Jon Moxley is the top star of All Elite Wrestling, joining the company after working for WWE for almost a decade. As Dean Ambrose, he was also at the top of the game in WWE too and achieved a lot of success.
Moxley has been very vocal about the creative process in WWE and how much frustrated he was with the company regarding this. Especially in the final years of his WWE tenure, Moxley was done with the company’s system and wanted to get out.
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Jon Moxley talked about the creative freedom AEW offers its wrestlers. There’s no bookers or writers writing scripts, everyone is allowed to be themselves which means the characters feel more genuine.
“Best thing about AEW is that guys are just allowed to be themselves. You know I don’t have anybody writing scripts for me. I don’t have anybody putting words in my mouth. I don’t have to wonder what my motivations are or be confused about – ‘what are we even doing here? This doesn’t make any sense.’ It’s whatever I want it to be,” said Moxley.
Moxley says that young talent who started wrestling in AEW have no idea how good they have it in the company. He enjoys the fact that others are able to go out and do the same thing as him, be themselves and love what they’re doing. Moxley likens it to being a free wild animal, as opposed to being one put in a cage.
“It’s great for me to watch these young guys especially, that don’t even understand how good they have it. Don’t even understand the opportunity that they have, because they’ve never been put in a cage or put in a box. They’ve only been free wild animals. They don’t even know about captivity yet,” Moxley said.
Jon Moxley was the wrestler to dethrone Chris Jericho as AEW World Heavyweight Champion.
Jericho didn’t successfully retain the title over Moxley but rather Moxley ended the reign of Jericho in the headliner of the AEW Revolution pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL from the Sears Center. Up to this point, Moxley had been portrayed as a top star and now he’s a champion.
AEW set up this contest on the January 22nd episode of Dynamite when Moxley faced off with PAC in the headliner with the winner challenging Jericho for the title at Revolution. Moxley ended up winning the match to earn the opportunity.
Moxley has been the #1 contender in the men’s rankings for quite some time now and also been feuding with Jericho over the last few months.
In fact, at first, Jericho tried to recruit Moxley to his Inner Circle group. The faction consists of Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana, Ortiz, and Jeff Cobb.
Jericho became the inaugural AEW World Heavyweight Champion when he beat Hangman Page in the headliner of the All Out pay-per-view event back in August at the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago.
What are your thoughts on Jon Moxley winning the AEW World Heavyweight Title? Was this the right call by AEW officials? Sound off in the comment section.
All Elite Wrestling has announced the next special themed episode of AEW Dynamite.
During the AEW Revolution pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL, it was revealed that the March 25th episode of Dynamite will carry a special theme, Blood & Guts, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
It was also revealed in the announcement through the way of a video package that one giant covered cage with two rings for WarGames-like match.
The theme of the show is a reference to what WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon had to say during an earnings call with media outlets when questioned about AEW last July.
At the time, McMahon stated that WWE will not “do blood and guts and things of that nature, such as what is being done on our new potential competitor.”
The first-ever Steel Cage match under the AEW banner came earlier this month when Cody Rhodes beat Wardlow as part of his stipulations set out by Chris Jericho.
Rhodes didn’t go over MJF as he got his revenge at Saturday’s AEW Revolution pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL. The finish saw MJF counter a third Cross Rhodes by hitting Cody in the face with a diamond ring for the win.
The promotion finally announced the match after the February 19th episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT in Atlanta, GA when Rhodes beat Wardlow in a Steel Cage match.
This comes after Rhodes completed all of the stipulations that MJF demanded. These stips included lashing Cody and Rhodes beating Wardlow.
After months of MJF acting like he was Rhodes’ friend, he turned on the fan-favorite last November.
Chris Jericho retained as AEW World Heavyweight Championship over Rhodes in the main event of the AEW Full Gear pay-per-view event.
The stipulation coming into this title match last November was the fact that if Cody didn’t beat Jericho then he would never allow himself to challenge for the AEW World Title again.
MJF threw in the towel while Jericho had Cody in the Walls of Jericho, which resulted in the finish. After the match, MJF kicked him in the nuts and stood over Cody. Since then, the two had been exchanging words to build to this moment.
Chris Jericho, who is set to defend his AEW World Championship against Jon Moxley at AEW Revolution, talked about the difference between working in WWE and AEW.
Jericho talked with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated and discussed a variety of topics, among which the subject of difference working between the two wrestling companies came up.
Jericho said that if he’d be in WWE he would still be doing “The List!” gimmick, even though it’s “archaic and outdated”. Jericho said that since he left WWE he has reinvented himself and tried out different things like the Painmaker, his work in Japan and now in AEW.
Jericho revealed that there are no bookers and writers in AEW as opposed to WWE. “There’s no bookers, no writers. I’m coming up with these ideas and bouncing them off of a couple guys. These are all our ideas,” Jericho said.
Jericho noted that he’s not the only one involved in the process. He can lay down the groundwork and a basic idea for the storyline, and the rest of it goes from there. Jericho added that this way of working is something new for him.
“Also, it’s not like I’m coming up with every single thing. But the basic skeletons, like, ‘Here’s what I’ve got for the first six weeks for Jericho-Moxley.’ Then each week we tighten it up and focus it. I’ve never been in that position before.”
While working for WWE, Chris Jericho’s process involved getting a phone call Sunday night from a writer who would tell him the plan for the next day’s Raw. Jericho said that he would do as directed if he liked the idea, but if he didn’t, then he would have to wait three hours outside Vince McMahon’s office to explain to him why it would work better in a different way. “We don’t have that. All that stress is gone. It’s fun, it’s creative freedom,” said Jericho.
Jericho said that he loved working in WWE, and anyone who signs a contract with them knows what they’re getting into. They’ll have to work in Vince’s way. Jericho didn’t want to work Vince’s way anymore and that’s why left.
Wrestle-1 made the announcement that it is going to go on an indefinite hiatus and suspend all activities after their April 1 event at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The Japanese wrestling promotion made the announcement at a press conference by representative director Keji Mutoh aka The Great Mutah and president Kaz Hayashi.
All contracts of Wrestle-1 talent will be terminated, the company announced. The contracts will be terminated the day before the April 1 show, making the entire roster free agents.
“We would like to report that the professional wrestling organization “WRESTLE-1” will suspend its activities indefinitely at the end of the Korakuen Hall Games in Tokyo on Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
Thank you to all the fans who supported us, the people who supported the organization and the players, and all the concerned parties. Sorry for the sudden report.
Due to the suspension of activities, all Wrestle One players will be released on March 31, 2020 (Tuesday).
Both players and staff are willing to run with all their strength until the end.
Thank you for your continued support.”
The reason behind the closure of Wrestle-1 is the fact that it was not profitable. There’s also a professional wrestling training academy by Great Muta which was established back in 2016. Popular female wrestlers like Hana Kimura and Reika Saiki were the first-year students at this academy. It has been announced that the academy will also be closed indefinitely.
Wrestle-1 has been around since 2013 and was created by The Great Muta. The early days of the promotion managed to draw in large crowds while having stars like Sanada, Shuji Kondo, and Kaz Hayashi under its belt. The company also had a partnership with Impact Wrestling. However, Sanada and other popular stars started leaving and the company spiraled down into obscurity soon enough.
Kenny Omega and Adam Page will, in fact, keep the AEW Tag Team Titles.
Omega and Page took on The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) at the AEW Revolution pay-per-view event. This is where Omega and Page successfully retained the titles over the fan-favorite tag team.
AEW booked a Tag Team Battle Royal on the February 19 episode of Dynamite in Atlanta, GA. The stipulation going into the match was that the winners would become the new #1 contenders for the straps.
The Young Bucks vs. SCU vs. Private Party vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus vs. Best Friends vs. Santana & Ortiz vs. The Butcher & The Blade vs. Jack Evans & Angelico vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver vs. Cima & Michael Nakazawa were featured in the match.
The Young Bucks ended up winning the contest. Thus, earning the right to challenge for the AEW Tag Team Titles against Page and Omega at AEW Revolution.
Page and Omega beat SCU for the titles on the January 22nd episode of AEW Dynamite that was taped the night in the Bahamas on the Ship of Jericho on TNT.
What are your thoughts on Kenny Omega and Adam Page retaining the AEW Tag Team Titles? Was this the right call by AEW officials? Sound off in the comment section.
Southpaw Regional Wrestling, the much beloved fictional wrestling web series from WWE is going to make its return with a third season. WWE announced on February 29, 2020, that the show is going to return and is set to take place in the summer of 1994.
WWE has released teasers for the upcoming season. In one of the teasers, we see Lance Catamaran (played by John Cena) calling Chett Chetterfield (Fandango), who was seemingly out cold after a long night drinking. He tells Chett that production has been waiting three weeks for him to show up and that it’s time to get the band back together. Chett stumbles his way through out of the bed as we see “Southpaw Regional Wrestling” on the screen, followed with “Coming Summer ’94”.
It’s interesting to note that the first season of the show is set in 1987 and the second season goes a year back to 1986. The upcoming third season takes a leap straight to 1994, and one could expect a lot of changes in Southpaw Regional Wrestling after eight years.
The sketch comedy series about the fictional 1980’s professional wrestling premiered in 2017 and was an instant hit. The show features characters such as Lance Catamaran, Chett Chetterfield, Tex Ferguson, Chad 2 Badd, Clint Bobski, Big Bartholomew and more. New characters were added last season so we can expect to see some more additions to the cast in third season too.
A few weeks ago, WWE added a Southpaw DLC to WWE 2K20, which included new characters not seen in the past two seasons of the show. These characters are Misfit Molly (Becky Lynch), Goergia Washington (Charlotte Flair), Bay Lee Billionaire (Bayley) and Glam Rocker (Johnny Gargano).
Joey Janela had a match with Kenny Omega on AEW Dark which received positive reception from fans. The match took place on the 10/15 episode of Dark and while Omega came out the victor, Janela still received a lot of praise for his performance. He would then have another match with Omega but this time on Dynamite’s 4th episode. This match got a great response from fans and is considered one of the best early AEW matches.
Janela talked about this match while appearing for an interview with The Wrestling Inc Daily, where he spoke about the match with Omega on Dynamite and revealed how important it is to him.
Janela said that the match was a big deal for him and that it was almost not going to take place.
“It was great. I just wanted to show everyone that I could go. That match almost didn’t happen so for them to let it happen was a big deal for me. Some of my friends from home came up to watch it so maybe my career peaked at that point. “ joked Janela.
Janela also revealed that the match was originally supposed to be against Jack Evans instead of Kenny Omega.
“Where the segment was – me and Jack Evans never wrestled on TV. That would have been his and my TV debut and they didn’t want to put us out there cold. I said, ‘Well, you advertised the match already.’ They said, ‘We’re just gonna put Jack in there with Kenny.’ I was depressed as I was just coming off the big match with Kenny the week before. I felt like things were going right and I really wanted to have that match with Jack Evans on TV. 15 years in the making – I needed that moment,” said Janela.
Janela added that Tony informed him about Jack wrestling with Omega, which got him really upset. But the match was changed later with Janela facing Omega and that’s how it came to be.
As seen at Saturday’s AEW Revolution pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL, Hager beat Rhodes in this contest that marked his in-ring debut with All Elite Wrestling.
In order to build up to this match, AEW had to lay some back story between Rhodes and Hager, formerly known as Jack Swagger from his time in WWE.
During the build-up for the AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho-Cody Rhodes match last year heading into Full Gear, Rhodes took a beat down from Hager.
AEW did an angle where Rhodes’ arm was broken after Hager smashed it in a car door.
It was revealed that Hager had signed with the promotion when he made his on the October 2, 2019 episode of AEW Dynamite from Washington, D.C., at the famed Capital One Arena on TNT.
On this show, Jericho, Santana, and Ortiz beat The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega in a six-man tag team match. After the contest, Hager walked out and helped the heels beatdown the babyfaces.
He’s been aligned with the heel group, named The Inner Circle, on television since then.
Jake Hager Feels “Cloud Of Doom” When Looking At Misused WWE Talent
The Sandman went on a drunken rant after botching the finish of a match at Florida based promotion Atomic Revolutionary Wrestling’s (ARW) show on Friday, February 21, 2020. The promotion held a three-year anniversary show at the Space Coast Convention Center in Cocoa Florida.
The show featured a four-way match on the card between The Sandman, Shannon Moore, Chico Adams and Vertigo for the Atomic Next Level Championship. While the match was set to go for about 15 minutes, The Sandman ended the match in only 1 minute and went on a “drunken rant”. This is all according to the ARW, who released a statement and uploaded a video of the incident on their YouTube channel.
In the video, The Sandman deliberately doesn’t kick out from a pinfall attempt by Moore, 1 minute into the match. After the match, the “drunken rant” takes place. The Sandman calls the location “Orlando” despite the event taking place in Cocoa.
According to ARW, Sandman caused numerous problems backstage as well as “sexually harassing multiple female wrestlers and insulting and trash-talking most of the talent on the show which nearly lead to a backstage altercation.” ARW said that they would never work with The Sandman again.
Back in December 2019, IMPACT Knockouts Champion Jodynn Grace called out The Sandman for his sexist comments. According to Grace, he told her that it was “wrong” that women were headlining a wrestling event and that any male wrestler with experience would agree with him. Many prominent names from the industry including Chris Jericho and Will Ospreay expressed their disagreement with The Sandman’s views publicly. Grace wrote the following on Twitter in response to the current incident: “Dunno what to say except I told you so.”
Tanga Loa who is part of Bullet Club recently talked about The Elite’s departure from the stable in an interview.
Tanga Loa has seen the faction go through a lot of changes and transitions. A member for more than five years, the 6-time IWGP Tag Team Champion talked about the major change that happened in Bullet Club.
Subgroup The Elite – comprising of The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, Marty Scurll and Hangman Page – officially left Bullet Club at the G1 Special in San Francisco in 2018.
The split was inevitable as The Elite had become separated from the identity of Bullet Club, according to Tanga Loa. He said that it had become necessary to establish what the faction meant to them and where they wanted it to go.
“One, I think you could see fans could see there was a real difference in the Bullet Club at that time, and Kenny [Omega] and The Bucks are amazing talents, and then Cody of course, was a part of Bullet Club at that time too. Marty [Scurll] was too, and I think when two of the members, the original members of Bullet Club feel like the club is not holding on to its roots, the tradition, that mindset of what started Bullet Club, I think they felt it necessary to pump the brakes and establish what it meant to be a part of Bullet Club, and San Francisco, I think was that point where we had to draw the line in the sand,” Tanga Loa told POST Wrestling.
After the departure of The Elite, Bullet Club is under the leadership of Jay White, who joined in October 2018. Tanga Loa has been with the faction since March 2016.
Bullet Club will be hosting Bullet Club Beach Party during WrestleMania 36 weekend in Tampa, Florida. The event is set to take place on April 4 at Whiskey Joe’s and many names from the pro wrestling world will be present. You can find more information about the event and ticketing here.
Naomi has taken the brunt of criticism by fans many times in the past. The internet allows people to say whatever they want without repercussions, and people often forget that the person on the other side of the screen can read their hateful comments, and be affected by it.
Naomi is one of those WWE stars which gets a lot of racist and disrespectful comments online regularly from fans. Naomi talked about this negativity thrown at her way online while appearing on Women’s Wrestling Weekly.
Naomi said that the unfiltered negative comments are just part of the deal of being in the public eye, but the type of stuff she gets from people online is crazy. She expressed frustration over the fact that she is expected to sit back and not say anything about the hate thrown her way and take the high road. She feels that one can defend themselves and still not be disrespectful.
“That’s something on the regular that we deal with all the time, every day. It’s crazy the type of negativity I get,” revealed Naomi. “One of the things that bothered me is that people feel like they can say whatever they want, be as disrespectful as they want; and talent has no right or room to respond back or should just be quiet or take the higher road. I feel like you can state your opinion and still take the high road. You can still check people without being disrespectful.”
Naomi also talked about being off WWE TV for around six months, and how she usually finds out about her plans with the company online than through communication from the company. Naomi revealed that it was a surprise when she finally got the call from WWE about her return.
Quotes used in this article courtesy of WrestlingInc.
The AEW Revolution pay-per-view event will take place tonight (February 29, 2020) from Chicago, IL from the Sears Center and has already sold out.
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley will headline the show. In what is being hyped as the co-headliner, Cody Rhodes vs. MJF in a grudge match is slated to go down after months of build on AEW’s weekly television show, Dynamite, on TNT.
AEW Revolution Card
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley
AEW Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega and Adam Page vs. The Young Bucks
Cody Rhodes vs. MJF
Jake Hager vs. Dustin Rhodes
Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara
AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose vs. Kris Statlander
PAC vs Orange Cassidy
Evil Uno and Grayson vs. Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky – Pre-Show
Bray Wyatt lost the WWE Universal Championship to Goldberg at Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia. The last time Wyatt had been in the country he defeated Seth Rollins for the same championship. Wyatt recently reacted to his title loss to Goldberg on social media.
Life is a circle. No matter what beast you make of yourself or how bright one side is, inevitably the dark side comes again. But the beauty of the circle is, round we go.
Wyatt is likely referring to the fact that John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt at Wyatt’s first-ever WrestleMania. They met in single’s action at WrestleMania 30 in 2014 with Cena coming out the winner.
Bray Wyatt vs John Cena – Head-to-Head Statistics
Single’s matches:
John Cena leads 3-1
WrestleMania 30: John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt
Extreme Rules 2014: Bray Wyatt defeated John Cena (Steel Cage)
Payback 2014: John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt (Last Man Standing)
Monday Night RAW 8/25/14: John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt via DQ
Multi-Person Matches:
Bray Wyatt leads 2-1-1
Money in the Bank 2014: John Cena defeated Alberto Del Rio and Bray Wyatt and Cesaro and Kane and Randy Orton and Roman Reigns and Sheamus (This match was a MITB match but with the World Heavyweight Title on the line as opposed to the briefcase.)
Smackdown 7/26/16: Dolph Ziggler defeated AJ Styles and Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin and Bray Wyatt and John Cena (6-Pack Challenge)
Elimination Chamber 2017: Bray Wyatt defeated AJ Styles and Baron Corbin and Dean Ambrose and John Cena (c) and The Miz (Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship)
Smackdown 2/14/17: Bray Wyatt (c) defeated John Cena and AJ Styles (WWE Title – triple threat)
The final betting odds for all of the matches that will take place at the AEW Revolution pay-per-view event have been released.
The card for the show that takes place tonight (February 29, 2020) in Chicago, IL from the Sears Center has been finalized as only matches have been announced.
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley is expected to headline the show. The betting odds only cover the top five matches featured on the card including three title matches.
AEW Revolution Betting Odds
Make sure to join us tonight for match recaps, and our 6 takeaways from this latest pay-per-view event held by AEW.
The favorites to win are listed as – while the underdogs are listed with +. Here are the final betting odds courtesy of BetOnline:
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho EVEN (1/1) vs. Jon Moxley -140 (5/7)
AEW Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega & Adam Page +176 (7/4) vs. The Young Bucks -260 (5/13)
MJF -180 (5/9) vs. Cody Rhodes +140 (7/5)
Jack Hager -320 (5/16) vs. Dustin Rhodes +210 (21/10)
AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose -210 (10/21) vs. Kris Statlander +160 (8/5)
King Corbin lost a steel cage match to Roman Reigns at Super ShowDown on Thursday in Saudi Arabia. According to Corbin, however, his elaborate entrance on the show contributed to his loss.
Corbin offered up an excuse on social media recently for the loss that is similar to the one offered up by Deontay Wilder recently in regards to his loss to Tyson Fury.
Corbin posted the following to social media in regards to his loss to Roman Reigns:
I’m never gonna take anything away with from Roman Reign’s preparation for a main event steel cage match. I was prepared … but I didn’t think of the toll my entrance gear (the chainmail, my robe) and entrance would take on my body. Three min in my legs were tired. pic.twitter.com/M1Nq0suY3O
Meanwhile, Deontay Wilder offered up the following excuse for his loss to Tyson Fury:
“He didn’t hurt me at all, but the simple fact is, Kevin, that my uniform was way too heavy for me,” Wilder said to Yahoo Sports. “I didn’t have no legs from the beginning of the fight. In the third round, my legs were just shot all the way through.”
Speaking of the costume, Wilder also had the following to say:
“I was only able to put it on [for the first time] the night before, but I didn’t think it was going to be that heavy. It weighed 40, 40-some pounds with the helmet and all the batteries. I wanted my tribute to be great for Black History Month. I wanted it to be good and I guess I put that before anything.”
The card for tonight’s (Saturday, February 29, 2020) AEW Revolution has been finalized.
The company has yet to officially announce the main event of this event that takes place in Chicago, IL from the Sears Center and will air on pay-per-view. The belief is that this special will be headlined by AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley.
This show marks the first special for the promotion in 2020, which features a stacked lineup. There are a total of matches booked for this show with three of them being championship matches.
As a reminder, we will be providing coverage of this special later tonight. Here’s the final card:
AEW Revolution Card
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley
AEW Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega and Adam Page vs. The Young Bucks
Cody Rhodes vs. MJF
Jake Hager vs. Dustin Rhodes
Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara
AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose vs. Kris Statlander
PAC vs Orange Cassidy
Evil Uno and Grayson vs. Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky – Pre-Show Match
What are your thoughts on this card and the feuds that AEW is presenting to their fans? Sound off in the comment section.
Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley will face each other in the main event of AEW Revolution with the world title on the line. According to comments Jericho recently made to SI.com, Jericho is the one who recruited Moxley to come to AEW.
“I recruited him,” Jericho said of Moxley. “I don’t even think he knew what AEW was at that point. He is a guy that I knew would be big for us, but I never expected he would be this different, and I mean that in a good way. This is not the guy who was Dean Ambrose. Dean Ambrose is a f—ing nothing compared to this guy. There is a fire inside of him, a creativity, he’s free.”
Jericho then said it is his job as AEW champion to help create new stars.
“This is my job as champion. I make stars. I’m already a star. Mox is a star. This company may have started on my back, but six months later it’s now on a bunch of backs, and that was the idea.”
Jericho would then continue to talk about other members of the AEW roster who he feels he has helped elevate.
“Jungle Boy. Scorpio Sky. MJF’s promo against Jericho. I heard, ‘MJF held his own! He might have even been better than Jericho!’ Gee, you think so? Who wanted it that way? Cody is another guy who’s been a completely different performer.”
Jericho also noted during the interview that while he had nothing to do with it, Hangman Page has become a different performer over the months that Dynamite has been on the air.
“I had nothing to do with this one, but look at Hangman from when we worked in August until now. He’s a totally different guy. That, to me, is why this is working so well. Everybody is starting to grow.”
The full interview with Chris Jericho can be read here.
Tito Ortiz defeated Alberto “El Patron” Rodriguez in December for Combates Americas. The fight result was briefly changed to a no-contest earlier this week, however. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation briefly changed the fight result to a no-contest pending an investigation.
The department issued a statement to MMA JUnkie recently stating its reasons for the investigation.
“A urine sample provided by Jacob ‘Tito’ Christopher Ortiz on Dec. 7, 2019, at the Combate Americas MMA event showed a potentially disqualifying substance that Ortiz claimed was prescribed by a physician,” the statement reads. “Pending the outcome of the TDLR inquiry into whether the substance was indeed prescribed by a physician, TDLR marked the fight results as ‘No Contest.’ TDLR confirmed with the physician that the item was prescribed to Ortiz. TDLR has reinstated Ortiz’s victory in the Dec. 7 bout.”
The fight result has now officially been changed back to a 1st round submission victory for Ortiz. The win is Ortiz’s 3rd in a row having defeated Chael Sonnen and his longtime rival Chuck Liddell in his previous two fights. Ortiz has also been spotted recently training at the WWE Performance Center though he has not signed with the company.
Macaulay Culkin has been a wrestling fan for a very long time. He was shown in the live crowd at WrestleMania VII just months after Home Alone became a smash hit in movie theaters. Culkin has attended numerous other wrestling events in the nearly 30 years since as well but he won’t be attending WrestleMania 36 in Tampa Bay this year.
Culkin made a comment in reply to a Twitter thread about the Goldberg vs Fiend match at Super ShowDown that he has canceled his plans to attend WrestleMania 36 in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Culkin is the host of the Bunny Ears podcast. The podcast features notable guests such as Tony Hawk, Bob Saget, Andy Richtor, and more. Culkin has also been involved in wrestling at the independent level. He interfered in a match for Joey Ryan’s Bar Wrestling and used many tactics his character from Home Alone once did to fend off a pair of would-be burglars.
NXT star Rhea Ripley is all set to make history at WrestleMania this year by becoming the first NXT Champion to defend their title at the Show Of Shows.
The 23-year-old Australian professional wrestler recently had an interview with Mirror.co.uk where she talked about things like the competitiveness at the WWE Performance Center and more.
Discussing her upcoming match against Charlotte Flair at the Grandest Stage Of Them All, Rhea Ripley said that the achievement is awesome and she loves making history:
“To be able to be the first person from NXT to defend their NXT Championship at WrestleMania is awesome and I love making history. Don’t get me wrong, like I love it.
And then to be able to challenge Charlotte, the winner of the women’s Royal Rumble,” said Ripley. “It’s just like it’s not really heard of, the champion challenging the challenger.”
The NXT star also discussed Mick Foley’s recent comments where Foley said that her upcoming match can steal the show at WrestleMania.
The NXT Champion said that it’s pretty cool to have someone like the Hardcore Legend take the time to tweet about their match.
Rhea Ripley challenged the 2020 Women’s Royal Rumble winner, Charlotte Flair for a match at WrestleMania 36 and WWE has confirmed this bout for the event after Flair accepted the offer. You can check out the updated card for Mania here.
All signs are pointing towards The Revival leaving WWE once their contracts expire and it appears that the company is also preparing for their departure.
PWInsider is reporting that the company has filed an application to trademark terms The Mechanics as names for wrestlers and No Flips Just Fists as a tag line for merchandise.
The Mechanics is the original tag team name the Revival used during their initial days in NXT, and No Flips Just Fists is the popular catchphrase that has been used by the duo.
This move comes after the former Raw Tag Team Champions
applied for a number of trademarks themselves including the name Top Guys and
phrases such as ‘Say Yeah’, ‘No Flips, Just Fists’ and ‘Shatter Machine.’
While not confirmed, it’s believed that the Revival is trademarking the terms in preparation for their post-WWE careers and Top Guys is the name they are planning to use.
On the other hand, WWE is likely trying to trademark the terms to try and stop them from using them in indies or any other promotions if the duo does leave the company.
Scott Dawson’s current contract is set to expire in April while WWE has added 10 weeks to Dash Wilder’s deal for the time he missed due to injury, meaning that he will become a free agent sometime in June.
Roman Reigns was involved in the opening segment of SmackDown this week where he set up his WrestleMania match but it wasn’t the last of him the fans in the arena got to see.
The former World Champion came out once again after the show
was over and he competed in the dark match of the night against none other than
King Corbin.
Corbin had introduced a weapon in the match and he was
trying to use it against his opponent but Reigns managed to avoid the attack
and hit a spear.
After this, the Former Shield Member pinned King Corbin to pick up another victory over him after Super Showdown to send the crowd home happy. You can check out some videos of the bout below:
The opening segment of this week’s episode of SmackDown saw the new Universal Champion Goldberg celebrating his win over The Fiend at Super Showdown.
Roman Reigns then came out to confront the former WCW star
and WWE later confirmed that these two will meet at this year’s edition of
WrestleMania.
The show also had a number of other interesting moments including John Cena’s return and the start of his WrestleMania rivalry. You can check out the takeaways from this week’s SmackDown here.
WWE SmackDown aired live from the TD Garden in Boston, MA. Universal Champion Goldberg and John Cena appeared on tonight’s show.
WWE SmackDown 2/28 Results
Lacey Evans & Naomi def. Sasha Banks & Bayley
Robert Roode def. Kofi Kingston
Daniel Bryan def. Curtis Axel
The Usos def. John Morrison & The Miz
Here are 5 takeaways from this week’s show:
Roman Reigns Will Face Goldberg At WrestleMania
New Universal Champion Goldberg came down to the ring to a chorus of boos as Michael Cole pointed out a photo of him with the belt got a lot of Instagram likes.
Goldberg asked “who’s next?” and dropped the microphone. Roman Reigns’ music hit and he joined Goldberg in the ring as the crowd chanted “you both suck!”. Reigns said that he is next and dropped the microphone. The match was then officially announced later on the show.
Opinion: Well, there is now at least one match I don’t care about at this year’s WrestleMania. Michael Cole stated that people were getting goosebumps during this segment. He didn’t clarify whether they were watching while cold or were excited for this match. It also doesn’t make sense to me what Roman Reigns did to earn the title shot besides beating King Corbin several times. I was assuming that Reigns would win the Elimination Chamber match to get a shot at the title. Instead, all Reigns had to do was walk to the ring and say he was next.
Bayley was set to face Naomi again tonight. Sasha Banks returned and joined Bayley in beating down Naomi. Lacey Evans rushed the ring and a brawl broke out. It was then announced that it will tag team match. Naomi hit Banks with a Crossbody outside the ring. Lacey connected with an awkward hop over the top rope followed by clumsy fall onto Bayley as you can see in the GIF below.
Match Recap: Banks and Bayley controlled the match early and isolated Naomi in the corner of the ring. Evans brought Sasha outside and threw her into the ring apron. Naomi capitalized on the distraction and rolled up Bayley for the victory.
Opinion: Sasha Banks made her triumphant return in her hometown only to lose a random tag match. It was great to see the SmackDown Women’s Champion get pinned in this match that nothing as well. I’m also looking forward to watching WWE desperately try to get Lacey Evans over once again in the coming weeks.
Braun Strowman Will Defend The IC Title In A Handicap Match At Elimination Chamber
Renee Young moderated the contract signing for the Intercontinental Championship match at Elimination Chamber. Braun Strowman will defend the title against Shinsuke Nakamura at the PPV. Sami Zayn and Cesaro accompanied Nakamura to the ring for the segment.
Zayn said that they were trying to conduct business like gentlemen and asked Strowman to grab a seat. Braun obliged and grabbed the computer chair and launched it out of the ring. Sami stated that Nakamura couldn’t enjoy his birthday last week because Strowman Powerslammed him onto a piano.
Strowman told Sami to shut up because everyone is tired of hearing him bitch and moan. Braun added that he doesn’t care what is in the contract, even if he has to fight all three of them, and just signed it. Zayn amended the contract so that Strowman will have to fight all three of them in a 3-on-1 Handicap match at Elimination Chamber.
Nakamura and Cesaro beat Strowman down in the corner and Sami followed it up with the Helluva Kick. Sami hit another one before Nakamura hit the Kinshasa. Cesaro and Shinsuke then Suplexed Strowman through the table.
Miz & Morrison Will Defend Their Titles In A Tag Team Elimination Chamber Match At The PPV
John Morrison and The Miz. Image Credit: WWE.com
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Miz and John Morrison came down to the ring and boasted about winning the titles at Super ShowDown. Miz said that they proved all the haters wrong and now they can choke on their pancakes.
Miz and Morrison tried to start a chant for themselves before posing in the ring as Miz’s entrance music played. Ring announcer Greg Hamilton interrupted and announced that Miz & Morrison will defend their titles in a Elimination Chamber match at the PPV. Heavy Machinery, New Day, Roode & Ziggler, Lucha House Party, The Usos, and New Day will be the other teams in the match. The Usos then battled Morrison and Miz in a tag match.
Miz and Morrison battled back and started to start a chant for themselves once again. Jimmy tagged in and hit Morrison with a boot to the face and hung him up in the Tree of Woe. Jimmy then planted John with a Destroyer as Jey tagged in. Jey hit a Frog Splash for the pinfall victory.
Opinion: I will forever be dumbfounded as to why WWE has many of their champions lose non-title matches on television. I don’t understand the point of having Miz and Morrison win the titles 24-hours ago and then lose their first match the following night.
John Cena made his return at the conclusion of this week’s episode of SmackDown. Cena got a great reaction from the crowd as John stated he will always be a WWE superstar.
Cena said that he is doing something different at this year’s WrestleMania and that he always prides himself on listening the to the WWE Universe. John added that the crowd is all passionate about the future of WWE and he is to.
John claimed that he is doing the right thing this year and that WrestleMania should go on without him. Cena said that WrestleMania spots should be earned and not demanded. Cena thanked the crowd and exited the ring. Cena gave a salute on the entrance ramp before the lights went out. The Fiend appeared on the entrance ramp and pointed at the WrestleMania sign. John tipped his cap at The Fiend and the lights went out again to end the show.
Opinion: The final few seconds of SmackDown were very well done with The Fiend challenging Cena at WrestleMania. I loved the shot of Cena slowly turning around to reveal The Fiend behind him. The rest of the show was a letdown unless you are a diehard Goldberg or Reigns fan.
