Lucha Underground returns to the El Rey Network tonight for the latest edition of their weekly television show.
On tonight’s edition of Lucha Underground, the main event will feature 19 luchadores facing off in a Royal Rumble style match to determine the first ever Lucha Underground Champion.
The official video promo for the show can be seen below.
– WWE Superstar Seth Rollins will be appearing at the Adventureland Store at the Voorhees Town Center in Voorhees, New Jersey for a “meet and greet” from 10am-12pm on Sunday, January 25th. For more information, visit AdventurelandStore.com.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan is the special guest on today’s edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk is Jericho” podcast. The official description for the show, which features part one of the Hogan interview (part two will be available on Friday’s edition of the show) reads as follows:
TIJ – EP106 – Hulk Hogan Pt1 & the infamous Speewee
“Hulkamania is taking over “Talk Is Jericho”! One of the most iconic wrestlers in history sits down with Y2J & talks about his own wrestling heroes, why he loved working in Japan, his role in the Rocky movie, his first meeting with Vince McMahon Sr, working for Verne Gagne, and taking a chance with WWF and his hot & cold relationship with Vince Jr. Plus, Chris’ friend Speewee, one of the masterminds behind the greatest rib ever pulled on Y2J, joins the show to explain how he put one over on Jericho!”
You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
The following are highlights of a new Sporting News interview with TNA President Dixie Carter:
On if she likes Impact Wrestling being moved to Friday nights on Destination America: “I think I’ll tell you in a few months if I like being on Friday nights.
They presented us with a lot of research and felt very strongly about Friday nights being a potential for them. +3’s is how people look at ratings nowadays, it’s not overnight ratings. With your +3 numbers, you have a much bigger chance for your +3 number over a weekend versus only, like if we were staying on Wednesday, that would be Thursday, Friday and you would have part of Saturday. It’s just an overall strategy. They feel really strongly about it. Wrestling has been successful on Friday nights and is no longer there and so we’ll see how we’ll do.”
On the possibility of TNA airing Impact Wrestling live on a regular basis: “I think that where we want to go from a production and a feel standpoint from the show does not work going live. It does not allow us to do the kind of things that we’re going to want to do because there’s just a lot of post-production time involved in it. So, we’ll have to see. We can always go live and it can be a show like it will be this Wednesday and it’s going to great action and lots of surprises and just be an amazing show that you’re not going to want to miss but I think where we’re going to try to take the show is definitely going to take post-production time and we’re not going to be able to pull off all the bells and whistles we want if we try to go live.”
Check out the complete interview at SportingNews.com.
In what is likely a follow-up to the “firing” storyline from Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, Dolph Ziggler has been removed from the advertised lineups for this coming weekend’s WWE live events. Ziggler has been replaced on the shows by the new WWE Intercontinental Champion, Bad News Barrett.
As things stand right now, Ryback and Erick Rowan have not been removed from the lineups, despite the fact that they too were “fired” on Monday’s show.
It’s possible that fans at the live events this weekend will be told that Ryback and Rowan are “fulfilling contractual obligations,” or something along those lines, as a way of getting around the television storyline, as that is how WWE has handled similar situations like this in the past.
On this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which took place in Laredo, Texas on Tuesday night and aired live on the WWE Network, another entrant into the 2015 WWE Royal Rumble match was announced.
In what is now the third participant for the 30-man over-the-top-rope annual classic, WWE United States Champion Rusev is now officially entered into the match.
Rusev joins Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan as the first three entrants into this year’s Rumble match, which takes place at the 28th annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view, scheduled for January 25th at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
WWE ended up cutting one of the main segments planned for this coming Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on Tuesday night at the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas.
On Monday’s WWE RAW, the first episode of the show in 2015, a “Miz TV” segment with Seth Rollins was advertised and promoted for Friday’s show. For whatever reason, WWE ended up not doing the segment.
Both The Miz and Seth Rollins still worked the SmackDown tapings, but for some reason, they decided against the advertised talk-show segment.
You can read a complete spoiler report for this Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown by clicking here.
Independent wrestler Tim “Arson” Roberts, perhaps best known as the “The Zombie” in WWE’s version of ECW, has passed away. He was 38.
Several friends of Tim Arson are sending condolences on Twitter, including Vito Lagrasso and The Blue Meanie.
We send our most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Tim Roberts.
Sky Sports has released the full 2015 WWE pay-per-view calendar, including the dates and locations of all 12 WWE pay-per-views for 2015:
January 25th: Royal Rumble, Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA
February 22nd: Fast Lane, FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN
March 29th: WrestleMania 31, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA
April 26th: Extreme Rules, Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL
May 17th: Payback, Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD
June 14th: Money In the Bank, Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH
July 19th: Battleground, Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO
August 23rd: SummerSlam, Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ
September 20th: Night of Champions, Toyota Center in Houston, TX
October 25th: Hell In a Cell, Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA
November 22nd: Survivor Series, Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA
December 13th: TLC, TD Garden in Boston, MA
On Monday’s RAW, Seth Rollins was added to the Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena WWE Championship match at the Royal Rumble.
WWE officials had been talking about adding Rollins to the match for several weeks prior to the announcement and went back and forth a few times before officially changing the match.
A storyline point that’s been discussed is for Brock Lesnar to be upset that Rollins is being added to the match, since he could lose the WWE Championship without being pinned or submitting.
Additionally, Heyman’s loyalty to Lesnar has been discussed as a major storyline as we head into WrestleMania season.
TNA Impact Wrestling premieres on Destination America tonight at 9PM (Eastern).
Here’s a preview for tonight’s show, which airs live from the Manhattan Center in New York City:
– TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode vs. Bobby Lashley
– Kurt Angle will make a major announcement
– Josh Matthews joins the TNA announce team
TNA President Dixie Carter has been touting major changes to the presentation of the show, which is expected to incorporate more elements of “reality.”
@VivaDelRio Felicidades #Patron !! ?
Eres el Nuevo Campeón de WWL!!
Sin duda tu eres el Mejor!!! pic.twitter.com/bXejrTX5gV— Chovy (@AnaGPonce) January 7, 2015
Former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio captured the WWL Heavyweight Championship at Tuesday’s “Guerra de Reyes” iPPV from San Juan, Puerto Rico. This comes just weeks after Del Rio captured Mexico’s AAA Heavyweight Championship (Photos).
Ricardo Rodriguez congratulated his friend after the victory:
HUGE congrats to this dude!!! NEW WWL Heavyweight Champ @VivaDelRio pic.twitter.com/r59FENcgrS
— ??Rodriguez ?????? (@RRWWE) January 6, 2015
MTV UK has has published an interview with Daniel Bryan, which was conducted prior to SummerSlam back in August. Bryan was out of action at the time recovering from neck surgery and spoke about Brock Lesnar being the one man he’s always wanted to face in the ring.
“One of the things that kills me about this is if I were champion right now I’d be wrestling Brock Lesnar and that’s the match I’ve always really wanted. I feel like we could do something completely different that people [wouldn’t] have seen before in the United States. That’s the match I really, really want.”
With Lesnar being the reigning, defending, undisputed WWE Heavyweight Champion of the world and Bryan entered in the Royal Rumble, there’s still an opportunity for this match to take place before Lesnar’s contract expires after WrestleMania.
When asked about which other superstars he’d like to wrestle on pay-per-view, Bryan named Cesaro, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose.
TNA star Kurt Angle, who officially re-signed with the promotion recently, spoke to Associated Press writer Dan Gelston to promote the upcoming launch of Impact Wrestling on Destination America, which is scheduled for this Wednesday night.
During the discussion, Angle talked about a possible return to the ring. “It looks like I’ll be wrestling here sooner rather than later, if that gives you a hint,” Angle said while laughing.
Angle also compared his run in TNA to his run in WWE, noting that while he had a great career in WWE, he feels his TNA run has actually been better.
“I had an incredible career at WWE,” said Angle, “but my career has actually been better in TNA.”
You can check out the complete interview at AP.org.
TNA President Dixie Carter spoke with Associated Press writer Dan Gelston to promote the upcoming launch of Impact Wrestling on Destination America on Wednesday. During the discussion, Carter spoke about changes that TNA intends to make to their weekly television product.
“We’re going to pull the curtain back and have cameras where they’ve not been before,” Carter said. “You’re going to see some changes that will help the viewer feel a stronger connection to the show and the characters. It will be a new way of watching it compared to what we’ve had in the past.”
The article also featured comments from the General Manager of Destination America, Marc Etkind, who explained the decision for the cable network to air Impact Wrestling on Friday nights.
“We felt there was an audience coming to Friday already looking for wrestling and we expect them to find `Impact,'” Etkind said. “What we like about the wrestling audience is, it’s an all-American audience.”
As you can imagine, Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns are currently viewed as the two front runners to win the 2015 Royal Rumble match and earn a spot in the main event of WrestleMania 31.
According to Reddit user MetsFan4Ever, the WWE locker room is very divided regarding which man should win the Rumble. The people who support Reigns are making the usual argument that he’s the next “face of the company” and WWE should continue with the original plan to have Reigns walk out of WrestleMania as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. With Bryan being out of action for a good portion of 2014 due to complications from his neck surgery, there is some concern that Bryan will have a hard time staying healthy this year. Some even buy into the Authority storyline that Bryan really is a “B” level player.
The Bryan supporters feel that Reigns simply isn’t ready to be “the guy” and WWE might face major backlash if they pull the trigger on Reigns when a good portion of the WWE Universe is still behind Daniel Bryan recapturing the gold.
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown & Main Event tapings take place from Laredo, Texas.
Main Event will feature Divas Champion Nikki Bella vs. Paige in a non-title match.
On SmackDown, Seth Rollins will appear on Miz TV hosted by The Miz and Damien Mizdow.
Other top stars advertised for the tapings include Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt and United States Champion Rusev.
As always, join us here tonight for Live Coverage of this week’s SmackDown tapings.
– There has been a lot of talk behind the scenes in WWE over the past couple weeks regarding “Macho Man” Randy Savage being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year.
During an interview with Steve Austin last month on the WWE Network, WWE Chairman and chief executive officer Vince McMahon said that the legendary wrestler will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Although McMahon revealed during the podcast that Savage will receive an induction at some point, he did not say exactly when the former WWE Champion will receive the honor.
– As seen last night on Raw, Natalya rode a distraction from Paige and defeated Nikki Bella in a reverse of last week’s result, Paige then ran to her Total Divas castmate’s aid and saved Natalya from an after-the-bell ambush by the Divas Champion. Tonight on WWE Main Event, Paige will square off with Nikki in a non-title match. Following last night’s events, Nikki offered her thoughts via Instagram.
She wrote, “As I have had time to think.. To get lost in my thoughts.. Last night on RAW was a disgrace. A kick in the face is a lack of respect. It’s a dishonor to your champion, to your Queen. If you don’t have the WWE Network I suggest you get it bc tonight I will destroy PAIGES of what I thought was my next chapter. Main Event just got heated up. It just got FEARLESS! #FearlessNikki #MainEvent #RackAttack @wwe.”
WWE officials concerned with Roman Reigns’ lack of crowd reaction – details
After being fired along with Ryback and Erick Rowan by The Authority on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, Dolph Ziggler posted the following statement today:
“it’s the same old situation … the authority is back, again. I’m sorry. to all the hard working superstars that spend 300 nights a year on the road, entertaining the fans the only way they know how, by giving them everything they can! I’m sorry. I’ve done absolutely everything in my power to not only deliver every night, but improve my unique skill set, daily. In any other job that would be rewarded, certainly not frowned upon. I may be out of new york, but I have a lot of connections in LA. I will see you all again soon & know that I miss THIS more than anything in the world, ANYTHING! but you don’t know what’s best for you, THEY do. then again, THEY probably think 4/10 is as good as it gets… same old ball and chain.”
After Monday’s edition of WWE RAW went off the air, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan all looked dejected after being “fired” by The Authority. Eventually the three left with their heads hanging and headed to the back while John Cena remained in the ring looking upset.
Cena got on the microphone and said that there was no way he was going to leave “Whataburger’s Hometown” without a fight, which led to him calling out Seth Rollins.
Rollins came out, but ultimately decided to walk off. This led to Cena calling him out again and getting the fans to chant “You Sold Out” at him. Rollins returned to the ring with Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble and the dark match main event of the evening was set.
Mercury and Noble attacked Cena before the match officially got underway. Finally, things settled down and the actual match began. The match lasted approximately ten minutes, with the finish seeing Big Show come out to interfere. Rollins tried to hit Cena with his Money In The Bank briefcase, but Cena moved and Rollins hit Big Show by accident. This led to Cena hitting Rollins with the Attitude Adjustment for the pin.
Daniel Bryan and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar are both scheduled to appear on next week’s edition of WWE RAW, which emanates from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Speaking of RAW, below is the new official opening video package for the show.
Last night’s Raw was the first of 2015 and the company started the year not with a bang but with a whimper. The show was held in Corpus Christi, TX, and it’s unclear whether the audience was drugged prior to filming, because it was probably the most silent crowd I’ve ever heard at a WWE event. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw.
Pros
The clear highlight of the night was the Ambulance Match between Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt. As always, the two worked pretty well together and delivered a few memorable spots. The ending felt just a bit sloppy, but the rest of the match more than made up for it. In all, it was good to see Wyatt come out on top, as he needed the win more than Ambrose. This program has been one of the only good things going over the past few weeks, so it’s kind of sad to see it come to an end.
Another clear highlight was the Intercontinental Championship match. It was a good way for the Authority to exact revenge against Ziggler, and the 2-out-of-3 falls swerve was decent. It’s also nice to see that the company still has confidence in Bad News Barrett, and this hopefully means that Ziggler will move into the main event picture permanently.
It was nice to see the program actually have an intro and pryo again. This is a minor complaint, but the intro-less format felt really cheap, with it simply going to a lifeless Michael Cole saying, “Welcome to Raw” while panning over the crowd. Unfortunately, the intro and pyro will probably be gone next week due to budget cuts.
Adding Seth Rollins to the main event at the Royal Rumble was brilliant. With Rollins essentially having two chances to win the title in a few weeks, it provides many booking possibilities. My interest level in the main event went from nonexistent to moderately intrigued in a matter of seconds.
Booker T on commentary was a nice change of pace. Hopefully King is well soon, but they really need to shake up the commentary team. I wouldn’t mind seeing Booker become a regular at the table again.
The Kane/Rollins vs. Ryback match was somewhat entertaining but nothing to write home about. The double Curb Stomp was at least a decent finish.
Finally, it was nice to see the company giving guys more time to cut backstage promos. Rusev, Reigns, Ambrose, Wyatt, and possibly a few superstars whom I’m forgetting all received promo time last night. Good to see the company letting the talent speak instead of filling that time with ads or plugs for the Network.
– TNA President Dixie Carter noted recently that Kurt Angle will be making a major announcement on Wednesday’s live edition of Impact Wrestling on Destination America.
– Speaking of Dixie, both she and TNA executive John Gaburick noted on Twitter that they spent all day Monday in meetings at TNA Headquarters in Nashville to prepare for the Wednesday premiere of Impact Wrestling on Destination America.
The following matches were taped on Monday in Corpus Christi, Texas prior to RAW for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars.
– Jack Swagger def. Titus O’Neil in singles action to start the taping. This was said to be a decent match that held the crowd’s interest. In the end, Swagger got O’Neil in the Patriot Lock to force the tap.
– Goldust & Stardust def. Los Matadores in tag-team action to close out the show. This was mostly a comedy match with a lot of entertaining and fun spots. The match finished with Stardust hitting his kick-finisher, which led to Goldust getting a roll-up for the 1-2-3.
