On Saturday, the topic of who would be on your Mount Rushmore of wrestling was trending on social media.
WWE’s YouTube channel put out a video that featured various stars being asked who they would put on their Mount Rushmore of wrestling.
The likes of WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Jason Jordan, Shayna Baszler, Seth Rollins, and Liv Morgan gave their take about this topic.
Just like with who is the GOAT (greatest of all-time) in wrestling, it’s an opinionated take as most people have a different list.
Most can agree upon the likes of Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and The Rock but typically the fourth name is divided. Here’s the list:
Becky Lynch on Superstars – Brock Lesnar, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and John Cena
Lynch on purest wrestlers – Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Kurt Angle.
Seth Rollins – Steve Austin, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Vince McMahon.
Charlotte – Andrade, herself, Kurt Angle, Ric Flair.
Jason Jordan – Kurt Angle, Mr. Perfect, Steve Austin, and Eddie Guerrero.
Shayna Bazler – Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Bruno Sammartino, and Steve Austin.
Liv Morgan – herself, Mickie James, Vince McMahon, and Shawn Michaels.
Arn Anderson was recently asked on an episode of his podcast who he thinks is the “most interesting man in the wrestling world.” Anderson was unable to name just one person, however.
Conrad Thompson got the ball rolling by mentioning Paul Ellering and Chris Jericho as particularly interesting people in the world of pro-wrestling.
“Paul Ellering was a completely different kind of cat, you know what I mean?” Anderson said about Ellering. “He trained people for the Iditarod (sled dog race), were you aware of that? That’s pretty heavy, that’s pretty stout. He disappeared up to Alaska and that’s what he did for a while.”
Anderson then spoke about how Jericho has been able to reinvent himself and has done a credible job throughout his career.
Tony Khan was then listed as someone Anderson considers an interesting person in wrestling.
“Tony Khan and his background of where he has came from and just going from being a very successful entrepreneur and wrestling fan to being an owner of a company that, I’ve been saying it, is the future of the wrestling industry.”
Arn Anderson on Billy Corgan & The NWA
Anderson also mentioned Billy Corgan as an interesting person in wrestling.
“I think the guy, the Smashing Pumpkins gentleman that has opened up the NWA is an interesting guy,” Arn continued. “To go from a rocker to the owner of the NWA which has a lot of stroke with me, that name, it totally means something if we make it mean something. The NWA is what I was brought up on, they are carving out a niche for themselves. Their champion is doing a good job and their whole crew.”
Anderson then spoke about how he feels wrestling is in a good place right now due to all the places wrestlers have to work. He mentioned ROH, Impact, the NWA and more.
Chris Jericho serves as the narrator for Season 2 of VICE’s Dark Side of the Ring docuseries. The first two episodes of the season focus on the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide tragedy from 2007. Jericho recently spoke to Paste about his involvement in the documentary and the complicated question of Chris Benoit’s legacy in pro-wrestling.
During the interview, Jericho was asked about Benoit’s contribution to pro-wrestling and if it is important to revive the memory of his body of work.
“I don’t know, man. It’s a weird thing,” Jericho responded. “I’m not doing this to glorify a murderer but I’m also not doing this to wash away the things that he did. I think it’s a personal choice. If you were someone that didn’t know Chris Benoit you might want to study his matches because he was one of the greatest of all time. There’s no doubt about that. No matter what he did in the last weekend of his life, as a professional there were none better.”
Jericho said the issue of Benoit’s body of work and its legacy is more difficult for those who were around or following the business in 2007.
“Where it becomes harder is if you knew him, or if you were there or around or involved or a wrestling fan in 2007, when this went down.”
“I would say probably 10, 15 years from now—even now—you’re going to have a whole generation of performers that weren’t really fans back then, or might not have really known the true story, that won’t care as much. They’ll want to watch his matches and just try to learn and see what he did and what he was.”
Chris Jericho On Chris Benoit’s Body of Work In Wrestling
Jericho would then continue to say that he’s not sure if he wants to go back and watch old Benoit matches but understands why others would want to do so.
“I don’t know if I really want to go back and watch those matches even though they’re so connected to me in so many ways. It’s hard to do. But I don’t blame other people for doing it, because those matches are great examples of what perfect pro wrestling is.”
Jericho covers a whole range of topics during the interview. He also spoke about other episodes of the docu-series and how Chavo Guerrero got him involved. The full interview can be found here.
WrestleMania 36 is just a week away. With the current COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, WWE has been forced to pre-tape the biggest show of the year.
One of the bigger matches on the card; will see WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch take on Shayna Baszler for the Championship. In a potentially massive slip up, Mark Henry may have revealed the stipulation for the match.
During the most recent episode of Busted Open Radio, Mark Henry was discussing the Roman Reigns and Goldberg situation. Roman Reigns has taken himself off of the WrestleMania card due to health worries, and Henry suggested that Matt Riddle be the replacement opponent for Goldberg at the event. In doing so, he discussed a match stipulation he’d like to see added to the RAW Women’s title match
Henry stated “You know, you got one match in an octagon hopefully. And hopefully you know what they can do with Shana Baszler and Becky Lynch. And then you can turn around and have one more right behind it, or have it before [Goldberg vs Riddle]. Just a tune up.”
“then you can turn around and have one more right behind it”
Mark Henry
The ‘World’s Strongest Man’ would obviously be referring to Riddle and Baszler being former MMA fighters, thus giving the stipulation some merit. However, with Riddle being pure speculation, it’s interesting for Mark Henry to say “you got one match in an octagon, hopefully.”
So, with WrestleMania 36 being behind closed doors and information being sparse; has Mark Henry just slipped that we’re getting an MMA match for Lynch vs Baszler? We have one more episode of RAW before WrestleMania 36 next week, could WWE announce the match stipulation then?
Becky Lynch will face Shayna Baszler with her WWE RAW Women’s Championship on the line at WrestleMania. Lynch won the title in a triple threat match at WrestleMania last year when she defeated Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey. This year, however, there will be no fans in attendance when Lynch wrestles on the show.
Lynch spoke to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani about the unique nature of this year’s WrestleMania.
“I’m somebody who has fed off the energy of the crowd so much,” Lynch said. “It’s been my connection with the crowd that’s gotten me to where I am and I know that without those people I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. It’s a different shift in your brain. You have to use a different part of you because you know at the other end of it, there’s millions of people watching. So you have to connect to them differently.”
“You’re not going to get that same gratification that you get when you’re going out there in front of an audience and they are letting you know how well you’re doing or how well you’re not doing but they are responding to you constantly. So it’s a little bit, there’s less self-gratification but more concentration on the nuances and of what your message is, why do I want people to care about why I’m going to mess Shayna Baszler up so much?”
Becky Lynch’s full comments to ESPN can be viewed in the player below:
Jake Roberts has been on a path to recovery from the last few years and the former WWE star even returned to weekly national television recently when he debuted on AEW TV.
During a recent interview with SportsKeeda, the wrestling
legend talked about a number of things and also revealed who was responsible
for bringing him into the company.
Roberts first mentioned how his name kept getting brought up and later revealed that while he expected people like DDP or Dustin Rhodes to vouch for him, it was actually President Tony Khan who wanted him there:
“My name kept getting brought up by people, but it was actually [Tony] Khan that said “I want him in here.” That’s quite a compliment there. That’s not the way I expected to be brought in, I expected it to be through Dallas or through Dustin [Rhodes], but it wasn’t, it was Khan who wanted me in there.
He’s the one that initiated the “let’s get him.” I did the little card-dealing gimmick I did for them [at Double Or Nothing],” recalled Jake Roberts. “That was just a nice thing to do, But then to get invited to do this angle [with Lance Archer) was much bigger.”
The WWE Hall Of Famer continued by saying that his storyline
with Lance Archer is going to be huge and they haven’t really started it yet.
He then mentioned how AEW is doing things the old school way where they are building things up for the long term instead of doing what WWE does. You can check out his full interview at this link.
Teddy Hart could be looking at significant jail time as a result of new charges he’s facing. Hart was arraigned in Richmond, Virginia on Thursday and is facing charges of strangulation resulting in wounding/bodily harm. The charges are related to an incident involving Hart’s girlfriend Maria Manic.
Hart is facing up to 5 years in prison for the Class 6 felony offense and up to a $2500 fine. His court date is set for April 22nd and he is currently being housed in Richmond City jail without bail.
Independent wrestler Ace Montana took to his Facebook account to say he had to pull a gun on Hart. He went on to detail the assault against Manic. Hart was arrested shortly after the incident took place.
This is the 3rd time in the last 2 months that Hart has been arrested. He was arrested and charged with possession of a schedule III substance with intent to sell or distribute. On March 4th, he was charged for violating the terms of his bail by not staying under house arrest.
The 40-year-old Hart is a former MLW World Middleweight Champion and held the tag titles along with Davey Boy Smith Jr. He’s also a former JCW World Champion with the Insane Clown Posse’s Juggalo Championship Wrestling.
Ace Montana spoke to Hannibal TV in detail about the incident:
Booker T was recently a guest on Konnan’s “Keepin it 100” podcast. During the conversation, Booker was asked what he feels is missing wrestling today. During the conversation, Konnan asked Booker what he feels is lacking in modern wrestling.
“I think the psychology I think is missing, the stories, not the stories but the storytelling,” Booker said on the show. “Being able to go out there and make the fans say your name and chant your name because they were invested in you, they had an emotional connection. You know, when you are getting beat up real good you might see a kid crying because they want to see you get back in there. I think that part of it has been removed from the business due to it’s a different time there, a different game.”
Booker would continue to say that this type of storytelling still works and you do still see some of it today. He gave Roman Reigns as an example of someone who tells good stories in his matches.
“I like Roman Reigns because he goes out and tells me a story pretty much every time he’s in the ring,” he continued.
“Some guys go out there and they forget about the emotional connection that you’re supposed to make with the fans. I think that is the biggest part that’s missing more than anything.”
Booker’s full comments can be heard in the player below:
Ric Flair has shared his thoughts on the current coronavirus pandemic affecting the world. The WWE Hall of Famer addressed the situation in a video entitled “Keeping It Real!” which he uploaded to his YouTube channel.
With his wife Wendy next to him, Flair stressed how important it is to maintain social distancing and to self-isolate during this turbulent time. He noted how people worldwide should be doing their part so we can get back to living life sooner rather than later.
“I am the king of doing what’s wrong in life, self admittedly,” Flair confessed. “I’ve never done anything right, and here I am selfishly thinking that I’m missing WrestleMania—the greatest athletes in the world performing with nobody there, and I’m thinking that that’s making a statement by not going, and to me that’s the last thing.
He continued, “It’s learning right now that we have to social distance, we have to practice hygiene at its highest, we have to learn how to be self-contained. We have to beat this virus, we have to entertain ourselves, be it First Take, be it Get Up, be it Amazon, Netflix, just do it. Please, so that we can get out and enjoy the world. As we have for years.”
Ric Flair Urges Coronavirus Precautions
Ric Flair then emphasized how, if you’re not choosing to take precautions for yourself, then you should be undertaking the necessary social responsibility for your family and other people.
“If you’re not doing it for yourself, do it for your family. Do it for other people that are lucky enough to be alive. Thanking the doctors, the nurses, and everybody for all you do—the first responders.”
Flair then joked about how in the old days, “they had an electric fence for me to keep me from wandering!” He noted, however, that he is presently happy staying at home as he has found happiness there, urging how “that’s what everybody needs to do.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please provide a H/T to SEScoops.
Rey Horus has officially signed a new agreement with Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestling. The promotion revealed the news via their Twitter account. At the time of writing, no specifics behind the new contract are known.
ROH shared how “It didn’t take long for Rey Horus to make an impact in Ring of Honor, and the company is pleased to announce that the exciting Mexican star will make ROH his home after signing a new contract!”
REY HORUS SIGNS NEW CONTRACT WITH ROH!
It didn’t take long for Rey Horus to make an impact in Ring of Honor, and the company is pleased to announce that the exciting Mexican star will make ROH his home after signing a new contract!#ROH? pic.twitter.com/N7RqF4PwrQ
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) March 27, 2020
Rey Horus In ROH
Rey Horus debuted for ROH in December 2019. He faced Flip Gordan at ROH’s Final Battle Fallout event. Gordon would ultimately walk away with the win that night.
Horus is currently one-third of the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions with his partners Bandido and Flamita. They defeated the Villain Enterprises team of Marty Scurll, Brody King and Flip Gordon for the titles during ROH’s Saturday Night at Center Stage event in January.
Before ROH canceled their 18th Anniversary pay-per-view, Rey Horus was scheduled to team up with Alex Zayn to face off against PCO and Brody King.
Their 18th Anniversary show isn’t the only show the promotion has canceled. The coronavirus pandemic has forced several wrestling promotions to cease operations, with ROH shutting down all shows through to May 31.
Eric Bischoff has broached the idea of David Benoit potentially signing with WWE or All Elite Wrestling. The former WCW President discussed the topic during a Q&A session on the After83 Weeks w/Christy Olsonpodcast. He was asked by a fan about the politics involved in Benoit signing with a major pro wrestling promotion given his family’s tragic story.
“At this time? I don’t know for sure,” Eric Bischoff began. “Because I don’t know what the politics that are you specifically asked, WWE? I think first of all I think we’d be far better served to go to AEW than WWE. But in either case, if either of those opportunities became available? If I were managing David? I would really think hard about getting into the ring and making that choice.”
Bischoff continued, “Because it’s being the son of a wrestler, being the son of a star in this business put so much pressure on you. Way more than the pressure is on the average person.”
“You take two people with equal, equal potential, everything is genetically equal. Almost identical except for birth parents, right, you put them through the same life experiences? You give them the same opportunities? You put them both into a wrestling environment to give them a chance to be a star? They’ll both accelerate in this example at the exact same pace; same levels, and the son of a star or daughter, as the case may be. An stablished star big name, versus the son of someone who’s coming in with no baggage, or help? I would bet against the son or daughter of a star every single time.”
Eric Bischoff On Nepotism, Wrestlers Proving Themselves
Eric Bischoff then acknowledged how there are hardcore fans that would take issue with the idea of nepotism potentially playing a factor. Bischoff suggested how Benoit would probably be under increased personal pressure if he decided to pursue a wrestling career.
He argued that if fans felt that a wrestler was getting opportunities and chances because of name association, that wrestler would have to work “two or three times harder than anybody else” to prove themselves.
This week, VICE TV aired the premiere of Dark Side of the Ring Season 2. The two-hour special focused on the tragic Benoit family story.
NXT North American Champion Keith Lee has reflected on sharing the ring with current WWE Champion Brock Lesnar.
The two monsters had a confrontation during January’s Royal Rumble matchup. Upon his entrance, Lesnar audibly remarked to his advocate Paul Heyman, “Who is this motherf—er?”
According to Lee, he felt that he was right where he was supposed to be.
“In that moment it felt like that was where I was supposed to be,” Keith told SuperSport. “Even though I feel like it was slightly unexpected the reaction that I got from 42,000 people. They really wanted Keith Lee to show out. They got something special in my opinion… Maybe in the future, there is a chance that there is Keith Lee versus Brock Lesnar in a one on one match. I feel like I’m one of the few that can go toe to toe with him… Hopefully, that can come to fruition.”
Lesnar isn’t the only top-tier Superstar Keith Lee has shared the ring with. Back at last year’s Survivor Series event, he had a moment with “The Big Dog” Roman Reigns. Lee was a member of Team NXT; Reigns was a member of Team SmackDown. Reigns would eventually defeat Lee, securing the Survivor Series victory for SmackDown.
Brock Lesnar defends the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre next weekend at WrestleMania 36.
Drew McIntyre has credited his WrestleMania 36 opponent Brock Lesnar with helping to establish him at January’s Royal Rumble. According to McIntyre, Lesnar was instrumental in ensuring that McIntyre came off as a star.
Lesnar would be the first Superstar to enter the Rumble matchup. He then decimated pretty much every Superstar that tried to eliminate him. Superstars were doing all they could to conquer “The Beast Incarnate” but all failed. Except for McIntyre.
“If it wasn’t for that story that went in there to build Brock up as the monster he truly is, which in turn made Drew McIntyre when I put him out, that’s the reason the reaction was so big,” McIntyre explained to talkSPORT.
The 34-year-old Scotsman continued praising his WrestleMania opponent. “He made sure that story was told correctly. Watching him put that together, watching him at work, that was the first time I went, ‘Wow, this guy is really a genius.'”
Drew McIntyre previously shared how he didn’t know he would be winning the Rumble matchup until the day of the event. With his victory, McIntyre earned himself an opportunity at Lesnar and the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36.
WrestleMania 36 will air on April 4 and April 5. The “Show of Shows” was originally meant to take place at Raymond James Stadium. The coronavirus pandemic forced WWE to instead pre-record the show from multiple locations.
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair has expressed his wish to see Sting wrestle one more match. Flair shared the information after recently joining SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio. According to “The Nature Boy,” nobody thinks more of Sting than he does.
“Well, no one thinks more of Sting than I do,” Flair said. “[…] I probably haven’t talked to him in three or four months now, but if he’s medically…if he’s okay with his neck and all of that, yeah, I most definitely would love to see him back in the ring one [more] time.”
He then discussed Sting’s matchup against Triple H from WrestleMania 31. Flair broached the idea of ring rust, especially given how long Sting had been an inactive competitor. Triple H would defeat the former WCW World Champion in a No Disqualification match that featured appearances from members of D-Generation X and nWo.
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) March 27, 2020
Ric Flair continued, “I do think with a guy like Seth Rollins or Randy Orton or somebody, that…yeah, he could have one more match. He stays in great shape, and he’s just really one of the really good guys in our business, and I think that I’m always in favor of guys like him, y’know, leaving at the highest possible level that we can afford people in our business.”
Sting wrestled his last matchup against Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015. He suffered a serious neck injury during their bout, which he was still able to finish. Rollins would ultimately walk away with the victory, retaining the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
If you use any quotes from this article, please provide a H/T to SEScoops.
Roman Reigns’ sudden decision to pull out of WrestleMania surprised fans and it left people wondering about the reason behind this move.
The thing that especially puzzled the fans was that the Big Dog was still present for the tapings of the show and he chose his replacement for the match against Goldberg himself.
Dave Meltzer provided some updates on the situation during the latest Wrestling Observer Radio and revealed that an incident with The Miz led to this decision from Reigns.
Per Meltzer, The A-Lister was sick but he was still present for the tapings despite clear guidelines from WWE that every ill person needed to stay at home.
This upset The Usos and his cousin’s unhappiness helped in Roman Reigns’ decision to pull out of his WrestleMania match against the former WCW star.
WWE announced on SmackDown this week that the SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Miz and John Morrison will defend their titles against The Usos and The New Day in a ladder match at WrestleMania 36.
However, reports suggest that the Miz did not work the Mania tapings after the incident with Reigns so it’s likely that the company will change this bout on next week’s episode of SmackDown or before that.
It appears that after the Undertaker vs. AJ Styles match was changed into a Boneyard match, another top WrestleMania fight will be converted into a stipulation bout.
WWE had announced that this week’s episode of SmackDown will feature a Firefly Fun House segment where Bray Wyatt will address John Cena.
The former Universal Champion then hosted the segment in the
second hour of the show where he created ‘the perfect smoothie’ to defeat the
Cenation Leader at Mania.
Wyatt said that Cena deserves a match which is not ordinary and proceeded to challenge his opponent to a Firefly Fun House match at the upcoming PPV event.
There is no word yet on the characteristics of the bout but you can check out a video of the SmackDown segment where Bray mentions the WrestleMania match below:
WWE has since announced that John Cena will be returning to SmackDown for next week’s go-home episode of the show where he will respond to this challenge from the Fiend.
If Cena does accept this challenge then it will be the third stipulation match for Wrestlemania after WWE announced AJ Styles vs. Undertaker bout as a boneyard match and Edge vs. Randy Orton as a Last Match Standing match for the show.
If Drew McIntyre does win the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania this year, it will have to be in front of no live audience, however, the Scottish Star is trying to look at the bright side of the things.
The former NXT Champion recently had an interview with
SuperSport.com where he talked about things like the coronavirus epidemic
affecting the world and more.
Discussing his upcoming match with Brock Lesnar, McIntyre said that he had a vision for how it would go down in the stadium but he is trying to look at the bigger picture:
“I don’t think there are quite the words for it, I had visions for how it would go in that stadium…but right now, looking at the bigger picture, the fact that I’ve got the opportunity to fight for the WWE Title, after an 18-year journey, against Brock Lesnar, in the main event at WrestleMania.
This can be a moment of escape for everybody. Becoming the WWE Champion finally after 19 years, becoming the first British Champion, hopefully, will make people feel something on a deeper level” said McIntyre. “And that is very important to me too.”
The Raw star also explained how WWE’s services are important in the current situation, saying that whatever entertainment gets your mind off of things is very essential right now.
Drew McIntyre said that people should stick to whatever form of entertainment they like because it’s good for everybody. You can check out his full interview at this link.
The news of Roman Reigns pulling out of WrestleMania 36 made a lot of headlines yesterday and latest reports have now revealed two more names which have been removed from the show.
PWinsider is reporting that the current United States Champion Andrade suffered a rib injury on this week’s episode of Raw and he was not cleared to compete at the WrestleMania tapings which took place later in the week.
Andrade was expected to team up with Angel Garza on WrestleMania and the duo was scheduled to challenge the Raw Tag Team Champions, The Street Profits at the event.
However, he was replaced by an NXT star in the match and Post Wrestling is reporting that former Evolve Champion Austin Theory worked as the substitute for the Mexican star.
Another star that was removed from the show is the former champion Murphy and reports state that he was “not cleared to appear,” though it doesn’t provide any further details.
Murphy was not scheduled for a match at WrestleMania but he was expected to be at ringside for the announced Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens match at the show.
It’s likely that the company had to make changes to their plans for the bout because of Murphy’s removal and it would be interesting to see if they brought in Samoa Joe to play a part in the story.
WWE has been forced to reduce their operations greatly and the company has moved its shows to the Performance Center where they have been taping shows with no audience in the presence of only the essential personnel.
The company recently completed a major taping schedule which
included the shooting for both nights of WrestleMania 36 and now latest reports
have revealed when the company will resume their operations.
According to reports from PWinsider, the next set of WWE tapings are scheduled to be held at Performance Center on Friday, April 10, which is expected to include the post WrestleMania episode of SmackDown as well.
It was noted previously that the company taped episodes of their weekly TV shows leading up to WrestleMania this week, including Raw, SmackDown and NXT.
The report now reveals that WWE has taped the post WrestleMania episode of Monday Night Raw and the NXT episode for the same week as well.
The post-WrestleMania Raw is usually the biggest episode of the show of the year and the NXT episode is expected to feature some big matches such as the #1 contender ladder match for the NXT Women’s Championship.
The company included these shows in the latest tapings
because of the ‘stay at home’ mandate issued by the Orange County officials. It
went into effect on Thursday night and the order will stay effective until
April 9.
WWE SmackDown aired from the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. New Day squared off against The Usos to determine who will face Miz and Morrison for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania tonight.
WWE SmackDown Results (3/27)
Drew Gulak def. Shinsuke Nakamura
Dolph Ziggler challenged Otis to a match at WrestleMania
Alexa Bliss def. Asuka
Bray Wyatt challenged John Cena to a Firefly Fun House match at WrestleMania
New Day vs. The Usos ended in a DQ
Here are 5 takeaways from the show:
Bayley & Sasha Banks Ran Away From Tamina
Sasha Banks and SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley came down to the ring to start off the show. Bayley claimed that Paige is jealous of her and that is why she is making her defend the title in a Fatal 5-Way at WrestleMania.
Banks stated that their plan is going to backfire on them because they are best friends and they are better than everyone. Lacey Evans interrupted and Banks claimed that Evans’ daughter is ashamed of her because she always loses.
Lacey vowed to break Sasha’s jaw win the Woman’s Right and will also teach Bayley some manners and take her title. Naomi interrupted and said that the glow will shine the brightest on the grandest stage of them all.
Tamina joined the party and headbutted Naomi. Tamina took out Lacey Evans with a Superkick as Bayley & Banks teamed up on Naomi. Bayley and Banks avoided Tamina and left the ring to end the segment.
Opinion: All Tamina has done is lose whenever she is featured on television. It makes no sense for anyone to be afraid of her. The only intriguing part of this match is when Banks and Bayley eventually battle.
Sami Zayn Will Defend The IC Title Against Daniel Bryan At WrestleMania
Drew Gulak battled Shinsuke Nakamura tonight on SmackDown. Sami Zayn will have to defend his IC Title against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania if Drew won the match. Cesaro and Daniel Bryan were ringside for the match. Sami Zayn joined commentary.
Match Recap: Nakamura dominated the match early and sent Drew out of the ring. Shinsuke booted Gulak against the announce table as Sami taunted him. Back in the ring, Gulak turned things around and beat Shinsuke down in the corner. Nakamura connected with a knee strike and went for the cover but Gulak kicked out at two. Shinsuke Nakamura went for the Kinshasa but Bryan pulled him out of the way. Gulak then rolled up Shinsuke for the pinfall victory.
Asuka faced Alexa Bliss tonight on SmackDown. Nikki Cross joined commentary for the match.
Match Recap: Bliss hit Asuka with a forearm to the face and followed it up with a Dropkick for a near fall. Asuka leveled Bliss with a shoulder tackle and started dancing around the ring. Bliss knocked Asuka out of the ring and then mocked her dance. Cross then started dancing on the announce table and it caused Bliss to get distracted. Asuka launched Bliss into the steel steps as SmackDown went to a break.
When SmackDown returned, Bliss was in control and went for the cover but Asuka kicked out at two. Bliss bounced Asuka’s face on the apron as Nikki continued to annoy Cole on commentary. Bliss battled back and connected with a DDT for the pinfall victory.
Bray Wyatt Challenged John Cena To A Firefly Fun House Match At WrestleMania
A new episode of Firefly Fun House aired tonight. Bray Wyatt stared at a picture of him losing to Cena at WrestleMania 30 before turning to the camera.
Bray shouted at the Wyatt head lantern that he failed against Cena at WrestleMania but The Fiend wont. Wyatt said that the secret formula was self-loathing, hot sauce, and rage & resentment.
Wyatt threw Ramblin Rabbit into the blender as well and turned it on while cackling. Bray took a sip and stated that Cena deserves a much more than an ordinary match at WrestleMania. Bray challenged Cena to a “Firefly Fun House” match at WrestleMania.
There Will Be A Triple Threat Ladder Match For The SD Tag Titles At WrestleMania
New Day squared off against The Usos tonight on SmackDown. The winners of the match will face The Miz and John Morrison for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania.
Match Recap: Kingston connected with a Dropkick that sent Jimmy out of the ring. The Usos regrouped as Miz and Morrison taunted them on commentary. The Usos battled back and slammed Kingston to the canvas for a near fall. Jimmy and Jey isolated Kingston in the corner and took turns beating him down.
Kingston escaped to the corner and tagged Big E. Big E connected with a Belly to Belly Suplex and dragged Uso to the apron. Big E hit several punches to the chest and followed it up with a Splash on the apron as SmackDown went to a commercial break.
When SmackDown returned, The Usos were back in control and had Big E trapped in the corner. Big E battled back with a Uranage and tagged in Kingston. Kofi hit a Clothesline and followed it up with the Boom Drop. Kingston hit the SOS for a near fall.
Big E tagged in as Uso launched Kingston into the ring post. Jimmy and Jey perched Big E up on the top turnbuckle and then sent him to the floor with an Enziguri. Kingston sent The Usos out of the ring and hit the Trust Fall onto both of them. Kingston tripped up John Morrison and Jey leaped onto Miz and Kofi. Big E then leveled Jimmy with a Spear off the apron and to the floor.
The Miz and Morrison then attacked Big E from behind and the match ended in a DQ. Miz and Morrison beat The Usos and New Day down before Michael Cole interrupted. Cole told The Miz & Morrison that they will have to defend the titles against New Day and The Usos in a Triple Threat Ladder match at WrestleMania. New Day and The Usos then attacked Miz and Morrison to close the show.
Opinion: This entire show was bizarre to watch because it has been reported that The Miz and Roman Reigns did not perform at WrestleMania when it was taped. WWE re-aired the Triple H vs. Reigns match at WrestleMania 32 tonight to hype Roman’s Universal Championship match against Goldberg. If the reports are accurate, it will be interesting to see how WWE wrote them out of their matches next week.
A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE WrestleMania 36 PPV.
WWE booked an interesting match on Friday Night SmackDown on FOX between Drew Gulak and Shinsuke Nakamura. The stipulation of the contest was that if Gulak beat Nakamura then Daniel Bryan would get an Intercontinental Title match.
On the show, Gulak ended up beating Nakamura. As a result, Bryan will challenge Sami Zayn for the strap at WrestleMania 36.
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.
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 – Boneyard Match
Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins – Singles Match
WWE Universal Champion Goldberg vs. TBA
John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt – Singles Match
Edge vs. Randy Orton – Last Man Standing Match
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Lacey Evans vs. Tamina vs. Naomi vs. Sasha Banks – Five Pack Challenge
Baron Corbin vs. Elias
Bobby Lashley vs. Aleister Black
WWE Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits vs. Angel Garza & TBA
WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
Matt Riddle On Goldberg Needing New WrestleMania Opponent
Matt Riddle gave his take on WWE Universal Champion Goldberg needing a new opponent at WrestleMania 36.
It’s been reported that Roman Reigns had decided not to work the match against the legendary pro wrestler at the show, which was taped on Wednesday and Thursday.
The reason for his decision was due to the concern over the coronavirus considering his battle with leukemia. WWE has yet to announce Reigns’ replacement.
Riddle took to Twitter where he wrote the following:
For those who are wondering, WWE has taped upcoming episodes of RAW, NXT, and SmackDown through April 6th, which would be the post-WrestleMania episode for RAW.
WWE plans to return for another set of tapings on Friday, April 10 at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando for the episode of SmackDown that night, which will be the post-WrestleMania 36 edition of the show.
The WWE 205 Live episode for that night will likely be taped as well. The belief is that WWE tape post-WrestleMania shows from this same venue.
It should be noted that for now, WWE will be allowed to tape episodes on that date despite Orange County, Florida making the “stay at home” order that went into effect on Thursday night to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
In the past 24 hours, news of several changes made to the WrestleMania 36 card has surfaced online.
The coronavirus epidemic has forced the company to change things up with their biggest event of the year despite their efforts to do the show they initially wanted this week.
On Friday, it was reported that The Miz had been pulled from the show due to illness which impacted what WWE had planned for Miz and John Morrison at WrestleMania 36 in their latest title defense of the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
Miz and Morrison were supposed to defend the titles against the winners of New Day vs. The Usos on Friday Night SmackDown. Dave Meltzer is reporting that Morrison will face one of the Usos in a ladder match instead at WrestleMania 36.
Also, despite it being reported elsewhere, Asuka and Cesaro both worked WrestleMania with no health issues. For those who are wondering, Edge vs. Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match was successfully taped this week.
Finally, PWInsider reported that Buddy Murphy was indeed sick and didn’t come to any TV tapings this week including WrestleMania 36. It was noted by Meltzer that no one sick was allowed around even if they had a cough or a stuffy nose at the tapings.
The changes started earlier this week when news broke earlier this week that Rey Mysterio and Dana Brooke were off the plans for the show due to self quarantining.
Then, it was reported that Roman Reigns had decided to not work his scheduled match against WWE Universal Champion Bill Goldberg despite being in the building when the show was taped.
Mojo Rawley has been officially moved to the SmackDown roster.
Rawley was previously signed to the Raw brand, and he recently appeared on SmackDown with his friend Rob Gronkowski, who is going to be the host of WrestleMania 36 on April 4.
Mojo Rawley was moved to the SmackDown section of the roster on WWE’s website. He was drafted by Raw back in October 2019 on the second night of the supplemental draft.
He then appeared on two episodes of SmackDown and even served as a special guest commentator. He also was in a segment where he abused Michael Cole, this was the same night when it was confirmed that Gronkowski is headed to WWE. On the March 20 episode of SmackDown, Rawley welcomed Gronkowski to the WWE.
Gronkowski and Mojo teamed up with Elias and took out King Baron Corbin on the episode. Gronkowski then went on to announce a match between Elias and Corbin for WrestleMania 36.
Mojo might be involved with Gronk’s storylines from here on out. It was reported that Gronk signed a deal with WWE where we could see him compete in matches in the future. We could see Mojo be involved in these matches.
Mojo has said that he would like to have a match with Gronkowski at SummerSlam in August. It would be interesting to see if it actually comes to fruition.
Sonya Deville recently did an interview with Digital Spy, where she discussed a number of topics from LGBTQ+ representation in WWE to the storyline involving Mandy Rose and Otis from Heavy Machinery.
She shared her thoughts on the storyline saying that she had a lot of fun with it. She also highlighted that it was fun to see Otis play his part as he really is as much cheerful in real life as he is on TV.
“It’s been incredible. It’s been so much fun to be a part of,” Sonya said. “People just love Otis and I think it’s just because he’s just so unapologetically himself and he’s always so happy. I think he’s very relatable in a sense and Mandy and I have just had such a good time being part of the storyline for sure. It’s been probably the most fun storyline I’ve ever been a part of in WWE.”
Sonya also talked about whether WWE could pull off LGBTQ storylines. She said that she definitely knows that the company has the right access to people that could help them write a storyline like that and that she would love to be included in writing or planning something like that in the future.
The storyline between Mandy Rose and Otis has been regarded as one of the most entertaining ones on recent WWE television. Mandy Rose has said in an interview that she never thought her angle with Otis would be as popular as it has gotten. She has said that Otis has always been joking around with her since their NXT days and she never expected that it would become such a well-received storyline from fans.
