means Shibata will face the winner of Sanada and Ishii. The other semi-final, Evil vs. Bad Luck Fale, is already set. While Juice Robinson was eliminated here, making it to the second round in his first New Japan Cup is a pretty big accomplishment for the 27-year old.
Goldberg is currently not scheduled to appear on this coming Monday’s RAW (3/20) from Brooklyn, New York. WWE’s reigning Universal Champion is slated to appear on RAW the following week (3/27) in Philadelphia, the final RAW before Wrestlemania. Brock Lesnar has been booked for both of the remaining episodes of Raw before Wrestlemania.
Goldberg has appeared on one episode of Raw since winning the Universal Championship on March 5th at WWE Fastlane. It looks like he will only be on one more episode before he likely loses the title to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 33.
Tuesday night on 205 Live, Austin Aries won a Fatal 5 Way Elimination Match to earn a match against Neville at Wrestlemania 33 for the Cruiserweight Championship. Aries sent out the following posts on social media about making it to Wrestlemania 33.
On Jerry Lawler’s podcast Dinner With The King, Lawler revealed that he wanted to wrestle a farewell match. Lawler believes that the WWE would never clear him to wrestle again, but if they did he would like to wrestle Dolph Ziggler at Wrestlemania. You can listen to the entire episode by clicking here.
March 15th 2017
Winter Park, Florida
Full Sail University
1. the Ealy Brothers vs. the Authors of Pain (non-title)
the Authors of Pain attacked the Ealy brothers from behind not long ago on NXT television, so the young tag team challenged Paul Ellering’s duo here. The AOP didn’t take long to take care of the Ealy brothers however, in what was basically a squash match. After the match Ellering cut a promo which brought out both Team DIY and the Revival. Then Regal came out and made it official that the tag team championship match at Takeover: Orlando would be a triple threat between the AOP, Revival and Team DIY.
Winners: the Authors of Pain
2. Macey Estrella vs. Nikki Cross (Sanity)
Estrella might not look like it, but she is a former US Marine and member of the Marine Corps Swat Team. The 26-year old was just fodder for Cross here however, as the Scottish brawler looks as though she will be starting a run in NXT’s women’s division. 27-year old Nikki Cross began her career as a teenager 9 years ago. She had a WWE tryout in 2015 and has been going through developmental ever since.
Even though Cross had Estrella beat, she continued to use a swinging fisherman’s neck breaker over and over again, approximately six times in total, before finally pinning Estrella.
After the match No Way Jose and Tye Dillinger hit the ring to payback Sanity for their attack on Roderick Strong last week. The numbers game was too much for Dillinger and Jose however, as Sanity left them laying. Later in the night, William Regal would confirm that next week 3 members of Sanity will take on Dillinger, No Way Jose, and a returning Roderick Strong.
Winner: Nikki Cross
An ominous vignette aired for a superstar who has yet to debut.
3.NXT Championship Match
Bobby Roode (c)(0 title defences) vs. Kassius Ohno
Kassius Ohno, better known to indy fans as Chris Hero, returns to NXT and got a championship match right out of the gun. Ohno is 6feet 4inches and 270lbs. He wrestled in NXT from 2012-13, and now at 37 years old he’s back for another run. Ohno got in his offence but ultimately wasn’t able to take the title away from Roode. The finish of the match came when Ohno had Roode trapped in a submission but Roode scrambled into the ropes, Ohno hit the top rope awkwardly which allowed Roode to hit the “Glorious DDT” for the pin.
Shinsuke Nakamura was shown in the back watching the monitor. It was announced last week that he would face the winner at NXT Takeover: Orlando
Winner: Bobby Roode (1 title defence)
* title defence statistics do not include house shows
Southpaw Regional Wrestling is coming this Friday. You don’t remember the glory days of SRW from this mid 80’s? That’s because it’s a fictional promotion that will be the subject of a new sketch comedy series.
Top WWE Superstars featured in the trailer below include John Cena, Rusev, Lana, Chris Jericho, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows and Cesaro.
Here’s a first look at Southpaw Regional Wrestling. WWE may have struck gold with this one.
AJ Styles attacked Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon last night on Smackdown and slammed his head through a car window. Smackdown GM Daniel Bryan then “fired” AJ Styles shortly after that. Smackdown went off the air with Shane McMahon stating that Styles now has an opponent for Wrestlemania 33. Today, the WWE has removed Styles from their active roster on their website and placed him in the Alumni roster. Styles clearly isn’t actually fired but it appears that Smackdown will be continuing with the storyline that Styles is off the Smackdown roster, even after Shane McMahon challenged him to a match last night.
Carmella and Mickie James were on Talking Smack last night and were interrupted by Natalya and Becky Lynch. Natalya declared herself the leader of the Women’s division on Smackdown and nobody bought it. Alexa Bliss then showed up and blamed Daniel Bryan for causing all of this chaos. Daniel Bryan announced last week that Alexa Bliss will be defending her Smackdown Women’s Championship against “every available woman on the Smackdown roster” at Wrestlemania 33.
WrestleMania 33 is less than three weeks away and the card is close to finalized. As of this writing, 10 matches have been confirmed for WWE’s biggest show of the year. With April 2nd fast approaching, there have been no indications that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be attending. Earlier this week, 2017 WWE Hall of Fame Warrior Award recipient Eric LeGrand tweeted The Rock and said he hopes to see him in Orlando.
Going to be awesome. Hope to see you in Orlando in a few weeks
We know The Rock has one of the busiest schedules in Hollywood and the fact that he does not have set plans to attend is not a great sign for fans hoping for a Rock cameo. That said, The Rock’s last three WrestleMania moments have all been unadvertised. He defeated Eric Rowan in an unadvertised match last year, participated in an angle with Ronda Rousey two years ago, and took part in a legends in-ring segment with Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin 3 years ago.
From WrestleMania 27-29, he played a key role, hosting WM27 and then main event’ing the show with John Cena at 28 and 29.
WWE has released video highlights of Brock Lesnar’s recent match with Kevin Owens from Madison Square Garden.
WWE regularly puts on stacked house show cards at Madison Square Garden, though these events hardly ever see the light of day, even on the WWE Network. Such was the case on Sunday when WWE brought their road to WrestleMania to Madison Square Garden.
Here are quick results from the show. Above, you can see Brock Lesnar making short work of former Universal Champion Kevin Owens.
March 12th WWE MSG Results:
Randy Orton defeated AJ Styles
Rhyno, Heath Slater and Kalisto defeated Curt Hawkins and Breezeango
Dolph Ziggler defeated Apollo Crews
Dean Ambrose defeated the Miz, Baron Corbin and Luke Harper in a 4-way for the IC title
Brock Lesnar defeated Kevin Owens
Nikki Bella, Tamina, Becky Lynch and Asuka defeated Natalya, Mickie James, Carmella and Alexa Bliss
American Alpha defeated the Usos (retained Smackdown Tag Team Championships)
Bray Wyatt defeated John Cena to retain the WWE Championship
WWE returns to Madison Square Garden on Friday night, July 9th as part of the SummerSlam Heatwave tour.
