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Seth Rollins Provides Update On Roman Reigns’ Status

Anutosh Bajpai
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We haven’t received a lot of updates on Roman Reigns since he relinquished his Universal Championship and took time off due to his battle with leukemia.

Now his Shield-brother Seth Rollins has provided a minor update on him when he was interviewed by Fox 2 News as part of the promotion for the New Year special of Raw.

During the show, Rollins got into an interaction with a young fan named Nolan and when the fan asked for a status update on the former Champion, Rollins said that he is doing great:

“Roman’s doing great. Obviously, he spent the holiday home with his family and he’s doing really good. He’s in a good position. He’s primed to make a comeback, hopefully sometime sooner, rather than later, but at the end of the day, he’s just focused on getting healthy right now. I will say he’s doing good, good spirits.”

Apart from this Seth also talked about a possible Royal Rumble victory and claimed that it sounds good but also explained that he is looking forward to see what 2019 has in store for him.

As per the latest reports, Rollins is the front-runner to face the Beast Brock Lesnar at the upcoming WrestleMania 35 event so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he actually ends up winning the battle royal.

Though whether or not he actually wins the match will be dependent on which direction the company decides to go after their latest announcement of freshening things up and we’ll keep you posted on any details that come out.

Quotes via WrestleZone

Daniel Bryan Proclaims Himself “The Planet’s Champion”

Steve Russell
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Not content with only being referred to as the ‘New’ Daniel Bryan, the WWE Champion has now christened himself with an additional moniker: The Planet’s Champion.

At this past Friday’s WWE Live Event from Baltimore, Maryland, Daniel Bryan faced off against John Cena in a Steel Cage match.

Prior to that, however, Bryan cut a promo where he proclaimed that he was not the champion of the people. He was the champion of the planet.

“You people used to revere the old Daniel Bryan,” he said. “You used to love the old Daniel Bryan but the old Daniel Bryan is dead. Shut up! I did not give you permission to say ‘Yes!’”

“I am not here to please you people,” he stated. “I am no longer The People’s Champion, I am The Planet’s Champion. I’m out here to defend the planet from you idiots, every single night, and I don’t care if it’s AJ Styles, I don’t care if it’s John Cena. Tonight, I am going to prove why I am The Planet’s Champion.”

John Cena ended up replacing AJ Styles in this matchup against The Planet’s Champion after AJ fell ill with the flu. This illness has forced the Phenomenal One to stay at home this week. As of now, there is no word or indication as to when Styles will return to in-ring competition.

Further Update On Asuka vs Lynch At Royal Rumble

Steve Russell
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Despite having prematurely announced a match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s championship at the Royal Rumble during Main Event, it appears that those plans may not be entirely off the table.

According to Dave Meltzer, WWE is going to have a number of meetings this week in order to “come up with a Rumble card.”

“Originally, the match [Asuka vs Lynch] was happening, but then Vince decided that he wanted to revamp the card […] when they taped Main Event it was gonna air later in the week,” he explained.

“At that time, the plan was to announce the match with Asuka and Becky Lynch on Tuesday’s SmackDown but, during that interim period, Vince decided to change his mind,” he said. “So they never announced that match on that SmackDown. Not saying that match won’t happen, but it was definitely off when that show came on.”

So it appears that the Main Event announcement for the hotly anticipated opportunity for Lynch to compete for her former title was due to a lapse of internal communication, coupled with understandable confusion stemming from a last-minute change of heart.

The fact that WWE is still holding meetings in order to finalize the Rumble card, however, means there could still be a (slim) chance the match goes ahead.

What do you think? Would you prefer to see this matchup for the championship? Do you think Becky Lynch will win the Rumble?

Three Major Superstars Scheduled To Return For First Raw Of 2019

Steve Russell
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With the McMahon family and Triple H having recently declared that change would be coming, WWE is clearly hoping to start 2019 off with a bang — shaking off the negative ratings from 2018 in the process.

At the end of Friday night’s New Year’s Eve Raw tapings, it was announced that John Cena, Braun Strowman, and Brock Lesnar would be returning to the red brand sooner than people might have thought. The three will appear on the very first Raw of 2019 on January 7th.

Despite this attempt to utilize some of their pre-established star power, WWE has not divulged what kind of role Cena will have on the show. Considering he is set to begin shooting a new movie soon, his contribution may most likely be minimal. This shoot is also the reason John Cena is not scheduled to appear at the 2019 Royal Rumble.

Plans for Strowman and Lesnar, however, are a bit clearer. The two will feature in order to promote their upcoming clash for the WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble event.

If things go to plan as the McMahon/Triple H collective hope, then this first episode of Raw should herald in a new age as they actively attempt to deliver on their promise of improving their shows.

Only time and inevitable ratings will tell if it pays off.

Cody Rhodes Hopes Fans Can Watch More Than One Company

Anutosh Bajpai
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2

From winning multiple champions on some of the most well-known indie companies around the world, to successfully holding the first ever of its kind event in All In, Cody Rhodes has had an exceptional year in 2018.

And from whatever we know, he is gearing up for even bigger things in 2019 as the former WWE Star is working to provide an alternative to the fans to watch.

Amidst all the rumors and facts which are floating Cody Rhodes recently appeared on Busted Open Radio and talked about his hopes of having multiple options for the fans in the coming year.

Cody first discussed how the independent scene has blossomed well in 2018 and claimed that people like the Young Bucks and Colt Cabana have been cultivating it for years and years.

Later he talked about how WWE has been signing as many talents as they can in recent months and recalled how he used to watch many companies like WCW, WWF, ECW and more in his childhood.

Finally, the NJPW Star said that he hopes that the fans can be proud of watching more than one company and he hopes that there are more variety and more options like there has been in 2018, just bigger.

As we noted before, Cody Rhodes is part of the group which is actually gearing up to provide this alternative to the fans in 2019 and an official announcement for the same could be coming very soon.

NXT UK vs WoS Match Announced for Fight Forever in January

Jake Skudder
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Fight Forever has announced a big match for their upcoming ‘Dance of The Dragon’ show. It’s big for two reasons, 1. it’s Bea Priestley vs Millie McKenzie and 2. One is contracted to WoS (Bea) and one is seemingly signed to NXT UK (McKenzie).

NXT UK Superstars are only ‘allowed’ to face fellow NXT UK Superstars on independent shows or talents who are freelance/not on the ‘banned’ list. Companies who are seemingly ‘banned’ are the bigger promotions such as IMPACT, ROH and New Japan among others. There were also seemingly ‘no on demand’ terms in the new contracts, meaning that companies such as PROGRESS, ICW and ATTACK could not use NXT UK Superstars in their on demand platforms. This however is not yet confirmed. With McKenzie believed to be signed to NXT UK

Fight Forever are a relatively new promotion, they held their first tour earlier this year. Without having ‘on demand’ Fight Forever are seemingly free to use any talent from NXT UK for the time being.

WALTER will also be on the show. WALTER has not yet been made official as a WWE signee. It is widely believed that he has signed on and will be debuting in NXT UK shortly, possibly at the Takeover event next month.

https://twitter.com/fightforeveruk/status/1078972343442173952

Seth Rollins On The Key To His Success In Pro Wrestling

Anutosh Bajpai
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0

With Roman Reigns taking time off due to his battle with leukemia, Seth Rollins has taken his position as the frontman for WWE and the former World Champion has been doing a lot of media rounds in recent months.

He recently appeared on WXYZ-TV Detroit in order to promote the Raw tapings for the New Year’s episode and during the interview, the former Intercontinental Champion discussed a number of things.

Seth mentioned how next year is his 15th year in the wrestling business and when the host asked about the key that has gotten him to this point, the Architect attributed his success to a combination of things:

“it’s a combination of a lot of things but I think hard work, trying to be consistent and relying on people understanding that it’s not just about you [is important]. Obviously, it’s an individual sport but at the end of the day you don’t get the opportunities without the people around you kind of lifting you up and helping you out. So understanding that and having some gratitude goes a long way”

The former Champion also discussed the upcoming WrestleMania event and as someone who has missed the show due to injuries before, he said that he is just happy to be on the card this year:

“It’s crazy man I’m just happy [and] fortunate to be on the card hopefully this year. I’ve gone [on to] miss WrestleMania due to injury before and it’s such a huge event it’s amazing. So anytime I can get an opportunity just to be on that show in that Stadium it’s a pleasure for me”

If you use any of the quotes from the article, please credit WXYZ-TV Detroit with an h/t to SEScoops.com for transcription.

Which Superstar Had The Most Televised Wins In WWE This Year?

Anutosh Bajpai
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0

While fans usually complain that the babyfaces in WWE don’t get a lot of wins, a latest video from the company posted on YouTube proves that this belief is not true.

WWE recently posted the latest installment of their List This video series from their official channel and this time; it takes a look at the top 5 stars with most wins in the past year.

This list which counts only the televised victories for the stars is not very surprisingly topped by the former Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins.

However, while Rollins’ entry is not very odd, Finn Balor and Asuka are two of the names which for the shock of many have made it to the top 5 as many believe that both these stars haven’t achieved a lot throughout the year.

Below are all the stars which have made it to the list alongside the number of wins they have scored in the calendar year:

  1. Seth Rollins – 35
  2. Finn Bálor – 31
  3. Braun Strowman – 29
  4. Asuka – 27
  5. AJ Styles – 26

Out of these 5, Braun Strowman is the only star who has spent some time as a heel in the year and looking at it, we can say that the past 12 months in the company have mostly been dominated by the babyfaces.

WWE MSG Live Event Sees Poor Turnout

Anutosh Bajpai
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5

The recent rating drops for both Raw and SmackDown Live have been a major topic of discussion among wrestling fans in recent weeks. However, it’s not the only matter of concern for the WWE Officials.

Throughout the year we have seen the company pulling out some of its lowest live attendance scores in years. Despite their best efforts, this spree continued for their Madison Square Garden Live Event as well.

As we noted before, this year’s post-Christmas MSG Live Event featured some very appealing matches and segments such as the segment featuring John Cena and Vince McMahon.

However, despite the company’s best efforts, the Raw branded show only drew 11,900 fans which according to Wrestling Observer is the lowest turnout for the show in recent memory.

Things weren’t great on the blue side either and the SmackDown Brand Live Event on the same night which was held in Allstate Arena, just outside Chicago, also only managed to draw 6,000 people.

Similar to the MSG event, this number is also a lot less than expected and this post-Christmas special is usually able to fill in about 10,000 seats every year.

It’d be interesting to know how the officials react to these low attendance figures and what changes they make to attract more people to their shows in near future.

Hiroshi Tanahashi Re-Signs With NJPW

Jon Fuentes
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Plenty of free agents are expected to be leaving their respective promotions in favor of greener pastures in 2019. One man who won’t be going anywhere, however, is seven-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. Tanahashi recently took to Twitter and announced that he has signed a new deal with NJPW:

“Contract renewal with New Japan Wrestling. I will do my best next fiscal year too! ”

Back in August, Tanahashi won the G1 Climax 28 to earn the IWGP heavyweight title shot at Wrestle Kingdom 13. He’ll be going after his eighth heavyweight title against Kenny Omega inside the Tokyo Dome. The show goes down from Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2019.

Check out the current card for NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 13 here:

Main Card

  • IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: (C) Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: (C) Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito
    Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: (C) KUSHIDA vs. Taiji Ishimori
  • IWGP United States Title Match: (C) Cody vs. Juice Robinson
  • IWGP Tag Team Title Match: (C) Guerrillas of Destiny vs. The Young Bucks vs. EVIL and SANADA
  • RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: (C) Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Title Match: (C) Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado vs. Roppongi 3K vs. BUSHI and Shingo Takagi
  • IWGP NEVER Openweight Title Match: (C) Kota Ibushi vs. Will

Pre-Show

  • Gauntlet Match to determine #1 Contenders for NEVER Six-Man Titles: Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano, and Togi Makabe vs. David Finley, Jeff Cobb, and Yuji Nagata vs. Best Friends and Hirooki Goto vs. Killer Elite Squad and Minoru Suzuki vs. Marty Scurll, Adam Page, and Yujiro Takahashi

What do you think about Tanahashi re-signing with NJPW?

Toni Storm Calls Becky Lynch Her Biggest Inspiration

Jon Fuentes
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0

WWE NXT UK star Toni Storm has a big match ahead of her. She’s set to challenge Rhea Ripley for the NXT UK Women’s Championship. The match will go down at the NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool event on Saturday, January 12th. A big showing in Blackpool could help Storm make an even bigger name for herself in the WWE.

In fact, she draws inspiration from, arguably, WWE’s hottest star at the moment. Speaking to Express.co.uk recently, Storm explained why Lynch is her “biggest inspiration” in professional wrestling after seeing what she has done for WWE’s women’s division:

“Becky Lynch is currently my biggest inspiration,” Storm said. “She is taking the women’s division to a completely different level. Her strengths and her fire are definitely inspiring me right now. I hope to eventually step into the ring with her because I feel the biggest competition at the moment is Becky Lynch.”

It’s hard not to draw inspiration from “The Irish Lass Kicker.” After her heel turn at SummerSlam this past August, the WWE Universe really rallied behind the Irishwoman. She went on to win the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship at the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view (PPV). Lynch then found herself in a feud with RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey.

Unfortunately, Rousey and Lynch were never able to work together inside the ring due to an injury. However, they may finally get to do so next year, and it could be the biggest women’s match in professional wrestling history.

What do you think about Storm calling Lynch her biggest inspiration?

Enzo Amore Hangs Outside MSG During WWE Show (Photos)

Jon Fuentes
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Earlier this week, the WWE held a massive house show from Madison Square Garden the day after Christmas. Several top stars appeared at the event, including Seth Rollins, John Cena, Dean Ambrose, Ronda Rousey, and more. However, just down the road, a former WWE Cruiserweight Champion was making a local appearance. Enzo Amore wasn’t too far away from the event, and did an interview session in front of fans in New York.

Shortly after Amore’s appearance, he took to the streets of New York to hang out with fans and take photos. As the WWE’s house show was going on a few feet away from him, Amore was outside MSG taking photographs with fans. Check out some photos here:

Why I Did It

During Amore’s local appearance, he revealed why he crashed the WWE’s Survivor Series pay-per-view (PPV) this past November. Apparently, his motive was to upset WWE CEO Vince McMahon:

“Why did I do it? It had nothing to do with my music. I’ll tell you why I did it – cause I knew for a fact Vince McMahon would be heated more than anything in the world – but he’d respect the f*ck out of it. That’s why I did it.

“Because it was about one person, and that was it. Because I proved to him that I could beat him at his own game of statistics and numbers, and this that and the other, and I don’t even work for your company. I broke no laws, I bought a ticket.”

What do you think about Amore hanging out near WWE’s MSG show?

Kurt Angle Reflects On 2003 Match With Chris Benoit

Jon Fuentes
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2

WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle has been a part of some tremendous matches in his professional wrestling career. One of the most memorable, however, was his WWE Title bout with Chris Benoit at the 2003 Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV). Angle, the then-WWE Champion, defended his title against “The Canadian Crippler.”

For the 20 minutes the men shared the ring together, Angle and Benoit, two of the best technical wrestlers of all time, put on one for the ages. With the 2019 Royal Rumble approaching in the next few weeks, Angle took to Instagram to reflect on what was arguably his best match at a Royal Rumble PPV ever:

“Up next….. Royal Rumble in January 2019. 16 years ago I had the privilege of defending my WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. This is how the match was explained verbally to those who haven’t watched it. “Professional wrestling in its purest form is as beautiful as ballet, as elegant as a ballroom dance and as captivating as a theater.

“By purest form I mean technical wrestling, which in today’s world is almost non-existent. The fiery chain wrestling, involving great chemistry, in-ring psychology and dream like story telling is something that happens when all the stars align.”

“This match was one of my best performances of my career. If you haven’t seen it, give it a look.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Br57lFIHgmX/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_medium=loading

The Dark Shadow Of Chris Benoit

Angle didn’t mention Benoit by name in the post, but his likely reasons for doing so are understandable. Benoit took his own life in 2007 after murdering his wife, Nancy, and seven-year-old son, Daniel, in their Fayetteville, Georgia home. Since the incident, WWE has essentially blacklisted Benoit from WWE memory.

He is not mentioned on WWE programming or in WWE record books. The only evidence of his past matches with the company are on the WWE Network. Looking ahead to the 2019 Royal Rumble, Angle’s role remains unclear, but that’s likely to change in the coming weeks.

What do you think about Angle’s comments regarding his 2003 match with Benoit?

Former NFL Star Pat McAfee Offered Multi-Year WWE Deal

Jon Fuentes
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WWE is always looking to snag up notable names and bring them into the fold. Earlier this year the professional wrestling juggernaut made, arguably, their biggest signing in history. WWE inked former UFC women’s bantamweight star Ronda Rousey to a contract. Rousey is one of the biggest female sports stars of all time. She has tremendously helped push WWE’s Women’s Evolution in the past several months.

In addition to Rousey, WWE has gone after several other athletes, such as former NFL players and mixed martial artists. Notable names include Ronda Rousey, Baron Corbin, Mojo Rawley, Matt Riddle, and more. Now, WWE has apparently offered former NFL punter Pat McAfee a multi-year deal. McAfee already has a bit of a working relationship with WWE.

Earlier this year he appeared at an NXT live event and served as a ring announcer for the main event. McAfee then made his debut as a panelist for WWE on the NXT TakeOver: New Orleans show. Now, it looks like WWE has been so impressed with his work that they’d like to make him a part of the company. McAfee took to his podcast  the “Pat McAfee Show,” and revealed WWE offered him a multi-year deal (via CBS Sports):

“WWE has formally offered me a multi-year contract,” McAfee said. “Who knows what we’re going to be doing over there, they just want me to come make some content. And we’ll see where it goes.

“I am very excited for this,” he added. “This is a dream come true.”

You can hear McAfee’s comments on the latest episode of The Pat McAfee Show:

Cody Shows Off Jacksonville Jaguars Inspired Belt For Wrestle Kingdom (Photo)

Staff
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This Friday, New Japan Pro Wrestling presents Wrestle Kingdom 13 live from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. The card is stacked, with IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event. In addition to Kenny Omega, fellow Elite members Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page and Marty Scurll will all be in action.

Wrestle Kingdom is the biggest show of the year for New Japan, but it’s no secret there’s something else brewing involving The Elite that could alter the landscape of the entire industry. Of course, we’re talking about All Elite Wrestling, the upstart wrestling promotion involving The Elite and financially backed by the Kahn family, owners of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

Cody Rhodes will defend the IWGP United States Championship against Juice Robinson at Wrestle Kingdom. One week out from this challenge, Cody posted a photo on Twitter showing off the weight-lifting belt he’ll be wearing at the Tokyo Dome.

The belt, seen below, is inspired by the Jacksonville Jaguars’ logo and features the words “Won’t Back Down” in teal and gold. For what it’s worth, Cody’s tweet showing off the belt has since been deleted.

Cody’s Jacksonville Jaguars Inspired Weight Lifting Belt

wont back down

Former WWE Writer Reflects On Vince McMahon’s Initial Reaction To AJ Styles

Andrew Ravens
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5

The beginning of AJ Styles’ career in the WWE had some unknowns about how WWE Chairman Vince McMahon would use him considering that he didn’t work in WWE NXT before making his main roster debut.

Former WWE creative writer Jimmy Jacobs talked about this topic while doing a recent interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com.

Jacobs started out by stating that McMahon was skeptical of him for every reason that most people could think as he made his debut at the Royal Rumble in 2016 and got a great reaction from the fans. Despite this, McMahon “was still skeptical and said ‘well that’s just one audience.’ Can he talk? What’s his character? Does anybody know who he is? All the reasons you would think.”

However, McMahon was the one who made the decision to have AJ work with Roman Reigns a few months later as they had pitched ideas and figured you’d want to give him a strong heel. He recalled Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens being strong heels at the time. Instead, McMahon stated that Styles would be the guy.

“You have to give the devil his due in those moments.” said Jacobs.

John Cena Recalls Having Learning Curve While Working With WWE Films

Andrew Ravens
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2

While promoting the new “Bumblebee” Transformers spin-off movie, John Cena opened up on working with WWE Films and the learning curve that came from the experience.

This was before he was a household name in the WWE and getting into acting full-time. While working with the movie division of the WWE, he starred in The Marine and 12 Rounds.

The former WWE Champion recently spoke with Gorilla Position to talk about various topics and how he had to make some changes to the way he goes about his acting career.

He recalled doing movies with WWE Films, he never looks back on his experiences with regret but rather looks back on them to try to learn from them and how he could make the process go faster because that’s the environment he was familiar with. Cena stated during the time of 2004-2009 was his prime years when things were catching fire, and the place he wanted to be which was in the ring due to it being the place he was most comfortable.

“And I was still trying to learn and define who I was. Went through a character shift from the ruthless aggression guy, to the rap guy, to the non-rap guy, to the superman guy.”

He brought up how that period was such a thriving environment because of the instant gratification. Once he was put on a set and waiting 8 hours for a giant stunt, it makes you understand that the reason he’s in the stunt business and just want to fall down but that’s not the way it works.

MLW Fusion 12/28 Preview

Chris Stephens
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Major League Wrestling presents matches from their recent Miami shows tonight on Fusion. Tonight’s main event features an MLW World Championship match pitting champion, Low-Ki, against Konnan.

2 other matches are scheduled for tonight.

MLW Fusion 12/28 Preview

Simon Gotch $20,000 Prize Fight Challenge

Last week on BeIn Sports, Gotch lost in the main event to Tom Lawlor. While Lawlor will shift his focus to his MLW title shot at SuperFight, Gotch will be back in action tonight. Eager to prove he is still a dominant force in MLW, Gotch will bring back his Prize Fight Challenge tonight. He’ll offer someone a $20,000 prize if they can defeat him on tonight’s episode.

Andrew Everett vs Ariel Dominguez

Andrew Everett defeated Dezmond Xavier on last week’s episode. He’ll look to make it two in a row against middleweight competition this week when he takes on Ariel Dominguez, a wrestler trained by Afa the Wild Samoan and Lince Dorado. Dominguez is aligned with Tom Lawlor’s “Team Filthy”.

MLW World Championship
Low-Ki (c) vs Konnan

Salina de la Renta’s Promociones Dorado would love to get Konnan out of MLW. They’ll have that chance tonight when Konnan challenges MLW World Champion, Low-Ki. The current champion has taken out Shane Strickland, and Konnan’s allies, Fenix, and Daga. Tonight, Konnan will have a chance to write the comeback story of the ages. The 54-year-old will attempt to win one last championship in his long and storied career.

Also tonight:

  • An update on Kotto Brazil, who was assaulted recently at a nightclub.
  • Tommy Dreamer comments on his match against the Hart Foundation from last week.

Speaking of the Hart Foundation, the faction debuted H2tv recently, a YouTube series following Teddy Hart, Brian Pillman Jr., and Harry Smith/Davey Boy Smith Jr.

MLW recently announced that their middleweight champion, Teddy Hart, has signed a new deal with the promotion.

“I love a good comeback story,” said MLW CEO Court Bauer in a company press release announcing Hart’s signing. “Teddy has lived up to his end and has brought it in every match. He’s hands down one of the most talented wrestlers of his generation and his commitment to MLW has been exceptional so we’re committing to him.”

If you missed it, MLW released a special Christmas Day special on YouTube only featuring previously unaired matches from their Chicago tapings.

Details On NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 Start Time

Andrew Ravens
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0

The latest details on the start time for the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) Wrestle Kingdom 13 event has surfaced. This is considered the biggest event of the year for promotion and it features a stacked card.

This event is slated to air live NJPW World and Fite TV as it goes down on January 4, 2019, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.

Chris Charlton noted the start time for the show in a recent message on his Twitter account. First up is the pre-show, which starts at 4pm JST/2am EST. The main show will kick off at 3am EST.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 Card

  • IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • IWGP Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion  KUSHIDA vs. Taiji Ishimori
  • IWGP United States Champion Cody vs. Juice Robinson
  • IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny vs. The Young Bucks vs. EVIL and SANADA
  • RevPro British Heavyweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado vs. Roppongi 3K vs. BUSHI and Shingo Takagi
  • IWGP NEVER Openweight Champion Kota Ibushi vs. Will
  • Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White

Pre-Show

  • Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano, and Togi Makabe vs. David Finley, Jeff Cobb, and Yuji Nagata vs. Best Friends and Hirooki Goto vs. Killer Elite Squad and Minoru Suzuki vs. Marty Scurll, Adam Page, and Yujiro Takahashi – Gauntlet Match to determine #1 Contenders for NEVER Six-Man Titles

WWE SmackDown Live Viewership Suffers Drop On Christmas Night

Andrew Ravens
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1

Tuesday’s edition of WWE SmackDown Live from Fresno, CA on the USA Network averaged 1.904 million viewers, down from 2.214 million the previous week, according to ShowbuzzDaily.

The episode was expected to draw poor viewership due to it failing on Christmas night and being pre-taped. Some of the matches that took place include The Usos & The Club vs. Sanity & The Bar, Mustafa Ali vs. Andrade Almas, Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe, and Rusev vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States Title. It also featured an appearance by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon where he was attacked by AJ Styles.

WWE will attempt to rebound with next week’s episode but with this being the New Year’s Day episode, the expectation is that this episode will door poor ratings. It will also be a taped show.

WWE also hyped the Royal Rumble and the matches taking place at that show In case you missed the show, you can check out the 6 takeaways from it here.

Despite WWE putting some together some intriguing segments for the show, this episode faced some solid competition. The show had to go up against the NBA game between Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors on ESPN that pulled in 2.237 million viewers.

Watch: Top 10 Moments from Tuesday’s SmackDown Live (12.25.18)

John Cena Wrestles Daniel Bryan In Steel Cage (Video), Replaces AJ Styles

Chris Stephens
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2

John Cena wrestled WWE Champion, Daniel Bryan, last night at a WWE house show in Unionville. Cena replaced a sick AJ Styles, who is said to be suffering from some type of cold or flu bug.

The following Twitter user posted some videos of the steel cage match between Bryan and Cena.

WWE Unionville Results

Here are the results from last night’s house show in Unionville:

  1. Mustafa Ali defeated The Miz
  2. R-Truth and Carmella defeated Andrade Almas and Zelina Vega
  3. Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and Shelton Benjamin defeated The Colons and Aiden English
  4. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson defeated “Sanity” Eric Young and Killian Dain
  5. Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton
  6. Smackdown Tag Team Championships
    Sheamus and Cesaro defeated The Usos and “New Day” Kofi Kingston and Big E
  7. Jeff Hardy defeated Samoa Joe
  8. WWE Championship 
    Steel Cage 
    Daniel Bryan (c) defeated John Cena

John Cena To Miss 2019 Royal Rumble

John Cena may be back but he’s not going to be participating on WWE programming much. We reported yesterday that Cena’s upcoming schedule does not include the Royal Rumble:

  • 12/26: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
  • 12/27: Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, NY
  • 12/28: Royals Farms Arena, Baltimore, MD
  • 12/29: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 12/30: Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL
  • 1/4: Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, GA
  • 1/5: Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, Tallahassee, FL
  • 1/6: Hertz Arena, Ft. Myers, FL
  • 1/7: Amway Center, Orlando, FL (WWE RAW)
  • 1/11: Charleston Civic Center, Charleston, WV
  • 1/12: Knoxville Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN
  • 1/13: Von Braun Civic Center, Huntsville, AL
  • 1/14: FedEx Forum, Memphis, TN

BJ Whitmer Reportedly Headed To All Elite Wrestling

Chris Stephens
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BJ Whitmer recently left Ring of Honor, a company he had been with for the majority of his career. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Whitmer is expected to join All Elite Wrestling in 2019.

“Whitmer did a little bit of everything behind the scenes,” Dave Meltzer wrote. “Helping produce matches, was part of the booking team, trained wrestlers, did commentary at times, ran the Gorilla position and at some points was Bernard the Business Bear. He’s expected to be headed to AEW in a similar role.”

BJ Whitmer Leaves Ring of Honor, Expected In All Elite Wrestling

We previously reported that Whitmer left Ring of Honor this month amidst frustrations with the promotion. Whitmer was frustrated when ROH wouldn’t let him accept an invitation to be a guest coach at the WWE Performance Center. Instead, ROH asked him to sign a non-compete agreement after being informed of his invitation to WWE’s developmental facility.

Whitmer is reported to have sent an email to all ROH employees prior to leaving.

“In leaving ROH, I want to say thank you and it’s been a pleasure working with all of you,” Whitmer wrote. “I wish everyone nothing but the best and I’m certain I’ll cross paths with most of you again.”

ICW Zero-G Championship Match Announced for Square Go! (02/24)

Jake Skudder
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ICW has announced a top bout for their February Square Go! event. ICW Zero-G Champion and NXT UK Superstar Joe Coffey will be defending against Ilja Dragunov.

This follows the news that Toni Storm has been announced for the same event. ICW are believed to be one of the companies on WWE’s ‘greenlit’ list alongside PROGRESS, OTT and Fight Club: Pro. Whether or not Storm and Coffey appear on the company’s On Demand service remains to be seen. This was reportedly a caveat of the NXT UK contract changes.

The Australian star Toni Storm and Joe Coffey are of course two of the top Superstars from the NXT UK roster, so allowing both to participate and potentially appear on ICW’s On Demand service is a big deal if allowed. Storm would most likely face a fellow NXT UK Superstar at this event, Coffey is facing Dragunov who is a free agent.

ICW recently held their biggest event of the year in Fear & Loathing XI. The card featured some top international names including 205 Live’s Noam Dar, NXT UK’s Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven and James Storm. You can check out the full results for that show here.

https://twitter.com/InsaneChampWres/status/1076916007388831744

PAC vs David Starr Announced for DEFIANT Loaded (01/05)

Jake Skudder
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DEFIANT Wrestling has announced that PAC will be taking on an international standout in January. PAC will be facing David Starr as part of the tapings for the returned ‘Loaded’ show. Loaded is a free-to-air programme on YouTube that features many of the top talent from the UK independent scene.The show has seen many iterations over the past few years. DEFIANT sent out the following press release for the return back in September:

“Loaded previously ran for 33 episodes between July 2016 and October 2017, amassing over 25 MILLION views on YouTube. Loaded, at that time, ran under the WCPW (What Culture Pro Wrestling) banner, with WCPW since rebranded as Defiant Wrestling in late 2017 following a diversification from the What Culture brand.”

In other PAC news Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) announced that ‘The King’ will be heading to Bethnal Green in February. The company’s ‘High Stakes 2019’ event takes place on February 15th from the world famous York Hall in London. PAC will be facing Will Ospreay as part of the event. Tickets for the show sold out in record time with just the one match being announced.

This comes after Rev Pro announced that PAC would be facing Zack Sabre Jr in 2019. The former WWE Superstar will be heading to ‘Live at The Cockpit’ at The Cockpit Theatre in London on January 6th. PAC recently appeared for Rev Pro at their Portsmouth show, where he faced Mike Bailey.

AJ Styles Misses Another Live Event, Zack Ryder On Not Being Used

Anutosh Bajpai
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AJ Styles Misses Another Live Event

We noted before how the former WWE Champion AJ Styles missed a SmackDown brand Live Event on December 26th and The Miz and Mustafa Ali replaced Styles in his scheduled bout against Daniel Bryan.

Styles didn’t appear on last night’s Live Event from Uniondale, New York and this time, John Cena replaced the Phenomenal One and wrestled the WWE Champion Daniel Bryan in a steel cage match.

AJ has reportedly been dealing with flu which has caused some other stars to miss events in recent times as well though currently there is no news on how long he will stay out of action.

Zack Ryder On Not Being Used

While his year started with a feud on SmackDown Live, Zack Ryder has not been featured much on WWE Programming since then and he haven’t been part of any match on Raw since being drafted to the show back in April.

The former Intercontinental Champion took on his twitter to comment on this as the year-end approaches and said that he is still here and always ready for a match:

So far there is no news of WWE’s announcement of freshening things up affecting Zack’s status but with Royal Rumble approaching it’s possible that we may see him return to TV to announce his entry in coming weeks.

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