As we’ve previously reported, WWE has plans to turn Seth Rollins heel after WrestleMania 34 so he can feud with Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. Per a report from Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, those plans were initially for Dean Ambrose before he suffered his unfortunate bicep injury that has sidelined him for the past several months. The original plan was for Ambrose to feud with Reigns after The Shield reunion. Now those plans have been changed for Seth Rollins.
Roman Reigns is currently expected to win this weekend’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV); which features other names such as Rollins, John Cena, Elias, Finn Balor, WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz, and Braun Strowman. The winner will go on to challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34.
It’s expected that after Reigns dethrones Lesnar he will feud with Seth Rollins, who’s expected to turn heel. RAW currently has a shortage of top heels that are up for the task, thus their decision to turn Rollins.
Brock Lesnar is currently awaiting the results of this weekend’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV) to see who he will defend his Universal Championship against at WrestleMania 34. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, John Cena, Elias, Finn Balor, WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz, and Braun Strowman will compete inside the Chamber to determine who gets those honors.
It’s expected that Reigns will win the Chamber match and go on to dethrone Lesnar for the Universal crown at “The Show Of Shows.” Lesnar has a ton of options after his WWE contract expires. He could either re-sign with the company and focus on a potential feud with Bobby Lashley, or go back to the UFC and once again chase the moniker of “Baddest Man On The Planet.”
As we reported recently, this year’s SummerSlam ticket featured pictures of Superstars such as Ronda Rousey, AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, Sasha Banks, Roman Reigns, The Usos, Seth Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura, Naomi, Charlotte Flair, Randy Orton, and Samoa Joe – no Lesnar in sight. Per Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the reason Lesnar wasn’t featured is because he won’t be under contract with WWE at that point and there’s no guarantee he’ll be with the company. WWE decided not to use him in any promotional material for the event.
A return to the UFC is definitely possible as President Dana White has said he believes “The Beast” will fight in the Octagon this year. Jon Jones called out Lesnar last year, and with Jones nearing a return from a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) violation soon, the door is still open for that fight.
Monday’s edition of WWE RAW featured a standout performance by Seth Rollins in the 7-Man Gauntlet match. The match, officially the longest match in WWE history, saw Rollins best the other participants in Sunday’s Elimination Chamber match, including Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, John Cena, Elias, Finn Balor, WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz, and Braun Strowman.
Rollins started off the night with Reigns and picked up the upset win via rollup pin. The pair put on quite the back-and-forth before “The Architect’s” win and John Cena entered next. Rollins and Cena probably put on the best bout within the Gauntlet match, but again Rollins was able to pull off a clean pinfall win over “The Leader Of The Cenation.” He lasted in the match for over an hour and picked up two clean pinfall wins over WWE’s biggest stars.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Rollins’ big night on RAW was the beginning of an effort to position him as a heel challenger to Roman Reigns in the months after WrestleMania 34. Rollins’ role at WrestleMania is currently undecided after his originally scheduled opponent, Jason Jordan, was forced to undergo neck surgery.
This weekend’s Elimination Chamber match will determine who will go on to WrestleMania and challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal throne. It’s no secret that Roman Reigns is the strong favorite to emerge victorious on Sunday and challenge The Beast on April 8th.
With Dean Ambrose out of action due to injury and this latest Shield reunion effectively dead on arrival, it will be interesting to see how Rollins is transitioned to a heel and how they’d jumpstart a potential post-WrestleMania program with Reigns.
Does a post-WrestleMania Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins program interest you? Let us know in the comments.
Lucha Underground has moved its tapings away from their original venue in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles to a warehouse that holds more people. The promotion will begin filming season four of their show this Friday at the new warehouse in Union Central Cold Storage on Industrial Street in Los Angeles. Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the promotion is looking to base its talent in L.A. for the entire five weeks of taping to save money on travel.
Tapings will take place Friday through Saturday and talents will be filming vignettes midweek. There is no news on who will be involved in the full roster for season four, but it’s known that some of the roster from last season will not be brought back due to budget concerns. Lucha’s budget issues is also part of their decision to move venues, as the previous Boyle Heights location in East L.A. was more expensive.
The roster will look a lot different at the end of the season, as many talents being used this season will be working under the agreement that their characters will be written off storylines so they can be released from their seven year contracts.
WWE Superstar Apollo recently did an interview with The Mirror to promote WWE’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV) this weekend. Below are some of the highlights:
How have you found working with Titus O’Neil and being a part of Titus Worldwide?
“I’m enjoying everything we’re doing with Titus Worldwide. We’ve got the addition of Dane Brooke and to me I think it’s a great dynamic. Titus is an amazing guy, inside and outside of the ring. He’s helped me a lot, not just in WWE, but in my real life. He’s taught me to be myself and show people more personality and more character.
“He is such an amazing human being, being around him on camera helps me, allows me to be myself and whether or not we continue with this, hopefully I can continue to be more comfortable and more relaxed like that on camera and take the personality that I’ve shown in Titus Worldwide and carry it on to another tag team that I’m in, or as a singles competitor. I think we’ve proved we are worthy competitors, we are great competitors and given a chance, we can make things happen.
“Titus helped me to understand that WWE is not only all about wrestling. He helped me to understand that I need to learn to be an entertainer as well. When you are having fun, people can feel that and they can have fun themselves, so he is helping me to be more relaxed on camera and open up my personality and not be afraid to go out there and make a fool of myself and just have fun. I think when I first got to WWE, I took myself a little too seriously.
“I was like ‘I just want to be a great wrestler’, but I think there is a lot more to that when it comes to WWE and he has helped me to understand that, which has worked out a lot better for me. People have recognised that I do have personality and I do have character and charisma, so I thank him for that every day.”
The group is becoming more prominent on Raw and we have seen you emerge as challengers to Cesaro and Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Championships. Do you think tag team wrestling is a way you can show a different side to yourself?
“Yes it is. Me and Titus have two different styles, but when you put us together, it’s very interesting. Titus and myself, we can go out there and be funny or whatever the case may be, but when it’s time to get to business, we get serious, we put that face on and go out there and throw people around and have that killer instinct. It’s great for us to be able to showcase that and it’s only just the beginning. Keep on the lookout because we’re coming.”
What do you think you need to do to become a champion in WWE?
“You know I’m hoping it will happen sooner rather than later, but for the moment I’m just focused on my work. I just keeping grinding and stay focused, stay humble and any opportunity I get, I take full advantage of it. I try to be the best I can and if there’s something that needs to get done, if they need me to do something specific, I try and make sure I do that to the best of my ability.
“Staying injury free is another thing I try and do, especially with the talent that’s out there right now, if you get injured, someone else will come in and take your spot. So I train as hard as I can, make sure i stay healthy especially with my eating and dieting and the rest will take care of itself. I just focus on the things I can control and hope the rest will fall into place.”
You can read Apollo’s full interview with The Mirror by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstar Luke Gallows recently did an interview with Sky Sports to talk about several professional wrestling topics. He explained how Bullet Club members The Young Bucks over in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) owe it to themselves to sign with WWE and leave their mark on the professional wrestling industry:
“I hope the Young Bucks come in,” Gallows said. “I think they’re highly, highly talented and if you want to make your mark in sports entertainment, if you want your name to go down in the annals of sports entertainment history, you absolutely have to come to WWE.
“This is the pinnacle. It doesn’t get bigger than this. There’s no bigger worldwide stage than WWE. So I think the Young Bucks owe it to themselves to come out here and thrive.”
While Gallows, a former talent in NJPW, acknowledges Japan is a great place to work as a professional wrestler, he says you can’t beat the platform of WWE:
“Japan is a great place to wrestle but WWE is a worldwide platform and you can’t beat that. Their reach is all across the world.”
You can read Gallows’ full interview with Sky Sports by clicking this link here.
We’ve noted that Jeff Jarrett will be inducted into the 2018 WWE Hall Of Fame prior to WrestleMania 34. Jarrett will join Bill Goldberg, Ivory, and The Dudley Boyz thus far. Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated reports that Triple H was actually the person who pushed to have Jarrett inducted this year.
“The decision to induct Jarrett was pushed for by Triple H. Following the hire of former longtime TNA employee Jeremy Borash, the question now exists whether Jarrett would fit into Triple H’s team for NXT and developmental.”
Triple H has really been taking on a bigger role in WWE as of late. Now serving as the head of talent relations, “The Game” has also taken over 205 Live in addition to his duties on NXT.
– “Ms. Money In The Bank” Carmella recently answered a question from a fan on Twitter asking her where she got the idea for her moonwalk entrance. Michael Hayes jumped in and claimed that Carmella has stolen “everything I ever did”:
Hi @CarmellaWWE where did you come up with the moon walking idea, Only wrestler i can remember doing it was @MichaelPSHayes1
@CarmellaWWE__ has stolen everything i ever did!!! Where do U think she came up with Fabulous??? Let me guess, next she will write her own theme song!!! Bahahaha
– WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz is one of seven men that will be involved in this weekend’s Elimination Chamber match. He took to Twitter and listed out each of his adversaries’ gimmicks, claiming to be the only ‘real’ thing involved in the match:
WWE Superstar Nia Jax recently did an interview with Dave LaGreca and Mark Henry on Busted Open Radio yesterday. During the interview Jax was asked about her thoughts on former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey signing with WWE. Jax said she’s excited for Rousey coming to WWE and claimed she’s a big part of the women’s revolution:
“I’m very excited. Ronda Rousey was a huge part in the women’s revolution around the world and part of the WWE and now she’s coming to the WWE. It’s going to be absolutely amazing. She’s so talented and has so many things to bring to us. It’s literally going to expand the women’s division and people don’t realize how much she’s going to bring to us and how far it’s going to take us. I personally am very excited for her to come. She’s willing to put in the hard work.
“I’ve seen her put in the hard work in the UFC and how hard she worked to get to where she got. I know she’s going to prove herself in the WWE. I’m very excited to step in the ring with her and see what we can do together. I have nothing but positive things to say for anyone who wants to come to the WWE because it is not an easy place to get into and not an easy place to get through, so if you feel like you can make it here and get through, I say welcome. Let’s do it.”
When Rousey does finally get to the WWE locker room, however, Jax said that the former Olympic Judoka needs to show respect:
“Respect is #1 in this business. You definitely have to walk into the door with a lot of respect: a lot of eye contact, a lot of handshakes, introducing yourself. We are a very tight-knit family at WWE. We are very protective of our family. When an outsider comes in, you want to make sure the outsider is worthy to step into the family. When Sasha Banks says she had nothing nice to say (on a previous episode of Busted Open), it’s not necessarily that she wants to go out and be mean, but rather making sure that this outsider is worthy to step into her family.”
Jax revealed that John Cena vs. The Rock at WrestleMania 28 was her inspiration for becoming a professional wrestler:
“I got to sit front row with my aunt and watch Dwayne and just see the energy not just in the ring, but the fans. At the end of the day, they are what make us who we are, and just seeing their energy and passion that they had watching that match is what gave me the bug. I said ‘oh my god, I want to do this. I want to put on a great match and I want these people to be interested in what I’m doing’.”
She also explained how impressed she was with Seth Rollins’ recent performance in the Seven-Man Gauntlet match on Monday Night RAW:
“I was standing by Gorilla staring at the screen just watching and these guys were putting on an amazing show. Seth Rollins, I think, tore the house down. All of them did, but Seth outdid everyone. Seth has always been such a great athlete. You’ve always seen that since he’s been on the road, but watching last night made me a bigger fan of his. It was really cool. I almost forgot I was on the show!”
– As we’ve mentioned, former WCW World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Universal Champion Goldberg will be inducted into the 2018 WWE Hall Of Fame Class. It has not officially been announced who will be inducting Goldberg, however, PWInsider‘s Mike Johnson is reporting that Paul Heyman is being rumored as the man for the job. Here’s what he had to say:
“This word is that Paul Heyman will be inducting Goldberg into the Hall of Fame. I don’t know how that makes any sense but that’s the story making the rounds. I guess they are both Jewish? I don’t know. I don’t get it.”
– Last night the final match of the first round of the WWE Mixed Match Challenge tournament took place. WWE has announced its second round (quarterfinals) match-ups here:
Finn Balor & Sasha Banks vs. The Miz & Asuka
Braun Strowman & Alexa Bliss vs. Jimmy Uso & Naomi
Rusev & Lana vs. Bobby Roode & Charlotte Flair
Next week’s first quarterfinals match-up will be between Finn Balor & Sasha Banks vs. The Miz & Asuka:
– Hurricane Helms’ appearance at the Royal Rumble last month may only be the beginning of his WWE return. Shortly after the Rumble appearance Helms had this to say:
“If that was my last time in a WWE ring, and I don’t think it will be, to have probably the loudest pop of my career, what a way to come full circle.”
Current 205 Live star Daivari posted a Tweet to promote his match against Buddy Murphy last night, announcing his intentions to go on and win the Cruiserweight Championship. Helms responded by telling Daivari to keep the title warm for him, indicating he may soon be joining 205 Live:
– SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions The Usos recently took part in a conference call for Catch Au Quotidien. During the call they were asked about New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) stars The Young Bucks. This caught the attention of Matt Jackson of The Bucks, who said he’d love to work with the SDL Tag Team Champs in the future:
WWE Superstar Rusev recently did an interview with Akhilesh Gannavarapu of Wrestling Inc. to talk about several professional wrestling topics. “The Bulgarian Brute” has seen a huge amount of support from the WWE Universe with his new “Rusev Day” gimmick and was asked if he thinks WrestleMania could be the turning point for him in 2018:
“Well, I don’t even know what I’ll be doing at WrestleMania, so it’s very far – fetched for me to think that WrestleMania is going to be my moment, to turn 2018 (around). I don’t even know; I take it day by day. Each Rusev Day by each Rusev Day. As long as I open my eyes in the morning, that’s a great opportunity for me, and that’s how I look at it.”
Rusev was one of the WWE Superstars who responded to Conor McGregor calling out the WWE several years ago. He was asked his thoughts on possibly seeing the Irish UFC champ in the WWE:
“McGregor? He’s not coming to WWE. What is he going to do here? He just made $ 160 million (against Mayweather). What is he going to do here? He’s going to sit at home. Yeah, I’d definitely like to see him, me and Sheamus get a pint of Guinness, and go from there (laughs).”
You can read Rusev’s full interview with Wrestling Inc. by clicking this link here.
Posted February 20th, 2018 in WWE, News. Tagged: Rusev.
– Last night on RAW the show opened up with a Seven-Man Gauntlet match between Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, John Cena, Elias, Finn Balor, The Miz, and Braun Strowman. The match started off with Shield members Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. After a great back-and-forth bout Rollins was able to hit the rollup for an upset win over “The Big Dog.” Reigns took to Twitter to say that he respects Rollins for his performance last night, but still intends to go on to WrestleMania and challenge Brock Lesnar:
– WWE posted the following video on their Twitter account of a “WWE: Photoshoot” segment in which Hall Of Famer and RAW General Manager Kurt Angle discusses his relationship with Vince McMahon:
Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio recently did an interview with Inside the Ropes while backstage at a 5 Star Wrestling event. During the interview Mysterio was asked if he believes he could juggle working WWE and the indies if he were able to negotiate a deal with the promotion:
“Right now, the conversation is still in the open with WWE so I am hoping that when the time is right and we sit down to talk about the future of Rey Mysterio with WWE, if there is any future with Rey Mysterio, it is going to be good for both parties as much as it will be good for WWE as it will be good for me.
“I think it is in the best interest for the both of us. Putting that aside, whatever happens there, hopefully we can continue to do business with 5 Star Wrestling [indie Wrestling in general]. I don’t see why not.”
If he did decide to come back to WWE there are a few names that Mysterio would like to go up against. AJ Styles and Finn Balor top that list:
“Man, there are so many strong names that have been around for quite some time. AJ Styles is one of them. I think that AJ and myself would have a pretty nice run together. Finn Balor, I think I would have a pretty good run with Finn. There are a lot of names that are being thrown out there. If I came back, would I be part of the 205 Live division? Heavyweight division? It is just hard to say. I think that whatever the fans want to see, if I do come back, that is what we will give them.”
WWE Superstar Becky Lynch recently did an interview with The Phoenix New Times to promote tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. Below are some of the highlights:
Have the wrestlers in the woman’s division had to work harder to prove yourselves? Maybe twice as hard as the male superstars.
“I think so, yeah. You know what I mean? I think when you’re trying to overcome something and prove something, you always have to work harder and you always have to give that 110 percent. And I think the greatest thing about that is that’s the drive from all of us. So nobody rests on their laurels and nobody becomes complacent because everybody’s trying to be the best.
“But everybody’s trying to be that first woman to main-event WrestleManina. And any time you’ve got healthy competition, it always pushed you harder and I think that was the greatest thing with the Four Horsewomen. What we did is we came together while at NXT at the same time and we have a common goal and a common vision and that’s to strive to be the best and change things and change the way things work and I think that was what coached us all so much. We always just wanted to outdo each other.”
What’s your opinion about the WWE bringing in Ronda Rousey?
“So I think there’s a lot of good aspects, and I think that Ronda Rousey has obviously proven that she’s a superstar. Like, a colossal superstar. Before her, there were no women in the UFC. That’s remarkable. And she was an Olympian, and she brings in pay-per-view buys. There’s no doubt that she’s amazing.
“I’m curious to see what she can do in a wrestling ring, because it’s a different kettle of fish. And, obviously, with UFC and with such an incredible history and being so accomplished in judo, she’s going to take up everything so easily. So it’s just going to be a matter of seeing how she does in this business. I know she’s a huge wrestling fan so that’s always great, too. I think you learn better and you learn faster when you’re a fan because you know what it’s supposed to be and you’re able to emulate your heroes and stuff like that.”
Do you want to face off against her in a match?
“Of course, I would love to. There’s nobody that I wouldn’t want to either fight or wrestle. Any girl who comes in the door, I want to have a match with them and bring the best out of them and make a good, compelling story for our audience. There’s nobody I wouldn’t want to fight.”
You can read Lynch’s full interview with The Phoenix New Times by clicking this link here.
Former WWE Superstar Konnan (also known as Max Moon) recently did an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Konnan discussed being outspoken throughout his career and his thoughts on promotions being loyal to their talent:
“Companies are loyal to you as long as it is convenient to their interests. Why wouldn’t I think the same? Don’t ask for my opinion if you don’t want to hear what I have to say. I’m not a stockholder. Companies play those mind games and a lot of people are afraid to leave promotions. You saw it in Mexico with CMLL and AAA, and you saw a little of it with WWE and WCW in the ‘90s with who was loyal and who wasn’t loyal to a company.”
He also offered his thoughts on his run in WWE under the “Max Moon” character:
“Max Moon was a robot that had a lot of pieces to it. I would have to fly from Mexico to LA, then pick up the robot in LA, and I had to carry it everywhere. At this point, I was blowing up in Mexico and I just started on a Mexican soap opera. Why did I need to go to WWE? I was making good money and doing what I wanted, so I just stopped showing up for TV.”
“They called me one day and said, ‘You’re fired.’ I said, ‘OK, bye.’ It wasn’t a big deal to me. I didn’t grow up watching WWE or wanting to be there. Plus, I was already a star in Mexico. Much like what happened after I left CMLL, the WWE has held a grudge for a long time against me.”
Konnan then dove into his passion for finding young talent, cultivating it, and watching it mature over time:
“I remember sitting down with Eric Bischoff when I was in WCW, and listened to him bury Mick. I disagreed. It’s not like what the Kliq had you believe, where guys had to want to be like you and girls needed to want to f— you. That had changed. It’s just like when I heard guys say, ‘Oh, my son can beat up Rey Mysterio.’ That’s not what your son is thinking when he watches Rey. Your son is thinking, ‘This little guy is dope.’
“Rey has drawn a lot of money. At the end of the day, I have a lot of respect for guys who have drawn because I know how hard it is. There is something I love about recognizing raw talent, cultivating it, then watching it mature and become what it could be. Some people don’t know how great they can be unless you tell them and show them how to be great. So many young talent just need someone to believe in them and show them the right way to do things.”
You can read Konnan’s full interview with Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso by clicking this link here.
– As we’ve mentioned before, WWE decided to have Ronda Rousey sign her RAW contract at this weekend’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV) because tickets for the event weren’t doing well. It seems that adding Rousey hasn’t helped as much as they’d have liked.
Ticket sales remain low and AXS is now offering a two-for-one special on tickets. Purchase those tickets here. It should also be mentioned low ticket sales are the reason WWE is getting rid of brand-exclusive PPV events.
– It looks like Alicia Fox is single again. She took to Instagram and said she’d been “been bamboozled by a #basic bitch” and is back on the market:
– SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan took to Twitter to announce that tonight’s show will feature a Tag Team Title Eliminator between The New Day and the team of Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable. The winners will face SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions The Usos at Fastlane next month on pay-per-view (PPV):
– IMPACT Wrestling’s Twitter account congratulated promotional founder Jeff Jarrett on getting the nod for this year’s WWE Hall Of Fame class. Jarrett was a co-founder of TNA back in 2002 alongside his father, Jerry. Between the years of 2013 and 2017 Jarrett had an off-and-on again relationship with the promotion before parting ways in October. Jarrett will join Goldberg, Ivory, and The Dudley Boyz as inductees on April 6th in New Orleans:
– After last night’s Monday Night RAW went off-air a dark match main event between “Woken” Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt took place. Hardy defeated “The Eater Of Worlds” ahead of their clash at Elimination Chamber this weekend on pay-per-view (PPV).
– Kevin Owens made a selfie promo video on his way to the ring during a recent live event. Owens said that he has been doing selfie promo videos for the past six years and hasn’t gotten any credit for it, just like has hasn’t gotten any credit for being one of the most decorated WWE Superstars in recent years. He also vowed to win the WWE Title at Fastlane:
– Paul Heyman took to Twitter to respond to RAW commentator Corey Graves’ comments on last night’s show, and doubled down on his claim that Universal Champion Brock Lesnar does not fear Braun Strowman. Strowman will be one of seven men to compete in this weekend’s Elimination Chamber match; which also includes Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Elias, The Miz, and John Cena. The winner of the match will go on to challenge “The Beast” for the Universal Title at WrestleMania 34:
– WWE posted a video of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey as she prepares to sign her RAW contract at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV) this weekend on the WWE Network. The video features comments from Stephanie McMahon and Charlotte Flair, as well as some footage from Rousey’s professional wrestling training. Check it out:
– WWE Hall Of Famer Diamond Dallas Page was backstage for last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW from Phoenix, Arizona. He arrived to the RAW arena around the time Main Event tapings began. PWInsider is reporting that the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion was filming material for upcoming WWE projects. This includes filming for the upcoming “Unreleased Matches” DVD on “The Macho Man” Randy Savage which comes out later this year.
– Following last night’s Seven-Man Gauntlet match on Monday Night RAW, Finn Balor took to Twitter to heap some praise on Seth Rollins and take shots at WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz:
Forget about any controversial moments over the last 2 years, I’ve nothing but respect for @WWERollins & his performance tonight. ? As for the @mikethemiz & his goons …. this is chess, not checkers .. see you Sunday, locked IN the #wwechamber ? https://t.co/ACF2oSKUmB
– After winning last night’s Seven-Man Gauntlet match on Monday Night RAW, which involved all seven men scheduled for this weekend’s Elimination Chamber match, Braun Strowman took to Twitter to warn Universal Champion Brock Lesnar:
– An exchange on Twitter last night between Mandy Rose and Bianca Belair suddenly became heated this morning, after Goldust and Montez Ford got involved. The full exchange (including one of Goldust’s deleted Tweets) can be found below:
Hunnyyyyy… trust me I don’t need to buy a FAKE piece of hair to use as a weapon… ? it’s called a hair FLIP, chill out there toots ! ? #Saltyhttps://t.co/L9f5RYikUp
Goldust: “Get back to me when Bianca can hit the ropes without her hair getting in the way. And don’t you disrespect me, punk. I’ve chewed up and spit out more than you could ever dream. YOU KNOW WHERE YOU CAN FIND ME, if you make it up here. #SinkWithTheNokiaSharkYouMark”
– R-Truth took to Twitter to announce that his new single, That’z Endurance, is now available online:
On Monday afternoon it was revealed that WWE had dropped ‘Crews’ from Apollo’s ring name. There has been some speculation going around online that WWE made this move to avoid any sort of association to last week’s Florida high school mass murderer Nikolas Cruz. Cruz opened fire on his former high school and killed 17 people, including both students and faculty. Sportskeeda is reporting that WWE emailed them and confirmed that this was the reason for the change:
Apparently this is the reason why Apollo Crews is now "Apollo".
Peyton Royce and Billie Kay have been absent from WWE TV since the November 29th TV taping. Royce competed against NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon with Kay at ringside. The match aired on December 13th of last year. On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Newsletter Dave Meltzer noted that Royce and Kay aren’t injured, but the company currently doesn’t have anything for them creatively on TV. This still doesn’t explain their absence from NXT live events, however.
Now reports are suggesting that the reason Royce and Kay have been away is because both underwent breast enlargement procedures in December. The recovery time for such a procedure is around six weeks before you can engage in a strenuous workout. Due to their profession as professional wrestlers, however, that time will be a bit longer.
On Friday WWE updated Kay’s profile pictures after the operation. You can see the difference to say the least:
The photos created some chatter on social media and Kay responded to them subtly with a quote on Instagram:
This actually isn’t Kay’s first breast enlargement procedure. She missed some time after WrestleMania 32 back in 2016 and missed three months as a result.
Last night Seth Rollins had a historic evening on Monday Night RAW. “The Architect” took part in the longest match in WWE TV history, a Seven-Man Gauntlet match between the men involved in this weekend’s Elimination Chamber match. Rollins and fellow Shield member Roman Reigns opened up the match as the starting two participants. The two friends put on a great back-and-forth brawl that led to Rollins picking up the victory with the rollup.
Reigns took the loss like a good sport and out came John Cena, who also did the job for Rollins after an excellent bout as well. Although Rollins was defeated by Elias after Cena was eliminated, the former WWE World Heavyweight Champ’s stock rose significantly after the performance. Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio noted that there could be more to Rollins’ pinfall win over Reigns.
It turns out WWE could be planning for Rollins and Reigns to have a program sometime down the road, thus the reason for him getting the clean win over “The Big Dog.” Meltzer finds it difficult to believe that Rollins would go over on Reigns without a big payoff at some point
“Roman’s loss is not just a loss. A lot of the time I get mad when they have a top guy lose for no reason whatsoever. It’s kind of like if you’re a top guy and you lose, it should only be for a reason and this had a reason, I think. I think the reason is that Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins will be working a program down the line. If they’re not, then it was for no reason.”
