The Usos captured the Smackdown tag-team championships on Sunday for a record 4th time. They defeated Shane McMahon and the Miz, ending their reign after just 21 days. WWE Hall of Famer, and father of the Usos, Rikishi, took to Instagram to comment on his sons winning the titles yet again.
Rikishi on the Usos Winning The Smackdown Tag Team Titles
Rikishi quotes his son Jonathan Fatu (Jimmy Uso) in the post.
“You go out there day in and day out and you grind and you bust your ass. As soon as you slip one time you got the world against you, you know?” “It’s hard to go out like that with the mindset thinking everyone out there’s against you. Until you go out there and you show them what you’re really made of. “ – Jonathan Fatu
The Usos WWE Contract Situation
Jimmy and Jey Uso are only under contract to WWE until this April. It was noted on Wrestling Observer radio recently that the brothers had not signed new contracts as of one week ago. Things could have changed since then without it being public knowledge, however.
The Usos are 6x WWE tag-team champions, twice before the brand-split, and then 4x over as the Smackdown tag-team champions. They were awarded the Slammy for WWE Tag Team of the Year in 2014 and 2015.
Kota Ibushi announced he is staying in NJPW to the live crowd at the New Beginning in Osaka on February 11th. He recently was interviewed for ShuPro and stated he only wants to work for New Japan and he’d like to be on every card if possible.
NJPW commentator, Chris Charlton, provided some translations of the article.
Ibushi interviewed in tomorrow’s ShuPro. ‘I want to wrestle exclusively for New Japan’ ‘if I can, I want to be on every card, every tour’ https://t.co/sda7hmkqe1
Kenny Omega Comments On Kota Ibushi And All Elite Wrestling
There had been some concern amongst NJPW fans and hope amongst AEW fans that Ibushi would sign with the new promotion. Kenny Omega expressed his hope Ibushi will at some point end up in AEW during an interview with Wrestling Observer Radio.
“Absolutely, by all means, we would love to use Kota,” Omega said. “I wish he was here all the time, he would be the perfect roommate, if he liked America. I’m probably going to relocate to America, as well. He actually has a wrestling school now, yeah, he’s got a wrestling school in Japan. We’re going to be supportive of that, he has a couple commitments of that as of now. But again, door is wide open.”
Omega would continue to say, however, that Ibushi likely won’t be at Double or Nothing. He is hopeful Ibushi will end up in the promotion at some point, however.
“Without even saying anything, I would expect to see him here in the future,” Omega said. “Not for Double or Nothing, or anything, but—I’ll say near future.”
Rusev & Lana have launched a new YouTube channel together, not long after having been removed from the cast of Total Divas. The channel was actually created in 2012 to serve as a home for Lana’s acting reels. The couple has since re-branded and released new videos on the channel in the last couple of days, however.
“Technically, I’ve had this page since, like, 1992 (actually 2012),” Lana said. “So, I’ve had this page awhile just never used it so you’re going to see maybe some videos on there that maybe have been a long time ago. This is the official launch of Miroslav and CJ Barnyashev’s YouTube together.”
Lana would go on to say the couple plan to have “a lot of different series” on the page. She then seemed concerned Rusev didn’t seem interested enough.
Rusev claims to have a Superhero series he plans to debut on YouTube. He said HBO is interested and YouTube might not be ready for his superhero just yet, however.
Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev have recently been aligned on Smackdown. 2 weeks ago, they teamed up and defeated Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows. Earlier this year, Rusev lost the US title to R-Truth on the Royal Rumble Kickoff show, a title he had just taken from Nakamura.
Lana hasn’t wrestled on television yet in 2019. She was on the WWE live events tour in January, however, teaming with Naomi in matches against Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose.
Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Chyna, Road Dogg, Billy Gunn and X-Pac will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. All 6 will be inducted as members of the legendary DX faction. Two versions will be celebrated, the original and the “DX Army” version.
ESPN broke the story earlier today.
“I think it’s the most meaningful for us all to go in together and to be recognized together,” Tripe H told ESPN. “Because I think both groups were [just] as impactful.”
Triple H would continue to tell ESPN about how the faction formed.
“It’s a funny thing, because DX was something that, before Kevin [Nash] and Scott [Hall] left, at the time we all talked about using ‘The Kliq’ as it was — kind of morphing that into television, since it was so out there anyways,” said Levesque. “But things worked out the way they did — they left, and the timing was right.”
He mentioned Chyna’s involvement in the faction to ESPN as well.
“Shawn and I still wanted to do it. Vince saw the value in it, I guess, and finally let us go at it,” Levesque continued. “By that point in time I was looking for a heater, and we had brought Chyna.”
Triple H Says Chyna Deserves To Be In The WWE Hall of Fame
Triple H also stated his belief Chyna deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and addressed previous statements he made on the matter.
“Look, people believe what they want to believe. When I said a few years ago on the Austin podcast, or show, or whatever you want to call it, there’s complexities around it,” said Triple H. “But absolutely, definitely deserves to be in there. It’d be tough to pick a female that was more impactful on the business. She did something that was completely so out of left field that it wasn’t even being considered when we first brought it up for her to come in. It wasn’t even a consideration… it wasn’t an easy thing, and against all odds she did all of that.”
He even continued to say Chyna likely should go into the Hall of Fame as an individual as well.
“From that standpoint, absolutely 100 percent deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, and should probably be more than once — as a group, but individually as well,” Levesque continued. “There’s more complexity to that than meets the eye, but here we are. I’m just happy that it’s here. I’m happy for her family, the people that she was close to, that hopefully this is super meaningful to them. I know it would be to her. It’s a great thing — very deserving.”
Paige recently made some comments about WWE’s treatment of their female divisions which could stir some controversy. While promoting “Fighting With My Family” Paige told a media outlet that when she hit the WWE main roster in 2014, it wasn’t WWE who was holding the women back, it was the fans.
“It was never WWE holding the women back,” Paige told Gulf News. “It was the fans not taking them seriously. They wanted to see more of the male characters many years ago. It was a male-dominated sport.”
Paige won the WWE Divas Championship from AJ Lee on her first night on RAW the night after WrestleMania 30. She continued to say WWE really believed in the women on the main roster at the time, even if there weren’t many of them.
“When I first started, there were only five women there,” Paige continued. “It was a struggle but WWE just believed in us. When I got into the ring, I wanted to prove to the fans that girls were capable of having good matches and sometimes, even better. That was kind of my mission from the get go. Now there’s obviously a revolution.”
As for what the future holds now for Paige, she had the following to say:
“My future target is to obviously keep working in WWE on screen or behind the scenes. In future, I would like to start going into movies, acting, just be the next Dwayne in that aspect.”
Ronda Rousey wore Sonya Blade-inspired gear last night for her match with Ruby Riott. Rousey will be providing the voice of the Mortal Kombat character in the upcoming version of the game. She also met with Power Ranger, Jason David Frank, backstage at the show.
The Power Ranger took to social media to share his experience with the RAW Women’s Champion.
“It was very nice to talk to you,” Frank wrote. “I’m so glad to hear you’re a fan.. I am yours as well…Thanks for rocking the White Ranger at the Royal Rumble!! You said I inspired you to kick butt? You inspire the world, You are a real super hero!!”
“It’s a dream come true to be a part of the Mortal Kombat franchise that I grew up playing,” Rousey told media shortly after it was unveiled she would be part of the game. The game is set to be released on all major gaming consoles on April 23, 2019.
Eddie Edwards is staying with Impact Wrestling. The former World Champ on the promotion has recently signed a new long-term deal with the company. The exact length of the contract has not been revealed, however.
The 35-year-old has been with the company since 2014.
On this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling, Edwards was the final man left for Team Impact against Team AAA. He was eliminated after Eli Drake hit Edwards with a kendo stick, however, allowing Psycho Clown to roll him up for the win.
Drake and Edwards are scheduled to face each other next week on the show.
Edwards has won world titles with 3 different promotions. He’s a former ROH World Champion, GHG Heavyweight Champion for Pro Wrestling NOAH, and a former Impact World Champ. He defeated Bobby Lashley for the title in 2016 and held it to the following January. Edwards lost the title back to Lashley in a 30-minute Ironman match at Genesis 2017.
Edwards defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima for the GHG Heavyweight title in the summer of 2017. He would drop the title to Kenoh that December.
Edwards’ ROH World title run began when he defeated Roderick Strong for the belt in 2011, becoming the promotion’s first triple-crown winner in the process. He dropped the title to Davey Richards 3 months later at Best in the World 2011.
Impact Wrestling presented “UnCaged” a special taped show from Mexico City, Mexico. The Knockouts and Impact World Championship were on the line last night. Team AAA would also face Team Impact in a 4-on-4 elimination tag match.
Here are 7 Takeaways from Impact Wrestling 2/15:
Johnny Impact Retained The Impact World Championship
Johnny Impact escaped from Mexico still the Impact World Championship. Much like when he left Nashville with the title, however, he still has Brian Cage gunning for him.
This match was changed from a one-on-one match between Impact and Cage after Moose & Killer Kross defeated them both in a tag match recently. The finish of the match came when Cage hit Kross with Drill Claw and Impact hit Starship Pain on Moose. Impact was able to pin Moose quicker than Cage could do the same to Killer Kross, so Johnny retains.
Between how things ended at Homecoming in Nashville and UnCaged in Mexico City, Brian Cage likely still feels entitled to a one-on-one rematch with the champ.
Taya Valkyrie Retained Her Championship Against Tessa Blanchard In A Mexico City Street Fight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcsazvgXu5Y
Taya Valkyrie successfully defended her Knockouts Championship against Tessa Blanchard in a street fight this week. The gives Taya a 3-1 lead in the series between the two, albeit one victory came via DQ and her second was largely due to Gail Kim.
This week, Valkyrie picked up the victory with a double foot-stomp through the table after a 20-minute fight to start this week’s show.
As for Blanchard, she’s lost 3 straight to Valkyrie. She might need to string together a few wins before getting another shot at the title.
Tessa Blanchard Pays Homage To 4 Horsemen/ Taya Valkyrie To Perros Del Mal
Tessa Blanchard paid homage to Tully Blanchard in her street fight with Taya Valkyrie this week. Blanchard wore her father’s old 4 Horsemen shirt from back in the day. She also flashed the four-finger hand-signal to the camera. It was her first match back from suspension as well.
In similar fashion, Valkyrie wore a “Perros Del Mal” t-shirt, the faction she had previously been aligned with while in AAA. Blanchard would disrespect the shirt later in the match by spitting on it.
Team AAA Wins The World Cup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXMz1lN7WO0
The luchadors of AAA picked up the victory over Team Impact last night. The hometown favorites won largely because Team Impact imploded. Eddie Edwards caused Eli Drake to get eliminated early and then Drake came back to cause Edwards’ elimination to end the match as well.
With Edwards and Psycho Clown as the final two left in the match, Eli Drake returned to the ring area and clocked Edwards with a kendo stick. Psycho Clown rolled up Edwards and got the win for his team.
It was later announced that Edwards will face Drake next week from Las Vegas.
Rich Swann Turned Down His Last Chance To Join OVE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDcqqTQvUjo
It was slipped in without much fanfare but Josh Mathews revealed more about why Callihan wants Swann to join OVE. He said that Swann told him that Callihan wants him in OVE because he has a good credit score and can help rent cars for the faction.
Regardless of the reasons why, Callihan gave Swann his “last chance” to join OVE this week. Swann opted to throw the shirt back in Callihan’s face, kickstarting a fight between the two. The X-Division champ initially got the upper-hand in the skirmish but a thumb to the eyes would reverse the momentum. Callihan then gave Swann a piledriver on the stage area before throwing him off the stage and through a table.
LAX Vs Lucha Bros Rematch – Win, Lose, Or Draw It’s Over
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvbBParC1_8
LAX was shown with Konnan in a backstage segment this week. He told Santana & Ortiz he would go get a rematch for the titles but win, lose, or draw, the next match ends the rivalry between the two teams.
Willie Mack Defeated “All Ego” Ethan Page
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc8MujYyc5I
Ethan Page has lost his mentor. Matt Sydal’s contract with the company ran up and now Page has been left alone to fend for himself in the X-Division. He was in tough this week against the NWA’s National Champion, Willie Mack. Ultimately, Mack would hit the Stunner for the win.
Quick Results:
Knockouts Championship Street Fight
Taya Valkyrie (c) defeated Tessa Blanchard
Willie Mack defeated Ethan Page
2019 World Cup
Team AAA defeated Team Impact
Puma King eliminated Eli Drake
Fallah Bah eliminated Vikingo
Aerostar eliminated Fallah Bah
Eddie Edwards eliminated Aerostar
Sami Callihan defeated Puma King
Psycho Clown defeated Sami Callihan
Psycho Clown defeated Eddie Edwards
Impact World Championship Fatal 4-Way
Johnny Impact (c) defeated Moose vs Killer Kross vs Brian Cage
PJ Black officially signed with Ring of Honor two weeks ago. The 38-year-old from South Africa recently spoke to journalist Chris Van Vliet about his recent free agency period, Lucha Underground, and his idea for Vince McMahon to play Adam Rose’s bunny.
“Right before Ring of Honor, I actually got an offer from NXT,” Black said. “They wanted me to go back there. There were a couple of other offers too, from TNA and stuff, and I chose Ring of Honor because they give me freedom and it’s a great deal financially. It’s only for 12 months too. After that, it becomes like a 30-day notice deal. I have a feeling it’s gonna be like two or three years, but let’s see what happens. Also, merchandise royalties on that — it’s unheard of.”
Black spoke positively about his time with Lucha Underground but also expressed he had to work to get out of his contract.
“Who knows, man? It was such a great ride,” he continued. “I’m very sad about that. I personally feel like it’s not going to come back. That’s why I had to fight to get out of my contract — and it was a lot of fighting. I know a lot of the guys are trying to get out of their contracts right now. I guess I was lucky with that.”
Black continued to say that if Lucha Underground does return for a 5th season he can go back to tie up loose ends with his character.
“I did have them put in my Ring Of Honor contract that if (Lucha Underground) does come back, I’ll go back for a couple episodes and tie up some storyline ends,” he said.
Black would continue to say that working for NJPW has been a goal of his even before working for WWE was.
Black also mentioned he pitched the idea for Vince McMahon to be revealed as Adam Rose’s bunny.
“The bunny becomes really grizzled. He becomes like a hardcore champ, kind of like in the Attitude Era. There’s shots of him backstage smoking a cigar, dried blood on his fur and just dirt. He keeps losing matches, but he’s always there doing crazy stuff,” Black continued. “They take the mascot head off, and it’s Vince. I said to Vince — if it was anybody else in the world, everyone would be like ‘aw, yeah, that’s cool…’ But if it was him, how could would that have been?”
Ruby Riott will take on Ronda Rousey for a chance to win the RAW Women’s Championship Sunday at Elimination Chamber. She recently expressed on Twitter that Rousey is looking past their upcoming match.
Who cares about what’s best for business or what these people want?! You’re so focused on giving the #WomensEvolution what they deserve, that you’re not even looking at #EliminationChamber. So I’ll gladly take your title & main event #Wrestlemania whether they like it or not. https://t.co/aLZSBJWtey
Charlotte Flair chimed in with a Tweet as well. “I’ve been saying ‘Flair/Rousey’, but let me make something VERY clear,” Flair said. “Ruby Riott is as tough as they come, and that squad of hers will do ANYTHING to get gold around her waist. If Ronda is focused on Mania, Ruby is going to leave Elimination Chamber with that title.”
Riott and Rousey have met once in single’s action before. Rousey defeated Riott on the October 1st RAW. Rousey teamed with the Bellas twice to defeat the Riott Squad as well.
Riott then followed up Rousey’s response with the following:
Jimmy Uso was arrested recently in Detroit for disorderly conduct and obstruction. According to a report from TMZ, WWE Superstar and Jimmy’s wife, Naomi, was driving the wrong way on a one-way street and was pulled over in Detroit when an altercation with police ensued.
Police said the car “reeked of booze” so they asked Naomi out of the car. Jimmy allegedly got out of the vehicle as well after being asked to stay inside by police. He is then said to have taken off his jacket and shirt before “squaring up” as if he wanted to fight the officer.
The officer then took out his taser and Jimmy is said to have begun complying with their commands.
Jimmy was handcuffed, taken to jail, and would later post bond. The Usos are scheduled to take on the Miz and Shane McMahon for the Smackdown tag-team championships Sunday at Elimination Chamber.
WWE issued a brief statement regarding Jimmy Uso’s arrest, “Jonathan Fatu is responsible for his own personal actions.”
Jimmy & Jey Uso
Both Jimmy & Jey Uso have picked up DUIs in the past. Jimmy Uso has been charged with DUIs in 2011 and again in 2013. He was not said to be driving in the case of his latest arrest, however.
Jey Uso was charged with DWI in Texas following a WWE live event in January last year as well.
In 2005, Christian left WWE and signed with TNA. According to the former World and NWA Champion, he was betting on himself. In recent weeks, several WWE Superstars have reportedly asked the company for their release. Christian offered some advice to those considering making a jump while promoting his new show on the History Network, Knight Fight.
“What I needed to do was I needed to take a chance on myself,” Christian said to Talk Sport regarding his 2005 departure from WWE. “I needed to bet on myself. And if you’re willing to bet on yourself then sometimes it works out and if you believe in yourself and your abilities that will be the case.”
“I did go to TNA when I left WWE briefly in 2005 for three years,” Christian said. “When I went there, it was solely to prove to myself, even if it was on a smaller platform that I could carry main event matches, programmes and promos and be the face of a show.”
Cody offered similar reasons for leaving WWE when he did so in 2016. He wrote the following shortly after leaving WWE:
“My goal in pro-wrestling has always been to win the WWE Championship (the one accolade in the game my Father never obtained), and for a decade I tried to convince both Vince and HHH that I could be their star-player, their varsity quarterback if you will, but it seems we have reached the point where neither saw that in me.”
Christian continued to talk about how his time away from WWE from 2005-07 helped him regain his confidence that he could be a main event guy.
“I needed to do that. I needed to gain that confidence and go back and be able to do it,” he continued. “It happens for different people at different times, you just have to be confident in your ability.”
Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder won the RAW tag-team championships on Monday by defeating Chad Gable & Bobby Roode. It was the team’s 4th attempt at winning the titles on WWE programming in recent weeks.
Since winning the titles, the Revival has taken to social media to lobby for the return of a classic-looking tag-team title belt design.
Last summer, the man responsible for designing the current WWE tag titles for RAW and Smackdown, Dave Millican, appeared on the Pancakes and PowerSlams podcast and spoke about the titles. According to Millican, he pleaded with WWE to not have to make the titles copper.
“The tag team titles, I begged them, please let me make them nickel,” said Millican. “Let me make them gold, let me make them silver and gold. Just don’t make me do copper and it just came down from the top that copper is what they wanted.”
“In particular, Stephanie McMahon really just wanted to do something different,” he continued. “They want to kind of reinvent the wheel every time, and something that is not used somewhere else, which is understandable. And so, when they bottom-lined it for me and said, ‘look, it’s gonna be copper,’ I was like okay, I can do copper.”
Here is Millican posting a pic of classic tag-team titles on Twitter:
On March 15th, 2019 ROH will hold its 17th Anniversary show at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas. The promotion has just booked Rush vs Bandido for the show. It will be the first time the two luchadors have ever faced each other.
Challenge made and accepted! @rushtoroblanco faces off with @LuchadorBandido at #ROH17!
Rush and Bandido are both recent signings with Ring of Honor. Bandido signed with the promotion in December after reportedly being courted by both WWE & AEW.
There has also been speculation that Rush was warned against signing with WWE by Andrade. Rush signed with ROH last month. This was addressed by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently.
“In the case of Rush, he’s very close with Andrade, who pretty much warned him and Dragon Lee about going to WWE,” wrote Dave Meltzer. “Andrade’s advice was that WWE wasn’t what it was cracked up to being.”
ROH 17th Anniversary PPV – March 15th – Sam’s Town Live – Las Vegas
Only two other matches have been confirmed for the show thus far. Jay Lethal will look to defend his ROH World Championship against the leader of the Kingdom, Matt Taven. Taven has been claiming to be the real ROH champion in recent months. Lethal will also defend his title on night 2 of Honor Rising against TK O’Ryan later this month.
PCO & Brody King will also challenge for the ROH tag-team titles on the PPV. They won Tag Wars 2019 to earn a shot against the Briscoes.
Sasha Banks has been cleared to compete Sunday at the Elimination Chamber. Banks’ status for the PPV had been in question due to a shoulder injury. She has seen limited in-ring action since the Royal Rumble.
WWE officially confirmed the news just recently on Twitter:
INJURY UPDATE: After undergoing additional rehab on her injured shoulder, @SashaBanksWWE has been CLEARED to compete in the @WWE#WomensTagTitles Elimination Chamber Match this Sunday at #WWEChamber. https://t.co/quXx2Z5vMZ
“After undergoing additional rehabilitation on her injured shoulder, Sasha Banks has been cleared to compete in the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match this Sunday,” a WWE Press Release reads.
Banks was taken out of her last two matches on RAW early due to injury, leaving Bayley to fend for herself. This was evidently due to Banks only being cleared for limited contact.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted Banks has been cleared since Tuesday. WWE only made the news official in storyline today, however.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match
Banks will compete in the Elimination Chamber tag-team match on Sunday. Her team with Bayley will face Nia Jax & Tamina, the Riott Squad, the Iiconics, Naomi & Carmella, and Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville.
Two matches on WWE programming this week revolved around this match. On RAW, Nia Jax & Tamina won a triple threat match which saw Bayley pinned. The loss for the Boss N Hug Connection means they will enter the chamber first. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville then lost a similar match on Smackdown and will also start the match.
“Switchblade” Jay White won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on Monday in Osaka. He defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, the Ace of New Japan who had just won the title for the 8th time at Wrestle Kingdom.
Some fans have been critical of the 26-year-old’s fast-rise in the promotion. White recently spoke to NJPW1972.com about fan reaction to his victory.
“Everyone’s their own opinions about me winning this bout, whether that’s you, other wrestlers, NJPW executives, the fans…” White said. “The fans love to share their thoughts and opinions about us as wrestlers as if we were looking to be judged by them. I’m not looking to be judged by anyone, I don’t care about your opinions. The fans talk as if I owe them something.”
White would continue to say the reason he has been so successful in the company is that he does not pander to fans.
“That’s the main difference between me and almost everyone else in New Japan is that I’m smart enough to not pander to the fans,” he continued. “It’s the other way round. You owe me, I’m the one putting his body on the line. You will sit there and watch.”
The new champion continued to give his opinion on why some fans have reacted harshly to his push.
“I’m not jumping around doing death-defying moves,” White continued. “I’m smart, I’m the smartest. That’s why this belt is with me today. I’m going to walk into MSG champion and I’m going to walk out of MSG champion. I’m the champion Pro-Wrestling needs and despite each and every fan out there.”
White also brought up during the interview comments he made 13 months prior to winning the title.
“If you remember last year, January 6th last year when I joined Chaos,” White recalled. “I put my necklace over this belt and everyone, especially Okada laughed at me. Just over a year later, this is real now [points at belt with necklace over it], this is Switchblade’s belt. Hearing that is so sweet – too sweet!”
Ruby Riott is upset many are looking past her match with Ronda Rousey at the Elimination Chamber PPV this weekend. Much of the focus of WWE programming as of late has revolved around who Rousey will defend the title against at Mania, all but assuming she’ll get by Riott on Sunday.
Ruby Riott took to Twitter to voice her concerns recently.
My title match was announced via tweet. The matches announced for Wrestlemania don’t even have me as a possible contender. I’ve been underrated & disregarded. But after I beat @RondaRousey this Sunday, I won’t be overlooked again. And @MsCharlotteWWE I’ll see you at Wrestlemania
The match between Rousey and Riott was made last week following Rousey defeating the other two members of Riott Squad RAW. Ruby was the only member of the team not to get in the ring with Rousey that night.
Rousey and Riott have met in single’s action once before, however. Rousey defeated Riott on the October 1st, 2018 show. They’ve also faced each other several times in tag-team action. The Bella Twins teamed with Rousey to defeat the Riott squad twice. The first time was at Super Show-Down in Australia and the second was two nights later on RAW.
In a dark match from this week’s RAW, Rousey again defeated the Riott Squad in tag action. Rousey teamed with Ember Moon, Natalya, and the Boss N Hug Connection to defeat the Riott Squad, Nia Jax, & Tamina.
WWE Champion Daniel Bryan is sticking around longterm.
On this week’s episode of the E! Network reality series Total Bellas, Bryan and wife Brie were talking about his future. Brie was encouraging Bryan to take advantage of social media more often, which can be used to develop his brand and lead to new business opportunities. Bryan said he’s not interested in being a businessman and revealed that he had recently signed a new 3-year guaranteed contract with WWE.
The episode was filmed around September of last year, which would keep Bryan with the world’s premiere sports entertainment company through around September 2021.
Daniel Bryan WWE Status
Daniel Bryan won the WWE Championship back on the November 13th, 2018 episode of Smackdown. He turned heel the same night by kicking AJ Styles low and winning the title by less than sportsmanlike means. The win would also mean Bryan would face Brock Lesnar at last year’s Survivor Series World Champion vs World Champion match, which Lesnar won.
Since then, Bryan has introduced a new environmentally-sustainable hemp WWE Championship belt. That title will be on the line this Sunday at WWE Elimination Chamber.
Ronda Rousey believes the Women’s Evolution was robbed. The alleged offense took place last night when Vince McMahon replaced Becky Lynch with Charlotte Flair in the WrestleMania 35 main event.
Rousey issued a response to the decision recently. The reigning RAW Women’s Championship made her feelings known on Instagram.
Becky Lynch also took to social media in reaction to Vince McMahon’s announcement. Lynch referred to the match announcement as “complete and utter bulls**t”.
“Take your apology, and shove it up your arse.” – Becky Lynch, RAW 2/11/19
7x WWE Women’s Champion, Charlotte Flair, also reacted to news she’ll be wrestling Ronda Rousey at Mania. She took to Twitter to fend off some who are critical of her replacing Becky Lynch in the Mania main event.
“Wow, I didn’t realize that so many of you didn’t want me in the match. Taking that into account, I’ll be asking management to remove me effectively immediately,” Flair Tweeted. “J/K I could not possibly care less what you think.”
I’m sure you would. That would make you feel right at home.
Jay Lethal will look to defend his ROH World Championship on March 15th from Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas against Matt Taven. The show takes place just 3 weeks before Ring of Honor and NJPW present the G1 Supercard From Madison Square Garden on April 6th.
Matt Taven had been claiming himself to be the real ROH Champion for some time with Lethal recently reacting to the insult on ROH TV. The match will air on FITE and Honor Club for subscribers.
Also scheduled for the upcoming PPV will be PCO & Brody King challenging the Briscoes for the ROH tag team titles. The Villain Enterprises team earned the title match by winning Tag Wars 2019 on a recent ROH 3-night tour of Texas.
Lethal recently passed Samoa Joe’s previous record of 645 days spent as ROH World Champion. Joe’s days spent as champion occurred throughout one long title run from 2003-04.
Lethal is also one title defense away from breaking the record of 38. He’ll get that chance at Honor Rising night 2 in Korakuen Hall against TK O’Ryan from the Kingdom.
Honor Rising Lineups:
Here are the lineups for ROH’s upcoming shows in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
February 22 Event
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada & Jay Lethal vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan)
ROH Television Champion Jeff Cobb defending against Hirooki Goto
NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against Dalton Castle
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Togi Makabe, Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi defending against Cheeseburger, Delirious & Colt Cabana
Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare vs. Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Jushin Thunder Liger & Jonathan Gresham vs. Taiji Ishimori & Robbie Eagles
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shota Umino
Marty Scurll vs. Ren Narita
February 23 Event
ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defending against Juice Robinson & David Finlay
IWGP Tag Team Champions EVIL & SANADA defending against Guerrillas of Destiny
ROH World Champion Jay Lethal defending against TK O’Ryan
Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Vinny Marseglia)
Hirooki Goto & Will Ospreay vs. Jeff Cobb & Dalton Castle
Marty Scurll vs. Robbie Eagles
Jonathan Gresham & Toa Henare vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taka Michinoku
One of the greatest champions in WWE history has passed away. WWE Hall of Famer Pedro Morales died today at the age of 76. Although the cause of his death has not yet been revealed, he had been suffering from Parkinson’s Disease for many years.
Morales was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 1995. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer class of 2017. During his career, Morales was idolized worldwide but particularly by his fellow Puerto Ricans. He holds the distinction of being WWE’s first-ever wrestler to win world, intercontinental, and tag-team gold.
Pedro Morales as WWE Intercontinental Champion
Morales has spent more days as WWE Intercontinental Champion than anyone else in history. His 619 days spent with the title is just 20 days ahead of Smackdown’s the Miz. He won the IC title for the first time on a December 8th, 1980 house show from Ken Patera. Morales would hold the title until losing it to Don Muraco that June. He would then win it back from Muraco that November and hold it for 425 days before dropping it back to Muraco again.
Pedro Morales as WWWF Champion
Morales spent 1,025 days as WWE champion in the early 1970s. He defeated Ivan Koloff for the belt in 1971 and then held it until dropping it to Stan Stasiak in 1973. It was his only run with the title.
Morales also held the WWE tag-team championships with Bob Backlund in 1980.
MLW Fusion is moving to Saturday nights. Major League Wrestling recently presented a live show on Saturday, February 2nd from the 2300 Arena and are now making the move to Saturdays permanent.
BeIN Sports’ and MLW’s desire for more live specials played a role in the move.
“With the majority of our cards on Saturday nights and beIN interested in doing more live broadcasts in 2019, it made sense to move the show to Saturdays,” said MLW CEO Court Bauer. “Saturday night wrestling has a history dating back decades. It’s an honor to bring that tradition back starting this Saturday night on beIN.”
The show will begin airing at 9 PM est.
MLW Fusion’s Spanish broadcast will move to Monday nights on BeIN SPORTS en Espanol.
WWE Smackdown Live! is currently scheduled to debut on Fox’s Friday night schedule beginning October 4th. It is not clear if they will remain in the Friday night slot long-term, however.
MLW Fusion Live
MLW presented its second live show from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on February 2nd, 2019. The Hart Foundation continued its dominance of the promotion that night, winning the MLW tag titles. They defeated the Lucha Bros in the show’s opener. Tom Lawlor then won the MLW World Championship from Low-Ki in the night’s main event.
“Starting this Saturday February 16th, MLW will move to Saturdays on beIN SPORTS and to Monday nights on the Spanish network, beIN SPORTS en Espanol,” states an MLW Press Release.
Former WWE roster member, Eva Marie, was recently eliminated from the TV reality show, Celebrity Big Brother. She also recently took part in an interview with TV Insider. During the course of the interview, Eva Marie mentioned she has spoken with WWE regarding a potential return.
Eva Marie noted she was not asked to come back as part of the Royal Rumble, however.
“There has been emails and talk and exchanges back and forth,” she continued. “But no, I was not approached about being a part of the Royal Rumble. I can tell you that. Other things, there has definitely been talks for sure.”
She continued to talk about what she would bring to the women’s divisions if she came back.
“I absolutely love wrestling,” Eva Marie said. “You never know. It’s one of those things where things have totally taken off for the women of WWE. They are killing it right now. I think it’s so amazing. Of course, if the opportunity arises and the timing is how it’s supposed to be, I definitely would come back to shake things up because I can always bring the heat. That’s for sure.”
Marty Scurll will challenge Nick Aldis for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the Crockett Cup on April 27. The co-promoted event will be held in the Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina in association with the NWA and Ring of Honor.
The format for the 2019 version of the tournament is currently unknown. Two teams have been officially confirmed for the event thus far. The War Kings (Crimson and Jax Dane) qualified for the tournament at NWA New Year’s Dash, their pop-up event held on January 5th.
PCO & Brody King became the 2nd team to qualify for the tournament by winning ROH’s Tag Wars 2019. The 3-night tournament took place during a recent ROH tour of Texas.
Both NJPW and CMLL have committed to entering teams in the tournament this year as well.
Scurll vs Aldis is the only other match officially confirmed for the event.
NWA New Year’s Clash Results
The last event promoted by the NWA was their pop-up event in Clarksville, TN on January 5th, 2019 from Wilma Rudolph Event Center. Attendance for the show was listed at just under 1,149.
Maxx Stardom (w/ Salina de la Renta) defeated Jeremiah Plunkett
The War Kings defeated Caleb Konley & Jay Bradley
Crazzy Steve defeated Sam Shaw
NWA Women’s Championship
Allie defeated Jazz via DQ
Hair vs Hair
David Arquette & Tim Storm defeated Jocephus & his Spiritual Advisor
NWA National Championship
Willie Mack (c) defeated Matt Cross
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
Nick Aldis (c) defeated James Storm
Hardcore wrestling legend Sabu will release an autobiography next month. Sabu: Scars, Silence, & Superglue will be officially released in March, though an exact date has yet to be declared.
Sabu: Scars, Silence, & Superglue
Taz and RVD each wrote forewards for the book.
“I have said it before and will say it again, there would be no “TAZ” without Sabu. I have nothing but the utmost respect for him; both for his great legacy as a wrestler and the respect he deserves as the man he is.” – Taz
“Sabu’s autobiography reads like fiction because his story seems so unbelievable, but every word is true! Nephew of the legendary Sheik, a funny intelligent guy who gave more to the business than most ever will, and a man who has both more balls and athleticism than anyone I’ve ever met.” – Raven
Guest passages in the book include a who’s who of ECW legends and wrestling personalities including Bill Alfonso, Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Al Snow, Mikey Whipwreck, Mike Johnson, Justin Credible, Blue Meanie, Don Vega, Mike Johnson, and Kevin Sullivan.
The 54-year-old was recently announced as being in the main event of Impact Wrestling’s United We Stand show on April 4th. He’ll team with Rob Van Dam to take on the Lucha Bros in what’s being billed as an extreme dream match.
Sabu was elected to the 2300 Arena’s “Hardcore Hall of Fame” in 2009.