– Xavier Woods and Jinder Mahal are set to meet on SmackDown Live next week in the next round of the United States Championship Tournament. Woods took to Twitter to take a shot at Mahal by posting a clip of an old match they had on WWE Superstars back in 2014. Woods and R-Truth teamed up to defeat Mahal and Drew McIntyre in tag team action, as Woods pinned Mahal for the victory:
– At last night’s MLK Parade Foundation Honors event in Tampa, Florida, WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil was honored by receiving the Drum Major For Justice Award. He Tweeted out the following:
Proverbs 4:19 The ways of right-living people glow with light The longer they live the brighter they shine. God Placed light inside of you for a reason.LET IT SHINE!!Thanks again 2all of my Family&Friends that came out 2support me receiving the Dr. MLK Drum Major 4Justice Award pic.twitter.com/M6aOdD4xvf
Getting ready to be honored and Awarded tonight at the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Parade Foundation Gala with the “Drum Major For Justice Award” for Family/Community with my friends and Family ?? #Proud#Legacypic.twitter.com/GGqBCfSuPv
Former WWE and WCW star Fred Ottman (better known in his professional wrestling career by the names The Shockmaster, Typhoon, and Tugboat) is reportedly not doing too well, per comments from both Victoria and Lanny Poffo on social media.
The former WWE Tag Team Champion made his debut with the company back in 1989 as the Tugboat character. He then became Typhoon in 1991 and formed The Natural Disasters with his partner, Earthquake, and they won the Tag Team Titles. He then departed for WCW in 1993 where he had a brief run as The Shockmaster before returning to WWE in 1994.
– In episode 87 of “Being The Elite” on YouTube The Young Bucks, Cody, Kenny Omega, and Marty Scurll are followed in the lead-up to their respective matches at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo, Japan. Towards the end of the video you see the tension continue to build within The Bullet Club as Kenny Omega gets into an argument with the rest of the club at a restaurant:
– As Ring Of Honor continues to announce their Best Of 2017 awards; the promotion has awarded Deonna Purrazzo Women Of Honor Wrestler Of The Year, and Cody Rhodes ROH Wrestler Of The Year.
– On a related note, ROH has signed Deonna Purrazzo to a non-exclusive contract per a report from Squared Circle Sirens. Purrazzo later confirmed this on Twitter:
At last night’s IMPACT Wrestling tapings in Orlando, former Lucha Underground Gift Of The Gods Champion Brian Cage made his promotional debut as a signed talent. He worked two matches (both with enhancement talents) and won them both. This isn’t Cage’s first time in an IMPACT ring, as he had tryout matches with the company back in 2012 and 2013 but wasn’t signed to a deal.
Cage also wrestled at the Destination X One Night Only event in 2014. He went on to sign with Lucha Underground and won the Gift Of The Gods Championship in 2016. Here’s what IMPACT Wrestling had to say about inking Cage to a deal:
There are some BIG names showing up at the IMPACT taping tonight at @UniversalORL! Here's an exclusive First Look at one of them. Any guesses who it is? pic.twitter.com/Fxhpt3I8SN
Former WWE official Bruce Prichard was recently a guest on Busted Open to promote his upcoming live podcast recording of “Something To Wrestle” at the Barclays Center on January 19th. During the interview, Prichard was asked about the rumors surrounding The Undertaker and speculation that he could be wrestling at WrestleMania 34 this year. If you haven’t already heard, it’s expected WWE will begin a program between The Undertaker and John Cena at RAW’s 25th Anniversary Show, which will lead to a match at WrestleMania 34.
Prichard said that he saw “The Deadman” about a month ago and claimed he looked the best he’d seen him in 10 years. He also said The Undertaker claimed to feel the best he has in the past 10 years. Prichard also revealed that the former WWE Champion insisted he has wrestled his last match of his career, but Prichard said he has been hearing that for the past 15 years:
As we’ve noted, WWE COO Triple H had dinner with Ronda Rousey and her agent at a famous LA restaurant this past Tuesday. “The Game” missed SmackDown Live’s tapings in Alabama for the dinner, and with Rousey’s agent being present, it’s expected that business was discussed.
Rousey’s WWE debut has been rumored to occur at or before WrestleMania 34 this upcoming April. With the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble taking place later this month speculation has arisen that she could possibly debut at the event. Triple H recently spoke to The Associated Press about his dinner meeting with Rousey and confirmed that they are talking to Rousey about a possible WWE deal:
“We are talking to Ronda, as we’ve been for a while,” Triple H said. “She has a lot of things going on. We have a lot of things going on. But we have a great relationship with her, a very friendly standpoint for a long period of time now. It was great to catch up with her.”
As far as if a deal has been reached and whether or not a Royal Rumble appearance is planned for Rousey, “The Game” said they have nothing to announce at this time:
“We have nothing to announce at this time,” Triple H said. “But she’s a huge fan of what we do and she’s incredibly interested in what we do and the opportunities that lie there. We’re fans of hers and incredibly interested in what those opportunities could be with us. But there’s a lot of things to walk through. We’re talking. We’re having conversations.”
– Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave Wrestle Kingdom 12’s IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification match between Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho five stars. The night’s main event between Okada and Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Title received four stars.
– RAW stars Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose revealed on Snapchat that they’re suffering from the flu. Deville posted a video of herself in bed recovering while watching a marathon of Friends. No news yet on whether or not they’ll be working Monday’s episode of RAW.
Yesterday it was reported that Ronda Rousey, her manager, and Triple H were having dinner together at a popular LA restaurant, Republique. With Rousey’s manager being there it’s likely business was being discussed. The dinner took place on Tuesday night during SmackDown Live’s taping in Alabama.
With rumors running rampant about a possible Rousey signing to WWE, TMZ recently caught up with Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore and asked for his opinion on the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion possibly becoming a professional wrestler. “The Realest Guy In The Room” suggested that Rousey could be in for a ‘rude awakening’:
“Did she?,” Amore asked. “She’s in for a rude awakening. I mean MMA is MMA, I ain’t hating on MMA whatsoever – respect what they do so much. You ever been put through a table? Slammed on concrete? It’s a different ballgame.”
When asked how he thinks she’d do as a wrestler, Amore admitted that he thinks Rousey will translate well as she has enough respect for the business to understand it’s not easy:
“I think she’d translate quite well. Quite well. I don’t think it’s harder than she thinks. I think she respects what we do enough to know that it’s hard.”
– WWE will return to Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 16th for a live event. Two matches have been announced for the event; including WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Kane, and Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns vs. The Miz vs. John Cena.
– Yesterday marked 18 years since current SmackDown Live star Shelton Benjamin signed his first WWE deal. He posted the following on social media to celebrate the milestone:
“On Jan 10 2000 I signed my first @wwe contract and officially became a Pro-wrestler/sports entertainer. Hard to believe that was 18 years ago #TODAY. Thank you to All who have cheered/booed supported or hated it’s all motivation for me. The Ride is far from over. I guess the best way to put it is #Ain’tnostoppinMeNooowwww!!! #18thyearanniversary”
It looks like former IMPACT Wrestling Grand Champion Moose may have suffered an injury during last night’s set of TV tapings in Orlando. Moose’s injury took place during a match between EC3, Alberto El Patron and Johnny Impact. The match was meant to determine the new No. 1-contender for he Impact Wrestling World Championship. Moose reportedly suffered a knee injury and was helped backstage by several people.
PWInsider reports that it’s believed Moose didn’t tear anything. Moose is a former National Football League (NFL) offensive lineman that has played for teams such as the Atlanta Falcons, New England Patriots, St. Louis Rams, and Indianapolis Colts. After six years in the NFL he then transitioned into a career in professional wrestling in 2012. Moose subsequently signed with Ring Of Honor in 2014 before departing for IMPACT Wrestling in 2016.
WWE Superstar Seth Rollins recently did an interview with the Amarillo Globe-News to discuss his rise in the professional wrestling industry. With WrestleMania 34 right around the corner “The Architect” was asked who he’d like to face off against at “The Show Of Shows.” Rollins noted he wants to be in the main event of the show, making himself the reason people are buying tickets, and would love to work with names such as Brock Lesnar or SmackDown Live’s WWE Champion AJ Styles:
“There are a ton of guys I’d love to work with at a WrestleMania. For me, I want to be in the main event of WrestleMania selling the tickets to that show. Whether it’s Brock Lesnar or AJ Styles. Either one of those guys I’d love to look toward being in the ring with when the time comes.”
Late last year WWE fans went nuts when the company decided to reunited The Shield. That reunion was short-lived, however, as Reigns contracted the mumps in a viral outbreak backstage; and soon after he was healthy again Dean Ambrose suffered an injury that sidelined him for several months. Rollins commented on how fans reacted to the initial reunion of The Shield:
“To see the scale in which people were excited about it was pretty cool. I wasn’t really anticipating how incredible it was. It was a nice experience and kind of surreal. It was just awesome to be out there with those guys again and get that reaction.”
Rollins is currently one-half of the RAW Tag Team Champions alongside Jason Jordan, and is one of WWE’s biggest stars. As for what match he thinks put him on the map in the company, Rollins points to his Triple Threat match against Brock Lesnar and John Cena at the Royal Rumble back in 2015:
“Yeah, I’d say so. It was my first opportunity to hang with the guys in the upper echelon. When you see what Brock has accomplished inside and outside of the ring. Then you look at John and everything he’s done. I was kind of the oddball in that pairing. The third wheel so to speak. I wanted to prove I could hold my own and I could be the guy to make that match what it was. I wanted to prove I could compete on that level with those guys. It was cool for me to have that moment. I felt I belonged.”
You can read Rollins’ full interview with Amarillo Globe-News by clicking this link here.
Last November WWE’s David Otunga was accused of domestic battery after accusations from his wife, Jennifer Hudson. Hudson claimed that Otunga got angry at her and grabbed their son by the hand before pushing her out of their bedroom. Hudson subsequently filed a report with police in Burr Ridge, Illinois. She then requested a temporary restraining order against Otunga which later sparked a custody battle between the pair over their son, David Jr.
Otunga later won that battle as he has been David Jr.’s primary caregiver since birth due to Hudson’s extensive travel schedule. Hudson also dropped her order of protection against Otunga voluntarily. TMZ now reports that Otunga will not be charged in the domestic battery case against him.
Last month on the WWE Network following an episode of Monday Night RAW the company debuted a new show entitled “Straight To The Source” with Corey Graves. Graves’ first guest was none other than current WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns. Reigns was asked about numerous topics surrounding his WWE career, but one statement “The Big Dog” made stood above everything else. Reigns claimed to be the “best performer in-ring in the world,” which of course sparked criticism from fans everywhere:
“You know I’m the best performer in-ring in the world right now. You can go to my matches and my pay-per-views over the last three years and you can say I’m an idiot or you can be like ‘man, he’s got a point’, you know what I mean?”
As for who most consider to be the best in-ring performer in the world today – New Japan Pro Wrestling star and current IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega is one of the names at the top of that list. In a recent interview with Bleacher Report, “The Cleaner” responded to Reigns’ claims last month and called them ‘ridiculous’:
“I don’t know if Roman was put up to saying a comment like that from a social media team or if it was something that he consciously thought of himself. But I thought it was pretty smart of him to do—to say—that, because it became instantaneously a topic that people were talking about. And just because it sounds so ridiculous. You know what I mean?
“By no means do I actually think he believes in those words. There’s no possible way. I don’t have to feel like I have to speak up about it. It is what it is, and I understand that it’s a fun thing for fans to generate interest in the product. I take absolutely zero offense in him saying it. Especially since it’s quite clear that the fact of the matter is much, much different.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74QIDIO5Pxw
You can read Omega’s interview with Bleacher Report by clicking here.
It looks like Mark Henry’s career as an active WWE Superstar has come to an end. Henry wrestled his last match at the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal last year, and only competed in three total matches in the year 2017. Per a report from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he has confirmed that the man formerly known as “Sexual Chocolate” is pretty much retired as an active WWE Superstar.
Henry is still under contract with WWE but is being advertised for a Northeast Wrestling event on March 2nd in Waterbury, Connecticut. The event will also feature Rey Mysterio, Emma, Flip Gordon, and Matt Riddle. It is a charity event and Henry will not be wrestling at the show, and is not looking for anymore bookings as of this writing.
The former standout powerlifter signed with WWE back in 1996 and is a former ECW Champion, WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and European Champion. He is also one of The Undertaker’s victims at WrestleMania, as “The Deadman” defeated Henry to extend his then-undefeated record at “The Show Of Shows” to 14-0 back in 2006. After over 20 years with the WWE Henry has established himself as one of the most respected veterans within the company.
Impact Wrestling’s 6-sided ring is no more. Impact returns to Universal Orlando tonight for the next round of TV tapings and already we have some significant changes to kick of 2018.
In addition to Impact Wrestling ditching the GFW neon green color scheme, the company has reverted to a traditional 4-sided ring.
It’s also worth noting that the ring apron features the logo of the Twitch streaming service. As of this writing, Impact has yet to announce a formal partnership with Twitch.
Check back later tonight for Impact Wrestling tapings results for the next few weeks.
Last month former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann was arrested for an incident that occurred between himself and his wife. Swann’s wife, Vannarah Riggs (aka Su Yung), competed at a FEST wrestling event earlier in the night and was being critiqued by Swann while riding together in a car. Things got heated and Riggs got out of the vehicle as it was still in motion. Swann stopped the car and chased Riggs down before forcing her back into the car via headlock.
Swann was subsequently arrested for the incident. In late December Swann’s wife posted a picture indicating that she and Swann had made-up:
“I can not wait to see my husband tomorrow! After such an awesome weekend of wrestling debuting in two different promotions across America nothing would be better than to see his face.”
We noted earlier today that Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, The New Day, Mark Henry, The Miz, Maryse, and WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels were in California for the Television Critics Association Winter Tour event. Stephanie McMahon and Triple H took the stage for a panel and were asked about Rich Swann’s WWE status. Here’s what they had to say:
Triple H:
“We are just waiting on legal,” Triple H said. “We have a zero tolerance policy on that, as you’ve seen, so he’s suspended until it is determined legally one way or the other.”
RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss took to Twitter during last night’s SmackDown Live to mention that Liv Morgan was wearing a similar hairstyle to her’s. Bliss’ best-friend, Nia Jax, responded to Bliss’ Tweet and told Bliss to let Morgan ‘have the scraps.’ Morgan responded to Bliss by pointing out the differences between her hairstyle and “Little Miss Bliss’,” before responding to Jax’s ‘scraps’ comment.
Morgan said that Jax is actually after her scraps. For those of you who don’t know, Enzo Amore and Morgan dated each other during their days in NXT. The couple split last September after Morgan noted that she’s now single and removed all pictures of Amore from her social media. Amore and Jax are now involved in a romantic storyline on Monday Night RAW.
Check out the full exchange here:
Pink pigtails … where have I seen that before ? ? #sdlive
While last year it may have seemed that The Undertaker had wrestled the final match of his professional wrestling career, that my no longer be the case. PWInsider reports that “The Deadman” was backstage at last night’s SmackDown Live taping from Birmingham, Alabama. It’s not known why Taker was backstage for the show, but it’s being speculated it was to go over plans for his big return to WWE TV.
Undertaker is set to return to WWE on the 25th Anniversary Monday Night RAW special in just two weeks’ time on January 22nd. The program will be the go-home show to the Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV) and it’s possible The Undertaker could begin the buildup to a possible WrestleMania 34 match with whoever his opponent may be.
It has been speculated that The Undertaker could possibly be working with John Cena at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans. Cena is said to be scheduled for a match that will be bigger than any of the title bouts on the WrestleMania card. With a very short list of names being able to make that possible, The Undertaker is the frontrunner when it comes to rumors regarding “The Leader Of The Cenation’s” WrestleMania opponent.
Discussion: Why do you think The Undertaker was backstage at last night’s SmackDown Live? And will he compete at WrestleMania 34? If so, against who?
Following his historic New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) match with Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 last week, Chris Jericho spoke to Inside The Ropes to discuss a several professional wrestling topics. During the interview, “Y2J” revealed who his original opponents were going to be for WrestleMania 33 and SummerSlam 2016.
Originally Jericho was supposed to take on Shinsuke Nakamura at “The Show Of Shows,” and it would serve as the Japanese star’s main roster call-up.
Those plans were of course changed later after Jericho and Kevin Owen’s storyline continued to develop. Jericho would lose his United States Title to “KO” at WrestleMania instead, while Nakamura made his main roster debut two days later on SmackDown Live by interrupting a Miz segment:
“After we went to Japan in June or July I remember coming back and talking to Vince, and I said you’ve got to bring this Nakamura guy up to the main roster. I wanna work with him. Let’s debut him at WrestleMania.
“I said I’ll stay until WrestleMania if I can work with Nakamura. Vince said okay. Then about a month later, I said that I actually think me and Kevin Owens could work at WrestleMania.”
Jericho also revealed that he was originally supposed to face Finn Balor at SummerSlam in 2016. “Y2J” pitched the idea after working with Balor at live events in Japan, but Vince McMahon later changed his mind. Jericho would instead team up with Kevin Owens to defeat the team of Enzo Amore and Big Cass, while Balor wound up becoming the first-ever Universal Champion in WWE history by defeating Seth Rollins.
– If you were watching SmackDown Live last night you probably noticed that three of the company’s biggest stars were missing – The New Day! Stephanie McMahon Tweeted out the following pictures; revealing that she, Triple H, The New Day, Mark Henry, The Miz, Maryse, and WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels were in California for the Television Critics Association Winter Tour event:
– WWE posted a video of former NXT Champion Drew McIntyre campaigning for why he deserves to win the NXT Male Competitor Of The Year award. The 2017 NXT Year-End Awards are set to be announced the same day of NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia on Royal Rumble weekend. The former Intercontinental Champion is currently sidelined with a bicep injury:
– Following Bayley and Sasha Banks’ tag team win over Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville on this past Monday’s episode of RAW, Bayley and Rose got into the following exchange on Twitter:
One win doesn’t make you something special and one loss won’t stop me. I’m not going anywhere, so consider yourself really, really lucky ?@SashaBanksWWE & @itsBayleyWWE#RAW#Absolution
– As we’ve noted, The Miz will rematch Roman Reigns for the Intercontinental Championship at RAW’s 25th Anniversary Show on January 22nd. The Miz closed out this past Monday’s episode of RAW by attacking Roman Reigns with The Miztourage. The assault didn’t stop there, however, as The Miz took to Twitter today to taunt “The Big Dog” even further:
– On last night’s episode of SmackDown Live Ruby Riott suffered a loss to Becky Lynch in singles competition. WWE posted the following video in which Riott challenges Lynch, Naomi, and SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair to a Six-Woman Tag match against The Riott Squad:
– Just days after attacking Jessie Elaban at the WWE Performance Center, Shayna Baszler is causing more havoc in Orlando. WWE NXT posted a video of Dakota Kai getting interviewed in which she’s discussing Baszler’s NXT debut tomorrow, before the camera catches Baszler interrupting yet another training session. She then has a brief confrontation with NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon. Check it out:
– Nia Jax Tweeted the following about entering the Women’s Royal Rumble match later this month:
Strong women make strong statements. My goals are clear: Win the #RoyalRumble match, main event @WrestleMania, and win the #Raw Women’s Championship and no woman, no man, NOBODY will stop me. #RumbleForAll
SmackDown Live Superstar Naomi recently did an interview with TV Insider to discuss several professional wrestling topics. Naomi has really flourished as a singles competitor since establishing her ‘Glow’ character, which is one of the best entrances in the WWE today. Naomi discussed how she was able to develop her character:
“I think that is why I struggled in the beginning, because I feel like I was put in storylines that weren’t me. I did the heel stuff. When I first came to NXT, I was wearing the neon stuff. Then I got away from it and ended up being a Funkadactyl dancer, which was awesome. Then I ended up being with Tamina and Team B.A.D. Then I was with the Usos for a little while. I just felt like I needed an opportunity to be on my own.
“I knew that once I got that moment the ‘Glow’ was what I wanted to do. That’s who I was. I really believe in the ‘Glow’ and live my life that way. It’s about being positive inside and out, and being the best version of yourself possible. I really wanted to incorporate that into wrestling. That was my way of doing it.”
After she split up from Team B.A.D. in May of 2016 Naomi revealed she had several talks with Vince McMahon about trying to get her new character off the ground as WWE wasn’t doing much with her at the time:
“I went and had one of the many talks with Vince [McMahon]. I went to him with the idea and he was like, ‘Well, we will give it a try.’ It was an at a point where they weren’t doing anything with me. Thanks to Vince and Triple H and Road Dogg, they really helped me get everything off the ground. It was rough trying to get the gear, trying to get the lighting. I just had to stay on them on that, because this is a machine. There is so much going on each day.”
The former SmackDown Live Women’s Champion also explained the difficulties of getting the character right for television, as it wasn’t working out too well during its initial test runs:
“We couldn’t get it to translate right on TV. It looked cool. It glowed in person, but for some reason on TV, the glow in the dark fabric wouldn’t translate on TV. I literally had to charge it backstage with the bright lights. Let it charge and go out. It was just too much. It wasn’t going to work. Then we ended up doing the UV reactive stuff, which is where we are now. All of my gear has to be certain fabric that glows. Not all neon things glow. That was tricky, too.
“I would find all this stuff off of rave sites and trying everything. I would get to TV and the stuff wouldn’t glow. I got it down now. I have a closet, a whole room of glow stuff that never made it on TV yet or didn’t work. Money I’ve spent on all this stuff.”
The first-ever all-female Royal Rumble match is just on the horizon and will take place at the end of this month. Naomi said that she expected it to happen all along and is excited to be a part of the opportunity:
“I knew a women’s Royal Rumble would happen eventually, but nobody was sure. We speculated about it in the locker room, we were all so excited. I was watching Raw, and we were all so ecstatic when it was announced. We all go on the phone texting each other and calling each other. It’s very fulfilling.
“I feel like all the hard work for decades the women have been putting in is why we are here in this moment and getting that opportunity. Just us delivering on the prior opportunities that have been given rewarded us with this first Royal Rumble match. Everyone is so happy and proud about it.
“I’m excited about what women who are coming in there. The surprises. That’s going to be so awesome. I’d like Kharma to come back. I would love to see Beth Phoenix, Melina. I am a huge fan of Melina. Trish Stratus, Lita, Victoria, Molly Holly. The list goes on and one. If we get any of those, I’ll be happy.”
You can read Naomi’s full interview with TV Insider by clicking this link here.
– On last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore retained his title against Cedric Alexander despite losing the match via count-out. Amore suffered an injury during the match above his eye that made him bleed profusely throughout the bout. WWE posted the following video of Amore receiving stitches after the show:
– In one of the best spots on Monday Night RAW in recent memory, last night Braun Strowman brought down a huge metal structure on top of Kane and Braun Strowman backstage after laying waste to the pair in a brawl. The trio are set to meet in a Triple Threat match for the Universal Title at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV) later this month.
After the segment Brock Lesnar was taken to the hospital on a stretcher while Kane limped away from the carnage on his own power. WWE posted the following update on Lesnar and Kane:
Medical update on Brock Lesnar and Kane following Braun Strowman’s attack
After Braun Strowman used a grappling hook to tear down a lighting truss and send it crashing down on Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and Kane, WWE.com can confirm that Lesnar is undergoing examination by WWE medical personnel.
Kane, meanwhile, refused medical attention.
It is unknown how this incident will affect the Universal Championship Triple Threat Match at Royal Rumble involving all three Superstars.
Stay with WWE.com as more information becomes available.
