Mauro Ranallo has set the record straight on what led to his departure as the lead announcer of WWE SmackDown Live.

Ranallo, who is one of the best announcers in all of pro wrestling and combat sports, signed with the WWE in December 2015 where he made his promotional debut as the lead announcer of SmackDown Live on the USA Network in January of that next year.

Ranallo was absent from commentary beginning with the March 14, 2017 episode of SmackDown Live including missing WrestleMania 33, which was a goal of his to call. At the time, WWE claimed it was due to illness.

Moving along to April of that year, it was reported that the sports entertainment company and Ranallo had mutually parted ways. It was rumored to be due to his issues with fellow commentator JBL. However, Ranallo denied that speculation at the time.

Fast forward to June, it was revealed that Ranallo decided to return to the WWE to be the lead announcer for the NXT brand. 

During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour to promote his upcoming documentary on Showtime, Ranallo addressed his departure from the blue brand and how it did not have anything to do with JBL but rather it was because of the tough WWE schedule. 

“I was on the road every week. You add MMA and boxing and kickboxing to it. The road travel destroyed me. So, rumors and all this other stuff, what happened, honestly — and Ariel, you know how honest I’ve been in this thing — I had a breakdown in the Chicago O’Hare airport on my way to Pittsburgh to do SmackDown Live. And again, Frank Shamrock … God bless him … Bas Rutten, man. Guys who fought each other are my biggest supporters. But, I had to phone them and I said ‘I’m done. I cannot do this anymore. It’s going to kill me.’ And I thought I was done with the entire company.”

“As much as there’s two sides to every story, the actual truth from me was my mental health wasn’t going to allow me to maintain that schedule much longer.

H/T to Pro Wrestling Sheet for the transcribed quotes.

Some interesting news has surfaced online that has implications for tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live and the Money in the Bank PPV.

It’s well known by now that as a result of the ongoing storyline injury angle with Big Cass, WWE has booked Daniel Bryan vs. Jeff Hardy for tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live in Worcester, MA at the DCU Center on the USA Network. The winner of this match will face Samoa Joe next week on SmackDown Live in a Money in the Bank qualifying match.

The WrestleVotes Twitter account is reporting that as of last week, the plan was to have a United States Title match take place at the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view event.

With Hardy holding the U.S Title, it’s likely that either he will not win tonight against Bryan or lose to Joe next week, which would allow him to defend the title at MITB.

“Regarding Smackdown tonight, as of last week a US Title match was planned for Money In The Bank. With that said, I’m not expecting a Jeff Hardy win tonight unless those prior MITB plans have changed. I guess he could theoretically win & lose to Joe next week but we’ll see.”

https://twitter.com/WrestleVotes/status/998958385012858881

How do you see WWE booking this match? Sound off in the comment section below.

Fans can expect to see Sasha Banks on WWE television for years to come.

She signed with WWE and placed in their developmental brand, NXT, in 2012. While under contract with the sports entertainment company, she has been featured in several historical moments.

Her match against Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Respect on October 7, 2015 was the first women’s match to ever headline a major WWE event as well as the first women’s Iron Man match.  the longest women’s match in WWE history at the time with a length of 30 minutes.

In 2016, she and Charlotte Flair became the first women to headline a WWE pay-per-view event and the first to compete in a Hell in a Cell match (both at Hell in a Cell in October 2016), the first women to main event Raw in a women’s match since 2004.

Between WWE and NXT, Banks has had five championship reigns due her being a former NXT Women’s Champion and a record-tying four-time Raw Women’s Champion.

Wrestle Votes, which has broken previous WWE stories in the past, reports that Banks has re-signed with WWE a couple weeks ago. It was noted in the tweet that there are plans to make her a “key part of the women’s division for years to come.”

Contract news: hearing that Sasha Banks has re-signed to remain w/ WWE within the last week or so. She will continue to be a key part of the women’s division for years to come. Sasha certainly earned her new deal. She moves lots of merchandise & the young fans love her.

— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) May 22, 2018

What are your thoughts on Banks signing a new contract with the WWE? Sound off in the comment section below.

Total Bellas returned on Sunday night with the premiere of the series’ third season.  With all of the buzz surrounding the volatile relationship of John Cena and Nikki Bella, there were high expectations for the show’s viewership.

According to Showbuzz Daily, the Season 3 premiere averaged only 517,000 viewers.

This was way down from last year’s Season 2 premiere, which did 681,000 viewers. The Season 2 finale last October had 674,000 viewers. That’s a decline of approximately 23% in between seasons, so interest in the show is clearly waning.

This season is focused around John Cena and Nikki Bella’s relationship unwinding and Daniel Bryan’s return to WWE active competition.

Here are some video clips from the Total Bellas Season 3 premiere:

Even though some fans want him to retire, former WWE Champion Big Show is sticking around.

For those who may not recall, Big Show revealed during WrestleMania 34 week in April that he signed a new multi-year deal with the WWE in January and won’t be retiring anytime soon.

The former WWE Champion recently did an interview on Steve Austin’s podcast, and during this appearance, he talked about signing a new three-year contract with the sports entertainment company. Here is what he had to say.

“I spent some time with the big man himself. We talked. Hunter and I talked because we were concerned about my hip. We were concerned about a lot of things. And they put together a nice three-year deal for me, so I’m there another three years. I can do a lot more work with things that I’m passionate about, Special Olympics and being a Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics. I get a chance to have a bit more free time now. I’m not in the trenches for five days a week like I was for 20 years at every house show and TV. I was probably on TV too much as a giant when I should have been an attraction.

The future WWE Hall of Famer continued by stating, “Instead, I was in there working all the time.” Show said, “now, I’m in a bit more of a limited role and we’re finding the right creative for me. And there’s not a lot of pressure on me to be there every week, and get people over, or carry two or three segments, or whatever we’re doing. I can kind of show up, help the younger guys here and there, and pursue outside projects that are important to me. All in all, after going through that hell with my hip surgery and Vince and [Triple H] gave me a hell of a deal, Steve. [Austin] know[s] how this business is and after 20 years in this business, I didn’t expect to get the respect they gave me by giving me this deal. It’s one of those kinds of things that’s humbling because both of them really appreciated the work that gave the company and put me in a position to where, I mean, in all sincerity, they gave me this deal in January and I haven’t done a damn thing yet.”

Transcript courtesy of Wrestling Inc

What are your thoughts on Big Show sticking around in the WWE? Sound off in the comment section below.

– Former WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz decided to have some fun through the power of social media.

The big news thus far this week was the reports of WWE signing with Fox to bring SmackDown Live to Friday nights for the next five years for the total of a $1 billion price tag.

Miz, who was moved from WWE’s flagship show Monday Night RAW to SmackDown Live last month as part of the Superstar Shakeup, took to Twitter to take credit for the sports entertainment company getting the new huge TV deal.

https://twitter.com/mikethemiz/status/998716640337547264

– It was rumored that WWE Mae Young Classic Winner Kairi Sane was backstage at this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW in Albany, NY at the Times Union Center NY on the USA Network. Those rumors turned out to be true.

It’s being reported that the real reason she was there was due to WWE needing her to film footage for upcoming episodes of the Edge & Christian show for WWE Network. She is still in NXT with no future plans of bringing her up to the main roster.

What are your thoughts on WWE SmackDown Live airing on Fox? Sound off in the comment section below.

WWE officials decided to book an interesting segment involving Bobby Lashley and Sami Zayn.

As seen on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW in Albany, NY at the Times Union Center NY on the USA Network, Zayn was part of a segment that had him bring out Lashley’s three sisters as a way to try and expose him.

It turned out to not be Lashley’s actual sisters but rather it turned into a parody segment. Thus, it did not get over very well with the fans in attendance or those watching from home.

We do know the identities of two of the wrestlers playing Lashley’s sisters. Jessica was played by independent wrestler “Mr Everything” Victor Andrews while Frances was played by wrestler Max Caster, who currently works for the Create A Pro Wrestling Academy.

I want to thank everyone for your congrats to my twin cousin Jessica on her #raw debut tonight. I couldn't be prouder of her. Lol. No really thank you everyone. It was a great moment for me. Like I always say, "Don't just be anything. Be EVERYTHING!!"

— Roosevelt (@Im_MrEverything) May 22, 2018

What are your thoughts on this segment? Sound off in the comment section below.

WWE has announced two matches for next week’s episode of RAW on the USA Network.

First, Seth Rollins will defend the Intercontinental Title against Jinder Mahal. Also, there will be a last chance qualifying gauntlet match involving Sasha Banks, Sarah Logan, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Mickie James, Bayley, and Dana Brooke.

The winner of this match will be added to the women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match at the upcoming MITB pay-per-view event.

ALSO NEXT WEEK: It's a LAST CHANCE #MITB Qualifying #GauntletMatch on #RAW as either @SashaBanksWWE @sarahloganwwe @RubyRiottWWE @YaOnlyLivvOnce @MickieJames @itsBayleyWWE or @DanaBrookeWWE will enter the Women's #LadderMatch! pic.twitter.com/krInEwFW4y

— WWE (@WWE) May 22, 2018

NEXT WEEK: @WWERollins will defend the #ICTitle against The #ModernDayMaharaja @JinderMahal on #RAW! pic.twitter.com/v13MPO9NJW

— WWE (@WWE) May 22, 2018

WWE holds next week’s show in Richmond, VA at the Richmond Coliseum. As of this writing, no other matches for RAW have been announced.

What are your thoughts on these matches being announced? Sound off in the comment section below.

WWE has announced a new match for the upcoming the Money in the Bank PPV.

As seen on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw in Albany, NY at the Times Union Center NY on the USA Network, the sports entertainment company announced that Roman Reigns would take on Jinder Mahal in a singles match at this show.

The Money in the Bank pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena and will air on the WWE Network and some traditional pay-per-view outlets. Here is the updated card:

– Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Braun Strowman vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz vs. Rusev vs. Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Roode

– Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Ember Moon vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya

– WWE Title Match: AJ Styles © vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – Nakamura picks stipulation

– WWE Raw Women’s Title Match: Nia Jax © vs. Ronda Rousey

– WWE SmackDown Women’s Title Match: Carmella © vs. Asuka

– Singles Match: Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal

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

WWE is scheduled to hold a live event at Madison Square Garden in New York City on July 7th. The promotion recently updated the card for the show.

The sports entertainment company has officially announced a new match for this upcoming show, which was Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman & WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs. Elias, Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens in a six-man tag team match.

WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt, WWE Raw Women’s Champion Nia Jax, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, Finn Balor, Bobby Roode, Dolph Ziggler are also advertised for the show.

The WWE will be announcing more matches for this live event in the coming weeks. Here is the updated card for the show:

– Singles Match: Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal.

– Six-Man Tag Team Match: Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman & WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs. Elias, Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens.

– Ronda Rousey’s WWE MSG debut.

What are your thoughts on this card for the show? Sound off in the comment section below.

After winning the WWE Title from John Bradshaw Layfield at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, the sports entertainment company has continued to keep John Cena as a babyface due to his popularity with younger fans.

For years now, the older male audience has called for the former WWE Champion to turn heel and go to the dark side. Not only because they want to change Cena from being portrayed as a babyface, which he has done for over a decade but also because he was such a great heel back in the day.

Cena recently spoke with Arash Markazi for ESPN.com to promote the YouTube Red animated series called “Dallas & Robo,” which is set to premiere on May 30. During the interview, he talked about his future with the WWE despite all of his projects outside of the ring

“I’m far from done with the WWE. The WWE will always be my home, but in this current state of affairs right now with all this extra cool stuff that’s going on, it’s fun to try. It’s a great time to be able to take a chance and I’m so eternally grateful to the WWE and its audience for bringing me to this point.

I realize I’d be nowhere without them and I never forget them. I promise as soon as I have any sort of downtime, like I had when I was at the Greatest Royal Rumble and the string of shows I did before WrestleMania, anytime free time I get will not be free, it will be spent at my home in the WWE.”

Visit ESPN to read their full interview with John Cena.

WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair has rebounded after suffering a “sudden illness” last week.

We noted earlier on the site that the WWE Legend announced on social media that he was unable to fulfill his scheduled appearances last week as a result of this illness. If you recall, just last August, he had to be hospitalized due to doctors needing to remove an obstructed part of his bowel.

Because of this, he dealt with complications including kidney failure, which required dialysis treatment.

On Monday (May 21, 2018), Flair shared a new video on his official YouTube channel promoting his latest social media platform, which you can watch below. It’s great to see the WWE Hall of Famer styling and profilin once again.

The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) had to deal with some backlash from WWE fans.

The tag team is back on TV but that doesn’t take away the fact that both Dawson and Wilder have dealt with some hurdles along the way since being called up from NXT where they were a dominant tag team to the main roster. They are known for their incredibly physical style.

The former NXT Tag Team Champions have suffered injuries since being called up but it appears that is in the past. Make no mistake about it though, most fans are rooting for them to make it big.

However, there were some fans who decided to troll the former tag champs on Twitter by criticizing them for working recent NXT live events.

Keep in mind that Tyler Breeze also made a surprise appearance at an NXT event last weekend and the majority of fans loved these surprises.

The former NXT Tag Team Champions tweeted the following about the negative feedback from fans:

https://twitter.com/ScottDawsonWWE/status/997546150239588352

https://twitter.com/DashWilderWWE/status/997506715850506242

https://twitter.com/DashWilderWWE/status/997507737830424576

What are your thoughts on the negative feedback? Sound off in the comment section below.

WWE has announced one big change to a top match that will take place on this week’s SmackDown Live.

It was originally announced that Samoa Joe would battle Big Cass in a Money in the Bank qualifying match on this show, which takes place in Worcester, MA at the DCU Center.

However, as a result of the ongoing storyline injury angle with Cass, WWE SmackDown Live General Manager Paige has revealed that Cass will not wrestle Joe on this show.

Instead, Daniel Bryan will take on Jeff Hardy with the winner facing Joe next week on SmackDown Live in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. Paige tweeted out the following:

“Due to @BigCassWWE injury, @WWEDanielBryan will face @JEFFHARDYBRAND tomorrow night on #SDLive in a second chance match… The winner will face @SamoaJoe NEXT WEEK for an opportunity to qualify and enter the Men’s #MITB Ladder Match.”

https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/998612645476528129

Naomi vs. Sonya Deville and Lana vs. Billie Kay in MITB qualifying matches will also take place on the show.

What are your thoughts on this change? Sound off in the comment section below. 

Former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch has had a successful career with the sports entertainment company.

During a recent appearance on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast, she reflected on where her career all started with the WWE, which was NXT. Lynch signed with the WWE in 2013.

“That was the thing. When I got to NXT it was like there wasn’t a single moment that I took for granted or a single moment – I think this is the biggest thing throughout my entire career because I think Lord knows I shouldn’t be where I am, but at no stage did I go, ‘Oh, they should be doing this for me.’ I would ask myself what I could do to make this good. I would take any opportunity – heck, I had to beg to be a Rosebud for crying out loud. Basically, the entire time I was so grateful to be there because I had known what it was like to be without it and then to be able to go train, and when the hours were long, it was more of a mental than physical struggle, but I was just happy to be there everyday and to learn how to say a promo from Dusty Rhodes.”

Following her arrival on the main roster in July 2015, she became the inaugural SmackDown Women’s Champion at Backlash in September 2016. Also, in this interview, she talked about feeling secure of her WWE position.

“I’m pretty confident in my ability to connect with the audience. We just have this bond, at least I feel we do. In a way of looking at it, you can only do that for so long as far as the Four Horsewomen. Eventually, you are going to need more competition, and more evolution. There needs to be growth and I think that the more people there are the better.”

Lynch continued by stating, I feel like, and I hope I do this well, that I feel like I can elevate somebody in the ring and with a storyline and make somebody care about that character. The way I look at it; the more that I can help somebody else get over and grow then the better is, not just for me, but for everybody in the business. Maybe I do that too much to a fault, but I just want everyone to get better so that people care about our storylines and they care about either kicking somebody else’s ass or somebody kicking my ass. Whatever gets people more invested is what we really need and for the Women’s Revolution to be cared about and for the storylines to grow in general.”

H/T to Rajah.com for the transcriptions.

What are your thoughts on Lynch’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.

The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) have given some insight into the original plans for their WWE RAW invasion angle.

They recently appeared on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast to talk about various topics. During that interview, Nick brought up the fact that The Hardy Boyz (Jeff and Matt Hardy) were originally planned to be part of this angle.

The Hardy’s run came to an end with TNA after having some contract disputes. The Hardy Boyz would leave the promotion and work indie shows as well have a brief run in Ring of Honor.

There was much debate about whether The Hardys would return to WWE, which that brought them to superstardom as their original gimmick or the new Broken universe. When they returned at WrestleMania 33 in April in Orlando, Florida, they were not broken but rather had their old gimmicks.

“We had that planned, man, for a long time. Maybe even longer [than six months]. Actually, we were originally going to do it with The Hardy Boyz. We were going to be outside of WrestleMania and we were going to do something with The Hardys. They were going to transport to WrestleMania and we were going to be there and have a little altercation. That’s right, we were going to take their titles. They were the TNA [tag] champs at the time.”

What are your thoughts on these original plans? Sound off in the comment section below.

The new television home for WWE SmackDown Live has reportedly been revealed.

Darren Rovell of ESPN is reporting that the sports entertainment company has agreed to make Fox the new home of the blue brand next year. It was noted in this article that the TV network came to the WWE with what was described as a “massive” offer.

As of this writing, there are not a ton of facts other than the deal will kick in October 2019. The Wrap is reporting that SmackDown Live will air on Friday nights on Fox. 

WWE stock is through the roof on this news of SmackDown moving to the Fox broadcast network. As of this writing, WWE stock is up nearly 11% for the day. At an all-time-high of $57 per share, WWE now has a market cap of $4.4 billion.

It was reported by the Hollywood Reporter last Thursday that NBC Universal declined to agree to the deal that WWE proposed to keep SmackDown Live on the USA Network. However, it’s been reported that the TV network wants to keep WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night RAW, and are willing to pay them big money in order for that to happen.

WWE has talked with the USA Network, Fox, Disney, CBS, Amazon, and YouTube. It has been rumored for months that WWE could end up signing with Fox with the expectation that If WWE signed with Fox, then Monday Night RAW would go to Fox while SmackDown Live would go to Fox Sports 1. 

What are your thoughts on Fox acquiring the rights to air SmackDown Live? Sound off in the comment section below.

The Big Show has truly been a staple of the sports entertainment company since he decided to join them in 1999 after getting his big break while under the WCW (World Championship Wrestling) banner.

After being with the company for nearly 20-years, the veteran has racked up some major accomplishments during his career which will no doubt earn him a spot in the sports entertainment company’s Hall of Fame.

Back in September during an episode of Monday Night RAW in Omaha, NE at the CenturyLink Center, Braun Strowman defeated The Big Show in a Steel Cage match in the main event.

After the match, Strowman power slammed Show through the cage, which part of it broke to close the show. The reason for this spot was to write Show off of television due to him undergoing hip surgery, which was successfully done on September 29th.

The Big Show recently did an interview on Steve Austin’s podcast. During this appearance, he explained why he hasn’t returned to action yet. Here is what he had to say:

“I didn’t have my hip replaced. I had a surgery done called resurfacing which I kept 98% of my bone. If I showed you the pictures of what my femur bone looked like – what the ball socket looked like – man, it had holes in it. It looked like a bowling ball. I showed it to Undertaker and he said it looked like a jack o’ lantern. There were just holes from where I had worn the bone down so bad. It hurt for 3.5 years and then I started losing range of motion. I noticed for me in the ring – you know when a guy is working and his strides are long? You know when he is hitting the ropes or he’s shooting somebody in the corner; but, I noticed for me that my steps were just really short because I couldn’t open my stride up anymore because the pelvis had grown over the bone. There was no range of motion and the joint was chewed up. There wasn’t any cartilage left. I was in constant agony; but, you know how we are: stuff that could put a guy in the hospital, you and I have a cup of coffee and a couple aspiring and we go to work. When people look at it and say, ‘How could you even walk like that?’ I had to go to work. I don’t know. It’s just mind over matter, I guess.”

WWE reportedly wanted to have The Big Show in the fifty-man Royal Rumble match at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. That didn’t happen as Show suffered a new injury around three weeks ago while training to return from his hip surgery.

Show continued, “I had a little complication after surgery, which happens sometimes when you put metal in the body. That was a real tough kind of time. It added 5 months longer to my return. I got a surgical infection from it. I learned more about infections than I ever wanted to know….sometimes you have major surgeries like that and there’s a lot of things that can act up…so I had to go in and be opened up again. They did a real good job of cleaning the joint the best they can…I was on an IV drip all through Christmas for several weeks…an IV line that went from my arm and into my heart because the medicine was so strong it’d burn your veins out. I didn’t want to ask him what it did to my heart if it burned my veins out. I went through that for several weeks which was a real pain in the ass because you can’t work out. I got this tube hanging out of my arm that I had to hook up to each day. I had to do a bag every 8 hours and it took about 2 hrs 45 minutes to drain the bag. I would get yard time in the afternoon. I had about 4 hours to go to the store, get out of the house or go to the gym.”

“They told me not to workout. You know how importance my fitness was and I made so many changes. I was like, ‘They don’t know,’ so I went to work out. I can do right handed dumbbell curls, something. So, like a dummy I’m in there a couple days after getting this pick line put in and I’ve got a 20 lb dumbbell in my right hand and thinking, ‘I’ll just do a couple dumbbell reps.’ I’d gotten an Apple Watch for Christmas that does your heart rate, probably a damn good thing I had it. I’m sitting there doing these one armed dumbbell curls and all of a sudden my heart rate is really kicking. I look down, my Apple Watch is hopping up and down on my wrist because my heart rate is up to 200 bpm. Apparently when you increase your blood pressure and you have a line in the vein, that vein can elevate your heart rate because you have an obstruction in your vein. When they say don’t work out, they mean it. After scaring the ever loving crap out of myself, I chilled out.”

H/T to Michael McClead of WrestleZone.com for the quotes

What are your thoughts on Big Show’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.

Former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor has a certain dream match in mind.

Balor would love to step into the squared circle with Daniel Bryan at the biggest event of the year for the sports entertainment company, WrestleMania. He sent out the following photo on his official Instagram account:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi7zposHxj8/?utm_source=ig_embed

WrestleMania 35 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 7, 2019 in East Rutherford, NJ at MetLife Stadium.

This event airs on pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network and is the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history. Both Raw and SmackDown rosters will be featured.

What are your thoughts on this possible match? Sound off in the comment section below.

Another big match has been set for this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown Live.

On Saturday, the sports entertainment company officially announced that Naomi vs. Sonya Deville in a Women’s Money in the Bank Match has been set for this show.

WWE has already announced that Samoa Joe will battle Big Cass in a MITB qualifying match while Lana will face Billie Kay in a MITB qualifying match would also take place on this episode. 

Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, The Miz, Rusev, Kevin Owens, and Bobby Roode have already qualified for the men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match.

Ember Moon, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and Becky Lynch have already qualified for the women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match. WWE holds this week’s show in Worcester, MA at the DCU Center.

What are your thoughts on this match? Sound off in the comment section below.

The early betting odds have been released for Ronda Rousey’s second match on WWE PPV. 

It’s been well established that the sports entertainment company has already announced that Rousey is slated to challenge Nia Jax for the RAW Women’s Title at the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. The odds are listing Jax as a -140 favorite against Rousey.

The Money in the Bank pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena and will air on the WWE Network and some traditional pay-per-view outlets. Both RAW and SmackDown brands will be featured. Here is the updated card:

– Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Braun Strowman vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz vs. Rusev vs. Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Roode

– Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Ember Moon vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch

– WWE Title Match: AJ Styles © vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – Nakamura picks stipulation

– WWE RAW Women’s Title Match: Nia Jax © vs. Ronda Rousey

– WWE SmackDown Women’s Title Match: Carmella © vs. Asuka

What are your thoughts on this match? Sound off in the comment section below.

WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle recently did a Q&A on Facebook and commented on a number of interesting topics.

Angle has had quote the career while in the professional wrestling business. Angle returned to in-ring competition under the WWE banner at last year’s Survivor Series pay-per-view event in November.

The WWE Hall of Famer then teamed up with former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania 34 in a Mixed Tag Team Match.

He also competed in the 50-Man Royal Rumble Match at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. In this Q&A, Angle was asked about the scariest moment in his career.

“When I got knocked out at Summerslam 2000 against Rock and HHH. I don’t remember anything I did that night. Now that’s scary.”

Over the past few years, The Undertaker has gone from being a full-time talent to a part-timer. After years of speculation when Taker would retire from pro wrestling, it appeared that he had his farewell at WrestleMania 33 in the main event against Roman Reigns last year in Orlando, Florida. It turns out that Taker has decided to wrestle again as he took on John Cena at WrestleMania 34 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on the WWE Network.

Then the future WWE Hall of Famer wrestled Rusev in a Casket Match at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. Angle was asked if he thinksUndertaker will wrestle again. “I think he will. He looks great. He’s an amazing athlete.”

Finally, Angle was asked who he thinks will win the men’s Money in the Bank match. This led to him responding by stating, “Honestly? He’s a long shot. But Kevin Owens. He seems to always find a way to shine. A real ass kisser:).”

What are your Angle’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.

Jinder Mahal transformed his career between his first and current run with the sports entertainment company.

In April of 2011 Mahal made his main roster debut and would eventually find himself as a member of the Three Man Band (3MB) trio alongside Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater.

In 2014, however, his run with the WWE came to an end when he was released from his deal. He would return to the independent circuit for two years, where he would reinvent himself creatively and physically, before being brought back to WWE around the time of the Superstar Shake-Up last year.

The former WWE Champion was recently interviewed by Planeta Wrestling (transcript courtesy of Wrestling Inc). During the interview, he was asked how it feels to no longer be the WWE Champion and his goals in the sports entertainment company. Here is what he had to say.

“Unfortunately, I lost the WWE Championship to AJ Styles but I held the WWE Championship for 6 months. Many people thought that I would never hold the WWE Championship, let alone any Championship in WWE so I proved a lot of people wrong, but now that I moved to Raw, my goal is the WWE Universal Championship, but there is also many great competitors such as Roman Reigns, who I have my eyes on right now. He claims that Raw is his yard, I think differently. I think I am the most dominant superstar in WWE. Right before I lost my title match against AJ Styles for the WWE Championship I was going to face Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series, so now that I am on Raw that match is very possible for the Universal Championship. Other than that, Seth Rollins is the WWE Intercontinental Champion. I am excited to be on Raw and I look forward to holding more championships.”

Mahal added, “To become Universal Champion and Intercontinental Champion and Tag Team Champion, that way I can become a Grand Slam Champion.”

What are your thoughts on Mahal’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.

https://youtu.be/hSqVYxalYzg

It’s been well documented that there is history between The Miz and Daniel Bryan.

Now that Bryan has been cleared to return to in-ring action, it’s just a matter of time before the WWE books Miz and Bryan in a program on the blue brand. If you recall, Miz was Bryan’s coach on the very first season of the NXT reality series. They have wrestled some matches while on the main roster together.

The Miz spoke to Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard section last week. During that interview, he was asked about the potential feud with Bryan, which was when Miz started to make headlines.

“Daniel Bryan could have quit and went and did all his indies and did all the bingo hall things, but he wanted to fight for his dreams,” Miz said. “But that day, he didn’t fight for his dreams. He walked away like the coward he was calling me. Now you fast forward and everybody wants to see Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz, but the fact is Daniel Bryan isn’t at the caliber I am at. I am sick of people sitting there saying, ‘Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz.’ He doesn’t deserve to be in the ring with me. He’s not at the level that I am. I am showcasing top-level talent, and maybe in a year or maybe in two years, he’ll be at that level. But right now, he’s not at that level. He’s just going on the fame he had four years ago. Things changed. So when Daniel Bryan is ready, and I feel that he is ready, that’s when the match will happen. Until then, he’s not ready for me.”

Miz regularly appeared on Talking Smack while he was on the blue brand and had a famous segment with Bryan on the show. If you recall, this most memorable moment took place on the August 23rd, 2016 edition of Talking Smack. The Miz went off on Bryan after being called a coward for his wrestling style.

It was one of the most memorable promos of the past few years and fans were left wondering if it was scripted or not.

SPORTbible was able to speak with Bryan and get his response to The Miz’s comments.

“If you were to look at Miz’s matches since I’ve come back, he’s got a point,” Bryan admitted. “His match with [Seth] Rollins at Backlash, that was by far the best match on the pay-per-view. When I lost to Rusev, he wrestled Jeff Hardy – which was a fantastic match. The knock on Miz for years was that he was a great talker but so-so in the ring. This happened with [John] Cena too where people were like, ‘This guy can’t wrestle’ and while they are saying they can’t wrestle, they learn to wrestle and learn to be the best as far as in-ring stuff.”

“On the independents when I was with Ring of Honor, people thought I was the best wrestler in the world – fans would chant it and I think the fans would believe it because they want to believe that their guy is better than the WWE guys,” Bryan responded. “But never once have I considered myself the best – I look at AJ Styles and I look at Rollins right now. I say these matches with Miz were great but Rollins is in those matches – and I don’t know what is different but now he’s clicking on every level. It almost feels like it was for me in 2013 where he’s not the top guy on Raw but he’s starting to get those top guy reactions, more so than other people. You look at these people and think, ‘Ah, he’s better than me at this.’ So if Miz says I’m not on his level, I look at it like, ‘Maybe I’m not’ and that motivates me – how do I get on his level?”

What are your thoughts on Bryan’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.

There was speculation going around online that Big Cass may have suffered an injury this weekend.

Cass worked Saturday’s (May 19, 2018) WWE SmackDown live event in Amsterdam. This is when fans saw Cass limping during and after the match. Those who were in attendance took to social media and noted that he may have been injured. Fortunately, that is not the case.

Cass has actually been limping during all of his matches to sell an angle that was filmed on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in London, England after he was attacked by Daniel Bryan.

Cass is expected to work the rest of the tour and will be appearing on Tuesday’s edition of SmackDown Live in Worcester, MA at the DCU Center.