WWE reportedly taped two episodes of Friday Night Smackdown and two episodes of 205 Live yesterday at the WWE Performance Center. According to a report from PW Insider, it was a long day of tapings for the company as WWE seeks to ensure they have content prepared for the next several weeks.
Today, NXT is scheduled for tapings from the Performance Center. The plan is then to present a live episode of RAW from the same venue on Monday night. RAW will be back in the Performance Center on Tuesday to then tape several more episodes to ensure WWE has content up until April 6th.
Some portions of WrestleMania 36 will be taped on Tuesday and Wednesday. The show will not air live and recent internal memos are reported to have circulated within the company to avoid tag lines such as “live on WWE Network” or “streaming live.”
WWE WrestleMania 36 will now air on the WWE Network as a two-night event on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 in Orlando, Florida from the WWE Performance Center.
WrestleMania 36 Lineup
WWE Championship Brock Lesnar (c) vs Drew McIntyre
NXT Women’s Championship Rhea Ripley (c) vs Charlotte Flair
RAW Women’s Championship Becky Lynch (c) vs Shayna Baszler
WWE Universal Championship Bill Goldberg (c) vs Roman Reigns
WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship Bayley (c) vs Lacey Evans vs Dana Brooke vs Tamina vs Naomi vs Sasha Banks
John Cena vs Bray Wyatt
The Undertaker vs AJ Styles
Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins
Smackdown Tag Team Championships The Miz and John Morrison (c) vs. (The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) or The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso)
Tyson Kidd had to retire from wrestling due to his unfortunate neck injury but the former Champion has since found a new role in WWE and he now works as a producer backstage.
The former WWE wrestler, alongside his wife Natalya, recently appeared on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast where he talked about a number of different things.
Talking about his transition from a wrestler to a producer,
Kidd said that it was fairly smooth and he also revealed what the Boss Vince
McMahon told him about his new role:
“So the transition was fairly smooth to be honest. It
was smooth in terms of I like helping people. I liked helping talent with their
matches prior to my injury. Obviously, now as a producer it becomes more a
larger responsibility than just me as a talent giving advice.
What I didn’t know was I didn’t know how fulfilling it could actually be,” Kidd said. “I was told by the boss that now you’ll be like me, vicariously living through the talent, and I thought those were just words. And I’ve now come to realize that it’s very real.”
The former NXT star said that the feeling of fulfilment in
his role is very real and claimed that it’s a great feeling when the talents go
out and execute the things they had planned even better than he had imagined.
Apart from this, Tyson Kidd discussed helping out with Natalya’s SummerSlam match against Becky Lynch, the Women’s Revolution and more.
After a few days of uncertainty regarding WWE’s upcoming taping schedule, we have a big update. There have been a few reports about WWE officials considering a multi-day taping schedule that would cover several upcoming episodes of Raw, SmackDown, NXT and WrestleMania.
According to PWInsider, the multi-day marathon taping schedule at the WWE Performance Center kicks off today and will in fact include WrestleMania.
Here is the current WWE TV taping schedule through WrestleMania:
Saturday (3/21): Friday Night Smackdown for 2/27 and 4/3
Sunday (3/22): Taping for future episodes of NXT
Monday (3/23) & Tuesday (3/24): RAW episodes for 3/23 and 3/30
Wednesday (3/25) & Thursday (3/26): Wrestlemania Nights One & Two
All of this comes after last Monday when the company issued a statement that noted the show will take place from the Performance Center next month.
WWE had to make the change due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, which has been impacting their event schedule.
Former New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski will be hosting the show on both nights. WWE noted in the announcement that only essential personnel will be on the closed set during the production of WrestleMania.
WWE Hall of Famer and co-host of Busted Open Radio Mark Henry recently discussed the Three-Time NFL Superbowl Champion Rob Gronkowski and his switch to the squared circle. Henry would have huge praise for the former NFL tight end and he believes that Gronk has a massive amount of potential in WWE.
“Rob Gronkowski has a lot of personality” Mark Henry began. “He [Gronk] is a walking, living party happening 24 hours a day. I love the guy, I think that he’s gonna make a really good wrestler. Once you’ve got some seasoning and some in-ring experience.”
Mark Henry would elaborate further; saying that he believes the right time for Gronkowski to debut would be WrestleMania next year. Henry would also compare Gronk’s potential to that of two huge cross over stars from WWE’s past. “I’d say by WrestleMania next year; I don’t know if he’ll be at Ronda Rousey level for a first timer, or Kurt Angle for a first timer, but he has that potential.”
The ‘World’s Strongest Man’ would finish by saying that we do not know what sort of combat ability Gronkowski has, and that he could shock the audience. “It’s just cool to see somebody with the potential to be great. You know he’s gonna have to learn some of the fighting arts. I don’t know if Gronk can box. We don’t know if he can shoot wrestle. We don’t know if he could kickbox, there’s a lot about Gronkowski that we don’t know.”
It was announced on Friday’s SmackDown Live that Rob Gronkowski will be the host of this year’s WrestleMania. For the first time ever Mania will be held over two nights on April 5th/6th.
Do you think that Rob Gronkowski will be a success in WWE? Let us know in the comments
Sonya Deville was asked for her reaction on the cancellation
of the storyline during her recent interview with UPROXX. Replying to it, she
said that they were upset momentarily, but claimed that the storyline can
happen in future:
“So obviously, Mandy and I were upset momentarily. It
was something that we really pushed for, but never say never and I think that
it’s definitely still a possibility that it will or could happen in the future.
I think representation in different storylines and stuff
like that is awesome.” said Sonya Deville. “I think it’s good.
There’s a lot of different ways you can do it. There’s not just one way to do
it and it’s not just Mandy and I that have to do it.”
The WWE star also revealed that they had a lot of meetings
with GLAAD. The organization was helping them write and direct the story and
she hopes to get back to it one day.
Apart from this, Sonya Deville talked about how the pro wrestling world is flooded with heterosexual storylines, communicating with other LGBTQ talents and more. You can check out her full interview at this link.
EC3 recently had an interview with Fightful wrestling where he talked about things like his friendship with Rockstar Spud, Spud being signed by WWE before him and more.
The former NXT star first made his name during his run with Impact Wrestling where he won the Impact World title twice before leaving the company in January, 2018.
Talking about his departure, EC3 revealed that he actually asked for his release from the promotion before his contract expired. Discussing the reason behind his decision, the former World Champion said that he needed a big change:
“I decided to leave early because of the transitions
going and I just thought it was a good time for other people to step up and a
good time for me to challenge myself somewhere else at the moment.
I had to do something different especially [with] where my personal life was at the time, I needed a big change.” said EC3. “At the time I was pretty well compensated so I think they were okay with taking me off the books because they also wanted to build new and fresh people” [Transcription: SEScoops]
The former Impact wrestler also commented on his decision to
sign with WWE and said that while he had talks with multiple promotions,
signing with the company was something he felt he needed to accomplish.
Apart from this, EC3 talked about things like Braun Strowman only having two pair of wrestling pants, founding AIW and more. You can check out his full interview below:
The coronavirus outbreak has created a lot of fear around the world and it appears that wrestling legend Jim Ross is not a fan of the way it’s being covered by media.
The former WWE star talked about a number of things on the recent episode of his Grilling JR podcast, including the effects of the epidemic on the world and more.
Discussing the media coverage of the disease, Jim Ross said that he doesn’t know if the media is doing us any favours by screaming about it:
“I don’t know if the media is doing us any favors
screaming about it, it’s important to be aware, you have to be smart, and I
understand washing your hands and not touching your face, but man there’s a lot
of unanswered questions, we’re in uncharted waters.
“To me, it’s kind of stupid. For a lot of people to project what’s going to happen when they don’t know all the information,” said Jim Ross. “We’re talking about an unknown entity and an untraveled road and we’re supposed to be able to navigate that through the media and I think that’s wrong.”
The AEW commentator also talked about last week’s episode of SmackDown which was the first WWE show to be broadcasted without an audience in attendance and said that it’s an interesting thing.
Ross recalled working on wrestling shows back in the day which were taped in TV studios with 20 people in the attendance. He mentioned how one time they taped the show in a barn in Tulsa and there were two rows of people in the audience.
Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards recently welcomed Billy Gunn on the AEW Unrestricted podcast where they talked about the DX member’s wrestling career in detail.
Gunn was trained by Jerry Grey and he started his wrestling career in 1985. He wrestled in the independent circuit for almost 8 years before being offered a WWE contract in 1993.
However, despite the time he had spent in the business, the former Champion did not know much about the wrestling world and during the podcast; Billy Gunn revealed his interesting response to Vince McMahon when the Boss first offered him a contract:
“Being as green as we were, we went literally from the
ring they said, ‘hey, Vince would like to talk to you.’ We went to Vince’s
office. He goes, ‘we’d like to send you a contract. Look it over. See what you
think.'”
“So I looked at Vince and go well I have a job. Can I do this on the weekends? “recalled Billy Gunn.”And I’m not kidding you he did his little Vince laugh and looked at me and he goes, ‘I think you’ll be alright.'”
The former WWE star continued by recalling how he didn’t know how things worked in the business. He didn’t know that the wrestlers worked all the time and they can make actual money if they were good.
Apart from this, Billy Gunn talked about his first match in WWE, his tag team with Bart Gunn where they were dubbed as The Smoking Gunns and more.
A confidential settlement has been reached in the $110 million lawsuit Hulk Hogan had brought in against Cox Radio, Cox DJs Mike “Cowhead” Calta and Matt “Spiceboy” Loyd, and a few other defendants, according to reports from BayNews9.
The WWE Hall Of Famer had accused the defendants of conspiring to leak his private sex tape with Heather Clem. Heather is the ex-wife of Bubba “The Love Sponge” Clem.
The tape in question is the same video which was leaked to National Enquirer in 2015 and led to the story of Hulk Hogan using a racial slur in the footage.
The story sparked a lot of controversy and the former World Champion lost several business contacts due to the debacle. He was even removed from the WWE Hall Of Fame in July 2015, before being reinstated in July 2018.
Hulk Hogan had originally filed a lawsuit against Gawker for publishing the tape. A Pinellas County jury found Gawker guilty of invading the WWE star’s privacy and ordered them to pay more than $140 million in damages in March 2016.
The site ended up going bankrupt and settled with Hogan for $31 million. The wrestling star had then filed a case against the other mentioned defendants, seeking the remainder of the balance, $110 million.
The defendants had denied the allegations made by the Hulkster and fought him in court for almost 4 years before quietly settling this week. The settlement was reportedly reached on Thursday. A jury tiral of the case was scheduled to begin in January 2021.
AEW has announced that they are postponing the special “Blood & Guts” edition of Dynamite to a later date because the timing and circumstances for it are not right.
The company president Tony Khan released a statement on the
matter on Twitter saying that their goal with Dynamite is to produce great
shows for their fans.
He continued by announcing that the Blood and Guts match
which was originally planned for next week’s episode of the show will happen
when the time is right:
“We plan to continue answering that calling with live
weekly shows every Wednesday night on TNT, but the time and circumstances
aren’t right for the card we had planned next week for Blood and Guts.
That show will happen when the time is right, but what you
can count on instead this coming Wednesday night is a great live episode of AEW
Dynamite.”
While this match has been postponed, the company has announced a confrontation segment between Chris Jericho and the newest AEW star Matt Hardy for the next episode of their TV Show.
Matt is expected to join the Elite and face off against the Inner Circle when the Blood And Guts match finally happens. No word yet on if the other announced matches for the show will take place as planned or if they have been postponed as well.
You can check out the company’s full statement below:
world is coping with, and hopefully we gave them a well-deserved escape during these trying times. Everyone at AEW is very proud of what we delivered and humbled by the response and the kind words we’ve received from fans and partners throughout the world.
That show will happen when the time is right, but what you can count on instead this coming Wednesday night is a great live episode of AEW Dynamite featuring @IAmJericho confronting @MATTHARDYBRAND, face-to-face, one-on-one, for the first time ever
WWE SmackDown aired from the Performance Center in Orlando. Goldberg and Roman Reigns signed the contract for their Universal Championship match at WrestleMania tonight.
WWE SmackDown Results (3/20)
Rob Gronkowski suggested a match for WrestleMania
Drew Gulak & Daniel Bryan def. Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura
Paige announced Bayley’s opponents at WrestleMania
Miz & Morrison def. Heavy Machinery via DQ
Goldberg & Reigns signed the contract to make their Universal Championship match official
Here are 5 takeaways from this week’s show:
King Corbin Confronted Rob Gronkowski
Michael Cole and Mojo Rawley welcomed WrestleMania host Rob Gronkowski down to the ring to begin the show. Gronk stated that he has been watching wrestling since 2nd grade and was watching at the FCW arena to support Mojo.
Gronk joked that he was still hyped to be here in front of zero people and is ready for anything. Mojo told Gronk that he was here to watch Rob’s back. Gronk hit Mojo with a couple chops for fun before King Corbin interrupted.
Corbin told Gronk that he is setting himself up for failure if he is going to take advice from Mojo. King Corbin demanded Gronk to get his knees and bow down and Rob said he doesn’t get on his knees.
King Corbin brought up his NFL past and pointed out that we do not wear pads in WWE. Corbin threatened Gronk to fall in line like everyone else or he will make sure Rob’s little party is over.
Elias joined the party and said he has a new song for Corbin. Rob and Mojo danced behind Baron as Elias sang that Gronk is going to rip Corbin’s head off. Corbin interrupted and took off his robe. Corbin got in Gronk’s face and continued to threaten him.
Mojo set up behind Corbin and Rob shoved Corbin over. King Corbin walked towards Gronk but Elias intervened and sent Corbin over the ropes. Gronk suggested that Corbin and Elias have a match at WrestleMania.
Opinion: While I don’t have the slightest interest in Elias versus Corbin at WrestleMania, I thought Gronk handled himself well on the microphone tonight and was entertaining.
Match Recap: Bryan and Gulak controlled the match early and isolated Shinsuke in the corner. Nakamura battled back and Cesaro tagged himself in. Bryan knocked Shinsuke out of the ring and hit him with a Suicide Dive. Back in the ring, Bryan went for a Crossbody but Cesaro caught him and hit a Backbreaker. Cesaro knocked Gulak off the apron as SmackDown went to a break.
When SmackDown returned, Nakamura connected with a Snap Suplex and followed it up with a knee to Daniel’s face for a two count. Gulak tagged in Nakamura went for a Dragon Sleeper but Drew broke free. Cesaro tagged in and leveled Gulak with an uppercut but Bryan broke up the cover. Bryan tagged in hit a Sunset Flip into a roll-up for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Sami Zayn confronted Bryan and Gulak and claimed that they squeaked out a win. Sami told Bryan to start listening to him instead of a nobody like Gulak. Bryan told Sami that he was barely Intercontinental Champion. Bryan wanted Sami to defend his IC Title against him and Gulak at WrestleMania. Sami said if Gulak can defeat Shinsuke next week he will agree to the match.
Paige Announced A Six-Pack Challenge For The SD Women’s Title At WrestleMania
Paige. Image Credit: WWE.com
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks marched down to the ring as Paige was on the jumbotron via skype. Bayley told Paige to get on with what she was going to see so everyone can forget about her again.
Paige called Bayley and Banks bullies and added that they lack courage. Bayley bragged about being the most dominant SmackDown Women’s Champion in history and joked about Paige being forced to retire.
Paige acknowledged that her is career is over and her passion has been taken away from her. She told Bayley that she cannot wait to see who takes her title at WrestleMania and that she asked her friends at Fox if she could announce her match. Paige announced that Bayley will defend her title against Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, Tamina, and Naomi.
Sasha Banks grabbed the microphone and called Paige a bitch. Paige announced Sasha Banks also be in the WrestleMania Six-Pack Elimination Challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. So at WrestleMania, Bayley will defend the title against Sasha Banks, Lacey Evans, Dana Brooke, Tamina, and Naomi in s Six-Pack Elimination match.
SmackDown Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz came to the ring for an episode of The Dirt Sheet. Miz joked that they should ask the audience who they think they should face at WrestleMania for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
Miz and Morrison were shown dressed up as the New Day, The Usos, and Heavy Machinery in the crowd and poked fun of them. Miz and Morrison dressed as ham to portray Tucker and Otis. The Miz and Morrison concluded that they should probably just take WrestleMania off. Heavy Machinery interrupted as SmackDown went a break. When SmackDown returned, Otis & Tucker battled Miz & Morrison.
Match Recap: Otis shook his belly to start things off and Morrison responded with a boot to the gut. Tucker tagged in and planted Morrison with a Suplex for a two count. Miz tagged in and ran into an Arm Drag from Tucker. Otis got back in the action and leveled Miz with a shoulder tackle. Otis then Clotheslined Morrison to the outside and Tucker followed it up with a Cannonball off the apron.
Back in the ring, Morrison hit Tucker with an Elbow Drop for a near fall. Dolph Ziggler showed up on the entrance ramp and distracted Heavy Machinery and joined commentary as SmackDown went to a commercial break. The glitch appeared once again when SmackDown returned.
Otis did the Caterpillar but Ziggler interrupted. Dolph showed Otis some pictures of him spending time with Mandy. Ziggler told Otis better luck next time and Otis left the ring. Otis caught him at the barricade and slammed him to the floor. Otis grabbed a steel chair but Miz and Morrison attacked him from behind.
Otis slammed Miz’s face on the announce table several times before slamming Morrison into the ring post. Otis then drove Miz and Morrison through the barricade before grabbing another chair. Tucker pleaded with Otis to stop so they can win the match. Otis ignored him and beat the hell out of Miz and Morrison to end the match in DQ.
Opinion: It appears that this loss has eliminated Heavy Machinery from contention for the tag titles at WrestleMania. It was announced later on the show that New Day vs. The Usos will go down next week and the winners will face Miz and Morrison at WrestleMania. I thought this segment was very well done and I’d like to see Otis face Ziggler at WrestleMania. I’m sure Mandy will play a role in that match and maybe we will find out who sent Otis the text that caused him to arrive late to their date.
Goldberg and Roman Reigns had the contract signing for their Universal Championship match at WrestleMania in the final segment of this week’s show.
Reigns and Goldberg quickly launched their chairs out of the ring and refused to sit down. Goldberg said he was hoping Reigns would accept his challenge but didn’t think he would have the balls to face him.
Roman brought up all the greats that have chosen to face him before and that they have all lost to him. Reigns told Goldberg that he wasn’t going to be any different. Cole brought up a tweet that Reigns sent in January about Goldberg being stupid for slamming his head into a door during his entrance.
Reigns called Goldberg “a little bitch bulldog holding my title that he never earned”. Roman signed the contract and Goldberg did as well after declaring that Reigns is going to be his next victim at WrestleMania. The two got in each other’s face and had a stare down to end the show.
Opinion: I don’t think this segment convinced anyone to be excited for this match that wasn’t already looking forward to it. The promo was only a couple of minutes, so likely double the length of their match at Mania. Overall, I still thought this was a solid episode of SmackDown. WrestleMania is going to be odd this year with no audience but there is enough on the card to keep me tuned in both nights.
A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE WrestleMania 36 PPV and it involves Bayley.
During Friday Night SmackDown, WWE had former WWE Divas Champion Paige make an appearance via Skype where she did a segment with WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks.
This is where it was announced that Bayley would defend her title against Banks, Dana Brooke Tamina, Naomi, Lacey Evans in a Six Pack Challenge Match. As of this writing, there’s no word yet on which night this match will take place.
WWE presents the WrestleMania 36 pay-per-view event as a two-night event on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center. Both nights start at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT will air on the WWE Network.
Updated WWE WrestleMania 36 Card
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair
AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker – Singles Match
Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins – Singles Match
WWE Universal Champion Goldberg vs. Roman Reigns
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt – Singles Match
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Lacey Evans vs. Dana Brooke vs. Tamina vs. Naomi vs. Sasha Banks – Six Pack Challenge
Baron Corbin vs. Elias
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
With CM Punk watching WWE programming again through his work on the WWE Backstage show that airs weekly on FS1, there have been some rumors about his status with the company.
For those who are wondering whether WWE has contacted CM Punk for a return at WrestleMania 36, there is no truth to any rumors going around about this possibility, according to PWInsider.
Last year, Seth Rollins had called out Punk for a match. This was around the time that Punk signed with FOX Sports for a role on WWE Backstage. For whatever reason, rumors started up again recently that WWE could book Punk vs. Rollins at WrestleMania but that’s not true.
In fact, the report states there has been zero communication between WWE officials and Punk. This includes a match or an appearance on television let alone WrestleMania.
WWE never made an offer to Punk and the rumored talks never took place. Also, there has been no internal talk about using Punk in WWE
WWE hasn’t even promoted Punk’s appearances on the FOX Sports show in recent months after some comments he has made on social media. To be clear, he is not signed with WWE but rather he is signed to FOX.
Rollins is slated to wrestle Kevin Owens at WrestleMania. Despite his recent jab at Roman Reigns over WWE holding WrestleMania 36 in an empty venue is one way to guarantee no boos for “The Big Dog,” things haven’t changed between Punk and WWE.
Matt Hardy made an appearance on Talk is Jericho for a new interview after making his promotional debut on Wednesday’s edition of AEW Dynamite.
His debut took place after the main event that saw The Inner Circle beat The Elite in a six-man tag team match. This is where we saw Vanguard 1 fly into the crowd and Hardy standing in the bleachers.
Hardy talked about the original plans for Vanguard 1. Dynamite was supposed to be in Rochester, NY but had to be moved to Jacksonville, Florida due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Vanguard wouldn’t have been able to be used inside of the arena due to FCC regulations if the event had been held in Rochester.
“It’s definitely different. Once again, if you have a Vanguard 1 drone flying in, it’s an inanimate object,” Hardy said. “Originally, the drone was going to fly back to me, and we were gonna get a really cool beauty shot, but that didn’t happen. I went ahead because we’re doing live TV. It was kind of like an audible.”
Matt Hardy Shares AEW Backstage Vibe
Hardy also talked about how AEW is such a laid-back atmosphere. He brought up knowing some talent in AEW from previous promotions. He noted how it was different from WWE as he didn’t have to ask Vince then go through all those different levels of authority.
Hardy said that it was easy to get things done in AEW and even did some promos and vignettes at the end of the night.
“It was very easy, and it was very not to have any kind of restraints on you and just go and be creative and do your thing and do you because nobody does themselves better than them.”
Hardy stated that when the talent knows their strengths and weaknesses and you gravitate towards your strengths then that’s where the magic is.
“I think basically, the whole framework of AEW, from what I’ve seen so far, is there’s like an outline, this is where we want to go, this is what we want you to do to get there, how do you suggest we get there, and the talent fills in the blanks. That’s magic. That’s the beauty of this business.”
Hardy will join The Elite to take on The Inner Circle next week in the Blood & Guts Match.
The card for WrestleMania 36 is far from being finalized.
While the company has announced several matches for the show, Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the belief is the show will change in some ways. However, those changes have yet to be confirmed.
Per the report, the original plans of having 16 total matches might be back in place. This plan had changed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, but that was before the decision to split the show into two nights was made.
The belief is that plans for WrestleMania 36 will likely be finalized this week.
Potential matches that could be added to the show include RAW Tag Team Champions The Street Profits, John Morrison and The Miz’s SmackDown Tag Team Titles, WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn, Andrade’s WWE United States Title, and The Kabuki Warriors’ WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles.
Regarding Asuka and Sane, there had been plans for a Triple Threat with Natalya and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix as well as Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. Andrade could make a title defense against Rey Mysterio, who beat Andrade in a non-title match on Monday’s RAW.
The plan had been for Bayley to defend her title in a six-woman match against the likes of Sasha Banks, Carmella, Lacey Evans, Naomi, and one other. This match is up in the air.
WWE presents the WrestleMania 36 pay-per-view event as a two-night event on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center.
An update on WWE’s taping schedule for Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown has surfaced online.
Following the news on Thursday that the company is planning an “ambitious” taping schedule for the shows, Dave Meltzer shared some additional details in a recent post on F4Wonline.com.
It’s believed WWE will tape the two SmackDown episodes over the next two days, then air a live RAW episode on Monday and tape the March 30th show on Tuesday. It’s also possible that WWE will air older content on these shows in order to fill time.
This would be done as a way to reduce the amount of in-ring matches due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. This would keep physicality between the talents to a minimum.
Regarding WrestleMania 36, POST Wrestling was the first to report that WWE had considered taping both nights of WrestleMania while another source was unsure if that was the plan.
The latest on the status of WrestleMania is that it will likely be taped but it was noted that decision is being kept secret. In fact, very few in the company are in the loop on the WrestleMania live vs. taped decision including most of the talent.
POST Wrestling is now reporting that there has been an internal memo going around WWE HQ about how to promote WrestleMania 36 on the WWE Network.
This memo notes to avoid tag lines such as “live on WWE Network” and/or “streaming live.” Instead, WWE wants to promote the event as “Too Big for One Night.”
Clearly, WWE wants to leave the word “live” out of promotional material. Just because this memo was sent out doesn’t mean that the decision to tape has been made just yet.
WWE Superstar Baron Corbin appeared on this week’s episode of After The Bell with host Corey Graves. The outspoken SmackDown star tackled numerous topics on the show, with one of the most prominent being how he deals with fans online. Particularly, as Corbin puts it, “morons” on social media.
Baron Corbin Owns Neckbeards
Corbin argues that vocal ‘Internet fans’ only represent a 5% sliver of the WWE audience and don’t know what they’re talking about when they’re critical of him.
“It is crazy, it’s never ending, it’s crazy to me,” Corbin began. “We say social media, like that’s like 5% of our audience. Because the little kids and the parents out there? They don’t understand the terms that these morons use. You have these idiot neckbeards that want to critique everything that you do and then be like ‘you’ve got four moves.’ Actually I can do about 600 but when I do four it irritates you more.”
“‘That irritates you? Now I’m going to wear two. Thank you.’ Like, it’s so simple.”
Baron Corbin
Baron Corbin would elaborate further, discussing how he uses the comments he gets online to further his character building.
“I actually can use social media as a cheat code” Corbin stated. “Because they’re literally going, you know @John4576213 on his 12th profile is like ‘hey man, your vest looks dumb.’ and I go, ‘okay that irritates you? Now I’m going to wear two. Thank you.’ Like, it’s so simple.”
Do The Fans Understand ‘Heat?’
Corbin finished by discussing his reaction from the live crowds as well as those fans online. “They want to say, like, ‘oh he’s got go away heat.’ When I walk out that curtain? Everybody is booing me. That’s, like, they just don’t understand about heat. ‘This bad guy is getting boo’ed or he must not be good because I would like him if he was good.’ THAT’S NOT THE POINT. You know what I’m saying? They just don’t understand it and I, and it blows my mind I’m like, you people can’t be this stupid. Like my job is to make you literally hate me and I’ve had been in the ring with guys on all levels, and standing there and hearing the boos, and they’ll go ‘hey man, and they’ll turn the microphone so people can’t hear him and they’ll whisper ‘this is Vickie Guerrero heat I haven’t heard this in five years.’
What do you think of Baron Corbin’s presentation in WWE? Let us know in the comments
Many fans expected Scurll to wind up in AEW after a short run with the NWA but that wasn’t the case. This is something that Scurll talked about.
He noted that AEW was the expected destination for him because of his friendship with The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson). He stated that they are his best friends and he loves them as well as what they’re doing.
“When it came to my decision though, I, like them, had my own vision, my own dreams, and the opportunity to create a promotion in my own vision was something I always wanted and couldn’t turn down. I’ve been wrestling for a long time and it was time to do something new and set a new challenge for myself. ROH have always been amazing to me, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be more involved.”
Scurll talked about how ROH has trust in him and it really gives him the chance to be creative. This is something that he has enjoyed the most.
He stated that he has great relationships with AEW President Tony Khan, Cody Rhodes, and Kenny Omega.
Scurll added that it’s cool that they’re all doing their own thing by making a splash in the wrestling world.
A new episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown is here and it’s slated to be another interesting show.
With just hours until bell time, it’s time to look ahead starting with tonight’s episode of SmackDown. This marks the second straight week that the show will be held with no fans in attendance.
Two things have been announced thus far for this show including an appearance by former New England Patriots player Rob Gronkowski and RAW Superstar Mojo Rawley. Gronkowski has already been confirmed as the host of WrestleMania 36, which will be split into a two-night event but in front of no fans in attendance.
The former New England Patriots star will be here to hype the show as well as potentially announce his signing with the company, which has been heavily reported about.
WWE holds this show from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center. WWE is advertising the following items for tonight’s broadcast:
An appearance by Rob Gronkowski and Mojo Rawley
WWE Universal Champion Bill Goldberg and Roman Reigns to sign their WrestleMania 36 contract
WWE could also be announcing matches for the WrestleMania 36 pay-per-view event.
Join us here later tonight for WWE SmackDown Results and our post-show SmackDown Takeaways feature.
Many fans believe that WWE should have postponed WrestleMania instead of moving forward with the show but it appears that the WWE Hall Of Famer Edge believes otherwise.
The former World Champion recently had an interview with Metro.co.uk where he expressed the importance of broadcasting WrestleMania in the current situation.
Edge first said that we are in the midst of something the world has never experienced before and it needs outlets like books and movies to have fun and remember what it is to be a human. He then explained that in his job, his responsibilities are to make you forget your responsibilities and claimed that moving forward with WrestleMania is very important:
“Here’s how I’ve always looked at this job. My responsibility is to make you forget your responsibilities for two or three hours a day, or during that show, that is a huge responsibility, and it’s a privilege.” said Edge. “I don’t look past it. I didn’t have it for nine years. Now I come back, and the gravity of that responsibility is not lost on me.
“Sure, it’s entertainment. Yes, we’re jumping around in tights. But a time like this, it’s very, very important. I truly believe that.”
– Edge
Edge made his in-ring return after being retired for 9 years at the Royal Rumble PPV earlier this year. He delivered an extraordinary performance during the show but was attacked by Randy Orton the night after that. He challenged The Viper for a last man standing match on Raw this week and the two are expected to meet at WrestleMania.
Despite having CM Punk as the analyst and other special guests on the show, WWE Backstage has seen a decline in the ratings in recent times and just last week it made a new record for the lowest viewership in the show’s history.
During his recent appearance on Swings & Mrs. show, the
Straight Edge star talked about a number of things and also commented on the
plummeting ratings of the show.
Punk said that WWE Backstage is an interesting show. He knows many people who don’t watch it, but he is not sure if Fox officials are concerned about the ratings very much:
“It’s an interesting show. I know a whole bunch of
people don’t watch it, but I’m not so sure they’re concerned about ratings. I
think they just want to have a discourse about the show and see what we can
talk about to make things better in a way. I have a ton of fun with the show;
me and Booker get along great. I love working with Renee.”
CM Punk continued by mentioning how the show has allowed him to meet many WWE stars who were not in the company when he was there like Ember Moon and more.
Apart from this, the former WWE Champion also said that he would be open to a wrestling return against the right opponent. You can check out his comments about potential in-ring return at this link.
WWE has entered uncharted territory with their decision to broadcast shows without any audience. This leaves the performers in frenzy as they have to perform live but have no fan reaction to know how they are doing.
Baron Corbin appeared on the After The Bell podcast before last week’s episode of SmackDown where he talked about things like the effects of coronavirus and more.
During the discussion, he also talked about WWE’s decision to put on shows without an audience and said that the part he is most nervous about is his entrance:
“The part I am most nervous about is the entrance because the second my music hits, everybody in that building is booing.” said Corbin. “For the most part I’m getting that instant reaction. These people are here to have a good time; they’re ready to have fun.
That’s the fear everybody has is there is no reaction and now we know for a fact that there will be no reaction to what we’re doing. So it’s really tough to wrap my mind around it.”
Apart from this Baron Corbin also talked about his current
position in the company and expressed his frustration with his current role in
the promotion.
The former US Champion said that WWE officials are not giving him the ball and he wants to become a bigger star. You can check out his comments on the matter at this link.
WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray has shared his thoughts on Matt Hardy’s recent AEW debut. Hardy appeared during the closing moments of this Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite, aligning himself with The Elite. Bully Ray noted how debuting in an empty arena actually suited Matt Hardy’s broken character.
“I think Matt Hardy debuting last night in front of no people was just as impactful of debuting in front of a full house,” Bully Ray said. “It kind of fit Matt Hardy. Just seeing Vanguard fly in, and then just hearing the piano… the Broken character—it works with no people there.”
Bully Ray stated how it worked with no crowd noise and just the soft piano playing in the background.
“It actually fit his debut really, really well. And think about a pop that character will get the first time it’s in front of an audience… So I had no problem with Matt Hardy last night, it definitely worked.”
Bully Ray On AEW’s Trust In Its Performers
Bully Ray then complimented AEW’s ability to allow their wrestlers to connect with audiences. He stressed how their wrestlers get themselves over organically thanks to this trust. He added how “AEW is going to allow Matt Hardy to push himself to the moon.”
Matt Hardy joins Elite members Kenny Omega, Cody, Hangman Page and Matt Jackson for their Blood & Guts matchup against The Inner Circle. This matchup will take place on the next episode of Dynamite.
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Sasha Banks and Bayley have both commented on being left off this year’s WrestleMania event. Responding to a tweet from WWE Hall of Famer Edge, Banks joked how she would be headlining the pre-show. She was interjecting her joke into a twitter exchange between Edge and Roman Reigns.
Sasha Banks & Bayley On WrestleMania
“That’s cute Mr. Wolf and Mr. Dog. But this Panther will be main eventing the pre show. I left my mark at the @WWEPC. Just ask the eagle @itsBayleyWWE. She was there for 5 years so technically that’s her land and she wants you off her yard! #TheMainEventbeforeTheMainEvent”
That’s cute Mr. Wolf and Mr. Dog. But this Panther will be main eventing the pre show. I left my mark at the @WWEPC Just ask the eagle @itsBayleyWWE She was there for 5 years so technically that’s her land and she wants you off her yard! #TheMainEventbeforeTheMainEventhttps://t.co/cc64UFGEya
— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) March 19, 2020
Bayley also saw Reigns’ initial tweet, which was hyping the now two-day event. Answering Reigns’ question over who would claim one of the night’s, she replied “NOT ME!!! hahahahahahahahahaha Have fun Big dog woof woof”
Sasha Banks would see Bayley’s response and reply to her friend, writing “Oops I mean, we will not be on. Let’s go gather some sheep baaaaahaha”
Both Sasha Banks and Bayley performed to an empty crowd in the WWE PC for last week’s episode of SmackDown Live. They competed against Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss. Banks and Bayley would walk away with the win.
WrestleMania 36 has been relocated from Raymond James Stadium due to coronavirus concerns. It will now take place in multiple locations, including the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Originally set to take place on Sunday, April 5, the show has now been split across April 4 and April 5 and may even be pre-recorded.
Ring of Honor (ROH) star Silas Young has issued an apology following a Tweet where he underplayed the impact and dangers of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
His apology reads:
“Part of being a man is being able to admit when you’re wrong. I always try to downplay things or situations. perhaps I have done this with covid19. for anyone I may have offended I apologize.”
Silas Young’s original tweet has since been deleted. In it, Young suggested how people were too easily scared into giving up their rights. He pointed out how New Jersey has passed a curfew until further notice, stating how the coronavirus was a form of the flu before telling people to “Grow up.”
Part of being a man is being able to admit when your wrong. I always try to downplay things or situations. perhaps I have done this with covid19. for anyone I may have offended I apologize
Like many promotions worldwide, ROH has been forced to cancel events due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
The promotion has cancelled all of their events through May 31. Affected shows included Supercard of Honor, Pure Excellence, Battlestar 2020, Quest For Gold and the joint show between ROH and NJPW, War of the Worlds. The coronavirus outbreak has caused several industries to postpone, reschedule and cancel events and conventions.
WrestleMania 36 was recently announced to have been relocated from Raymond James Stadium. It has also been split into two days across April 4 and April 5. The show will now emanate from multiple locations and may even be pre-recorded.
