WWE ring announcer Mike Rome has shared his recent experiences working in empty arenas during an appearance on The Chris Van Vliet Show. He acknowledged how it’s “definitely different” compared to when WWE is delivering a show in front of a live audience. 

“It’s weird but it’s so cool to see these guys perform these promos, and these epic things that they’re not used to and stuff outside of their comfort zone, and come together to put something out there for people,” Rome said. “So I think everybody was a little somber and trying to figure things out but once we got rolling, it was just like being back on Monday, somewhere else, just without the audience.”

Addressing how WWE was forced into a format change due to the coronavirus pandemic. Rome acknowledged how the company has now shifted into delivering the show under the current circumstances.

“[…] when you’re taking something that you’re used to doing a certain way for so long and now you kinda have to change it, there wasn’t a lot of time for us to kinda shift what was happening and how to make it, so I think what [fans] are gonna see moving forward is going to be a lot cooler of a process because the first two days, they didn’t have time to turn it around but now they’ve had time to sit there and give something back to everybody to get their minds off of what’s going on, and, as long as we can, I’m 100% sure it’s gonna keep going.”

Mike Rome On WrestleMania 36

With WrestleMania 36 fast approaching, “The Show of Shows” will now take place across two dates. It will also be hosted in multiple locations. Despite these pivots, Rome shared how he believes it’s great that WrestleMania is still happening.

“Yeah, I think wrestling in general, wherever it’s coming from, it’s great that it’s still continuing. I mean, the thing is everybody wants to sit on one side or the other, whatever it is, but any kind of wrestling happening right now or anything going out to the people is great for wrestling in general and great for everybody, and I think it’s cool and I love the fact that WrestleMania is two days now.”

He continued, “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s gonna be insane,’ and I, literally, what’s even crazier about it is, I know, besides the matches and stuff, I literally know nothing about what’s happening for those two days. So I’m just sitting here going…’What’s gonna happen?’

WrestleMania 36 takes place on April 4 and 5. It will take place from multiple locations including the WWE Performance Center and will be pre-recorded.

H/T to WrestleZone for the transcription. 

Current WWE NXT UK Champion WALTER has praised WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, calling “The Beast Incarnate” the “most successful and best wrestler.” The Imperium leader shared his thoughts during an interview with SPORT1, where he was asked who he believes is the best wrestler on the planet.

WALTER confessed that a question like that is difficult to answer, reasoning that it’s hard to judge as pro wrestling is not a “competitive sport.”

“Wrestling is not a competitive sport, it has a lot to do with personal taste. For me, Brock Lesnar is at the top of the food chain worldwide,” Walter shared. “He is the most successful and best wrestler. He is financially the most successful but does not have to work as much as others. He is not over-present and you can not see enough of him. He is very smart and is currently at the top for me.”

WALTER has previously shared how he believes Lesnar is the smartest man in pro wrestling right now. He also shared his interest in a potential clash between the two of them.

There are no plans at the time of writing for WALTER to defend his championship at WrestleMania 36. Lesnar, however, will be clashing with the winner of the 2020 Royal Rumble Drew McIntyre. The two will compete for Lesnar’s WWE Championship.

WrestleMania 36 takes place on April 4 and April 5 from multiple locations including the WWE Performance Center.

WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson discussed Bray Wyatt’s run prior to his gimmick change into “The Fiend.” Anderson addressed the subject during a recent episode of his podcast, The Arn Show, where he was answering fan questions.

“Anything that can get Bray Wyatt a fresh start after the raw deal he has gotten over the years, I’m all for,” Anderson said. “Whoever came up with the mask, it’s pretty scary looking. I think Bray can pull the character off. Bray Wyatt just as Bray Wyatt in the beginning with those promos that he used to do. The Cape Fear-esque character was pretty scary to me.”

Anderson explained how the issue was never in Wyatt’s performance. He praised Wyatt’s work with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, noting how they had incredible six-man matchups together. He shared how their match against The Shield was one of the greatest six-man tag matches he’d ever seen. 

“They were awesome. So he did everything right except you’ve got to win the big one. If you continually lose the big one, people look at you as being a loser,” Arn Anderson stated. “But more importantly, they’re smart enough to know, our audience, if the company doesn’t have anything planned for you and you’re not going to be pushed as a star. They’re not going to look at you as a star. If the company doesn’t make you big the audience won’t make you big.”

Arn Anderson On Wyatt & Orton’s Feud

Arn Anderson also reflected on Wyatt’s pairing with Randy Orton. Orton would eventually turn on Wyatt, leading to a matchup between the two at WrestleMania 33. Anderson shared how he felt there was more to them as a team, and argued they should have lasted longer.

“They were over and they were getting over strong as a team. I was there for it. It was tremendous,” he said. “Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt made a great team. It was gonna be one of those things that we talk about on this show all the time, when something gets hotter than it was expected to get and it starts to boil and percolates. But without any help fro the office, a lot of times it just gets shut down. It gives those talents too much stroke and too much power. This was one of those situations because I was there and I saw it.”

He continued, “Those guys should have still been partners when that match went down at Wrestlemania. It’s one of those history things that get cut off way short. Once you’ve shot the angle, you’ve had the match now. You can’t go back to it and have the same results down the road. You get one crack at building these scenarios and if they haven’t ran their course, it is what it is.”

Randy Orton defeated Bray Wyatt during their clash at WrestleMania 33 for the WWE Championship. Orton is scheduled to face Edge in a Last Man Standing match at WWE’s upcoming WrestleMania 36. Wyatt will clash with John Cena. 

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Ring of Honor (ROH) COO Joe Koff has addressed how the promotion intends to look after its talents during the current coronavirus pandemic. He explained how ROH won’t be stopping their talent from taking independent bookings and that the process to do so remains the same. Joining The Wrestling Inc. Daily, Koff noted how ROH always wants to take care of its staff and wrestlers. 

“We always take care of our people. Should they be taking indie dates? They should be clearing that just as they would under normal circumstances. But who’s running? Are there promotions still running,” Joe Koff asked.

“That would be draconian but maybe that’s what’s necessary,” Koff said, referring to a potential lockdown forcing people indoors. “I would hope that in the spirit of humanity and social responsibility, but we’ll face that as it comes up. With certainly our contracted talent, we would have to know that anyway so we would find out. But [our talent taking indie bookings] has not been broached.”

Joe Koff On Sinclair’s Support

Joe Koff shared how ROH’s parent company, Sinclair, has allowed them to continue operating as usual so far. They are following all guidelines as needed, noting how “We’re taking the guidelines from the company in a corporate standpoint in all of the individual operations. The company is fantastic and have been nothing but supportive.”

COVID-19 has impacted several industries worldwide, including pro wrestling. Like other promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling, ROH has cancelled their events due to coronavirus concerns. They won’t be running any shows through to May 31.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Brodie Lee was revealed to be the Dark Order’s Exalted One during last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT. The long mystery of the Exalted One heavily teased several wrestlers could be the Dark Order leader, including former WWE Superstar Matt Hardy, but it was the former-Luke Harper that would unveil himself.

After AEW uploaded a post to Twitter welcoming Lee to the promotion, Brodie Lee responded to their greeting, writing:

“Odd that you would welcome the wolf to a land full of lambs.”

Brodie Lee Appears

During a promo featuring Dark Order’s Evil Uno and Stu Grayson alongside SCU members Christoper Daniels and Kazarian, a video package played. This video package revealed Lee as the Exalted One.

Dynamite then cut back to the ring. Inside it, behind the SCU members who had been watching the screen, was Brodie Lee. Leading the charge, Lee and the Dark Order then assaulted Daniels and Kazarian.

Last Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite was set to take place in Rochester, New York, which is Brodie Lee’s hometown. AEW reportedly had plans for Lee to debut on this specific show. It was expected that Lee would debut to a huge response thanks to the hometown crowd.

However, the coronavirus pandemic currently affecting the world scuppered those plans. It ultimately forced AEW to relocate the episode to Jacksonville, Florida.

Colt Cabana has opened up about signing with All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He broached the subject during a recent episode of his podcast, The Art of Wrestling. He reflected on his debut as well as his matchup against Peter Avalon on AEW Dark, which he called a “basic fun introductory match” for him. 

“Let’s talk about AEW, I made my debut on Dynamite. I wrestled on AEW Dark against Peter Avalon, and I’m recording this before Dark airs. But you will be listening to this after Dark airs. And my match against Avalon was a very simple, basic fun introductory match for me to the AEW world.”

Colt Cabana On Connecting With Fans

Cabana touched on how, although there are plenty of people plugged into pro wrestling and know who he is, there is also a large part of the AEW audience who might not know who he is. He confessed how he is a “blip on the radar of the world of professional wrestling” before adding “[…] some of these fans they don’t dive into it unless it’s the big time, quote unquote, and I have loved that I have championed the little time quote unquote for years.”

Colt Cabana reflected on how some people backstage were surprised to find out “‘holy sh*t Colt knows what he’s doing.’” He is well aware that his friends knew about his abilities, but he surprised some with his skills and professionalism. “[…] sometimes I guess it takes 21 years to prove to people, but I’m here, and I’m doing it, I’ve proved it so this is just the start.”

You can watch Colt Cabana’s matchup against Peter Avalon below:

H/T to WrestlingNews for the transcription. 

One of All Elite Wrestling’s newest signings is former WWE Superstar Matt Hardy. Hardy made his debut for the promotion during last Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite on TNT. During an interview with Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho, Hardy shared how his decision may have been different if Triple H had been solely in charge at WWE.

“I’ll just go my own way, and even days after I left, I talked to Triple H,” Hardy said. “It’s just like he was cool, and I feel like if Triple H would have been the guy that was solely in power, I would have probably had a much better opportunity of kind of getting to do what I wanted creatively, but it is what it is.”

Matt Hardy & The Elite

Matt Hardy ultimately left WWE due to his desire for more creative freedoms, something WWE wasn’t giving him. He aligned himself with Elite members Kenny Omega, Cody, Hangman Page and Matt Jackson. Matt Hardy will join them as their fifth man in an upcoming Blood & Guts matchup against Chris Jericho and his Inner Circle members. 

That match, originally to take place on the next episode of Dynamite, has been postponed due to coronavirus concerns, especially as it pertains to the number of people gathered together at any one time. 

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription. 

Asuka joined the announcers’ booth on this week’s episode of Raw and one half of the current Women’s tag team champion did commentary during the match between Rey Mysterio and Andrade on the show.

WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry Lawler, who is a regular commentator of the show talked about the episode on the latest episode of his podcast, and revealed why the company had brought the Japanese star in for the bout.

The former Champion first recalled his empty arena match against Terry Funk and said that he felt dumb being out there and throwing each other into a bunch of empty chairs.

Lawler then claimed that he noticed the same thing with Mysterio and Andrade on Raw and revealed that the company had brought in Asuka to make things as loud as possible:

“They put Asuka out there to help with the commentary and just to try and help make some noise and make things as loud as possible so it wouldn’t just be silence, so that helped a lot. It’s a tough go, and I felt sorry for Rey and Andrade and Zelina and all of them, they still did great but it was a whole unusual experience.”

• Also Read: Jerry Lawler On Working In Front Of Zero Fans

Apart from this, Jerry Lawler also revealed his experience of arriving at the Performance Center and revealed how he was examined before going inside.

The match in question saw Rey Mysterio compete in a one on one non-title bout with the United States Champion Andrade in which Mysterio picked up the win after hitting a 619. You can check out a video of the match below:

Quotes via WrestlingInc

While WWE is moving forward with WrestleMania, AEW is taking a different direction and the company recently announced that they are postponing the Blood And Guts match which was announced for next week.

A fan recently took on his Twitter and complained about the decision to cancel the special edition of the show, mentioning how the company spent last week’s entire Dynamite episode building towards the bout.

The former AEW Champion Chris Jericho then responded to the fan via a tweet of his own and he explained that the company was not allowed to gather more than ten people together at a time:

R Truth Wins Back 24/7 Title From Riddick Moss

Riddick Moss had held the 24/7 Championship for a while and he had even defended the title in several traditional matches, but he has now lost the title back to R Truth.

WWE recently published a video of Moss jogging outside when a car stops by him and we see that a WWE referee is driving the vehicle. Riddick freaks out seeing the ref and starts looking around for a potential opponent.

However, as seen in the video below, he is not able to see Truth who was hiding in the car’s dickey and the former US Champion manages to win the title back:

Brock Lesnar has been presented as a monster since his return to WWE in 2012 and he has been booked to decimate any opponent that dares to step in the ring with him.

He will once again be entering WrestleMania as the WWE Champion this year and it appears that the WWE Legend, Jake “The Snake” Roberts is not a big fan of his booking.

The WWE Hall Of Famer recently had an interview with FlipDaScript podcast and talking about Brock Lesnar, the former WWE star said that the company is treating their other talents like s–t by bringing him in:

“The thing about Brock is man, he’s not an everyday wrestler,” Roberts said. “He’s a once a year guy, or three times a year guy.

And to me, you are really treating your talent like s–t to, every year come WrestleMania time after these guys have busted their asses for 365 days, when it comes time for the big one, they bring (Lesnar) in and they have to sit down.”

• Also Read: Jake Roberts Shares Harsh Words For Shawn Michaels And Bret Hart

Jake Roberts also talked about how Vince McMahon spent a lot of money to send him to rehab a number of times and gave praise to DDP for turning his life around.

The former WCW star recently made headlines when he joined All Elite Wrestling as a manager and after a tease, revealed Lance Archer as his new client.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

This week’s episode of SmackDown saw Paige making an appearance on the show through Skype and announcing a six-pack challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36.

During the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer talked about this announcement and revealed the original plans for the championship at the Show Of Shows.

According to him, the original plans called for Sasha Banks to challenge her friend for the title at the Grandest Stage Of Them All but they nixed these arrangements.

The company felt that there wasn’t enough time to build a feud between the two. So the officials decided to hold off the bout for a later late and announced the six-pack challenge for WrestleMania instead.

While not confirmed, it’s likely that they will use the announced bout to kick off the feud between the two and have a singles match with a longer build somewhere down the line.

For those who don’t know, Paige announced that Bayley will be defending her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Sasha Banks, Lacey Evans, Naomi, Tamina Snuka, and Dana Brooke in a six-pack challenge at WrestleMania.

There is no word yet on which night of the show this match will take place on but you can check out the updated match card for the event at this link.

While Jim Ross is widely known as the voice of WWE during the Attitude Era, he also handled various backstage responsibilities in the company during his time there, including being in charge of talent relations for a long time.

During a recent episode of AEW Unrestricted podcast, the former WWE broadcaster talked about his early career and also revealed what he considers to be his greatest contribution to the company.

Ross said that at the end of the day, his best work would be the talents he signed to the company who have gone on to become big names and he thinks that’s his greatest contribution to the promotion:

I think my best work, at the end of the day, someday will be the talent that I signed that went to WWE and have become millionaires [and] movie stars, I was there 26 years, and the majority of that I was in charge of talent relations and negotiated all the contracts.

[I was] a good listener to those guys and gals.“ recalled Ross. ”I think that is my greatest contribution quite frankly is the guys that I helped facilitate to get in the game in that level and see how they ran with the ball.”

• Also Read: EC3 On Why He Left Impact Wrestling

Ross then recalled how they had one class where they signed guys like Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, and Shelton Benjamin and predicted that all these guys will be in Hall Of Fame someday.

Apart from this Jim Ross discussed the success of Attitude Era and also criticized the media coverage of coronavirus. You can check out his comments on media at this link.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

The Saudi Arabia shows of WWE have always been controversial and a number of WWE stars have refused to work events in the country in the past.

Though we have also seen some progress in the situation and after the first-ever Women’s match in the country last year, this year’s edition of Super Showdown saw Naomi battling Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s title at the show.

During her recent appearance on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast, the former Women’s Champion talked about the show and revealed why she chose to work the event, despite having reservations about it:

“I was really happy that I got to talk to Natalya about going, because I had my own perceptions and reservations about going, like personal reasons,” Naomi stated. “Like, who I am as a woman and a person, especially with what I stand for and believe in.

I had some reservations about it. I talked to Nattie, and after hearing about her experience, I realized that me going was a way bigger impact than me not going… I knew I needed to go, and I’m so happy that I went.”

• Also Read: Tyson Kidd Reveals What Vince McMahon Told Him About His Producer Role

Naomi continued by saying that the fan reaction she got in the country opened her perception and she claimed that it was way bigger than a wrestling match.

Apart from this, Naomi talked about things like taking time away from WWE, facing a sand storm while entering Saudi Arabia and more. You can check out her full interview below:

Quotes via WrestlingInc

Matt Hardy thinks the prospect of competing at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom event is WONDERFUL. Over the weekend, a fan asked Hardy on Twitter if there’s a chance we could see him compete ‘just once’ in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Broken Matt revealed that his AEW contract does in fact allow him to work for NJPW, similar to that of AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and Le Champion Chris Jericho.

AEW Dynamite: Cody in Action

AEW has announced a new match for this coming week’s episode of Dynamite. The American Nightmare Cody will face Jimmy Havoc in singles action.

This show was originally supposed to feature the highly anticipated Blood and Guts double steel cage match between The Elite and the Inner Circle. However, AEW President Tony Khan announced that the match has been rescheduled. You can read Tony Khan’s full statement on the matter here.

In addition to Cody vs. Jimmy Havoc, Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite will feature a face-to-face confrontation between “Broken” Matt Hardy and Inner Circle leader Chris Jericho. These two have crossed paths before in WWE. They will soon clash at Blood and Guts, now that Hardy has been named as the final member of Team Elite.

• Matt Hardy Talks About The Original Plan For AEW Debut

Daniel Bryan wants to know what WWE fans think about the possibility of wrestling machine Chad Gable joining his alliance with Drew Gulak.

As seen below, popular Wrestling .GIF Twitter account @TDE_Wrestling posted a clip of Bryan and Gulak doing a common grappling training drill from Friday’s SmackDown.

Japanese wrestling legend Yuji Nagata commented on the video. He wrote in Japanese (translated), “It’s not really good (laughs)”

Daniel Bryan saw Nagata’s tweet, apologized, and promised to do better next time.

Chad Gable, who has been critiquing Otis’ workouts on Twitter, chimed in. He gave some input on Bryan and Gulak’s form and offered to give them more training, when they are ‘truly ready’ for his expertise.

Bryan pondered the idea of the Bryan & Gulak Connection becoming the Bryan, Gulak and Gable Connection. He asked his Twitter followers what they think about the prospect and received a strong showing of support.

Daniel Bryan, Chad Gable and Drew Gulak could make for one hell of a faction. The trio of technicians could put on wrestling clinics week in and week out. It’s an exciting prospect, but even Corey Graves knows that it seems far fetched that WWE would embrace such a great idea.

It remains to be seen if this will advance beyond simple Twitter banter, but we can only hope something more comes of it.

• Daniel Bryan Says He’s Probably Done Being A Full-Time Wrestler

WWE Hall of Famer and co-host of Busted Open Radio Mark Henry recently discussed Triple H and his potential move into the CEO position once Vince McMahon retires.

Henry stated that he believes Triple H would change the scope of the company, by putting more emphasis on a number of featured talents instead of one or two ‘top guys.’

Mark Henry on Triple H

“I think Triple H would broaden the title picture” Henry began on the latest episode of Busted Open. “Like it is at NXT. There are six or eight guys right now that can be champion on NXT. They have a lot more versatility in NXT, they don’t put all the stock in one person to be the lead.”

Henry elaborated further, describing how he believes HHH would make the ‘main roster’ more of a ‘wild west.’

“And that’s that’s the biggest change I think that he would make. Triple H would make it a more of a wild wild west. Wide open. You know, one week a guy’s challenging, the next week, another guy challenging. To find out who’s the cream of the crop.”

There were recent reports that ‘The Game’ had actually taken a ‘demotion’ in WWE. Hunter’s new title in WWE is Executive Vice President, Global Talent Strategy and Development; whereas he previously worked as the EVP of Talent, Live Events, and Creative. Triple H himself took a shot at the reports on the first SmackDown live at the Performance Center, saying he has apparently been “demoted but is even busier.”

It will be interesting to see if HHH is still likely to take over the helm of WWE once Vince McMahon leaves or retires.

How do you think Triple H will change the format/presentation of WWE if/when he ever takes over from Vince McMahon?

WWE is still looking to land a new streaming deal with ESPN, but negotiations are still underway. 

In February, Dave Meltzer reported that the talks would be in regards to WWE content airing on the ESPN+ service. The deal would see WWE sell their rights to air pay-per-views on ESPN+ in order to get more money than what they earn through the WWE Network. 

Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that while the two sides have been talking, they are “far apart on money” because WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon wants a higher number than what UFC got from ESPN. 

Meltzer didn’t share the exact number but it was noted it wasn’t expected to be a big $100+ million deal. It all comes down to the unsteady climate and how much revenue from advertisements that ESPN can get. 

While WWE is talking with ESPN, there are other streaming services that could be options for WWE. These partners include DAZN and NBC’s Peacock service.

The Peacock service will launch later this year and some people think this would be the best bet for WWE.

The situation for such a move of WWE selling PPV rights is due to the subscription numbers for the WWE Network continuing to decrease. 

Taping Schedule Revealed for WrestleMania & Next Few Weeks of WWE TV

Adam Cole has broken the record for the longest single-reign with the NXT Championship. As of this writing, Cole has spent 295 days with the title, topping the previous record of 292 set by Finn Balor in 2015.

Cole defeated Johnny Gargano to win the title at TakeOver: XXV on June 1st, 2019 from Bridgeport, CT. He commented on his accomplishment in the below Tweet:

NXT Championship Statistics

There have been 18 total reigns with the NXT Championship. Seth Rollins was the inaugural champion having won the title on July 26th, 2012 defeating Jinder Mahal in the finals of a tournament.

NXT Championship single-reign statistics:

1. Adam Cole (2019-Current) 295+
2. Finn Balor (2015) 292 days.
3. Neville (2014) 287 days.
4. Bo Dallas (2013) 280 days.
5. Tommaso Ciampa (2018) 238 days.
6. Bobby Roode (2017) 203 days.
7. Big E (2012-13) 168 days.
8. Kevin Owens (2015) 143 days.
9. Andrade (2017) 140 days.
10. Seth Rollins (2012) – 133 days.
11. Samoa Joe (2016) 121 days.
12. Aleister Black (2018) 102 days.
13. Drew McIntyre (2017) 91 days.
14. Shinsuke Nakamura (2x) (2016-17) 56 days.
15. Sami Zayn (2014) 62 days.
16. Johnny Gargano (2019) 57 days.
17. Shinsuke Nakamura (2016-17) 56 days.
18. Samoa Joe (2016) 14 days.

• Adam Cole On Possibly Retiring Triple H

WWE reportedly taped two episodes of Friday Night Smackdown and two episodes of 205 Live yesterday at the WWE Performance Center. According to a report from PW Insider, it was a long day of tapings for the company as WWE seeks to ensure they have content prepared for the next several weeks.

Today, NXT is scheduled for tapings from the Performance Center. The plan is then to present a live episode of RAW from the same venue on Monday night. RAW will be back in the Performance Center on Tuesday to then tape several more episodes to ensure WWE has content up until April 6th.

Some portions of WrestleMania 36 will be taped on Tuesday and Wednesday. The show will not air live and recent internal memos are reported to have circulated within the company to avoid tag lines such as “live on WWE Network” or “streaming live.”

• Latest On WWE Taping Schedule, WrestleMania Status Being Kept Quiet

WWE WrestleMania 36 will now air on the WWE Network as a two-night event on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 in Orlando, Florida from the WWE Performance Center. 

WrestleMania 36 Lineup

1. WWE Championship
   Brock Lesnar (c) vs Drew McIntyre
2. NXT Women’s Championship
   Rhea Ripley (c) vs Charlotte Flair
3. RAW Women’s Championship
   Becky Lynch (c) vs Shayna Baszler
4. WWE Universal Championship
   Bill Goldberg (c) vs Roman Reigns
5. WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship
   Bayley (c) vs Lacey Evans vs Dana Brooke vs Tamina vs Naomi vs Sasha Banks
6. John Cena vs Bray Wyatt
7. The Undertaker vs AJ Styles
8. Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins
9. Smackdown Tag Team Championships
   The Miz and John Morrison (c) vs. (The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) or The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso)

Tyson Kidd had to retire from wrestling due to his unfortunate neck injury but the former Champion has since found a new role in WWE and he now works as a producer backstage.

The former WWE wrestler, alongside his wife Natalya, recently appeared on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast where he talked about a number of different things.

Talking about his transition from a wrestler to a producer, Kidd said that it was fairly smooth and he also revealed what the Boss Vince McMahon told him about his new role:

“So the transition was fairly smooth to be honest. It was smooth in terms of I like helping people. I liked helping talent with their matches prior to my injury. Obviously, now as a producer it becomes more a larger responsibility than just me as a talent giving advice.

What I didn’t know was I didn’t know how fulfilling it could actually be,” Kidd said. “I was told by the boss that now you’ll be like me, vicariously living through the talent, and I thought those were just words. And I’ve now come to realize that it’s very real.”

• Also Read: Sonya Deville On WWE Nixing Romantic Storyline With Mandy Rose

The former NXT star said that the feeling of fulfilment in his role is very real and claimed that it’s a great feeling when the talents go out and execute the things they had planned even better than he had imagined.

Apart from this, Tyson Kidd discussed helping out with Natalya’s SummerSlam match against Becky Lynch, the Women’s Revolution and more.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

After a few days of uncertainty regarding WWE’s upcoming taping schedule, we have a big update. There have been a few reports about WWE officials considering a multi-day taping schedule that would cover several upcoming episodes of Raw, SmackDown, NXT and WrestleMania.

According to PWInsider, the multi-day marathon taping schedule at the WWE Performance Center kicks off today and will in fact include WrestleMania.

Here is the current WWE TV taping schedule through WrestleMania:

• Saturday (3/21): Friday Night Smackdown for 2/27 and 4/3
• Sunday (3/22): Taping for future episodes of NXT
• Monday (3/23) & Tuesday (3/24): RAW episodes for 3/23 and 3/30
• Wednesday (3/25) & Thursday (3/26): Wrestlemania Nights One & Two 

All of this comes after last Monday when the company issued a statement that noted the show will take place from the Performance Center next month.

WWE had to make the change due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, which has been impacting their event schedule. 

Former New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski will be hosting the show on both nights. WWE noted in the announcement that only essential personnel will be on the closed set during the production of WrestleMania.

WWE Hall of Famer and co-host of Busted Open Radio Mark Henry recently discussed the Three-Time NFL Superbowl Champion Rob Gronkowski and his switch to the squared circle. Henry would have huge praise for the former NFL tight end and he believes that Gronk has a massive amount of potential in WWE.

“Rob Gronkowski has a lot of personality” Mark Henry began. “He [Gronk] is a walking, living party happening 24 hours a day. I love the guy, I think that he’s gonna make a really good wrestler. Once you’ve got some seasoning and some in-ring experience.”

Mark Henry would elaborate further; saying that he believes the right time for Gronkowski to debut would be WrestleMania next year. Henry would also compare Gronk’s potential to that of two huge cross over stars from WWE’s past. “I’d say by WrestleMania next year; I don’t know if he’ll be at Ronda Rousey level for a first timer, or Kurt Angle for a first timer, but he has that potential.”

The ‘World’s Strongest Man’ would finish by saying that we do not know what sort of combat ability Gronkowski has, and that he could shock the audience. “It’s just cool to see somebody with the potential to be great. You know he’s gonna have to learn some of the fighting arts. I don’t know if Gronk can box. We don’t know if he can shoot wrestle. We don’t know if he could kickbox, there’s a lot about Gronkowski that we don’t know.”

It was announced on Friday’s SmackDown Live that Rob Gronkowski will be the host of this year’s WrestleMania. For the first time ever Mania will be held over two nights on April 5th/6th.

Do you think that Rob Gronkowski will be a success in WWE? Let us know in the comments

WWE had teased a romantic relationship between Fire And Desire partners Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville but they ultimately ended up nixing the angle.

The officials then produced a storyline between Lana and Liv Morgan which has been halted due to Rusev’s contract dispute with the company.

Sonya Deville was asked for her reaction on the cancellation of the storyline during her recent interview with UPROXX. Replying to it, she said that they were upset momentarily, but claimed that the storyline can happen in future:

“So obviously, Mandy and I were upset momentarily. It was something that we really pushed for, but never say never and I think that it’s definitely still a possibility that it will or could happen in the future.

I think representation in different storylines and stuff like that is awesome.” said Sonya Deville. “I think it’s good. There’s a lot of different ways you can do it. There’s not just one way to do it and it’s not just Mandy and I that have to do it.”

The WWE star also revealed that they had a lot of meetings with GLAAD. The organization was helping them write and direct the story and she hopes to get back to it one day.

Apart from this, Sonya Deville talked about how the pro wrestling world is flooded with heterosexual storylines, communicating with other LGBTQ talents and more. You can check out her full interview at this link.

EC3 recently had an interview with Fightful wrestling where he talked about things like his friendship with Rockstar Spud, Spud being signed by WWE before him and more.

The former NXT star first made his name during his run with Impact Wrestling where he won the Impact World title twice before leaving the company in January, 2018.

Talking about his departure, EC3 revealed that he actually asked for his release from the promotion before his contract expired. Discussing the reason behind his decision, the former World Champion said that he needed a big change:

“I decided to leave early because of the transitions going and I just thought it was a good time for other people to step up and a good time for me to challenge myself somewhere else at the moment.

I had to do something different especially [with] where my personal life was at the time, I needed a big change.” said EC3. “At the time I was pretty well compensated so I think they were okay with taking me off the books because they also wanted to build new and fresh people” [Transcription: SEScoops]

• Also Read: Edge Believes WWE Running WrestleMania Is Very Important

The former Impact wrestler also commented on his decision to sign with WWE and said that while he had talks with multiple promotions, signing with the company was something he felt he needed to accomplish.

Apart from this, EC3 talked about things like Braun Strowman only having two pair of wrestling pants, founding AIW and more. You can check out his full interview below:

The coronavirus outbreak has created a lot of fear around the world and it appears that wrestling legend Jim Ross is not a fan of the way it’s being covered by media.

The former WWE star talked about a number of things on the recent episode of his Grilling JR podcast, including the effects of the epidemic on the world and more.

Discussing the media coverage of the disease, Jim Ross said that he doesn’t know if the media is doing us any favours by screaming about it:

“I don’t know if the media is doing us any favors screaming about it, it’s important to be aware, you have to be smart, and I understand washing your hands and not touching your face, but man there’s a lot of unanswered questions, we’re in uncharted waters.

“To me, it’s kind of stupid. For a lot of people to project what’s going to happen when they don’t know all the information,” said Jim Ross. “We’re talking about an unknown entity and an untraveled road and we’re supposed to be able to navigate that through the media and I think that’s wrong.”

• Also Read: WWE Cancels Two WrestleMania Matches Due To Coronavirus

The AEW commentator also talked about last week’s episode of SmackDown which was the first WWE show to be broadcasted without an audience in attendance and said that it’s an interesting thing.

Ross recalled working on wrestling shows back in the day which were taped in TV studios with 20 people in the attendance. He mentioned how one time they taped the show in a barn in Tulsa and there were two rows of people in the audience.

Quotes via WrestlingInc