New SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair has called out ESPN for downplaying her personal accomplishments.

Earlier this week, Charlotte, Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch appeared on ESPN SportsCenter to promote WrestleMania 35. You can see the full video of that segment here.

As each woman answered questions from the host, a graphic appeared with their name and a fact about them. For example, Ronda Rousey’s captions read, “1st female to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame” and later, “RAW Women’s Champion (WrestleMania match for her belt).”

When Becky Lynch was on screen, the on-screen graphic said, “12th person to compete in WrestleMania main event after not being on main card.” and “Won 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble.” That random Becky factoid aside, each of these facts are related to personal accomplishments of the performers.

When Charlotte Flair appeared on screen, her caption read, “Daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair.” That statement is true, but it contrasts with the facts displayed about her opponents.

Charlotte is the most decorated competitor competing in the WrestleMania main event with countless achievements that could have been used in lieu of “Ric Flair’s daughter.”

• Rumor On Why Charlotte Won The SmackDown Women’s Title This Week

The 8-time WWE Women’s Champion let ESPN know the chyron botch didn’t go unnoticed. She reminded ESPN that they have covered her professional accolades in-depth on multiple occasions.

She signed the message, “Daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair.”

History will be made next Sunday when Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair become the first women to headline WrestleMania in their match for the Raw Women’s Championship.

This moment is also special for the other female members of the WWE roster and one half of the current Women’s Tag Team Champion Sasha Banks is one of them.

Banks was recently interviewed by The Independent and when asked about the Women main eventing the Show Of Shows this year, the Raw Star said that she is very proud of it:

“I’m very proud, It’s cool to see the women you started with get this dream. I think it’s all of our dreams about to happen and I am more than happy for all of them.”

Apart from this Sasha also talked about Eddie Guerrero’s influence on her life and how Eddie’s wife Vickie Guerrero has been amazing to her.

She told a story of Vickie giving her a pair of Eddie’s tights, claiming that the former SmackDown General Manager has absolutely no idea what they mean to her and she hopes that she is making him proud.

Sasha Banks along with Bayley is currently scheduled to defend the Women’s Tag Title in a multi-team match at WrestleMania. You can check out an updated match card for the event at this link.

The Bella Twins recently announced their retirement from pro wrestling. Despite this, they have already speculated about what could bring them back to the ring.

During the debut episode of their new podcast, The Bellas Podcast, Nikki Bella would candidly address her own retirement announcement. She revealed her reasons behind the difficult decision. She also divulged that she wasn’t allowed to talk about the real reason due to corporate decision making—though it wasn’t specified whether this was a WWE or E! decision.

“Something we really couldn’t air on Total Bellas is that people didn’t realize how hard my comeback was for me to go back to a place that I called home and met the love of my life.”

She continued, “[…] when they showed you that I made the decision [to retire] because I couldn’t hang with the girls in the ring anymore, what they also don’t air—because they never want me to talk about my neck—is … it’s because of my neck.”

“I Would Get Paralyzed Too Or Even Worse”

Nikki would then mention Paige and the unfortunate incident that saw her having to retire from in-ring competition:

“You saw what happened to Paige,” Nikki said. “Paige and I have the same hardware. So if I was to get kicked in the back of the head, I would get paralyzed too or even worse.”

Co-host, and twin sister, Brie mentioned how Nikki would cry in the locker room every single week. The cameras, however, refused to show it. Nikki added that “we weren’t allowed to,” demonstrating the structured nature of the supposed ‘reality’ show.

H/T to ProWrestlingSheet.com for the transcription.

With WrestleMania 35 around the corner, two of WWE’s biggest Superstars are still not officially announced to be a part of the event.

It had been rumored previously that John Cena may have been revealed to be Kurt Angle’s final opponent. This would have been for Angle’s retirement match at WrestleMania. That honor instead went to Baron Corbin—a fact that didn’t impress Cena.

Brad Shepard and Jon Fisher from the ‘Oh, You Didn’t Know’ Podcast discussed the chances the WWE Universe has in seeing either Superstar at WrestleMania.

“WWE is now operating as if The Undertaker will not be at WrestleMania, which is a big surprise to people internally. They did expect he would probably at least appear, they would work it out. But it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen now. At least as of right now, they’re operating as if he won’t be there.”

In regards to John Cena turning up, the two shared we may still see him. But don’t expect it to be in a matchup:

“WWE are considering having John Cena interrupt Elias’ performance at WrestleMania.”

Although not a wrestling or competitive role, if true, Cena may end up dusting off his rap skills in confronting Elias. But is this the best way to utilize a talent of John Cena’s stature?

Japanese wrestling promotion Sendai Girls will be heading to the United Kingdom for the first time ever this July. The company will be hosting a show at the Academy One in Manchester, England on Saturday 27th July. The company is based in the city of Sendai, Miyagi in the Tohoku region.

Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling was founded in 2005 by Meiko Satomura. You may know Satomura from the most recent Mae Young Classic tournament in WWE. Satomura was also recently the Fight Club: Pro Champion, the company with which this event is being promoted. The company is also co-owned by Jinsei Shinzaki who is also the president of Michinoku Pro Wrestling.

The confirmed names for the event so far are as follows:

• Meiko Satomura
• Chihiro Hashimoto
• Millie McKenzie
• Dash Chisako
• Mika Iwata

Ticket information for the show can be found via the tweet below:

The WWE Universe is still reeling at the surprise title change that went down this past Tuesday on SmackDown Live. For those that missed it, Charlotte Flair would challenge and defeat Asuka for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship. 

This decision saw a previously slated Fatal 4 Way between Mandy Rose, Naomi, Carmella, and Sonya Deville cancelled. The winner of that match would have gone on to face Asuka at WrestleMania 35. Unsurprisingly, Flair stepping in to claim the championship wasn’t well received by the women who lost their opportunity for it. 

Since all of this went down, Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com has discussed WWE’s reasoning behind the decision. He said that the “decision was made at the last minute.”

Meltzer has now discussed why WWE decided to pull the trigger on this decision. He claims that the promotion intends to close WrestleMania with the Four Horsewomen all holding gold. 

“This is not about Asuka, it’s about Charlotte. The Women’s Champion could have been Asuka, it could have been Naomi, it could have been Carmella—it doesn’t matter who the SmackDown Champion would have been. They want the Horsewomen closing out the show as champions at WrestleMania, so whoever was the SmackDown champion was losing that title to Charlotte.”

If this does occur, and a WWE Four Horsewomen reunion is on the horizon, could this potentially lead into the long-awaited feud between them and Ronda Rousey’s MMA Four Horsewomen faction?

While the majority of the people seem to be excited about Kofi Kingston finally getting a WWE title shot against Daniel Bryan, there is a legend who doesn’t seem to be happy.

WWE Hall Of Famer Billy Graham recently wrote on his official Facebook page and in the post, he criticized WWE’s decision to put Kofi against Bryan in the WWE Championship match at Mania.

He mentioned how both the stars in this bout are lightweights and how Kingston, going against someone like Brock Lesnar would be a joke:

“Is anyone out there really excited to see these 2 lightweights wrestle for the WWE Championship? Oh, one more thing. I would love to see Kofi at 145 pounds put his newly won WWE belt on the line against Brock Lesner, great logistics, 1 man being out-weighed by a good 135 pounds, a total joke this thing is”

In the post, Graham also blasted Dana Warrior who has recently been promoted as a permanent member of the WWE creative team after joining in a temporary capacity a while back:

What do you think of Billy Graham’s remarks regarding the WWE Championship bout between Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

We noted before how El Hijo del Fantasma, Ivelisse, Joey Ryan, and Kobra Moon all were released from their Lucha Underground contracts recently as part of their lawsuit settlement with the promotion.

At the time it was noted that while the other stars might take a different route, Fantasma also known as King Cuerno could be heading to WWE.

During the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer talked about this possibility and revealed some details on the relationship between both sides.

According to Meltzer, Cuerno was offered a WWE deal in the past and while there has been no recent update on the matter, the offer is believed to be still valid.

Not only that but the Lightweight Star was also offered a spot in the Cruiserweight Classic Tournament in 2016 but Lucha Underground and AAA blocked him from accepting the offer.

Regarding the possibility of Ivelisse signing with the company, Meltzer noted that she has had issues with backstage personnel in the past.

They possibly date back to her time in the company as a development talent dubbed Sofia Cortez. She worked for the company in 2010-2011 and there has been no recent talk of her return.

Though WWE is trying to sign as many talents as possible and considering the current environment, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the company presents her with an offer.

Former ECW Star Attends SmackDown

Former WWE and WCW Star Justin Credible was present at this week’s episode of SmackDown Live and he apparently watched the show from the crowd.

Credible posted some photos from the crowd on his Twitter account and also thanked SmackDown’s head writer “Road Dogg” BG James, possibly for the tickets:

Justin Credible wrestled for WWE from 1994 to 1997 before leaving to join ECW. He later also worked for WCW. He returned to WWE in 2001 and spent a couple more years there before departing again.

WWE Congratulates JoJo

We noted before how former WWE Champion Bray Wyatt and ring announcer JoJo Offerman revealed on Instagram that they are expecting a child.

WWE commented on the news later on and releasing a statement on the matter on their official website, the company asked everyone to join them in congratulating the WWE Star:

“WWE ring announcer JoJo has been conspicuous by her absence the last few months, and she revealed why on social media Wednesday afternoon: She’s expecting. In an Instagram post that also included pictures of her baby bump, the former Total Divas star also revealed she will be having a son in June, and has decided to name him Knash. Please join us in congratulating JoJo on her upcoming arrival!”

WWE surprised everyone by putting the SmackDown Women’s Championship on Charlotte Flair just days before her WrestleMania match for the Raw Women’s Championship.

This move started the rumors that the company is looking to unify both the Women’s titles and many have been wondering if the Officials had planned this title change all along.

Though if we believe Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, then this isn’t the case and the decision to put the belt on Flair was a last minute call.

According to Meltzer, this wasn’t the plan earlier on Tuesday and the call which affects the WrestleMania match card was made on the same day as the show

“This decision was made at the last minute. It was literally made this afternoon or this morning. I heard about it a couple of hours before the show. “

Dave went on to reveal that he only heard that some changes were being made that would affect the match card for the PPV and as we now know, this title change means that the SmackDown Women’s Championship match is off the card.

There is still no word on why WWE officials decided on this sudden change but we noted before how the other Women on the roster are not very happy with it.

It hasn’t even been a month since both Nikki Bella and Brie Bella, the Bella Twins announced their retirement from in-ring competition, but the sisters are already talking about a possible return.

In what seems like a good strategy to market their new podcast, the Bellas talked about a number of things during the first episode of the Bellas Podcast while also discussing a comeback.

The topic was brought up when a fan asked them about the Women’s Tag Titles and replying to it, Brie said that they did say they were stepping away but it was before the tag titles were introduced.

She went on to claim that the fact that there is a tag title for the female competitors is extremely tempting for them because they’re the longest reigning, most authentic tag team in the company.

This led to Nikki recalling their debut and early days in the company as a tag team. She then said that she has had an amazing career in WWE and she would love to win the Women’s Tag titles with Brie.

The two concluded the topic with Nikki saying that she would love to take on the current champions Sasha Banks and Bayley while Brie reminded everyone to never say never.

As we noted before, Nikki Bella is open to a return as long as the timing is right and while this appears to be just a tease, it wouldn’t be a big surprise if we see the Bella Twins making a return somewhere down the line.

A new match has been announced for WWE NXT TakeOver: New York.

Aleister Black & Ricochet defeated The Forgotten Sons to win this year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic on Wednesday’s episode of NXT. As a result, Black and Ricochet are next in line for the gold in the tag team division. 

At NXT Takeover New York War Raiders will defend the NXT Tag Titles against Ricochet & Aleister Black.

WWE presents the NXT TakeOver: New York event on Friday, April 5, 2019 in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center that will air on the WWE Network. WWE could be announcing more matches for this show in the coming days. Here is the updated card:

Updated WWE NXT TakeOver: New York Card

Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole – Vacant WWE NXT Title 2 of 3 Falls Match

WWE NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane vs. Io Shirai vs. Bianca Belair –  Fatal 4 Way Match

WWE NXT North American Champion The Velveteen Dream vs. Matt Riddle

WWE NXT Tag Team Champions The War Raiders vs. Aleister Black & Ricochet

WWE NXT UK Champion Pete Dunne vs. WALTER

What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.

Gargano Vowed To Fulfill His Destiny At TakeOver

Adam Cole came down to the ring and stated that last week he earned the right to challenge for the vacant NXT Championship against Johnny Gargano. Cole asked that Johnny join him in the ring so he can tell him exactly what he is going to do to him at TakeOver: New York.

Gargano and Cole stood in the ring as dueling “Johnny Wrestling!” and “Adam Cole!” chants broke out in the crowd. Cole interrupted and shouted that he doesn’t need any of their support. Gargano took a seat on the top turnbuckle and said that he loved the “Johnny Wrestling!” chants.

Johnny asked Cole to list off the one million reasons why he was going to beat him. Adam Cole didn’t say anything and Gargano joked that everyone should get out their cameras because this is the first time ever that Cole has nothing to say. Johnny got off the turnbuckle and told Cole that he is going to show him why people call him Johnny TakeOver.

The crowd chanted “Johnny TakeOver” as Adam Cole laughed in Gargano’s face. Cole brought up Johnny not being in the winner’s circle at past TakeOver and his nickname should be “Johnny Participation”. Cole claimed that Gargano cannot win one fall at TakeOver and then listed off all of his accomplishments in NXT.

Cole stated that it would be the pinnacle of his NXT career to capture the NXT Championship and beat Gargano in the process. Gargano said that he has been told his entire life that he doesn’t deserve to be here but he refused to take no for answer. Johnny brought up the origins of DIY and how they were two unsigned indie guys and had to prove themselves in the first Dusty Rhodes Classic.

Gargano added that every single time he showed up he poured his heart out in the ring. The fans chanted “Johnny Wrestling!” as he stated that he fought and earned his contract in NXT. Johnny claimed that NXT was his life and that he was handed a top spot and a group to fight his battles for him like Undisputed Era.

Johnny vowed to fight to make his dream come true at TakeOver: New York and finally become NXT Champion. Cole and Gargano then had a staredown and each to a look at the vacant NXT Championship before exiting the ring. Cole stopped on the entrance ramp and pretended to get choked up. Cole said Gargano’s story was inspirational but he will be the one leaving TakeOver as the NXT Champion.

Undisputed Era came down to the entrance ramp and Cole stated that Triple H was wrong when he said that the 2 out of 3 Falls match will be definitive. Cole claimed that the NXT Championship match at TakeOver will be Undisputed.

Shanya Baszler Put Kacey Catanzaro To Sleep

Vanessa Borne & Aliyah squared off against Lacey Lane & Kacey Catanzaro on this week’s episode of NXT. Aliyah and Lane started off the match. Aliyah brought Lane to the corner and tagged in Vanessa. Borne slammed Lacey to the mat for a near fall but Lane battled back with an Arm Drag that sent Vanessa out of the ring. Lane posed in the middle of the ring as the crowd chanted her name.

Aliyah tagged in and booted Lane in the face. Aliyah followed it up with a flurry of forearms to Lane’s face and then tagged Borne back in. Vanessa hung up Lane on the ropes and booted her in the back several times. Borne followed that up with a headbutt and then tagged Aliyah back into the match.

Shayna Baszer, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir made their way down to the ring as Aliyah and Borne retreated. Shayna booted Lane in the face and then went after Catanzaro. Baszler locked in the Kirifuda Clutch but Kacey escaped and Dropkicked Duke and Shafir off the apron. Shayna locked in the Kirifuda Clutch again and put her to sleep. Shayna then got in Percy Watson’s face and shouted that these attacks are going to keep happening as long as she is mistreated. Shayna stood on the announce table, raised the NXT Women’s Champion, and shouted at the crowd to respect their champion.

Velveteen Dream Interrupted Matt Riddle

Kona Reeves battled Matt Riddle tonight on NXT. Riddle won the quick match via the Bromission. During the match, Velveteen Dream showed up with a couple of girls and a couch on the entrance ramp. Dream announced that Riddle won the match but will lose to him at TakeOver. Riddle walked up the entrance ramp and took the microphone from Dream. Riddle told Dream that he will see him in New York and then threw Velveteen’s drink.

Aleister Black & Ricochet Won The Dusty Rhodes Classic

Aleister Black & Ricochet faced The Forgotten Sons in the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament. The winner of the match wins the Dusty Cup and will also go on to face War Raiders for the NXT Tag Team Championships at TakeOver: New York.

The match started with a brawl that sent Cutler and Blake out of the ring. Jaxson Ryker joined them as the Forgotten Sons regrouped. Back in the ring, Blake connected with a shoulder tackle on Black and then applied a Headlock.

Cutler and Ricochet tagged in and Ricochet hit him with a Dropkick. Ricochet then flipped onto the Forgotten Sons and then posed with Black in opposite corners of the ring. Ryker hit Ricochet with a cheap shot as the referee was distracted and the Forgotten Sons isolated Ricochet in the corner of the ring.

Blake hit Ricochet with a Backbreaker and tagged Cutler in. Forgotten Sons controlled the next few minutes by isolating Ricochet in the corner. Black finally was able to tag in and hit Blake with a knee to the face. Aleister hit a Springboard Moonsault onto both Blake and Cutler.

Cutler connected with a Backbreaker on Black for a near fall. Blake leveled Ricochet with a Clothesline and then turned around into Double Knees from Aleister Black. Ricochet and Blake took turns blocking each other’s Suplex attempts several times before Ricochet finally connected with one.

Ricochet sent Blake to the outside and climbed up to the top rope. Blake connected with a punch and went for a Reverse Frankensteiner but Ricochet landed on his feet. Black tagged in and hit Blake with a kick to the face and went for the cover but Cutler shoved Ricochet on top of them to break it up.

Blake hit a Backstabber on Black and then Cutler followed it up with an Elbow Drop. Cutler went for the cover but Ricochet broke it up at the last second. Aleister hit Cutler with Black Mass but was planted by Blake. Aleister Black went to put his foot on the ropes to break up the cover but Ryker shoved it away.

The referee saw it and kicked Ryker out from ringside. Ricochet tagged in and hit the 630 on Blake as Black Moonsaulted onto Cutler outside the ring. Ricochet then covered Blake for the victory. Black and Ricochet will face War Raiders at TakeOver: New York for the titles. War Raiders came down to the ring and had a staredown with Black and Ricochet to close the show.

WWE CEO Vince McMahon is cashing in even more of his WWE stock to help fund the upcoming relaunch of the XFL.

McMahon sold off 3 million shares of his WWE stock — valued at approximately $270 million — as he continues to funnel money to Alpha Entertainment, which is the entity he created to help bring his football league back.

McMahon still owns over 36-percent of the WWE with over 80-percent voting rights when it comes to decision making for the professional wrestling organization.

When he first announced plans to relaunch the XFL, McMahon sold off another $100 million worth of his WWE stock to help get the company off the ground.

At the initial meeting to announced that the XFL would be coming back, McMahon stated that it would take a lot of money invested to get the football league off the ground. The original version of the XFL came out in 2000 but after an initial interest from fans, the league floundered and failed.

Now McMahon is determined to bring back the XFL in 2020 while promising to keep the focus on the game and giving fans a chance to watch more football during the entire year.

The timing of McMahon selling off his WWE stock to fund more money into Alpha Entertainment/XFL comes on the heels of the news that the Alliance of American Football (AAF) could be in serious trouble.

On Wednesday it was revealed that the AAF may considering shutting down its operations without additional support from the NFL Player’s Association.

“If the players union is not going to give us young players, we can’t be a development league,” AAF chairman Tom Dundon told USA Today Sports. “We are looking at our options, one of which is discontinuing the league.”

Obviously, McMahon would likely jump at the opportunity to fill that void with the XFL launching next year.

Regardless of the future of the AAF, McMahon is definitely putting the full brunt of his financial power behind the XFL with this latest cash injection.

3-time NFL Super Bowl champion Ron Gronkowski appeared with WWE Superstars at a black-tie charity event for the held in Washington, D.C. Tuesday night.

WWE Superstars Braun Strowman, Mojo Rawley and Mickie James were also on hand for the USO-Metro’s 37th Annual Awards. As seen below, comedian Jon Stewart (no stranger to WWE) was also in attendance.

Grankowski was awarded with the USO-Metro’s Merit Award, which recognizes individuals of outstanding talent who are dedicated to serving others through volunteerism. Gronk’s acceptance speech is getting a fair amount of media coverage.

In front of a room full of Army generals, Medal of Honor recipients, donors and military personnel, he spoke about visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center earlier in the day.

“I mean, I thought I went through a lot in my life,” Gronkowski said. “Today, I saw a troop who lost both of his legs tell me he wants to get the movement back in his legs and get prosthetics in, and get back out there and kill some motherf*ckers!”

Gronk: Future WWE Superstar?

Earlier this week, Gronkowski announced his retirement from pro football after 9 seasons with the New England Patriots. The 29-year old stud athlete is close friends with WWE Superstar Mojo Rawley. He has has expressed interest in a WWE career once he retired from the NFL.

Earlier this week, Mojo Rawley told TMZ Sports that he expects to see Gronk in a WWE ring “at some point” in the future. Whether or not he decides to become a full-time WWE performer, it seems inevitable that he’s destined for at least a few appearances.

Stephanie McMahon sent Gronk a message this week telling him the doors are always open for him to join WWE.

Tuesday’s edition of WWE SmackDown Live from Uncasville, CT at the Mohegan Sun Arena averaged 2.393 million viewers, up from 2.208 million the previous week, according to ShowbuzzDaily.

The show had to go up against Curse of Oak Island on History that did million 3.498 viewers, Rachel Maddow Show with 2.301, and Tucker Carlson Tonight that drew 3.554.

Matches that took place on this show include Charlotte Flair defeats Asuka for the smackDown Women’s Title, AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle, and The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) defeat Daniel Bryan & Rowan and Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows and Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura and The Bar (Cesaro & Sheamus) and The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso) in a tag team gauntlet match to earn Kofi Kingston the right to challenge Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 35.

WWE hyped WrestleMania 35 and the matches taking place at that show. In case you missed the show, you can check out the 4 takeaways from it here.

WWE will attempt to rebound with next week’s episode, which should be interesting to see what number it pulls in.

WWE ring announcer JoJo has announced that she’s expecting a child.

On Wednesday, JoJo took to her official Instagram account to announce that she is pregnant with baby Knash and is expected to give birth this June.

She hasn’t been seen on television since the New Year’s Eve episode of WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night RAW. Although she didn’t mention it in the caption of her photo, Jojo is currently dating WWE superstar Bray Wyatt.

Offerman noted near the end of the message that “WE will be back when the time is right.” Congratulations to the couple. She wrote the following alongside her maternity photos:

Wyatt is still preparing to make his return to WWE television on Monday Night RAW. Since WWE decided to take him off the TV show of the red brand, Wyatt has been sending out cryptic messages on his official Twitter account in order to remind people that he could make his return at any moment.

Wyatt had been paired with Matt Hardy but that tag team was forced to be split up after Hardy had to take some time off due to nagging injuries back in August.

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley spoke with Sky News earlier this month heaped praise on WrestleMania main event competitor Becky Lynch.

The interview took place before WWE announced the Women’s triple threat match will be the official main event of WrestleMania 35. Foley predicted that WWE fans would be irate if any other match went on last at Mania.

Foley went as far as saying there would be a “mass exodus” of fans if the women did not go on last at WrestleMania, which is the last thing WWE needs when All Elite Wrestling is on the verge of launching in less than two months.

Mick Foley is no stranger to WrestleMania main events himself. Back in 2000, Foley was part of the 4-way main event that had a ‘McMahon in every corner.’ He expects an exciting match next Sunday and feels Ronda Rousey’s recent heel turn is working in a big way.

As for Becky Lynch, he considers her a close personal friend and called her the biggest name in pro wrestling today.

“I believe their time has come. Becky Lynch has succeeded in becoming the biggest name in our business and I think that’s great,” Foley said. “She’s a good friend, she’s a wonderful person and it couldn’t happen to a nicer lass.”

Foley also revealed that Becky Lynch came to him for advice last year. She took the advise and ran with it. The result has been a character so hot, it reminds him of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

“I go back to my messages about eight or nine months ago and when she came to me for some advice I told her to be patient and to be ready,” Foley revealed. “Then when she got the opportunity, she ran with it like nobody I’ve ever seen, like ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.”

Visit SkyNews.com to read the full interview.

Alexa Bliss posted a photo on Twitter on Wednesday showing off a dramatically different look. The former Raw Women’s Champion is set to host WrestleMania 35 next weekend.

With just over a week until the event, Bliss decided to change her signature blonde hair – or did she? Earlier in the day, she posted a video on Twitter asking followers if she should change her look, or keep it the same.

As seen below, Bliss was sporting dark brown hair with auburn and blonde highlights. It’s a radical departure from what we’ve seen from her.

Update: It turns out Alexa Bliss was just messing around about no longer having blonde hair.

She posted a few photos of the “finished product,” which you can see below. Knowing she fooled fans and several wrestling news sites that jumped on the earth-shattering development, she tagged the photos with #GotYa.

Thanks for visiting SEScoops, your #1 source for pro wrestling hairstyle news.

Gail Kim believes Impact’s television product is superior to WWE’s and chalks that up to Vince McMahon’s sub-par booking.

Late Tuesday night, the Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer admitted she had a few drinks before throwing shade at WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and his “shitty” booking. Apparently there will be more to come later today from the former Knockouts champion.

A fan responded to Gail Kim’s tweet and disagreed with her. She replied, “You obviously haven’t watched lately. We kill them in creative.”

As you can imagine, her claim that Impact is superior to WWE was a controversial take and led to a mixed reaction from her followers. She deemed the people who disagreed with her opinion “trolls” and promised to always speak her mind, no matter how unpopular her opinions may be.

We’ll provide an update if Gail Kim does in fact elaborate on Vince McMahon’s sub-par booking, as she said she would.

• Gail Kim Accuses WWE Management of Racism

Both fans and pro wrestling veterans continue to comment on Kurt Angle’s retirement match at WrestleMania 35. Angle revealed that his final matchup would be against Baron Corbin, of all people.

In the run-up to ‘Mania, Angle has been having a farewell tour of sorts, wrestling high calibre athletes on both RAW and SmackDown before his match with Corbin on April 7th.

Now Jim Ross has commented further on the announcement via his podcast, The Jim Ross Report.

“Underwhelmed”

Ross would preface that he has “no issues” with Baron Corbin, admitting that he believes he has a lot of potential and a “significant and visible upside” before stating that “He’s just not there yet.”

Extrapolating on his initial tweet, in which he shared he (like most) was “underwhelmed” by Kurt’s opponent, Ross explains that his comment had “nothing to do with ability, the work ethic, the passion of performing of Baron Corbin. Nothing! Not even the same time zone. It has everything to do with how you honor Kurt Angle going out.”

He would go on to say that “[…] I thought WWE might have done a better job of selecting somebody else — and they still might! Who knows? Hell, I don’t know. That’s not an unfathomable idea. But let’s say it’s going to be Corbin and Kurt,” he continued, “do everything you can to make it special, but it could have been made more special if it was somebody that was more tenured and was perceived by the audience as more ‘over.’ I just think Angle deserves everything that he can be provided to make his retirement match meaningful and memorable. He deserves that. I don’t know if you can get there with Kurt Angle versus Baron Corbin.”

Rumor up until Angle’s announcement had revolved around John Cena coming back, providing Kurt with a retirement match deeply rooted to their first ever encounter when Cena debuted in 2002.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

On Sunday, former tight end of New England Patriots Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement from NFL.

WWE’s Mojo Rawley who is good friends with Gronkowsk said that we can expect to see the Gronk in a WWE ring at some point.

Speaking to TMZ Sports, Rawley said, “That wouldn’t shock me one bit. I mean, he’s always been a wrestling fan,” Rawley said. “… In the future, I’m sure at some point you’ll see him inside a WWE ring in one capacity or another, but I don’t know if that’s day gonna be today.”

On whether the company themselves would be interested in the former NFL star, Rawley responded positively and said that a personality like Gronkowski is exactly what the company looks for:

“I’m absolutely positive they would be pretty receptive to that,” he said. “A guy that can move the way he can, that has his size and overall demeanor and charisma, yeah, that’s kinda what we recruit around. That’s exactly what we’re looking for here.”

Rawley continued, “So you know, I’m sure they’d be on board with it, and like you said, there’s been a lot of Superstars from other walks of life that have come here and been successful. That’s kinda the beauty of WWE – everyone’s got their own story, they all have their own path of getting here. It’s just a very diverse and unique locker room. So yeah, he’d be a perfect fit. Absolutely.”

Gronkowski appeared at WrestleMania 33 to help his friend Rawley win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Gronkowski was sitting ringside and Jinder Mahal threw a drink at him which prompted the star to get in the ring and attack Mahal.

In a short video uploaded after this week’s Monday Night RAW, another hint was dropped regarding who might be showing up at WrestleMania 35 to face Bobby Lashley: Finn Balor or The Demon.

This week’s episode of RAW saw Finn Balor defeat both Lashley and Jinder Mahal in a handicap matchup. This victory would secure an opportunity at Lashley’s Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 35.

Bobby Lashley’s manager, Lio Rush, uploaded a short clip to his Twitter account. The video features the two having a clash of words backstage. Lashley, angry over Finn’s win and new number one contender position, would lash out at Rush’s choice of partner for him that night.

Lio Rush would respond, saying: “Don’t do this right now, do not do this right now, you need to focus. You’ve got Finn at WrestleMania, that’s it. That’s the match. You versus Finn at WrestleMania. We’ve still got a couple of weeks until then, so the real question is: what do we do now? What do we do now, because the match is already set in stone.”

Lashley’s reply was to the point:

“I’m gonna beat the demon out of him.”

Demon Balor

Earlier this month, WWE released a WrestleMania advertisement that actually featured Finn Balor in his demon attire. This would prompt fans to anticipate The Demon’s return at WrestleMania 35. This video from Rush just adds to the speculation that The Demon may return on April 7th.

In an apparent backhanded compliment, Ronda Rousey said that WWE is copying the women’s evolution.

Appearing on ESPN’s Sports Center with fellow stars Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, Rousey talked about women in WWE and how much progress the women’s evolution made in a timespan of a year. What seemed like a plaudit for WWE’s efforts to revolutionize the women’s roster, Rousey said that the company started focusing on women after others started doing it.

“It’s just incredible the amount of momentum that we’ve been able to generate within just a year. If you look at last year’s WrestleMania compared to now, like what I think was happening with WWE is really a parallel for everything that’s happened culturally around the world.

The WWE just… copies everything else that’s happening, like the women’s evolution and revolution and every industry out there.”

Rousey further added, “I really think that this is one of those mediums where you can affect real social changes and affect how women view themselves. This is the same company that had bra and panty matches that are now you know, raising the women to the highest pinnacle that they have in the industry.”

Rousey basically implied that WWE is late to the party and are only going with the women’s evolution because it is “in” right now. But the rest of the interview was Rousey praising WWE for their efforts. It is after all very Rousey-esque to still take a small shot at WWE while praising them.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

It appears that, despite becoming the RAW tag team champions, The Revival may still be unhappy within WWE. The team, comprised of Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson, haven’t been shy of hiding their frustrations.

After having teased a matchup with The Young Bucks via social media, and amongst the influx of talent requesting releases and also vocalising their frustrations, the team would go on to become tag champions.

In what could add further speculation to their happiness and position within WWE, The Revival posed recently posed with a fan at a WWE Live Event. The fan just so happened to be wearing an All Elite Wrestling (AEW) t-shirt. The fan posted these photos and quoted that he was told: “I’ll see you in May.” This is an obvious reference to their friendship with AEW members as well as AEW’s upcoming event, Double Or Nothing, which takes place in May.

It’s an interesting comment to make considering The Revival’s contracts with WWE expire in 2020.

“Don’t Wish Being Raw Tag Team Champs On Them”

Adding to this speculation over their current job satisfaction, Dash Wilder would respond to a fan’s tweet. The tweet showcased the fan’s nephews showing off a pair of RAW tag team championship belts, which they got for their birthday. Wilder’s response was somewhat telling:

“Please don’t wish being Raw tag team champs on them. For their sake.”

Despite having claimed the RAW tag team championships, the duo would go on to suffer a string of loses, stymying any momentum they may have been hoping to build for themselves and the RAW tag team division.