The Miz will have to defend his newly won WWE Championship next week on Monday Night Raw already as he’s set to face Bobby Lashley in a title match.
On this weeks’s episode of Raw, The Miz, with John Morrison celebrated his successful Money in the Bank cash-in on Drew McIntyre at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event on Sunday. However, the celebrations soon came to a halt as Bobby Lashley and MVP of The Hurt Business interrupted and reminded The Miz of the deal that they struck backstage prior to the cash-in. It was revealed that according to the deal, Lashley would get a title shot against Miz if the former assisted the latter by weakening McIntyre.
Miz said that he needed some more time to make the decision and Lashley gave him an hour to decide. However, he still couldn’t reach a decision and begged for more time. This led to Braun Strowman and Shane McMahon coming out. Strowman was not happy that he was left out of the Elimination Chamber match.
Shane McMahon set a matchup between Strowman and Lashley, with the stipulation that if Strowman won, he would be added to the Miz vs. Lashley title match. Lashley would go on to win the match, however, by kicking out of Strowman’s running powerslam and hitting him with a spear for a successful pinfall victory. After the match, Lashley put Strowman in the Hurt Lock and beat down the Miz with a spear.
Bobby Lashley then held up the WWE Championship as the show ended.
The Miz shocked wrestling fans on Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event by cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on Drew McIntyre and walking out of the show as the new WWE Champion.
The Miz didn’t do it on his own, however, as he had some extra help from The Hurt Business’ Bobby Lashley. After Drew McIntyre successfully defended his title in the Elimination Chamber match, Lashley came out to the ring and battered McIntyre and left him beaten down, for The Miz to swoop in and cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase.
By becoming WWE Champion for the second time, The Miz has actually created history and set a special record. By winning the title at Sunday, The Miz has become the first 2-time WWE Grand Slam Champion.
The distinction of Grand Slam Champion is given to a wrestler who is able to win a primary championship — either the WWE Championship or the Universal title, two secondary championship wins which includes the Intercontinental Championship and the United States Championship, and either brand’s Tag Team Championship.
So far, The Miz is the only competitor who has been able to achieve the feat of winning all the titles twice in a cycle — making him the first 2-time WWE Grand Slam Champion.
Speaking on his title win after the event, The Miz said, “Understand that I told you so, whenever someone says I wasn’t thinking on their level, I am a master strategist, I think further than anybody else in all of WWE.
I didn’t just take respect, I demanded it through all the WWE Universe, and I couldn’t care less if everybody’s on the internet going, ‘No, Miz doesn’t deserve it, oh Miz shouldn’t be WWE Champion!’”
The Miz won the WWE Championship back in 2010, and that time too he won the title by cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase against Randy Orton.
Bobby Lashley revealed the reasoning behind his actions on Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event where he viciously attacked Drew McIntyre after his match.
Drew McIntyre emerged the winner at Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber show, surviving in the hellish structure and coming out of it as the triumphant winner. The celebrations of victory were suddenly put on hold, however, as Bobby Lashley came out and hit McIntyre with a spear. Lashley issued a proper beatdown on McIntyre as suddenly The Miz’s came out to the ring with along with his Money in the Bank briefcase.
By this time, Lashley was already done attacking McIntyre, and was out of the ring. As The Miz approached towards the ringside, the two exchanged looks before the former WWE Champion made his way inside the ring.
Prior to The Miz cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase and winning the WWE Championship, he was seen backstage talking to the MVP in a backstage segment earlier during the show. While they were talking about wasn’t audible, it’s being speculated that The Miz struck a deal with The Hurt Business to weaken Drew McIntyre so he could cash in his briefcase.
This could mean that The Miz would let Bobby Lashley take a shot at his title as part of the deal. It would be interesting to see how the story goes on from here – whether the angle will be played out at the upcoming Fastlane event or it would go to till WrestleMania.
Bobby Lashley, who is the CEO of his faction The Hurt Business, have become a formidable force in WWE since their formation last year. The group has found championship success in that the United States Championship as well as the Raw Tag Team Championships are under The Hurt Business’ hold.
The Hurt Business gets often compared to the Nation of Domination, but Bobby Lashley does not share the same opinion. He dismissed any comparisons between the two factions in a recent interview with Sporting News. Lashley explained that they wanted to represent African-American men in a way that hasn’t been done before:
“My first thought was ‘Thank you!’ But that’s not who we were. Because you see a group of Black guys, some people immediately associate them with another group of Black guys,” Bobby Lashley said. “I love what The Nation did, but that’s not what we’re about at all. But we are totally different. It’s not about black and white; we are about green and gold. We are thugs in suits because we have a hardcore style, but want to look good doing it. We wanted to show a different representation of Black men because we haven’t seen that. We are four professional Black men who can mess you up. That’s what we’re all about.”
With leader MVP and CEO Bobby Lashley, along with members Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin, The Hurt Business does not seem like they’re looking to advance. Back in October, Titus O’Neil requested to join the group, but was rejected and brutally assaulted by the group. Since then, however, Bobby Lashley has shown interest in a member of the roster that according to him could make a good addition to the group.
Bobby Lashley has said that Keith Lee is a star who is ready to breakout and the Hurt Business would propel him to the next level. Lashley stated, “He has been going out there and doing everything he has to do. I think he’s the kind of person who might need a little Hurt Business in his life to take him to that next level. He is ready to breakout, as are others.”
Sami Zayn did something that was unexpected live on WWE TV just days after All Elite Wrestling held their first pay-per-view Double or Nothing event back in 2019.
He name-dropped AEW during a segment on Monday Night Raw, which would be the first time the rival promotion’s name was mentioned on WWE programming.
The first and unfortunately the only edition of the Electric Chair segment saw Sami Zayn taking unfiltered questions from members of the audience and answering them while sitting on an apparently real electric chair. The segment aired on the May 27, 2019 episode of Raw, just two days after Double or Nothing.
Sami Zayn recalled the segment in an interview with Sportskeeda, stating that he anticipated that questions about the AEW would be submitted by the audience as the debut of the promotion was topical at the time, but to his surprise nobody went for the low-hanging fruit.
“So it was right on everybody’s mind. It was super, super fresh and I think they had just announced this TV deal. They had just announced that this wasn’t just going to be a pay-per-view. This is going to be a competitor and all this sort of stuff. And they tell me that we’re doing this segment where it’s legitimately, you know, unplanned questions and anybody could ask anything. So at the time this was the number one topic in the wrestling world. So you kind of expected to be asked about it,” Sami Zayn said.
Zayn revealed that the idea behind the Electric Chair segment was that it was supposed to an unscripted and unpredictable segment. Seeing the questions he got, Zayn felt that it doesn’t have the risky vibes that was the point of the experimental segment. So instead, he took it upon himself to mention AEW on the otherwise lifeless segment.
“As I was out there, I was like, this doesn’t have these vibes, these questions are too sterile. So I felt like it was upon me, it was incumbent upon me, to sort of make it controversial. And the fact that we’re talking about it now, all this time later, you know I hate to say I was right, but I kind of think I was right to do it,” Sami Zayn explained.
While Sami Zayn was able to elicit a reaction of shock by viewers, it wasn’t so favorable for him backstage and the Electric Chair segment was nixed just after its debut.
AEW has announced that a special featuring the women’s title eliminator tournament match will be broadcasted on Bleacher Report for free.
President Tony Khan announced that the match between Thunder Rosa and Riho as part of the US semi-finals will air for free on Sunday, February 28. Khan tweeted, “The #AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Tournament USA semifinal bout featuring former AEW Women’s World Champion Riho vs. former NWA Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa streams on Bleacher Report on February 28th on a free Sunday Special, one week before Revolution PPV!”
It should be noted that Bleacher Report is available worldwide as opposed to BR Live, which is the only available in the US. Khan noted that streaming on Bleacher Report will provide great exposure of AEW to non-fans via Bleacher Report’s 9.4 million Twitter followers along with 14.8 million Instagram followers.
Thunder Rosa won against Leyla Hirsch in the US quarterfinal round on the February 10 edition of AEW Dynamite, while Riho defeated Serena Deeb on last week’s episode. Four matches from the Japanese bracket have been aired on YouTube.
Four more matches will be broadcasted via YouTube on Monday, February 22: Tay Conti vs. Nyla Rose and Dr. Britt Baker vs. Anna Jay of the US bracket, along with Yuka Sakazaki vs. Emi Sakura and Ryo Mizunami vs. Aja Kong of the Japanese bracket.
The winners from the remaining US quarterfinals will face each other on the February 24 episode of Dynamite. The emerging winner will then face the winner of the Thunder Rosa vs. Riho match on March 1. Finally, the finalists from the US and Japan brackets will have a match on the March 3 episode of Dynamite. The winner will get to face Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship on March 7 at the Revolution PPV.
Sami Zayn recalled that he accidentally hit two WWE Hall of Famers with his Helluva kick, describing one of those incidents where he hit so hard that he could feel the skull of his opponent through his feet.
The Helluva Kick is Sami Zayn’s finisher move, and while it looks dangerous, is harmless enough if executed properly. Such a move is best left to be performed by a professional like Sami Zayn, but even he is prone to occasional mistakes. And mistakes against two legendary WWE Hall of Famers, no less.
Sami Zayn revealed in a recent interview that when he was wrestling X-Pac at CHIKARA King of Trios 2011, he made a mistake and hit X-Pac in the face a bit too hard with his finishing kick.
In an interview with Fox Sports, Sami Zayn was asked when was the best Helluva Kick he’s ever delivered. While Zayn stated that he doesn’t remember when he executed the move best, he does remember a couple of times when he botched it.
“Best? I don’t know how to say best, but there’s a couple of guys that I really smoked with that kick and they’re the last guys you would ever wanna smoke that badly,” Zayn said. “And one of them was the 1-2-3 Kid, X-Pac — Sean Waltman. I wrestled him on an independent (sic) in 2011, and again, I was so excited about this match. I have so much respect for this guy, a genuine trailblazer, deserves both Hall of Fame rings, if not a third one for his individual contributions to the business.
“I’m in the ring with him and we’re having this match, and I guess I just- I don’t know, maybe I ran too fast, I don’t know what was going on, but I absolutely obliterated him. Obliterated him to the point where I could feel his skull through my foot — it’s very hard to explain. Upon contact I was like, ‘Oh, that was so much harder than I wanted to do that. That’s too much,’” Zayn recalled/
Sami Zayn then revealed the other name that he absolutely “smoked” with his foot on the face — Jushin “Thunder” Liger.
“And the other one, another legend, is Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger. Wrestled him in Los Angeles in, maybe, 2009-10? Same thing. The last guy you’d ever want to hurt, and again — must’ve had a little too much momentum. Absolutely obliterated him,” Sami Zayn concluded.
Otis and Apollo Crews went through a change in their characters on tonight’s SmackDown as both of them embraced their negative sides.
A match was set between Shinsuke Nakamura and Apollo Crews during SmackDown, with Intercontinental Champion Big E joining commentary for the match.
While the match was underway, Big E derided Apollo Crews and told him that it was time to move on and fight someone like Nakamura instead. This only made things worse as Crews lost to Nakamura and resorted to causing chaos and uncalled-for violence.
After being rolled up for a successful pinfall by Nakamura, Crews attacked him from behind while he was celebrating and threw him out of the ring. Crews launched Nakamura to the barricade and went to mouth off to Big E. Crews then grabbed the steel steps, but Big E got in the way and told him to put it down and walk away.
Crews complied and put them down, with Big E going to check on Nakamura – only for Crews to pick them up again and slam them in Big E’s back, effectively knocking him down. He then threw the steps and Big E inside the ring, but a referee interfered in time, allowing E to roll out of harm’s way.
The referee asked Crews to throw the steps down – which he did – but they landed on Big E. He was then stretchered out of the ThunderDome.
Apollo Crews’ full heel turn was definitely around the corner, and now it has finally arrived. It’d be interesting to see if Crews could join hands with Roman Reigns now that he’s on the “other” side.
Apollo Crews is not the only heel turn of the night though, as Otis surprised everyone by knocking out Rey Mysterio during a tag team match.
During the match between Otis and Chad Gable vs Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio, Alpha Academy, however, wanted to unfold chaos in the ring. For some reason, Gable argued and ordered Otis to deliver a splash from the top turnbuckle on Rey Mysterio, who was already down.
The referee then called for the bell, as Otis apparently didn’t pay any heed to the official’s count of five. Gable instructed Otis to hit another splash on Rey, after which Otis proceeded to pose in the ring. Dominik helped Rey backstage as he was knocked out and wasn’t moving.
Seth Rollins came out to the ring on tonight’s Friday Night SmackDown where he talked about disrespect he received with his fellow members of the SmackDown roster walking out of his speech last week.
Seth Rollins described it as a “tragedy” when he was walked out on. Last week, Rollins returned to WWE television for the first time since last November, as he was on paternity leave. All members of the SmackDown roster gathered at ringside for Seth Rollins’ return, only to walk out when Rollins started going on about being a savior. According to him, he felt incredibly disrespected after being abandoned by everyone last week.
Seth Rollins also claimed that he was traumatized by the treatment he received from everyone. He then revealed that he has a letter drafted by his lawyers, to file a formal complaint against everyone to the WWE management, adding that legal action is pending. He said that he planned for his big return for months only for it to be ruined.
Citing his working conditions as “untenable”, Rollins asked the WWE management to sanction the locker room for shunning his message.
The letter was first posted on Seth Rollins’ Twitter account, just a few moments before he made his way out to the ring on SmackDown.
Here is the letter that Seth Rollins sent:
“TO: WWE Management RE: Flagrant Disrespect and Egregious Conduct
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to you to formally express my sincere disappointment and anger in the dishonorable actions of the SmackDown locker room and treatment by this company with regards to my greatly anticipated return last Friday, February 12th.
At the behest of this very office, desperate for a true leader and star of my magnitude to help lead SmackDown to new heights, I agreed to return from my personal leave and sacrificed precious moments with my loved ones. I spent considerable time and energy planning this moment that should have been a triumph, an exaltation of a multi-time World champion. Instead, I was met with an embarrassing farce.
The disregard and disrespect shown by the SmackDown superstars for shunning my inspiring message must be addressed. While I intend to deal with these patronizing, ungrateful so-called Superstars in my own time, I expect the full force of this office to swiftly and forcefully reprimand those who refused to embrace my vision.
I await your response and best efforts to make amends for this incident.
Bobby Lashley says he wants Keith Lee in his Hurt Business faction. Lashley thinks Lee is a star who is ready to breakout and the Hurt Business would propel him to the next level.
While speaking to TV Insider, WWE’s reigning United States Champion was asked if he sees any similarities between himself and Keith Lee.
“Now that you say that, I kind of do,” Lashley said about seeing some of his own characteristics in Keith Lee. “When I first came in, I was a major player. Then I hovered. At certain times I faced John Cena, Booker T. and JBL, but I never broke through to get that world title. Keith has earned respect from a lot of people.”
Lashley added, “He has been going out there and doing everything he has to do. I think he’s the kind of person who might need a little Hurt Business in his life to take him to that next level. He is ready to breakout, as are others.”
Keith Lee was added to the main roster in 2020 after a great stint in NXT, where he won the NXT Championship and also the North American Championship.
Since The Hurt Business has seen some tension amongst the members, Bobby Lashley was asked if there is a possibility the group might disband.
“No. Sometimes when we disagree, it’s just being brothers — you have little spats. There’s no chance we’re breaking up.”
Meanwhile, Bobby Lashley will defend his United States title against Keith Lee himself and Matt Riddle in a triple-threat match at the Elimination Chamber event this Sunday. He defeated Apollo Crews at Payback last year to win the title for the second time in his career.
Kiera Hogan recently took an indirect shot at Sasha Banks during SmackDown, where she called out The Boss for copying her look and attire.
The Impact Wrestling star took to Twitter and posted the following about the supposed similarities between her and the SmackDown Women’s Champion’s attire and entrance, along with a GIF of herself: “Imma leave this here, Check my fit though ? often imitated never duplicated and that’s on periodt ? you can’t do it like me boo #HottestFlame.”
“‘If you want it come and get though! Make sure you want it for I give it though” and that’s on PERIODT POOH ? #HottestFlame #BlueFlame #FirenFlava.”
Imma leave this here, Check my fit though ? often imitated never duplicated and that’s on periodt ? you can’t do it like me boo #HottestFlamepic.twitter.com/mxD4G6QDmc
The one half of the current Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champion didn’t name The Boss of course, but fans were quick to figure out who she was talking about.
Even though it’s true that the style seems a bit similar, with Sasha Banks sporting blue colored hair and dressing in all black for her promo, it is most likely just a coincidence as she has been using attires similar to this one for a while now.
Sasha Banks hasn’t responded to the post, most likely because her username wasn’t mentioned directly and both the wrestlers are separated by companies.
However, many of Banks’ fans were quick to defend her and flooded Kiera Hogan’s Twitter mentions. When she started getting Banks’ fans in her replies she posted a reaction GIF of a person laughing with the caption, “Insecure?! Y’all got me…”
Hogan seemed pretty unbothered by all the attention, however, as she snapped back by posting, “Y’all profile pictures aren’t even pictures of you! Outta here! Big mad! Be true to you boo and stop worrying about me”
Y’all profile pictures aren’t even pictures of you! Outta here! Big mad! ?? Be true to you boo and stop worrying about me ?
This begs the question: will we get to see the two of them in the ring anytime soon? Probably not, as Kiera Hogan is under a multi-year contract with Impact Wrestling at the moment. But it will surely be interesting to see both the blue-haired stars have a go at it.
Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time Hogan has said someone has stolen her style. Back in 2018, in an interview, she claimed that Ember Moon stole her gimmick when the two were at a WWE tryout together in 2015.
Edge made his return on last week’s Royal Rumble match and after a seven month absence as the #1 entrant and won the match by eliminating Randy Orton. This would mark the second time Edge would win the Royal Rumble and the only star to win the match after being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Apart from Edge, we got another surprise in the form of a returning Christian, who entered the Royal Rumble match at #24. During the match, we saw a brief reunion of Edge and Christian before the latter got eliminated by Seth Rollins after lasting over 18 minutes.
As big of a moment as it was to see Edge return and get the chance to challenge a champion of his choice at WrestleMania 37, it was equally touching to see Edge and Christian embrace in the ring. Speaking on Christian’s return, Edge said that he was one of the few who had knowledge of his friend’s return.
“I was one of the few that was privy to the fact that he got cleared a few months ago. We didn’t know he was going to be in the Rumble until Friday, though,” Edge told Sporting News. “I was in the midst of driving down to his house from North Carolina to stay for the weekend. And then we found out and we’re like “OK, well, we’ll drive over to the rumble together then.”
Edge: “We Didn’t Think We’d Ever Be Back”
Edge also said that even though he already knew it was going to happen, seeing Christian walk down the ramp towards the ring was a surreal moment for him. When asked if either of them thought they would get to see this moment.
“Nope. We didn’t think we’d ever be back, period,” said Edge. “And I think that’s what was going through my mind. Even though I knew it was going to happen, still, to see him walking down there, and for me to have been in the ring by that point for like 35 minutes, I just had to take a second.”
Edge added that it wasn’t just his character who was reacting to the moment. It was real. Fans saw a genuine moment when Edge saw Christian walking to the ring. In his words, the fans witnessed “something that he was never supposed to do again.”
Edge also talked about the time when he got injured as he suffered a torn tricep on Backlash back in June 2020. He said that he can usually gauge when he could return to the ring, and he expected himself to be ready to be back for the Royal Rumble.
Sasha Banks has been named as the honorary starter for NASCAR’s 63rd Daytona 500 racing event, which means she will wave the green flag on February 14 to start the Great American Race.
Sasha Banks is the latest addition to the list of top names who have appeared at NASCAR Daytona 500. Last week, American rapper Pitbull, who is also the co-owner of NASCAR Cup Series team Trackhouse Racing, was named as the grand marshal for the event. A grand marshal’s job is to wave flags throughout the track to inform the drivers about the conditions on the track and drivers’ situations during the event.
Reacting to the news, Sasha Banks said that she would be making history by appearing on the most-watched auto racing events of the year.
“You have to think about that,” Sasha said in a video released by WWE. “That’s history. Legit history. And to be honest, I don’t know much about racecars, but I do know I love to drive fast, okay? And I am the Legit Boss and I am going to bring my ‘bossness’ to it. So I cannot wait to wave that flag like the standard that I am. You know what I am saying?”
It was also mentioned that Sasha is following in the footsteps of the likes of George H. W. Bush and fellow WWE star John Cena, among others. To this Sasha said that she’s not surprised she’s included in this list of huge names. “I mean, I am Sasha Banks. I mean, I can’t be surprised. I am so excited, I cannot wait. […] I am so excited to be among the list of so many incredible, amazing men and women… but Sasha Banks? I mean, who else, right?”
Sasha Banks came out as the winner of the SmackDown Women’s Championship match at Hell in a Cell and a feud with Carmella with the two meeting in the ring most recently at the Royal Rumble. Banks is expected to defend her title against Bianca Belair, the winner of the Women’s Royal Rumble at WrestleMania 37.
Zelina Vega is no longer working with WWE as the company announced on Friday, November 13, that she has been released from her contract.
Before WWE’s announcement of Vega’s departure, she sent out an interesting tweet about her support for unionization. Only ten minutes after posting her message, WWE’s announcement was released.
After the news of her departure, Vega received support from the President of SAG-AFTRA labor union, Gabrielle Carteris on Twitter.
SAG-AFTRA (The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) is a labor union that represents approximately 160,000 professionals working in different fields of film and television.
The President of the union Carteris thanked Vega for standing up against WWE’s edict and said that she supported her. She also shared her email address with Vega.
Hey @Zelina_VegaWWE Thanks for standing strong for labor solidarity. I support you. Please email me PresidentCarteris@sagaftra.org https://t.co/tYEiiFhB9S
It was reported earlier that several talents on the roster had a meeting with Vince McMahon regarding the Twitch ban but they were unable to persuade him to change his stance. Several Twitch accounts belonging to names like AJ Styles, Mia Yim, Aleister Black and Zelina Vega shut down in October after WWE passed the edict to shut down third-party activities on platforms like Twitch and Cameo.
Mojo Rawley has been officially moved to the SmackDown roster.
Rawley was previously signed to the Raw brand, and he recently appeared on SmackDown with his friend Rob Gronkowski, who is going to be the host of WrestleMania 36 on April 4.
Mojo Rawley was moved to the SmackDown section of the roster on WWE’s website. He was drafted by Raw back in October 2019 on the second night of the supplemental draft.
He then appeared on two episodes of SmackDown and even served as a special guest commentator. He also was in a segment where he abused Michael Cole, this was the same night when it was confirmed that Gronkowski is headed to WWE. On the March 20 episode of SmackDown, Rawley welcomed Gronkowski to the WWE.
Gronkowski and Mojo teamed up with Elias and took out King Baron Corbin on the episode. Gronkowski then went on to announce a match between Elias and Corbin for WrestleMania 36.
Mojo might be involved with Gronk’s storylines from here on out. It was reported that Gronk signed a deal with WWE where we could see him compete in matches in the future. We could see Mojo be involved in these matches.
Mojo has said that he would like to have a match with Gronkowski at SummerSlam in August. It would be interesting to see if it actually comes to fruition.
Sonya Deville recently did an interview with Digital Spy, where she discussed a number of topics from LGBTQ+ representation in WWE to the storyline involving Mandy Rose and Otis from Heavy Machinery.
She shared her thoughts on the storyline saying that she had a lot of fun with it. She also highlighted that it was fun to see Otis play his part as he really is as much cheerful in real life as he is on TV.
“It’s been incredible. It’s been so much fun to be a part of,” Sonya said. “People just love Otis and I think it’s just because he’s just so unapologetically himself and he’s always so happy. I think he’s very relatable in a sense and Mandy and I have just had such a good time being part of the storyline for sure. It’s been probably the most fun storyline I’ve ever been a part of in WWE.”
Sonya also talked about whether WWE could pull off LGBTQ storylines. She said that she definitely knows that the company has the right access to people that could help them write a storyline like that and that she would love to be included in writing or planning something like that in the future.
The storyline between Mandy Rose and Otis has been regarded as one of the most entertaining ones on recent WWE television. Mandy Rose has said in an interview that she never thought her angle with Otis would be as popular as it has gotten. She has said that Otis has always been joking around with her since their NXT days and she never expected that it would become such a well-received storyline from fans.
Lance Archer was announced to be signed with All Elite Wrestling on February 26. The former New Japan pro-Wrestling star was supposed to make his in-ring debut for the company on the March 4 episode of AEW: Dynamite, but the plans were nixed and WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts was debuted on the show instead.
Lance Archer was revealed as the client of Jake Roberts on the March 11 episode of the show, a week later after Jake Robert’s debut.
On this week’s episode of Dynamite, Cody defeated Jimmy Havoc in the opening match of the night. After the match, Jake Roberts appeared on the titantron and told him that The Murderhawk was chomping at the bit to get in the ring and asked Cody to give Archer a chance.
Later on the night, Cody was on commentary where he made the announcement that Archer will make his in-ring debut on next week’s episode of the show. There is no word as of this writing on who will be facing. However, Dustin Rhodes seems to be eager to be in the ring with him as seen by his comments on Twitter.
On the news of Archer’s upcoming in-ring debut, Dustin tweeted, “Jake, you don’t want none of the #Rhodes fam!! You and your #ChickenHawk @LanceHoyt!!” To which Archer replied, “You’ll learn!”
Archer will finally make his in-ring debut for the company on the next week’s episode of Dynamite.
In 2019, Archer had a great run in NJPW with his impressive performances he showcased in the G1 Climax tournament. He also went on to win the IWGP United States Championship. Archer also worked in the WWE from 2009 to 2010 where he appeared on the ECW and SmackDown brands under the ring name of Vance Archer.
This Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite episode highlighted a segment featuring “The Exalted One” Brodie Lee with his fellow members of The Dark Order – Alex Reynolds and John Silver.
The much-discussed-vignette saw Brodie Lee have a steak dinner with Alex Reynolds and John Silver where he chided them for depending on their strength in numbers. He told them to get with the program in regards to what direction The Dark Order is heading in. While Lee was busy chastising, Silver tried to eat his steak before Lee finished his meal which angered him. He threw him out of the room.
After this happened, Alex Reynolds sneezed, which disturbed Lee very much, to the point where he kicked him out as well.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that the entire segment was made to rib on Vince McMahon, and it didn’t sit too well with the company.
The part where Lee gets angry at Silver for eating his food before he finished his own meal is a reference to Vince getting upset whilst having a meal at Morton’s Steakhouse because he wanted to be the first to eat. Vince is also known to dislike sneezing a lot, and he gets very mad when someone around him sneezes.
Meltzer noted that people in the company were very upset with this segment by AEW.
This is just another segment by Lee needling Vince McMahon – as during last week Lee had said the following about his former boss: “You’re not the first out-of-touch old man to not believe in me. But I will make damn sure you are the last.”
You can watch the segment below:
What would you give to have dinner with The Exalted One @ThisBrodieLee..?
Bobby Lashley was not present on the March 16 episode of WWE Raw – which led him to miss out on building up his WrestleMania 36 match against Aleister Black – due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bobby Lashley was supposed to appear on the episode of Raw to take part in some form to start the build for his match against Aleister Black.
The reason why Lashley was in South Africa is that he had to be there to do promotional work for a tour that WWE was planning to do in the country beginning from April 29 to May 2. The tour has now moved to September because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Since Lashley traveled outside of the country, he had to be quarantined when he returned to the United States.
Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley is still set for WrestleMania 36 as the match was announced on Monday night, to no build whatsoever. Lashley didn’t appear on this week’s Raw too seemingly due to being in quarantine.
The Observer also noted that Lana was available earlier than expected since she was supposed to be filming for the action and science fiction movie starring Bruce Willis, Cosmic Sin – but all work has halted in Hollywood due to the coronavirus pandemic meaning she was available to work with WWE. It is believed that the company decided to move forward with Lashley vs. Black due to her availability.
Besides Lashley, other WWE stars that are put into quarantine and are not permitted to perform at the Performance Center are Rey Mysterio and Dana Brooke. Daniel Bryan is also self-quarantining after returning home from taping WrestleMania.
Eric Bischoff has not taken lightly to the All Elite Wrestling’s president Tony Khan’s comments. Khan had recently told the Financial Times that he plans to run the company in a different way than Eric Bischoff ran World Championship Wrestling when he was the president.
This statement didn’t sit too well with Bischoff, who has responded back to Khan on a recent episode of his podcast, 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff.
Back in late February, Bischoff said that he AEW had a long way to go to even reach WCW’s success. Bischoff said that Khan has not been in the wrestling industry for years like him, and he isn’t sure that Khan would be able to change the wrestling industry.
“Call me in a couple of years and let me know how you’ve changed the industry. Call me in a couple of years when your show is one of the top, if not the top original piece of programming on the TNT network,” Bischoff said. “Call me in a couple of years when you’re number two, number three, number four in all of the cable programming for the night in primetime, and then let’s talk about it. But until then, hmm, I’ll just have another cup of coffee and see what happens.”
After this scathing statement, Bischoff just couldn’t let go and talked about the matter again on the next episode of his podcast which aired last week. Bischoff stated that WWE wouldn’t have been the company that it is today if not for the pressure, the influence, and the template that Bischoff thinks WCW created that made the whole industry competitive and took things to the next level.
Bischoff said that Tony is doing what he did, such as using pay-per-view event names similar to WCW’s, a “low budget Nitro,” paying huge amounts of money to stars that they have never been paid before, etc.
Bischoff said, “You’re still seeing the impact of early Nitro across the board including in AEW as much as they try to suggest, as Tony Khan did recently, that we’re gonna do everything different than Eric Bischoff did. Well, guess what m-fer? You’re doing about as much as I did than anyone else in the industry.”
Bischoff continued by explaining that many of WCW Nitro’s innovations are being employed by WWE and AEW to this day.
“I’m not defensive about that. I think it’s just a fact when you look at things objectively. The things we did on Nitro [are what] you’re still seeing today. They’re things that change the nature, the landscape [and] the entire industry, and I think it’s even fairer to say, now that I’m into my third Starbucks, WWE wouldn’t be the company that it is today had it not been for the pressure, the influence and quite frankly the template we created that they were able to follow and take to the next level, so there I’m off my soapbox. Sorry.”
You can listen to a clip of Eric Bischoff talking about Tony Khan and WCW’s influence on AEW/WWE below:
XFL was no exception to the sporting world’s ravagement by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Pretty much every professional and top collegiate organization has shut down its activities during the outbreak for the foreseeable future.
Vince McMahon’s football league began play in late winter 2020. On March 12, 2020, the league had to cancel the remainder of its regular season games due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The teams got to play five games only, but the players will be paid their base salary for the rest of the season according to an announcement by XFL. Ticket holders will be given refunds or credit that they can redeem for attending future games.
The company has also announced that players who receive a “credible contractual offer” from the NFL (National Football League) or the CFL (Canadian Football League) would be allowed to sign with those teams, and if the offer is submitted to the XFL. There’s a clause to this, however, and that being that the players would be required to return to their XFL squads if the league could hold its own championship games.
Originally, XFL contracts said that the players could not sign with NFL teams until after the XFL playoffs are over.
“The XFL is committed to playing a full season in 2021 and future years,” the league said in a statement.
Booker T is of the opinion that the former President of World Championship Wrestling Eric Bischoff doesn’t deserve to be inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame.
Speaking on the Hall of Fame podcast on ESPN, Booker T said that while he doesn’t really have a bad thing to say about Eric Bischoff he, just thinks that Bischoff doesn’t deserve to be inducted into the HOF because of how he handled WCW. According to Booker T, the end of the promotion began when Bischoff wrote himself in an on-screen storyline. According to Booker, there’s no way one can manage a company when they’re in the middle of it, heavily involved as an on-screen personality.
“I just thought that was the recipe for disaster, and the demise at the end of the day, for WCW. I just don’t know, people can say ‘well Vince McMahon, he played a part in the company.’ Well, it was his money. It was his company. Eric Bischoff was hired to do a certain job, and I say the same thing about Vince Russo.”
Booker T then touched on other things that he thought Eric Bischoff did wrong with WCW, such as hiring Vince Russo as a writer for the promotion. Russo also wrote himself into storylines and even won the WCW Heavyweight Championship. Booker T thinks that Bischoff should just have never been part of the company in this way, as far as he is concerned, Bischoff should have just had just stayed as the creator.
After Russo’s arrival in the promotion, the ratings went plummeting down. Top stars of the company were unhappy with their position and how the management was handling them.
Eric Bischoff will probably respond to Booker T’s comments via his 83 Weeks podcast, so that is something to look forward to.
Matt Hardy’s brother Jeff Hardy made his return to this week’s Friday Night SmackDown, where he changed his finisher’s name from the Twist of Fate to the Twist of Fury.
The next day Matt Hardy’s wife, Reby Hardy, tweeted the trademark logo, “TM”. Many fans took to mean that Matt had trademarked the Twist of Fate name and now that he is no longer a part of WWE, Jeff was not allowed to use it.
Matt Hardy then had to come out and clear the misconception regarding the move. Fans were jumping on Reby and Matt as they assumed he didn’t want his brother Jeff to be able to use the name. The clarification came after a fan on Twitter asked Matt why he had trademarked the name “Twist of Fate”.
Matt Hardy clarified by replying, “I DID NOT. The @WWE & Jeff are completely free to use “Twist of Fate.” The change 100% came on their end. I wouldn’t ever do anything to hinder my brother. I’m thrilled to see him back on #WWE TV, looking healthy & happy.”
I DID NOT. The @WWE & Jeff are completely free to use "Twist of Fate." The change 100% came on their end. I wouldn’t ever do anything to hinder my brother. I’m thrilled to see him back on #WWE TV, looking healthy & happy. https://t.co/L0xp5QyjpU
It’s still unclear why Reby posted the trademark message on her Twitter account, which lead to this unnecessary internet drama. While Reby and Jeff have history between them, it has to be noted that her posting the logo doesn’t necessarily mean she was even hinting at Matt Hardy trademarking the move. Twitterati just assumed what they wanted to anyway.
Matt Hardy is gone from WWE, but he is still continuing his “Free the Delete” YouTube series where he is teasing a change in his character’s current persona. He has heavily hinted at joining All Elite Wrestling, since none other than the Young Bucks themselves appeared on the past two episodes.
AEW will be reportedly be going forward with their plans for the six-man tag team match between The Elite and The Inner Circle on this Wednesday’s Dynamite.
There have been several changes regarding AEW Dynamite’s location. Originally, AEW was going to Rochester, NY for Dynamite but it was then moved to Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place.
On Friday, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry announced that the city is suspending all events and gatherings at city facilities due to the coronavirus outbreak. TIAA Bank Field, which is one of the impacted venues announced by the mayor, is connected to Daily’s Place where Dynamite will be held. It is, however, believed that the show is still on at the venue but will be held without an audience.
Coming back to The Elite-Inner Circle match, the winners of this bout will receive an entry advantage in the upcoming Blood and Guts match. The match features two factions, Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana, and Ortiz vs. Cody, Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and a partner that is yet to be determined.
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW President Tony Khan was rewriting this week’s show and chose to keep the six-man tag team match in. Since this match is being held to determine who will get an entry advantage in the Blood and Guts match, it is being speculated that said match is going to take place on March 25 as planned.
While the show was originally scheduled to take place on March 25 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, it will possibly be held at the same venue as this week’s show – at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
Seth Rollins should not be asked questions about WrestleMania – he made it very clear that he doesn’t know what the company is planning.
Rollins hosted a Q&A session on his Instagram Live on Saturday and when he was getting questions about WrestleMania’s status, he said that he has no idea if the show is going to take place or not.
“WrestleMania, I don’t know! Don’t ask me questions, I don’t know! I am not in charge of that. I go where they tell me. This Monday, I’ll be in Orlando at the PC doing Raw in front of nobody just like SmackDown was on Friday. Probably just how NXT will be on Wednesday. About WrestleMania. Nobody knows. It’s all up in the air,” said Seth Rollins.
The upcoming Raw episode is going to take place at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida in front of no audience just like this week’s SmackDown.
On March 13, WWE had released a statement saying that they had no plans to cancel WrestleMania. While the company seemed to be committed to moving ahead with the event as planned, they have confirmed that contingency plans are in place in case the local authorities in Tampa decide to cancel the show.
Hillsborough Commissioner Les Miller has said that Tampa officials will “probably have to pull the plug” on WrestleMania if WWE can’t come to a decision by themselves on canceling the event. “I’m hoping that Vince McMahon and WrestleMania and WWE make that call themselves. But a week from now, if they have not done that and we consider the situation we’re in, we will probably have to pull the plug on that,” Miller was noted as saying.
WWE talent are concerned over performing in front of the massive WrestleMania crowd – and most of them feel that the event will be canceled due to the worsening situations of the outbreak.
