As seen on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW, Bray Wyatt lost his Ultimate Deletion match against “Woken” Matt Hardy at the Hardy Family Compound. Wyatt was thrown into the Lake Of Reincarnation and his body was not able to be found by Senor Benjamin. Many speculated that this could lead to a character change for Wyatt after the match. Some went as far as to speculate that Husky Harris could return, or Wyatt could come back as Sister Abigail.
Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer recently confirmed that there is, in fact, talk about making changes to Bray Wyatt’s character. There is currently no word on what that change may be, however, some feel that it’s long overdue as they believe Wyatt’s current character ran its course long ago. When Wyatt does return it’s very possible he continues his rivalry with Matt Hardy.
Matt claimed on Twitter that Wyatt won’t be seen for years to come and Vanguard 1’s Twitter account said there is still no sign of the “DELETED” Bray Wyatt:
It looks like WWE is planning on filming three separate WWE Network documentaries during WrestleMania 34. Wrestling Observer Radio’s Dave Meltzer reports that the first one is likely to be a WWE 24 episode on WrestleMania 34 itself. This will likely be made up of backstage footage, as is per usual for similar documentaries WWE has already produced. The second documentary will document The Undertaker’s comeback to “The Show Of Shows” for his match with John Cena.
Although the match has yet to be announced on WWE TV, it’s still expected “The Deadman” will be returning this year to challenge “The Leader Of The Cenation.” Taker was featured in the WrestleMania 33 documentary last year and it showed some out-of-character comments from him about returning to the ring and mentioning that he doesn’t want to be a shell of his former self. It’s possible the documentary focused on The Undertaker could feature a lot more of the same, and include some workout footage from the Texan’s training as well.
The third and final documentary being worked on, as some of you may have guessed, is based on Ronda Rousey’s WWE in-ring debut at WrestleMania. Rousey will be teaming up with RAW General Manager Kurt Angle against the team of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a Mixed Tag Team match. It will be extremely interesting to see how Rousey acts backstage before making her highly-anticipated in-ring debut on professional wrestling’s biggest show.
There was also a mention that WWE could be filming a Table For 3 special as well, and that Rousey has been pitched to appear on one of these. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more…
On this past Monday’s episode of RAW, WWE closed out the show with Matt Hardy’s Ultimate Deletion segment against Bray Wyatt from the Hardy Family Compound.
Hardy and Wyatt battled it out all over the compound before “Woken” Matt was able to pick up the pinfall victory. After the bout Hardy tossed Wyatt into the Lake Of Reincarnation, and Senor Benjamin was unable to recover his body.
After the segment was done airing, the professional wrestling world reacted to it rather positively on social media. It saw a ton of positive reviews and it looks like there’s a chance another one could take place down the road. WrestleZone’s Nick Hausman reports that Vince McMahon was concerned about how fans would receive the segment. Not all WWE fans are familiar with the initial ‘Broken Universe’ segments done by Hardy in his time with Impact Wrestling.
Now that the reviews are in from the Ultimate Deletion, however, the experiment is seen as a huge success after holding over three million viewers in RAW’s final hour. It was also the number one trending topic on Twitter for over three hours. Initially there was a struggle to get the segment on TV, but now it seems there’s a very good possibility WWE could do similar angles down the line.
As noted earlier, Matt Hardy actually spoke to TMZ Sports about Vince McMahon’s reaction to Ultimate Deletion, noting that he will DELETE the WWE Chairman if he didn’t appreciate his broken brilliance. Wonderful!
As we’ve noted, WWE Champion AJ Styles was a part of an international media call to promote WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans next month. “The Phenomenal One” is scheduled to defend his WWE Title against 2018 Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura, which is considered by many to be a “dream match.” Styles was asked if he thinks he and Nakamura’s match could go on last and main event the show:
“As far as the main event goes, I can tell you which match is gonna steal the show,” Styles said. “You could either put Shinsuke Nakamura on last, and AJ Styles last, or you could have that [be] the only match people remember, because we’re gonna tear the house down.
“That’s what we do. We have the talent to be able to do that, and that’s what people are expecting. So, whether or not it is the main event, it will be a main event match.”
SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan was recently cleared to return to in-ring competition by the WWE. Styles was asked about a potential match against Bryan, which fans have been itching for ever since news broke that Bryan had been cleared. Styles said he’d love to step into the ring with Bryan and believes they can put on an ‘unbelievable’ match:
“If ever the opportunity for him and I to get in the ring together, I think it would be an unbelievable match,” said Styles. “It’d be fun.”
Styles was then asked about the rumors that he could be moved to Monday Night RAW by way of the WWE Draft. While he admitted it would be fun to be in The Club with Finn Balor, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson; Styles said he has no intentions of losing the WWE Title and can’t imagine WWE sending the WWE Champ to RAW:
“I think it would be cool if we all were in The Club together,” said Styles. “Who knows if that will ever happen, but it would definitely be fun. But, as far as moving to Raw, I don’t plan on losing to Shinsuke Nakamura, and I can’t imagine [WWE] would make the champ go to Raw.”
– On last night’s episode of SmackDown Live, General Manager Daniel Bryan fired both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for their assault on Commissioner Shane McMahon last week. After Bryan fired them Owens and Zayn brutally beat down Bryan as well, causing the former WWE World Heavyweight Champ to be carted out on a stretcher. To sell Bryan firing Owens and Zayn, WWE has removed their profiles from WWE.com
– Speaking of Owens and Zayn, Sami recently took to Twitter to comment on he and Owens beating down Bryan on SmackDown. Zayn sarcastically welcomed Bryan back (referring to Bryan recently being cleared to compete inside the ring again) and said he hopes he can live with his decision to fire the two best wrestlers alive:
Welcome back @WWEDanielBryan. Hope you can live with yourself after firing two of the best wrestlers alive (and two guys you've known for 14 years).
That is, once you're discharged from the hospital.
– NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas recently made an appearance on the Mexican morning show Sale El Sol. The interview is in Spanish but if you’d like to give it a view you can check it out here:
WWE Champion AJ Styles recently participated in an international media call to promote WrestleMania 34 and his dream match against Shinsuke Nakamura at the event. Styles discussed whether or not he believes this match is the biggest of his career, and also talked what it was like working with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. You can check out the highlights here:
You’ve been in 2 WrestleManias so far, but this looks to be the biggest one yet. Do you consider this to be the biggest match of your career, and what have you learnt the most from the past two WrestleMania experiences?
“I do think this is the biggest match of my career. I think this is the match that most people want to see. We’re doing it at WrestleMania, so it doesn’t get much bigger than that. I’ve learned that it’s huge, for one. Thousands of thousands of people are at a show. Just take it all in. Don’t rush to the ring. I don’t do a lot of things right, but my first WrestleMania, I took it all in and I think that’s the one thing, I’m, going to do every time I get the opportunity. It’s just not to rush to the ring, but just to take it all in and enjoy the ride.”
What was it like working a physical style match-up with Brock Lesnar? How do you feel you were able to bring out the best performance of his career in many years?
“I think that it’s something he’s always capable of. It’s all up to him if he wants to do it. I think he and I put on a spectacular match and it was a good opportunity for me to be in the ring with Brock Lesnar. It was an exciting match, one that one kind of expected but at the same time didn’t know what to expect. I think it was a great match and I’m very proud of that match.”
You can read some more form Styles’ participation in the media call by clicking this link here.
Earlier this week RAW commentator Corey Graves took a shot at Taz with a Tweet that he has since deleted, saying:
“Insecurity is a bad color on you @OfficialTAZ, shoulda stuck to orange and black.”
Taz issued out his own response to Graves and claimed to have absolutely no idea what Graves was talking about:
“I have no clue what you are talking about. PS: Tough to be insecure when I’m the happiest I’ve been ever professional for past 3 + years & I always stick to ORANGE & BLACK.”
It remains unclear what Graves’ issue is with Taz, however, it has been speculated that it could be due to Taz’s recent comments on Chris Jericho’s podcast, Talk Is Jericho. Taz said the biggest problem with WWE commentary right now is that there is nobody in the booth with high-level in-ring experience:
“The first thing, if you are a color commentator, not play-by-play, so if you are a former pro wrestler, and I learned this from Vince McMahon; you have to take your ego and what you did because it is not about you, it is a humbling job. I put over more guys as a commentator than as a worker, but you have to take your ego, and put it behind the curtain as Vince McMahon told me. You have to be able to, the key is you have to put your agenda and ego aside and keep it in the Gorilla position,” Taz said in the interview with Jericho. “You can’t bring it to the announce desk.
“I am someone that believes that as a former world champion and as a color commentator. That is not a knock on any current color commentator, but I believe in the guys that have been to the dance, drawn some money and know what it takes to have a title. It is a big deal to have that responsibility, as you know, and it is a big deal. I believe, and I know that it is going to sound negative on those that weren’t world champions; Corey Graves was a former tag team champion in NXT.
“Byron Saxton barely worked, so that to me jumps out. I believe in that. You can’t tell me as a fan, if I have never been a wrestler, you can’t tell me what it is like to be a world champion if you have never done it; I’m sorry,” Taz continued. “I hope for the best of those guys, and no disrespect to those guys. I met Corey Graves, and he seems like a great guy, but that is my opinion. You need some legitimate sea legs under you as a professional wrestler, I really believe that. I think putting your ego and checking it, and having the chops to talk obviously.”
You can listen to Taz’s full interview on Talk Is Jericho by clicking this link here.
– Last night in the semi-finals of the Mixed Match Challenge, Team Little Big (Braun Strowman and RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss) were defeated by The Miz and Asuka. During the match there was a moment in which Strowman caught Bliss after she was bumped off the apron. For a second it looked like they were about to kiss before they realized they were still in a match and Bliss needed to get back in the ring before getting counted out.
In a post-match interview with Strowman and Bliss they were asked about the kiss that almost happened. Strowman said he hopes it can actually happen now, and just as they try one more time, a fan comes in and asks Bliss for her autograph. “The Monster Among Men” gets frustrated and bolts off:
– On last night’s episode of SmackDown Live, the first episode after General Manager Daniel Bryan was cleared for an in-ring return, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn attacked Bryan after firing them for attacking Shane McMahon on last week’s episode of SmackDown. McMahon broke his silence on the matter via Twitter:
On a night that should have been one of @WWEDanielBryan's finest…Sami & KO proved they are vile, spineless cowards. Neither of them belong in @WWE and #SDLive…I just hope this didn’t set back Daniel’s in-ring return even further.
– WWE.com has officially added Trent Seven to the NXT roster page after he has made several appearances on the program over the past year. Seven participated in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament.
After his first marriage dissolved back in 2012, longtime WWE Superstar John Cena didn’t know if he ever wanted to get married again. Cena then began dating fellow Superstar Nikki Bella for several years before changing his mind on the matter and proposing to her live in the middle of the ring at WrestleMania 33 last year. The pair are currently engaged and have yet to officially tie the knot due to both their hectic schedules.
Another big issue for Cena was his refusal to have kids, something Bella desperately wanted based on her comments on Total Divas on E! back in 2014. Cena recently made an appearance on Good Morning Britain to promote his upcoming film, Blockers, in which Cena plays a parent who teams up with another group of parents in attempt to stop their children form losing their virginity on prom night. It turns out the role has changed Cena’s mind a bit about having children:
“Especially in something like [Blockers], because the story is about these parents doing what they think is right to try to protect their children,” said Cena. “But the story is also about being confident as a parent, being confident in your children that you have done well, and they also are doing well.
“And the bond between parent and child can be a wonderful thing, even through some pretty tough situations. So, it absolutely has made me consider being a parent more.”
– The 50-man “Greatest Royal Rumble” event scheduled for April 27th from Saudi Arabia has been confirmed to be a WWE Network special. If you are a WWE Network subscriber and attempt to cancel your account, WWE lists the upcoming Network specials that you’ll be missing out on – and the Greatest Royal Rumble is listed.
The WWE Network will be showing the Greatest Royal Rumble. If you attempt to cancel your subscription, this message appears. pic.twitter.com/ZnJvM1I8bz
WWE announced earlier this week that the Greatest Royal Rumble event will feature 7 championship matches. Top stars advertised for the show include John Cena, Triple H, Roman Reigns, AJ Styles and Randy Orton. The Undertaker and Chris Jericho are also rumored for the show.
– On last night’s episode of SmackDown Live, WWE Champion AJ Styles was sitting ringside for Shinsuke Nakamura’s match against Rusev. After the match Aiden English and Rusev attacked Nakamura, and while Styles was taking his time getting ready to jump in and help out, the Japanese star rallied back and was able to fend the pair off himself.
Several fans pointed out that WWE botched the on-screen graphic that appeared when Styles was introduced. He was correctly listed as WWE Champion, however an image of the Untied States Championship was depicted.
WrestleMania takes place in just over two weeks, yet top star John Cena is still without an opponent for the biggest show of the year.
Cena has been on a mission to secure The Undertaker’s opponent. So far, he’s yet get a response. After failing to punch his ticket to WrestleMania in the Elimination Chamber and at Fastlane, Cena once again threw out the challenge to “The Deadman.” Cena called out The Undertaker once again this past week on RAW, but that brought out Kane, who delivered a chokeslam. They’ll square off next week on RAW.
As per a rumor at Cageside Seats, WWE might wait until the “go-home” addition of RAW prior to WrestleMania to make the Cena vs. Undertaker match official.
It seems like a questionable decision to wait until the last minute to confirm one of the most high-profile matches on the WrestleMania card, but the lineup is already stacked, so WWE must be confident that fans are already sold on the event. Seriously, look at this lineup:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon
WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (Daniel Bryan & Shane likely to be added)
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka
Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Bálor
US Champion Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Bobby Roode
Mustafa Ali vs. Cedric Alexander to crown a new Cruiserweight Champion
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
The first-ever WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal Match
Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Braun Strowman and a partner of his choosing
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax
John Cena vs. The Undertaker is a huge match that fans have wanted to see for years. Granted, it would have been a hotter match 3 years ago, but it’s historic nonetheless. At this point, Cena vs. Taker would be the icing on the cake of an already-stacked event.
TMZ Sports caught up with Lesnar’s WWE advocate, Paul Heyman, to get his thoughts on Ngannou – and others, like Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder – calling out his client.
Heyman says he’s not surprised that so many people are coming out of the woodwork and throwing Brock Lesnar’s name around. It’s WrestleMania season and Brock Lesnar is the biggest box office attraction in all of professional sports. It’s one thing to throw out empty challenges – it’s another thing to actually stand toe-to-toe with The Beast.
Fans saw on RAW what happened to Roman Reigns when he got too close to Lesnar – and Francis Ngannou wouldn’t fare any better than Reigns did.
You can check out Heyman’s awesome promo below. Visit MMANews.com for read what Francis Ngannou had to say about WWE’s Beast Incarnate.
– WWE Superstar Braun Strowman took to Twitter to thank 2018 WWE Hall Of Fame inductee Mark Henry for helping him break into the business of professional wrestling:
– As noted on last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW by General Manager Kurt Angle, RAW Women’ Champion Alexa Bliss will defend her title against Nia Jax at WrestleMania 34. The ex-best friends took to Twitter to hype their upcoming bout in New Orleans:
I made you something and I’m gonna take it all away from you. You think you can take the #Raw Women’s Championship from me? Ha! Rude. #GoddessAboveAll
— Lexi (Kaufman) Cabrera (@AlexaBliss_WWE) March 20, 2018
They’ll tell you… Not to try. Not to dream. Not to be yourself.
– WWE posted a video of Seth Rollins doing an interview with Mike Rome after saving Finn Balor from The Miztourage on RAW. Rollins will challenge Balor and Intercontinental Champion The Miz for the strap in a Triple Threat match at WrestleMania. Rollins says Balor owes him one and also said he wants a rematch with Balor before WrestleMania:
– Injured WWE Superstar Big Cass was backstage at last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW and was reportedly telling people he had been cleared to return, per a report from PWInsider. Cass has been out-of-action since August of last year when he suffered a torn ACL during a match with Enzo Amore. He required surgery to fix the injury and has been rehabbing ever since.
Cass was expected to return around May, meaning he’d be out of the question for a possible WrestleMania 34 appearance. He has been back training in the WWE Performance Center since mid-February. The initial word backstage around RAW was that Cass was in the final stages of his recovery and could be returning to RAW storylines soon.
– Tension between Sasha Banks and Bayley continues to boil over on Monday Night RAW, as rumors of a possible match between the pair at WrestleMania 34 swirl around. It’s expected that both women will instead be involved in the first-ever Women’s WrestleMania Battle Royal.
Banks and Bayley got into an argument in the middle of their tag team match against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, leading to them suffering a loss. Banks took to Twitter to comment on the situation:
Either you're with me or you're not, there's no in between. #RawDallas
— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) March 20, 2018
– WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz used Finn Balor and Seth Rollins’ old indy names (Prince Devitt and Tyler Black) on Monday Night RAW last night during a promo. Miz mispronounced Balor’s indy name, however, calling him Prince “Nevitt” instead. Balor responded to Miz’s mispronunciation on Twitter:
Prince Nevitt?? ….. and Miz is talking about ‘no respect’ HA!
– RAW opened up yesterday with Roman Reigns being handcuffed by US Marshals before taking a savage beating from Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. When Reigns was put up on the stretcher and escorted out of the arena, WWE snapped a photo that caught “The Big Dog’s” wrists bruised and scarred after the segment. Check it out:
Last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW ended with WWE showing The Ultimate Deletion between “Woken” Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt at the Hardy Family Compound. The segment received positive reviews from the professional wrestling world on Twitter, and Hardy noted himself in a Tweet that the Ultimate Deletion was trending #1 worldwide:
Tonight was much more than just a professional victory on #RAW for me..
It was an ENORMOUS PERSONAL VICTORY.
I couldn't have done it without YOU, my LOYAL #WOKENWarriors..#UltimateDELETION has been the #1 WORLDWIDE TREND for OVAH an hour now..
Hardy also responded to Michael Cole’s negativity before the segment aired. Cole apologized for the “obnoxious and surreal” segment WWE fans were about to witness. Hardy responded to Cole’s comments in a later Tweet:
Yeeeaassss, that was absolutely MAGICAL Great Commander. Now it is time to DELETE that JEJUNE ORANGUTANG Michael Cole. He is undoubtedly deletion worthy
After more than two years out of action, WWE announced on Tuesday that SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan has been medically cleared to wrestle again.
Bryan underwent extensive testing by leading neurosurgeons, neurologists and concussion experts, including Dr. Robert Cantu, Dr. Javier Cárdenas and Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher. According to WWE.com, “Bryan underwent a full review of his medical history and received comprehensive neurological and physical evaluations independent of WWE. He was cleared by each doctor as well as WWE’s Medical Director, Dr. Joseph Maroon.”
Bryan retired from in-ring competition back in February of 2016 after several concussion-related injuries throughout his career.
In recent months, Bryan made it clear he intended to wrestle again – whether it was in WWE or elsewhere. Thankfully for the WWE Universe, he’ll be back in a WWE ring very soon – almost certainly at WrestleMania. WWE noted, “It’s possible he teams up with Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a Tag Team match.”
As you can imagine, fans on social media lost their minds over the news that Daniel Bryan will be back in action. He was trending worldwide within minutes of the announcement.
Last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW closed out with the Ultimate Deletion between Bray Wyatt and “Woken” Matt Hardy at the Hardy Family Compound. Hardy won the match and threw Wyatt into the Lake Of Reincarnation. Senor Benjamin searched for Wyatt’s body in the lake after he fell in but was unable to find him. Hardy celebrated his Deletion of Wyatt to close out the show.
After the match on Twitter the professional wrestling world began to speculate that this could be a sign WWE is getting ready to repackage Wyatt and the Ultimate Deletion was a way of writing his old persona off WWE TV. Speculation ran rampant as to what WWE could be planing; with some claiming it could mark the return of Husky Harris, while others believe Wyatt could come back as Sister Abigail.
Dave Meltzer even commented on the speculation during the latest installment of Wrestling Observer Radio, saying that it also seems apparent to him WWE could be repackaging Wyatt after the Ultimate Deletion segment. He noted that the Wyatt character had run its course some time ago and hopes to see something completely different when he’s brought back.
Discussion: What do you think WWE’s plans are for Wyatt after The Ultimate Deletion? Do you think WWE is actually going to repackage him? And if so, how would you like to see him return and with what character?
Asuka has gone undefeated in WWE competition for about two years now, and the company plans on keeping that streak going for the time being. “The Empress Of Tomorrow” won the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble this past January and recently selected to challenge SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in New Orleans despite being a RAW Superstar.
This leaves RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss to defend her strap against Nia Jax. Also on the WrestleMania card will be the in-ring debut of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, as she teams with WWE Hall Of Famer and Monday Night RAW General Manager Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. WrestlingNews.co is reporting that WWE has big plans for Rousey and Asuka within the next year. It’s expected that Asuka’s streak will continue on at WrestleMania when she defeats Flair for the SmackDown Live Women’s Title.
Asuka’s streak will be kept alive for the next year leading into WrestleMania 35 in NJ/NY, where Ronda Rousey will challenge the Japanese star. If Rousey is able to be kept ‘special’ by WWE, and Asuka continues to be protected, Rousey vs. Asuka could be the first Women’s match to main event a WrestleMania in WWE history. It was also noted that the match could happen at SummerSlam, however, it would make much more sense as a WrestleMania “dream match.”
On last week’s episode of Monday Night RAW John Cena addressed his Road To WrestleMania and once again called out The Undertaker. WWE Hall Of Famer Edge recently offered his thoughts on the promo in the latest episode of he and Christian’s podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, calling it “hokey”:
“The John Cena promo, I thought it was pretty hokey,” Edge admitted. “I’m not going to lie. It was cool at some points, but then it was very… I don’t know, just a very hokey delivery. And I know that’s Cena’s schtick sometimes, but it just didn’t feel like this was the moment or the opponent for that, I think. That was my gut when I first watched it. Yeah, I don’t know.
“I think that’s a huge, massive match and I’m glad the crowd reacted the way they did and I didn’t even mind the going into the crowd thing, like, the way they’re setting this up like if he doesn’t have this match, or he doesn’t have this match, or he doesn’t have this match, he’ll go and pay to sit in the audience. I guess it was just when it got to talking about The Undertaker stuff, it just didn’t feel quite as… I don’t know.
“I don’t even know how to put my finger on it. I guess it’s just sometimes it’s kind of hokey delivery can kind of work, but in that instance, it just didn’t work for me. I mean, John never sounds like he’s at a loss for words.” Edge continued, “it’s a good promo. I don’t know. I guess it’s just the tone of it. I don’t know. I don’t know even how to put my finger on it.
“That just feels like one of those promos that should be nothing but serious, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know. I’d have to watch it again, obviously. I could completely backtrack on everything I’m saying right now, but my gut was like, ‘huh, that was odd.’ Yeah, but they’ll have such an iconic match. But we called it, brother-brother! I don’t know if it’ll be career vs. career like I think it should be.”
You can listen to E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstar Roman Reigns recently joined Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg to promote his upcoming WrestleMania 34 Universal Title match against Brock Lesnar next month. Reigns has been doing quite an excellent job of hyping his match with “The Beast” at WrestleMania with some shoot-style promos on his adversary for seemingly skipping out on his Monday Night RAW appearances.
This, of course, is all part of WWE’s storyline and Reigns commented on Lesnar’s current standing with the WWE Universe:
“It’s a little bit different for him, right now, especially where we are at and the stuff I am bringing to light about him and his character and work ethic, I think some of the fans are taking it negatively,” Reigns said. “For the most part, Brock Lesnar is a cool dude, you can’t deny the fact that he is a big, jacked up brother who comes in and throws people on their necks.”
Reigns said that he has worked with Lesnar plenty of times before, including their main event match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 31. “The Big Dog” said he and Lesnar have developed some good chemistry inside the ring, however, they don’t have much of a relationship outside of their professional one:
“I’ve had interactions with him, I’ve had history with him. We had our main event match at WrestleMania 31 and we had a few different Four-Ways and Triple-Threat matches like that where other characters are involved. It’s a different dynamic,” Reigns said. “Every time you are in a situation like that you do get to spend a little more time with somebody. Yeah, on his own time he seems like a cool dude, I don’t know him that well, but we’re not friends or anything.”
As fans saw during Braun Strowman’s interaction with Lesnar during their Royal Rumble match, where Lesnar legitimately punched Strowman in the jaw for delivering a stiff knee to him, the former UFC heavyweight champion puts on some extremely physical matches. Reigns said Lesnar’s aggressiveness inside the ring isn’t something he shies away from, and his past as a college football player allows him to match that physicality when need be:
“If he throws two at me I’m throwing three back. My dad was a big man. One of the easiest things about wrestling Brock Lesnar is that there isn’t much thinking about it. It’s just all physical stuff, and I’ve been doing physical stuff since I was seven years old. I played Division-One Football at Georgia Tech, so I’ve seen and been around some of the best athletes in the world,” he said.
“What we do is a different form of entertainment and athleticism, but you still have to be an athlete in order to do what we do all year round, you have to keep yourself in that shape so, I’m never scared to be able to push that button, let’s go, if I have to protect myself, I’m more than capable, no doubt.”
You can listen to Reigns’ interview on Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg by clicking this link here.
– Current rumored WrestleMania 34 plans for the United States Championship have Randy Orton defending his title against Bobby Roode and Jinder Mahal in a Triple Threat match. WWE posted the following backstage video of “The Modern Day Maharaja” claiming he is the uncrowned United States Champion:
– Tonight’s episode of Monday Night RAW will feature The Ultimate Deletion segment between Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt at The Hardy Family Compound. Hardy took to Twitter to hype tonight’s segment:
Roman Reigns has notably been accused of being involved with an illegal steroid ring over the past several weeks. Filmmaker Jon Bravo had been teasing the release of evidence against Reigns in his latest YouTube video on the case, however, the video presented no evidence suggesting Reigns was involved.
Initially when the story broke Reigns released a Twitter statement claiming no involvement in the matter in addition to saying he didn’t know the man, Richard Rodriguez, accusing him:
“I have never heard of Richard Rodriguez or Wellness Fitness Nutrition. I learned from the mistake I made nearly two years ago and paid the penalty for it. Since then, I’ve passed 11 tests as part of WWE’s independent drug testing program.”
Recently Reigns was interviewed on The Jim & Sam Show and was asked about the accusations against him. Here’s what he had to say on the matter:
“At one point it’s like, who is this [Rodriguez]? Where is this coming from? What did I do? Like, what the heck is going on? I’m just sitting at home playing with kids. I’m feeding babies and changing diapers, and doing dad stuff and then all of a sudden this happens. I think it’s just a good lesson of where we’re at. If you have any kind of social media presence; essentially, my Twitter is a billboard, unfortunately some people want to use whether it’s in a positive passion and a negative passion
“At the same time, it’s one of those deals where, I know me, I know what I have done, and I know what the truth is. You have to have one of those bulletproof mentalities where it’s like, these things are ricocheting off of me.”
WWE Superstar Chris Jericho recently joined Bellator MMA heavyweight Chael Sonnen on “Beyond The Fight” to talk about several professional wrestling topics. One such topic included former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey coming over to the professional wrestling world and signing with WWE. Rousey will team with WWE Hall Of Famer and Monday Night RAW General Manager Kurt Angle in a Mixed Tag Team match against WWE COO Triple H and RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon.
Jericho was asked how he thinks Rousey will fare in her WWE career. “Y2J” went on to explain why he thinks “The Rowdy One” will do just fine in her new career path:
”Absolutely, and I’ll tell you the reason why: Wrestling is all show business. We control everything, who wins, who loses, the match, whatever it may be. If you look at some of the great matches involving celebrities of all time — Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor … Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show — you’ll see those. I mean, Mr. T back in the day, it wasn’t classics but they don’t have to be.
“Here’s how you put together a great WrestleMania: you put together… it’s a variety show. Here’s your matches that have a chance to be 5-stars, here’s your matches just to get everybody on the card that haveno chance of being great matches you’re just putting everybody on the show, and then here’s your attraction matches. Here’s your Brock vs. Roman, here’s your Angle & Ronda vs. Triple H & Stephanie.
“They can put together the match any way they want. All they have to do is just put it together so she has one or two spots that really pop and mean something. The rest is all dog and pony show, show business. A) She’s an athlete, B) She’s a wrestling fan, and C) she wants to do this. She’s going to be fine.”
2018 WWE Hall Of Fame inductee D-Von Dudley was recently a guest on former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia’s podcast, Chasing Glory, to talk about several professional wrestling topics. During the interview Dudley discussed the influence both Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman had on The Dudley Boyz’s, D-Von and Bubba Ray, characters:
“All the promos we were able to shoot and to be good at it is all because of ‘Dr. Frankenstein.’ The Dr. Frankenstein I am referring to is Paul Heyman. He was the creator. We would like to say, Paul Heyman was the one that found and created us, but Vince McMahon molded us into the Superstars that we are today. We are grateful for both men, number one, ECW and Paul Heyman changed the face of Professional Wrestling and helped start the Attitude Era, and of course Vince McMahon, who is the master.
“He is the ‘Yoda’ of Professional Wrestling and Sports Entertainment. I am not just saying that because I still work for the man as a backstage Agent, but when you look at what he has done and where he has brought Professional Wrestling. Whether you like him or not, you see that he has changed Professional Wrestling. Pro Wrestling was that thing that you never talked about, if you did it was only among the selected few. Now, it is one of the biggest things out there and now everybody loves Professional Wrestling.”
Dudley also revealed that he once advised current SmackDown Live star and New Day member Xavier Woods to leave TNA:
“Xavier Woods was in an organization [TNA Wrestling] that I am not too keen on. This organization treated him bad, and Xavier told me that he may have a chance to go to WWE, but he may not and he doesn’t know what to do. We sat and talked for about 40 minutes; till this day he thanked me for making that phone call, and I believe it was Terry Taylor who was helping doing the hiring at the time, not sure who was in charge, but he basically thanked me for helping him make that decision in going to the WWE.
“I am not saying that there wouldn’t have been a New Day without Xavier Woods, but each individual brings something to the table, and I believe the success of all three of them with the charisma and personality is what made New Day who they are today. So, I was very happy when I came back to WWE and Woods was there. I had forgotten all about it until he reminded me that I was one of the reasons that made him go back and have that conversation with WWE.”
You can listen to Dudley’s interview on Chasing Glory by clicking this link here.
