Season 2 of Netflix’s hit show GLOW will premiere on Friday, June 29th. GLOW is a comedy series about the 1980’s Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling promotion.

The first season of GLOW focused on Ruth Wilder (played by Alison Brie), who an out-of-work actress living in Los Angeles who stumbles on an audition for an upstart women’s wrestling promotion, organized by washed-up director Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron).

The 10-episode second season picks up right where the first season concluded. The stars of the GLOW promotion are now local celebrities and will deal with the good, the bad and the ugly that comes along with their newfound fame.

The first season featured cameos from several pro wrestling personalities, including John Hennigan, Awesome Kong, Carlito, Christopher Daniels, Kazarian and Brooke Hogan.

• Watch GLOW On Netflix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwVOmTImfLA

Daniel Bryan and The Miz will square off at three shows during next month’s WWE UK Tour, which runs from May 9th-18th. Shows are scheduled for Bournemouth, London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield – including RAW and SmackDown TV tapings (from London).

Bryan and The Miz will battle Liverpool, Newcastle & Sheffield on May 16th, 17th and 18th.

When WWE announced that Daniel Bryan was medically cleared to compete again, The Miz’s name kept coming up as one of the ‘dream match’ pairings waiting for him after a 3-year hiatus from the ring. Upon the news of The Miz moving to SmackDown Live in the Superstar Shake-Up, Bryan quickly took notice and let the Miz know he’s waiting for him:

https://twitter.com/WWEDanielBryan/status/986048420036136961

https://twitter.com/mikethemiz/status/986163573079597056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

If we’re lucky, this feud will be one of the featured programs on SmackDown Live in the months ahead. This clip from Talking Smack (August 2016) is often cited as one of the breakout moments of The Miz’s career and is worth rewatching even if you’ve seen it before.

WWE’s Superstar Shake-Up continues tonight on SmackDown Live, which takes place from Providence, Rhode Island at the Dunkin Donuts Center. 16 Superstars joined the RAW brand last night and you can be sure there will be an influx of new faces on SmackDown before the night is up.

With just a few more hours until the Superstar Shake-Up continues, it’s worth nothing that new United States Champion Jeff Hardy is backstage for tonight’s broadcast (via PWInsider). Hardy captured the gold from Jinder Mahal after the Modern Day Maharajah moved to RAW. Mahal is getting his championship rematch at the Greatest Royal Rumble, with SmackDown Live star Randy Orton waiting in the wings. Orton will challenge the US Champion next month at Backlash, whether it be Hardy or Mahal.

Update: RAW Superstar Samoa Joe has been spotted arriving at the Dunkin Donuts Center, a strong indication he’ll be moving over to SmackDown Live later tonight.

https://twitter.com/WiseGuyYT/status/986285878040498183

Cesaro caused some commotion on social media earlier today by tweeting a photo of himself, Sheamus, Finn Balor and Sahsa Banks on a plane to South Africa for WWE’s weekend tour of the country. Fans immediately questioned if this photo was a ‘Spoiler’ for the Superstar Shake-Up (ie. if they’re out of the country, they won’t be appearing on SmackDown tonight), but that’s a shaky theory since several of the performers who got drafted to RAW last night were not on the show.

Joins us here later tonight for our SmackDown Live Coverage to see which RAW Superstars get traded and how the two brands look when the Superstar Shake-Up concludes. 

Freeze! The Boss is at #TheBar. Ready for ?? @Wwe #WWESouthAfrica #WWECapetown #WWEPretoria #WWEJohannesburg pic.twitter.com/LpzVrh8gQ6

— Swiss (@ClaudioCSRO) April 17, 2018

Two more matches have been set up for next month’s WWE Backlash pay-per-view, the first event of the new monthly joint-brand PPV era.

After losing the RAW Women’s Championship to Nia Jax at WrestleMania, Alexa Bliss announced on RAW that she’s getting her rematch at Backlash.

The first Superstar traded to RAW as part of the Superstar Shake-Up was United States Champion Jinder Mahal. In his first match back on the RAW brand, Mahal lost the gold to Jeff Hardy, making Jeff the latest Grand Slam Champion in WWE. Later in the show, Mahal declared he’ll be getting his rematch at the Greatest Royal Rumble next Friday (4/27) from Saudi Arabia. Whoever is United States Champion coming out of the Greatest Royal Rumble will defend against Randy Orton at Backlash.

WWE Backlash Card

As of Tuesday 4/17, here is the updated card for WWE Backlash:

• Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe
• Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs. The Miz
• United States Champion Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton
• RAW Women’s Champion Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss

WWE Backlash takes place on Sunday, May 6th from Newark, New Jersey and streams live on the WWE Network.

Join us here on Sunday, 5/6 for WWE Backlash Results & Live Coverage.

Swerve’s First Challenge

Last week, Shane Strickland defeated Matt Riddle in the World Title tournament finals to become the new MLW World Heavyweight Champion. That same night, Pentagon Jr. defeated Rey Fenix to become #1 contender. Major League Wrestling has announced that Strickland vs. Pentagon Jr. will take place at MLW: Intimidation Games, scheduled for Thursday, May 3rd from Orlando, FL at Gilt Nightclub.

This will be a TV taping for MLW’s new weekly series FUSION, which premieres this Friday night on beIN SPORTS. Other talent scheduled to appear at Intimidation Games includes Rey Fenix, MVP, Barrington Hughes, Maxwell Jacob Friedman and The Dirty Blondes. If you’re in the Orlando area, tickets are now available over at MLWTickets.com.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/985900915348660236

MLW Fusion Trailer

Ahead of Friday night’s FUSION premiere on beIN SPORTS, MLW has released the following trailer. Click Here for details on how you can watch beIN SPORTS.

Tonight’s edition of WWE RAW takes place from Hartford, CT at the XL Center.

The 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-Up kicks off tonight and continues on Tuesday’s edition of SmackDown Live. Both brands will will look very different come Tuesday night – setting the stage for the next 12 months of match-ups on RAW and SmackDown.

• WWE Superstar Shake-Up: Our Picks To Improve Both Brands

In addition to the Superstar Shake-Up, WWE is advertising the following items for RAW:

• Who will battle Cesaro & Sheamus at WWE Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27? “Woken” Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt face The Revival to earn a shot at The Bar.
• Bayley and Sasha Banks settle their differences
• Will Ronda Rousey face repercussions after attacking Stephanie McMahon again?
• Will Roman Reigns get his hands on Samoa Joe?
• What “unfinished business” does Bobby Lashley have in WWE?

It’s going to be an eventful evening and we hope you join us here tonight for our WWE RAW Live Coverage. Until then, catch up on the Top 10 Moments from last week’s RAW:

This Sunday night, Impact Wrestling returns to pay-per-view with Redemption live from Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios. This will be the promotion’s first PPV of the year and the first big show under the new creative regime of Don Callis and Scott D’Amore.

The following matches are scheduled for Impact Wrestling: Redemption (4/22):

– Impact Champion Austin Aries vs. Pentagon Jr. vs. Rey Fenix

– X-Division Champion Matt Sydal vs. Petey Williams.

– Impact Tag Team Champions LAX vs. Eli Drake & Scott Steiner

– House of Hardcore Match: OVE vs. Moose & Eddie Edwards & Tommy Dreamer

– Taiji Ishimori vs. Dezmond Xavier vs. El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Brian Cage vs. DJZ vs. Trevor Lee.

– Aerostar vs. Drago

We’ll have Impact Wrestling: Redemption results here at SEScoops this Sunday night.

We are ONE WEEK AWAY from #Redemption on PPV and @FiteTV!

ORDER on FITE: https://t.co/H3AeDMWK9v pic.twitter.com/yhI07NRZTb

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 16, 2018

Alberto El Patron has broken his silence regarding why he no-showed the big Impact Wrestling vs. Lucha Underground live event at WrestleCon during WrestleMania 34 weekend.

The former Impact Wrestling World Champion was scheduled to team with Penta El Zero M against Austin Aries and Rey Fénix in the main event, but did not appear – despite fans seeing him in New Orleans before and after the show.

Impact, which had Alberto booked in the main event of the upcoming Redemption pay-per-view, responded by announcing that his contract with the promotion has been terminated – effective immediately.

IMPACT Wrestling announced today that it has terminated its agreement with Alberto El Patron, effective immediately.

— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) April 8, 2018

During an interview with SportingNews, Alberto El Patron gave his side of the story and explained that a “family situation” needed his attention.

“I had a family situation that I needed to tend to. As you know, my family, my kids are my priority. The situation was involving them and that’s why I decided to take care of business and take care of my family situation. And that’s all that happened. And that comes to what I was just saying to you. I know people wanted to know absolutely everything. This only concerns my family: my parents, my sister, myself and my kids. And that’s the way it’s going to stay.”

Alberto’s Rocky Relationship With Impact Wrestling, Retirement

Alberto explained that he is doing just fine after being released by Impact Wrestling and says their working relationship was rocky at best.

“Our relationship wasn’t pretty good or completely good. And this was just something that ended up breaking it. I’m fine, I guess. I’m going to do what I was planning on doing, as everybody knows I planning on leaving the pro wrestling business in the next year.”

He also vented about his personal life becoming fodder for wrestling journalists and fans.

“I have said it several times over and over. And it’s because of some of these things where everybody thinks they can get their nose into your business. Is it right to know absolutely everything about you? It’s not. I’m just going to continue to do that and doing my stuff here, in Mexico like exactly how I was doing it and sometime next year and say goodbye to the pro wrestling business.”

Alberto El Patron is scheduled to compete at TripleMania XXVI in Mexico this summer.

Rusev Update

Following up on the news of Rusev being pulled from the Undertaker Casket Match at Greatest Royal Rumble, the Bulgarian Superstar has since removed references to WWE from his Twitter bio. He has also updated his Instagram page, changing his name from Rusev to his real name, Miroslav Barnyashev.

In response to the news that he’ll no longer be wrestling The Undertaker, he tweeted the following – a strong contender for The Solomonster’s “Sad Tweet of the Week.”

Life is life….. it will be #RusevDay somewhere

— Miro (@ToBeMiro) April 12, 2018

Kendrick Cleared To Return

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Brian Kendrick has been cleared to return, according to the Wrestling Observer. Kendrick has been out of action since December when he suffered fractures to his orbital bone and nasal bridge on the Christmas edition of WWE RAW.

The injury took place while taking Hideo Itami’s GTS finisher. Meltzer noted that Kendrick took the move improperly, but Itami has refrained from using it ever since.

WWE Merchandise Movers

Also from this week’s Wrestling Observer, we have an update on WWE merchandise sales. John Cena’s merchandise remains “far and away” the best sellers, despite working a reduced schedule this year.

WWE Champion AJ Styles and Roman Reigns are essentially tied for the #2 spot, followed by The New Day. Meltzer noted that Finn Balor, Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman are also doing very well in terms of merchandise sales.

Visit f4wonline.com to subscribe to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Former rivals ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt put their differences aside at WrestleMania and forged an alliance. It was an unexpected turn of events after their heated rivalry that saw Matt delete Bray by throwing him in the Lake of Reincarnation during the Ultimate Deletion special.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE’s creative team is already discussing plans to split them up and for Bray to align himself with a new band of misfits.

“Whether this happens or not remains to be seen but there is a pitch for Wyatt to turn on Matt Hardy and then be the leader of the Sanity group.”

Sanity is the NXT stable consisted of Eric Young, Nikki Cross and former NXT tag team champions Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain.

Woken Matt & Bray Wyatt

The night after joining forces at WrestleMania, the duo teamed up on RAW in the first round of the Tag Team Eliminator Tournament to crown new RAW tag team champions. They made short work of Titus Worldwide to advance. Next week, they will face Dash & Dawson to determine who faces The Bar at Greatest Royal Rumble for the vacant titles.

Whether or not Matt and Bray advance to the finals and challenge for the tag titles, it seems that they will be treated as a tag team unit during next week’s Superstar Shake-Up.

Ronda Rousey’s next WWE match has been announced. The ‘Baddest Woman on the Planet’ is heading to Europe as part of the company’s annual post-WrestleMania tour. She will be competing on the following shows:

• May 16th: Geneva, Switzerland
• May 17th: Vienna, Austria
• May 18th: Turin, Italy
• May 19th: Paris, France

The entire WWE European tour will feature 13 live events.

Ronda Rousey: WWE Superstar

Rousey made her professional wrestling debut last weekend at WrestleMania 34. She and Kurt Angle teamed up to defeat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a show-stealing performance. She appeared in the opening segment of Monday’s RAW and once again put Stephanie in an armbar to the delight of the live crowd.

Who Will Rousey Work With In Europe?

It will be interesting to see which WWE Superstar(s) are selected to work with Rousey on the European tour, how those matches are received and whether or not WWE sees a spike in ticket sales with the addition of Rousey.

Rousey’s performance at WrestleMania was incredible. Not to take anything away from that, but that match was heavily planned out. When she starts working singles matches, we’ll get a better idea of where she stands as an in-ring performer. It would make sense to have Rousey work against an experienced heel on the European tour – which would make Mickie James an ideal candidate.

We’ll provide an update when WWE announces Rousey’s opponent(s).

Shane “Swerve” Strickland became the new MLW World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Matt Riddle in the tournament finals at Thursday’s MLW show from Orlando, FL.

Strickland has been a fixture of Major League Wrestling since the promotion’s reboot back in October, when he defeated Ricochet in the main event of One-Shot. He defeated Brody King and Jimmy Haboc in the first two rounds of the championship tournament en route to the showdown with Riddle.

Also on the show, Pentagon El Zero M defeated Rey Fenix on the card to become the #1 contender.

It's @PENTAELZEROM on top after a great match that has fans throwing money into the ring #MLWFinals pic.twitter.com/XvjvniH2qe

— Jay Reddick (@runninjay) April 13, 2018

Tickets go on sale Friday morning for MLW’s next show – dubbed MLW: Intimidation Games on May 3rd from Orlando, FL.

Ready to crown the 1st @mlw champion #MLWFinals pic.twitter.com/YtzoIVTLEN

— Elder Sour (@ElderSour) April 13, 2018

https://twitter.com/StricklandShane/status/984625234904051713

Credit to Scott Fishman of the Miami Herald for the header image on this article

In a strange turn of events, WWE announced on Thursday that Rusev will no longer be competing against The Undertaker in a casket match at the Greatest Royal Rumble. Chris Jericho, who had previously been announced for the 50-man Rumble, will take his place and challenge the Dead Man instead.

The initial news that Rusev would be facing The Undertaker in a casket match came out of nowhere, as the two have had little to no interaction on television. In what some took as a thinly-veiled reference to his standing with the company, Rusev tweeted the following in response to the match announcement:

Bury me softly, Brother https://t.co/IWnBvL20Ez

— Miro (@ToBeMiro) April 11, 2018

Earlier today, TMZ Sports posted a video of Rusev and Lana in Los Angeles, CA talking about the upcoming casket match. They said The Undertaker was old news and past his prime, which apparently did not go over too well.

TMZ’s headline actually stated that Rusev claimed he was going to retire the Undertaker and “crush his old ass.” Undertaker’s wife Michelle McCool took notice:

Had to listen to see if “crush his old a$$” was ACTUALLY said! Guess some people are smarter than others…??? https://t.co/avOLWKORV8

— McCool (@McCoolMichelleL) April 12, 2018

Within a matter of hours, the decision was made to pull Rusev from the match. Rusev’s wife Lana tweeted that she refuses to let her husband compete in a casket match and told WWE officials to find a replacement.

All over the world, little boys and girls are celebrating #RusevDay, they smile for the greatest Superstar ever ! I’ve already spoke with @WWE officials to change that match because I REFUSE to let my husband @RusevBUL compete in a Casket Match at #WWEGRR! Happy #RusevDay

— CJ Perry (@TheCJPerry) April 12, 2018

Prior to WrestleMania, PWInsider reported that Rusev was unhappy and requested to be released. He was later moved from the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal to the United States Championship match, where he took the pinfall. This latest development does not bode well for Rusev’s standing with the company.

Before, I beat #TheUndertaker for @wwe title. At #GreatestRoyalRumble, I’m gonna BURY his ass…#KingOfTheCasketMatch pic.twitter.com/rLThP1lJgC

— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) April 12, 2018

Update: Rusev tweeted the following about being pulled from the casket match:

Life is life….. it will be #RusevDay somewhere

— Miro (@ToBeMiro) April 12, 2018

Later tonight, either Matt Riddle or Shane Strickland will be crowned the new World Heavyweight Champion of Major League Wrestling.

Riddle and Strickland are squaring off in the finals of the MLW World Heavyweight Championship tournament. Tonight’s MLW show takes place from Gilt Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. This will be a TV taping for the new weekly MLW Fusion television show, which premieres next Friday night (4/20) on BeIN Sports. We’ve embedded a tweet at the bottom of this article detailing how you can watch BeIN Sports on your cable TV provider or online if you’ve cut the cord.

TOURNAMENT FINALS FOR THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP:
Shane “The Swerve” Strickland vs. Matt Riddle

THE REMATCH:
Pentagon Jr. vs. Rey Fenix

Matt Sydal vs. Low Ki

SAMI & JOEY’S BOGUS ADVENTURE MATCH:
Sami Callihan & Joey Janela vs. Jimmy Havoc & Darby Allin

ACH vs. “Filthy Tom Lawlor

Fred Yehi vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

Santana Garrett vs. Aerial Monroe

Also on hand will be MVP, Mike Parrow and more. If you’re in the Orlando area, a limited number of tickets are still available at Eventbrite.com.

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/984185596955545602

Superstar Shake-Up

Major changes are coming to WWE next week when RAW and SmackDown host the 2018 Superstar Shake-Up. The rosters for both brands will look very different a week from now. The top stars of SmackDown Live are scheduled to be backstage at Monday’s RAW from Hartford, CT, reports PWInsider.

SmackDown does not have a live event scheduled for that night, so expect to see cameos and perhaps even matches involving SmackDown wrestlers who get traded on RAW next week.

• WWE Superstar Shake-Up: Our Picks To Improve Both Brands

Kevin Steen Store Opens

As part of the storyline that Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have been ‘fired’ from SmackDown Live, Pro Wrestling Tees has launched a new store for Kevin Steen – the real name of Kevin Owens and the name he used on the independent scene before joining WWE.

Owens and Sami Zayn’s WWE Superstar bio’s are still gone from WWE.com and Owens’ Twitter account has been blacked out as well.

WWE Squashes Rusev Day Chants

Twitter user DunKology made this video showing that WWE changed the audio on Tuesday’s SmackDown to remove Rusev Day chants.

During the opening segment involving new SmackDown GM Paige talking about who should fight Daniel Bryan later in the evening, the crowd started a loud “Rusev Day” chant. In the video that got uploaded to WWE’s YouTube channel, those Rusev Day chants have been replaced with pre-recorded “AJ Styles” chants.

Paige ultimately chose Styles as Bryan’s opponent for the show’s main event. The match was ended abruptly when Shinsuke Nakamura interfered.

https://twitter.com/dunkology/status/984451868964327426?s=21

Conrad Thompson was a guest on the latest Sports Illustrated Media Podcast to discuss he and Bruce Prichard’s new show coming to the WWE Network later this month.

Bruce and Conrad host the wildly popular Something To Wrestle With Bruce Podcast podcast. Each week, they select a wrestling event or personality and spend hours discussing the topic in-depth. WWE announced last weekend that “Something Else To Wrestle” is coming to the WWE Network – and Conrad has provided new details on exactly what that project is and how it relates to their award-winning podcast.

On the Sports Illustrated podcast appearance, Conrad explained that Something Else To Wrestle is a “totally separate deal” and their weekly podcast will continue “business as usual.” The podcast is not going away, it’s not changing and WWE has no involvement with their podcast.

They are filming a 13-episode season of Something Else To Wrestle to test the waters and gauge fan interest. Bruce and Conrad are shooting the show from their respective homes and that footage will be combined for each episode. The episodes will be 60-90 minutes in length and the show is not produced by WWE. Conrad said there the shows will be uncensored, there will be adult language and they’ll talk about controversial topics.

The show came about because a lot of people in the WWE office listen to the show. WWE saw that whenever the show focused on a particular event (ex. SummerSlam 1988), that show would see a huge spike in viewership on the WWE Network. Company offifcials took notice and reached out to Bruce and Conrad several months ago, prior to RAW’s 25th Anniversary special.

WWE has yet to announce an official premiere date for the show, but it’s already mid-April so an announcement should be coming in the next week or so.

On Wednesday night, WWE held the next round of NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. 4 episodes of TV were taped, which would take us through May 9th. The results are as follows, with the possibility that some things were taped out of order:

Dark match:

– Lio Rush defeated Chico Adams with a frog splash.

April 18th Episode:

– Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae start the show. Gargano is happy to finally have his life back after the feud with Tommaso Ciampa. He thanks Candice for sticking with him through the past few months and says tonight they will take care of some unfinished business. Candice vs. Zelina Vega is announced for tonight. Gargano promises to become the next #1 contender to the NXT Title

– Ricochet defeated Fabian Aichner. Ricochet hit an impressive 630 for the pin and cut a quick babyface promo after the match

– The War Raiders defeated The Metro Brothers (Chris & JC). The former War Machine are still using their Hanson & Rowe names

– Lars Sullivan defeated Killian Dain in a brutal No DQ match. The two big men went at it here. Lars hit the Freak Accident on top of several steel chairs for the pin

– Candice LeRae defeated Zelina Vega. After the match, Gargano issues a challenge to NXT Champion Aleister Black. Black comes out and accepts the match for next week

April 25th Episode:

– The Undisputed Era is out – NXT North American Champion Adam Cole, NXT Tag Team Champions Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly, the injured Bobby Fish. Strong is officially announced as Tag Team Champion. They brag on Takeover weekend and Strong takes shots at WWE UK Pete Dunne

– NXT North American Champion Adam Cole retained over Oney Lorcan with interference from Strong & O’Reilly. Danny Burch runs out to make the save but they beat him down

– Heavy Machinery defeated Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss when Tino walked out on Riddick. After the match, Heavy Machinery issued a challenge to The War Raiders

– Kairi Sane defeated Australian indie wrestler Shazza McKenzie from Shine. After the match, Lacey Evans comes to the ring and apologizes to Kairi for comments after their TV match in New Orleans. Lacey offers a handshake but turns and drops Kairi with the mic

– TM61 defeated The Street Profits with feet on the bottom rope

– WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne defeated Roderick Strong by DQ in a non-title match. The Undisputed Era interfered but Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch made the save

May 2nd Episode:

– Kona Reeves defeated indie wrestler Patrick Scott

– Ricochet comes to the ring to a pop and cuts a promo on the NXT Title. The Velveteen Dream interrupts and they have words for several minutes with Dream saying Ricochet just isn’t good enough

– Ethan Carter III defeated Raul Mendoza

– Dakota Kai defeated Vanessa Borne. After the match, new NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler hits the ring and intimidates Kai into the corner and beats Borne down

– Johnny Gargano vs. NXT Champion Aleister Black never happens as Tommaso Ciampa attacks Gargano during his entrance and beats him up. Ciampa destroyed Gargano and left. Medics tended to Gargano and stretchered him out to an ambulance

May 9th Episode:

– Bianca Belair defeated Candice LeRae

– The War Raiders defeated Heavy Machinery

– Tommaso Ciampa defeated Kassius Ohno. Ciampa attacked Ohno after the match

– NXT Champion Aleister Black comes out and talks about Johnny Gargano but SAnitY interrupts and confronts him. Eric Young challenges Black and we’ve got a match

– Aleister Black defeated Eric Young in a non-title match. Black then took out Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe after the match and stood tall to end the tapings.

Next week’s RAW and SmackDown broadcasts will feature the annual Superstar Shake-Up. It’s a chance for WWE to reshuffle the rosters and create all new match-ups for the coming year. Ahead of the Superatar Shake-Up, we’ve put together a list of ‘trades’ that we think would benefit both the Superstars and the brands they’d be moving to.

To keep the logistics as simple as possible, we’ve avoided listing any champions being traded, although it’s entirely possible we could see such a move next week. We also limited our list to the top acts from each division – and there will likely be many more trades than we’ve listed here.

These trades create a slew of new opportunities for the top stars on both shows. We’ll break down the reasoning behind the more significant developments below. Should these trades occur, here is a look at how each brand would look after the Superstar Shake-Up:

Key Takeaways:

Roman Reigns:

Roman Reigns is the wrestler who is in most need of new surroundings. Reigns could very well capture the Universal Championship from Brock Lesnar at the Greatest Royal Rumble, but we’re going under the assumption that Lesnar retains. WrestleMania 34 was the strongest indication yet that WWE has come to terms with the fact that Reigns hasn’t gotten over as they hoped. Reigns defeating Lesnar just weeks later would allow him to win the belt in front of a more forgiving live audience, but it doesn’t address the underlying damaged foundation. On SmackDown, the pressure of being ‘the chosen one’ to slay Brock Lesnar is alleviated and Reigns will have a chance to find himself, tweak his character and get over more organically.

Daniel Bryan:

Daniel Bryan is WWE’s top babyface (sorry, Roman). If he can stay healthy, Bryan could move the needle for Monday Night RAW’s viewership in a time when WWE is in the midst of TV rights fees negotiations. Wherever Bryan wrestles, there will be a long list of prospective dream matches. We got a taste of Bryan vs. Styles this week on SmackDown Live, but on RAW – he’s got feuds waiting for him with the likes of Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and even monsters like Braun Strowman and Brock Lesnar.

Jeff Hardy:

With Bray Wyatt now aligned with Broken Matt, it makes sense to move Jeff Hardy to SmackDown where he can pursue a singles career separate from the Broken Universe. Jeff looked good in his (surprise) return match on RAW and his popularity would allow him to be a featured act on SmackDown.

Charlotte:

After dropping the SmackDown Women’s Championship to Carmella this week, Charlotte moving to RAW seems like an obvious one. Over the past week, there has been a lot of speculation that next year’s WrestleMania will feature a showdown between Charlotte and Ronda Rousey. Done right, this could be the first women’s match in history to headline a WrestleMania. We will see if WWE can resist pulling the trigger on this match before then.

Braun Strowman:

Braun is my MVP in the entire company. With Brock Lesnar rumored to be gearing up for a UFC return, this leaves an opening for Braun to assume that role of unbeatable dominant heel champion. I would have Braun Strowman be the man to dethrone Brock Lesnar in the coming weeks. Put the title on him and let Daniel Bryan chase him until WrestleMania.

As mentioned above, Brock Lesnar retaining the Universal Championship at WrestleMania was a major break in WWE’s longterm planning. Lesnar could be on his way out and they decided against pulling the trigger on Reigns at Mania. It doesn’t make a ton of sense to pull that trigger just weeks later on a smaller stage. Strowman has more than proven himself as a polished performer in and out of the ring. The Reigns experiment flopped – it’s time for something new.

What do you think about our ideas for the Superstar Shake-Up? Comment and let us know who you want to see change brands. 

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has launched a new podcast: The Jim Ross Report, powered by Westwood One. JR previously hosted the Ross Report at PodcastOne.

The show is new and better than ever as JR debuts new features including the ‘Slobberknocker of the Week’ award, the ‘Pet Coon Goofy’ award, his ‘This Week In Wrestling History’ segment, and the brand new ‘Mailbag’ feature where fans can submit ideas/questions for JR to answer in the show! (TheJimRossReport@gmail.com)

The show also features a guest appearance from Bruce Prichard.

Subscribe now at iTunes and listen below:

Impact Wrestling returns to pay-per-view for Redemption on Sunday, April 22nd from Orlando, FL. This will be the first PPV under the new creative regime of Don Callis and Scott D’Amore. For all the ‘new eras’ and reboots we’ve seen from Impact over the years, the weekly TV show has been noticeably better in recent months and the company is finally getting traction with viewership and positive reviews from wrestling fans and media.

The following is the updated card for Redemption:

Impact Wrestling World Championship Match:
Austin Aries (c) vs Pentagón Jr. vs. Rey Fenix

X Division Championship Match
Matt Sydal (c) vs. Petey Williams

Impact Tag Team Championship Match:
The Latin American Xchange (Santana and Ortiz) (c) vs. Eli Drake and Scott Steiner

Knockouts Championship Match:
Allie (c) vs. “The Undead Bride” Su Yung

House of Hardcore Match:
4 Ohio Versus Everything (Dave Crist, Jake Crist and Sami Callihan) vs. Tommy Dreamer, Moose and Eddie Edwards

Join us here Sunday, April 22nd for our Live Coverage of Impact Wrestling: Redemption.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVRbbh3FKes

Littlstar, the largest global platform dedicated to immersive virtual and augmented reality content, has released a video depicting Augmented Reality (AR) holograms of WWE Champion AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Reddit user Reveller says that Littlstar worked with WWE and Microsoft (using their Hcap volumetric capture technology) to build the AR holograms. Members of the Littlstar team flew to Microsoft’s studio in Redmond, Washington with AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura to create the experience.

The WrestleMania AR holograms were built to promote the launch of Littlstar’s new Android ARCore application and subsequent launch feature with Google in the Play Store. For more information, visit Littlstar.info.

Check out these videos from WrestleMania weekend of the WWE AR holograms in the wild:

What's @WWE's @AJStylesOrg doing on the streets of New York during WrestleMania? Download the Littlstar app for android to find out for yourself! https://t.co/TkuSAOlZ1z#WrestleMania #WrestleMania34 pic.twitter.com/htHP5dn8EJ

— Rad TV (@RadNFTV) April 7, 2018

.@AJStylesOrg & @ShinsukeN are about to go head to head at #wrestlemania!
Who do you think takes it?#wrestlemania34 #WrestleManiaAB pic.twitter.com/hXIPY4LaLq

— Rad TV (@RadNFTV) April 9, 2018

Monday’s post-WrestleMania edition of WWE RAW from New Orleans averaged 3.921 million viewers, a healthy 17% increase from 3.358 million the previous week.

This year’s ‘RAW after Mania’ featured a rowdy crowd, but one that was far less rebellious than previous years. That said, it was an eventful show to say the least. In addition to Ronda Rousey putting Stephanie McMahon in an arm bar once again and the news of the Superstar Shake-Up Returning this week, we got Bobby Lashley’s first WWE television appearance in a decade, the returns of Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy and the main roster call-ups of Ember Moon, the Authors of Pain and No Way Jose.

Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:

• Hour 1: 4,098,000 viewers
• Hour 2: 4,069,000 viewers
• Hour 3: 3,597,000 viewers

Catch up on the WWE’s Top 10 Moments video below and check out our 13 Takeaways from the show.

WWE announced on Monday that WrestleMania 34 propelled the WWE Network to a receord 2.12 million subscribers. This is up 9% from April 3rd, 2017, the day after last year’s WrestleMania event. Of the 2.12 million subscribers, 1.81 million are paid subscriptions (also up 9% from last year).

WrestleMania 34 was the highest grossing event in the history of New Orleans’ SuperDome, taking in $14.1 million in revenue with an announced crowd of 78,133 fans.

“We expect to deliver record subscriber levels, revenue and Adjusted OIBDA in 2018,” said George Barrios, WWE Co-President. “WWE Network’s continued growth along with our massive reach across traditional television as well as digital and social platforms, reaffirms the effectiveness of our global, multi-platform content strategy.”

For more on these numbers, visit Corporate.WWE.com.

Over the weekend, WWE released a video detailing a slew of new programming coming to the WWE Network in 2018, including a King of the Ring UK tournament, the 2nd annual Mae Young Classic women’s tournament and more.

Tonight’s post-WrestleMania edition of Monday Night Raw takes place from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The night after WrestleMania is always a rowdy show with big surprises. It’s sure to be an eventful evening – here’s a look at what WWE.com is advertising for Raw:

– Brock Lesnar defeated Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania to retain the WWE Universal Championship. What’s next for the Universal Championship and where do things stand with Roman Reigns after coming up short on the biggest night of his career?

– Seth Rollins is our new Intercontinental champion after defeating The Miz and Finn Balor at WrestleMania. It was a huge win for Rollins, who will face no shortage of challengers to his title.

– The Nia Jax era begins as the new RAW Women’s Champion.

– What’s next for the RAW tag team championships?

– Raw gets Rowdy with Ronda Rousey following her impressive debut at WrestleMania.

Join us here tonight for our Live Coverage of WWE RAW!

Paul Heyman will walk down to the ring alongside Brock Lesnar for the main event at WrestleMania 34 this weekend but if he has his way, he’d love the opportunity to work with his opponent Roman Reigns as well.

It’s no secret that Reigns has remained one of the biggest superstars on the WWE roster and fans generally feel passionately about him — either he’s beloved or he’s despised and there doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground.

Perhaps one of the biggest shortcomings during Reigns’ WWE career has been his inability to really cut a solid promo, which is a staple for most athletes that transcend from superstar status to icon.

That’s why some have suggested that Reigns teaming up with Heyman would be the best thing for his career as the former ECW owner is typically regarded as the best talker and hype man in professional wrestling today.

If given the chance, Heyman would love to work with Reigns and he believes that the 32-year old veteran performer might already be the biggest commodity on the entire WWE roster if not for his current client who holds the WWE universal championship.

“Three years ago in the buildup to WrestleMania 31 I said straight to Roman Reigns’ face a comment that can be taken as both story line and as reality. Roman Reigns is the right guy, in the right place, at the wrong time,” Heyman told NBC Sports. “In any other time in history, Roman Reigns would be so dominant on top, both in a story line capacity and a box office capacity in WWE. No one would be in his stratosphere. He would absolutely be the Paul Heyman guy for I would be auditioning every single solitary day to define my role as a Roman Reigns guy. We would be sitting here talking about Roman Reigns approaching 1,000 days as the top champion in WWE. There’s no doubt in my mind about this. No one would be in his league.

“But the unfortunate thing for Roman Reigns is that he lives in a time period that is dominated by Brock Lesnar. Brock Lesnar is the only athlete who can go in-between WWE and UFC seamlessly at a top tier, main event level.”

“Working with Roman Reigns would be an absolute career defining moment for me” ~ Paul Heyman

Still given the chance to work together, Heyman believes that he could do great things alongside Reigns while serving as his ‘advocate’ on television.

It’s entirely possible that scenario plays out considering Lesnar is a free agent after WrestleMania 34 and there has been a ton of speculation that he’s considering a return to the UFC rather than signing a new long term deal with WWE.

If Lesnar exits, that could open the door for Heyman to team up with Reigns after WrestleMania 34 is finished.

“Working with Roman Reigns would be an absolute career defining moment for me,” Heyman stated. “I have nothing but the upmost respect and admiration for him as an athlete, a performer, and as a man.”

Would you like to see Paul Heyman team up with Roman Reigns after WrestleMania 34 is finished? Sound off in the comments and let us know!