The following are spoiler results for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which was taped on Tuesday night, March 31st, in Fresno, California. Results are courtesy of ProWrestling.net.
Dark Match
– Zack Ryder beat Adam Rose. The crowd was firmly behind Ryder, who won with his finisher.
WWE Main Event Taping
– Stardust beat Jack Swagger.
– Paige and Emma beat Summer Rae and Cameron. Emma was destroyed most of the match, but Paige made Cameron tap to the PTO.
– The Lucha Dragons beat The Ascension.
– The New Day came out to boos. Big E referred to Fresno as San Jose. The Prime Time Players came out, and Titus O’Neil corrected Big E.
WrestleMania is right around the corner. Although the build has been a little subpar, it’s still WrestleMania so it should be entertaining. Here’s how yours truly expects it all to play out.
Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (Tag Team Champions) vs. The New Day vs. Los Matadores vs. The Usos
Kidd and Cesaro really deserve better than the pre-show treatment, but hey, what can you do? This is clearly between the Usos and the champs, as the other two teams are simply jobbers eating up space. Expect a few entertaining spots between the two, with Naomi and Natalya ultimately playing a role in the outcome. In the end, the champs will retain after Cesaro pins one of the Usos.
Winners: Kidd & Cesaro by pinfall
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Remember a few weeks back when Stephanie McMahon was on Raw promoting this battle royal as the most important thing since Hogan/Andre at WrestleMania III? So much for that, as it’s now on the pre-show. Hideo Itami has been added to the match after winning a tournament at Axxess over the weekend. I think they will use this as an attempt to put over NXT and increase viewership by having Itami pick up the win after hitting the GTS. Expect Mizdow to eliminate Miz during this one as well to set up a match between the two next month at Extreme Rules.
Winner: Hideo Itami
Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins
This could easily be one of the most entertaining matches of the night, as Orton and Rollins are two of the best workers in the business. It will be filled with multiple near-falls, and J&J will undoubtedly try to help Rollins pick up the win. It’s hard to say what the hell they’re doing with this one, especially considering they blew the payoff for Orton weeks ago. I still think Orton wins and it will be a rough night for Mr. Money in the Bank (more on that later).
WWE taped a segment with The Bella Twins, AJ Lee and Paige for this week’s SmackDown after RAW last night, and the segment has some people talking.
The segment was described as one of the better Diva promo segments in quite a while. One line in particular that had a lot of people talking was when Nikki Bella told AJ Lee that Brock Lesnar defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on more shows than AJ did when she was the WWE Divas Champion.
It’s said that if the line makes it to the show this week, then it was a scripted line, however it’s also considered possible that Bella went off-script with the comment, something she and AJ have both done recently. If that’s the case, it likely won’t be on television this week.
Speaking of the verbal jab Bella took at AJ, there is said to be some backstage heat on AJ for how much time she took off from the company.
For complete WWE SmackDown spoilers for this week, click here.
This week’s Raw was held in Los Angeles and was the last stop on the Road to WrestleMania. Sting once again made an appearance, Lesnar and Reigns finally came face-to-face, and the company did everything in its power to hype the biggest wrestling event of the year. With WrestleMania less than a week away, here are the pros and cons from this week’s episode of Raw.
Pros
Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler with Dean Ambrose as the special referee? Count me in any time, any day. When you get two ring generals together, expect a technical affair and that’s exactly what fans were treated to. The two tested each other’s strength at the beginning, with Bryan coming out on top after focusing on Ziggler’s elbow. The Show Off quickly turned the tables, however, dropping a big elbow onto Bryan’s chest for a one-count as the Intercontinental Championship hanged over the ring. This resembled a puroresu match with slaps to the face, stiff moves, and fast-paced action. The show went to commercial after both men toppled into the timekeeper’s area. After the break, Ziggler had Bryan locked into a sleeper before Bryan drove him into the corner to break the hold. Bryan nearly picked up the victory with an awesome German suplex pin before heading to the top rope – a decision that quickly backfired after Dolph hit the ropes but failed to connect with a superplex. He’d quickly recover and drive Bryan’s face into the mat from the top rope for another two-count. In the end, Bryan hit his signature dropkick into the corner and went for a second before Ziggler countered with one of the stiffest superkicks you’ll ever see and followed it up with the Zig-Zag for the win in a superb match. The Lunatic Fringe didn’t let him celebrate his victory for long though, hitting Ziggler with Dirty Deeds before pulling out a ladder and attempting to retrieve the title from above the ring before all of the competitors entered the ring to brawl. This match was the highlight of the night, and the ladder match on Sunday will probably be the highlight of WrestleMania.
They really needed to ditch the boring opening segments featuring The Authority, and thankfully they did so tonight by having Sting open the show. The Franchise discussed all of the ways Triple H snaked his way to the top of the company, but conveniently left out sleeping with the boss’s daughter. He made it clear that he wasn’t “fighting for WCW,” but simply to “take Triple H down.” Stephanie McMahon confronted Sting and the two went back and forth, hurling insults at one another in an entertaining segment. After Sting blocked Steph’s attempted slap, The Game came to the ring to confront his opponent on Sunday, with Sting warding off the sledgehammer-wielding Triple H with his signature black bat. Overall, it was a great way to open the show, hype the match for Sunday, and it was nice to see them finally cut Sting loose on the mic.
Snoop D-O-Double-Gizzle doing his best Godfather impersonation before being interrupted by #Axelmania. The man himself finally made a completely unexpected appearance to confront his imitator. It was an awesome, hilarious segment. #Hulkamania
The Intercontinental Championship match was once again prominently featured, as four of the participants in Sunday’s ladder match competed in the first match of the night. Ambrose and R-Truth teamed together to face Luke Harper and Stardust with Bad News Barrett on commentary. Harper and Ambrose worked very well together to start the match, with Ambrose hitting a nice bulldog before clearing the ring with the help of his partner. After the break, Stardust worked over Ambrose and hit an Alabama Slam before once again ceding control to his partner. The commentary team was surprisingly entertaining during this one with Barrett and Booker T trading barbs. After taking a beating and kicking out of multiple near-falls, Ambrose came back with a tornado DDT and hit up R-Truth with the hot tag. The faces dominated from there and R-Truth picked up the victory via pinfall after hitting his leaping reverse STO finisher. Ambrose and Truth danced together after the contest to conclude an entertaining opening half hour of the show.
Finally, Nikki Bella offered a Divas Championship match to either Paige or AJ Lee in an attempt to create a divide between her opponents on Sunday. After much debate, Paige decided she would take the title shot. The Divas have been putting on some decent matches over the past few weeks, and they continued their streak of quality matches this week. This one featured a few believable near-falls, they were given a lot of time (by Divas standards), and the ending at least did something to create intrigue for the tag match on Sunday by having AJ cost Paige the title.
– Daniel Bryan reveals in an interview with Fighting Spirit Magazine that WWE’s creative department would prefer that fans forgot about his marriage to Brie Bella.
When asked whether WWE has plans for them to team up inside the ring, he said, “I would love that, but WWE has gotten away from doing the mixed tag team matches. Doing something with Brie would be a lot of fun, and I think the fans would really enjoy it, but our characters right now are at different places. I’ve heard that creative wants people to forget that we’re actually married.”
With Bryan’s marriage to Brie often showcased on Total Divas, he believes his recurring appearances on the E! reality program have helped his career.
“I know for a fact that Total Divas has helped me in a way that I get recognized more by people who would never recognize me before. Now, like, people will recognize me when I’m out to dinner or something. They’ll be like, “Hey, you’re Bryan!” And that’s how I know they recognize from Total Divas. People who watch Total Divas don’t necessarily watch WWE, but now they’re starting to. People get to see me for who I am. Some fans don’t like that, and will actually boo for how I appear on Total Divas!”
– Lilian Garcia appeared at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California last week for a Susan G. Komen event where she talked about the importance of breast cancer awareness in this video interview.
Meanwhile, Lilian Garcia has been promoting the release of her new single, “Stung,” which is available for free. Visit liliangarcia.fanbridge.com to sign up for Lilian’s e-mail list and as a thank you, she will send a link to download “Stung” for free. The e-mail list keeps you up to date on Lilian’s latest events, exclusive offers, giveaways and meet-and-greet opportunities.
– WWE.com issued this poll asking fans who they’d prefer as their “BFF”: AJ Lee or Paige. AJ is currently leading the poll by a small margin.
Paige spoke with TalkSPORT’s GorillaPosition podcast this week to promote WrestleMania 31. The former Divas champion revealed that her “dream match” with Stephanie McMahon would be an Extreme Rules match:
“I would definitely want to do some kind of extreme match, because girls don’t get to do it. I would love to have a match with Stephanie McMahon. And any kind of extreme rules match, even if it just falls count anywhere.”
She also named several other legendary women’s wrestlers she’d love to get into the ring with.
“Bull Nakano is another one of my favourite wrestlers of all time, she’s incredible. Alundra Blayze, too – and I always thought Michelle McCool was an incredible talent, too. And Mickie James… I have a lot of people I’d like to wrestle! But if we had to do it now, I would say I would want to go up against Emma, in an extreme rules match at Madison Square Garden in New York. We were there recently and it is such an incredible venue.”
– Vince McMahon’s stolen Bentley coupe has been recovered by police in the Bronx, according to the New York Post. The charcoal-gray Bentley Continental Coupe was stolen in Connecticut a few months ago and is valued at $189,000. Police sources told the Post that McMahon’s Bentley has a $100,000 sound system.
– Paige and AJ Lee are looking for a tag team name as they prepare to face The Bella Twins at WrestleMania. They tweeted on Sunday night:
– In light of recent allegations made toward him, Bill DeMott announced Friday that he is stepping down from his role as head trainer for NXT effective immediately. Sources within WWE confirmed to PWInsider.com that DeMott has “resigned completely” from the organization.
– 2K Sports announced a contest this week where fans can submit a video of themselves explaining why they should represent Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Xavier Woods, or Paige at the 2K Tournament of Champions at WrestleMania Axxess at WrestleMania 31. The selected winners will fly out to WrestleMania to participate in the 2K Tournament of Champions and meet the Superstar or Diva they’re representing in the tournament.
In this video, Paige asks fans to represent her in the tournament.
In this interview with Justin LaBar of Trib Total Media, Paige speaks out on the the “#GiveDivasAChance” controversy, her less than warm welcome to WWE’s developmental program, her dream WrestleMania opponent, adjusting to WWE’s style, the cameras, Total Divas and more. Highlights from the interview are as follows:
You’ve been in the business your whole life. You’ve been a fan your whole life. You’ve been rookie of the year. Can you articulate this experience? Is it reality yet or does it still feel like a dream?
“I feel like it’s always going to be mind blowing and crazy to me. I spent two and a half years in developmental, which is incredible. I never thought I could make it there, and you never know if you will ever make the main roster. So to graduate there, make the main roster, win the Divas Championship on my first day, it all came so quickly and so soon. I still cannot believe it. I can’t believe I’ve already been the champion twice in under a year, which is completely mind blowing. So right now, no, it still doesn’t seem so real. More people recognize you on the street when you walk around. It’s crazy. I really don’t know to explain it. My ultimate goal was to be in WWE, be a champion, and I’ve done it.”
You had your first match at 13. Your family is a wrestling family. You had a lot of background coming into WWE. Did you deal with any resistance or clique kind of division? Or did everyone welcome you pretty well?
“I feel like there is always going to be a clique at any place you go into. There were handful of people who were really great to me, mostly the trainers. Norman Smiley was great. Terry Taylor was amazing. Dr. Tom was fantastic. Yes, some of the girls were a little standoffish from me, I feel like. I was completely different than they were and already had the wrestling experience. But I realized coming into developmental, I had to start over again from scratch. I guess my look, and you know, a couple of the girls said down the line when they started to like me some more, they were just like, ‘Oh, we were just a little intimidated by the way you were and how you wrestled and stuff.’ So I was like, ‘You were just going to hold that against me because I could wrestle and make me feel terrible about myself?
“So it all worked out. Any place you come in, it’s kind of like a high school thing. There are girls that have been together for a long time and a new girl comes in and it’s like who is that? It’s expected. It didn’t last very long. Summer Rae was actually the sweetest girl to me the first day I got there. She’s always been amazing and the same with me the whole time.”
Lately there’s been a lot of support for more television time for the Divas. I associate a lot of that to you, your popularity and the fan base you’ve created. You’ve been in the center of a lot of these controversies and segments of people wanting to see more of you. I think you really have generated this authentic fan base who want to see more women’s wrestling in WWE. What’s your take on that?
“Well, first of all, thank you. I appreciate that very much. I feel like it’s just me. Me and The Bellas have been working really hard the last couple of months. We’re really trying to build and tell a story and get the fans behind us. There is only so much you can do in a couple of minutes. I feel like the fans see that, and they really want to give us a chance. We only had a couple of minutes on RAW, and it caused this big uproar.
“They usually do give us a bit of time and the segment. I really appreciate the uproar started because now we’re getting tons more. We got a promo, we got this, we got that. I’ve never had this much before, but I love it. I feel like it’s definitely a two-way street. The fans love me, and they love the Bella Twins, too. They definitely have to get a lot of credit for how this big uproar started.”
As reported recently, WWE has been planning on bringing AJ Lee back to television and setting up a tag-team match with she and Paige against The Bella Twins for WrestleMania 31 before AJ called out Stephanie McMahon on Twitter in late February.
The current word going around is that no creative changes were made as a result of AJ’s controversial tweets. WWE could always bring up AJ’s tweets on television and work them into her storyline, but due to The Authority being involved in the top programs heading into this year’s WrestleMania 31 event, it’s expected that they won’t get involved in any new storylines that are so low down on the card.
WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of Main Event prior to Tuesday night’s SmackDown taping in Washington, D.C.
Dark Match
– Natalya def. Sasha Banks in Divas action to kick off the taping. Nattie picked up the win by submission after locking Sasha in the Sharpshooter.
WWE Main Event
– Fandango def. Curtis Axel in the first match taped for this week’s Main Event. Fandango won what was described as a pretty basic match with a roll-up.
– Adam Rose def. Zack Ryder in singles action. Rose picked up the “W” when he caught Ryder coming in the ring by smashing his head into the ring.
– Paige def. Summer Rae in Divas action. Paige picked up the victory after getting Summer with her PTO.
– The Usos (with Naomi) def. The Ascension in tag-team action in the final match taped for this week’s Main Event. The Usos got the win when Jey hit the top rope splash for the 1-2-3.
Dark Match
– The Lucha Dragons def. Bo Dallas & Tyler Breeze in tag-team action in another dark match. The Lucha Dragons picked up the win by pinning Dallas.
– Northeast Wrestling has announced that former WWE Superstars Rey Mysterio and Alberto El Patron will square off on August 1st at their “Wrestling Under The Stars” event from Fishkill, NY. Matt Hardy, Velvet Sky, Mickie James and The Young Bucks are also advertised for the show.
– Samoa Joe will be a guest on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast this Friday to discuss his departure from TNA and what’s next for him.
– Renee Young announced on Twitter that she will be guest co-hosting VH1’s Big Morning Buzz show this Wednesday morning. Her co-hosts will be Michelle Buteau and Nick Lachey.
– Divas Champion Nikki Bella got her nose busted up last night on RAW during her match with Paige. She posted the following photo on Instagram:
Raw emanated from the Garden State this week, but it was certainly no walk in the park for Seth Rollins. Fans were treated to two title matches during the show, as well as a special appearance from Jon Stewart. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from this week’s episode of Raw.
Pros
The highlight of the night was Seth Rollins’ phony “Daily Show.” He immediately insulted the crowd by calling Newark the “armpit of America” before recapping his appearance on the real deal last Thursday. Mr. Money in the Bank had J&J rolling with a few corny jokes, while pondering the whereabouts of Mr. Stewart. His question was quickly answered, as Stewart showed up to a nice pop from the crowd. Stewart ripped on Rollins hard while displaying his knowledge of legends past in an absolutely hilarious segment that ended with Stewart delivering a swift kick to Rollins’ nuts. Entertaining top-of-the-hour segment, and it should provide a bit of crossover buzz heading into WrestleMania.
Triple H was so intense during his promo this week, and as always, his delivery was solid. Hunter took a few shots at the “kids” who think they know the backstage politics of the business, while threating: “I will make sure it is as if Sting’s career never existed.” Booker T’s involvement in the segment was refreshing and something new, even if it meant seeing The Game almost hand the five-time champ his walking papers.
Daniel Bryan vs. Luke Harper went into the “Pros” column before it even started. When you get two guys with this kind of talent in the same ring, it’s almost impossible to disappoint. Even though they weren’t given much time at all, the two worked a stiff match that saw both superstars take their fair share of abuse. Bryan was unceremoniously dumped over the top rope to the floor at one point, but was eventually able to counter a modified crossface into the Yes! Lock for the win. Following the match, Ambrose, Harper, Barrett, Ziggler, and R-Truth, all attempted to walk away with the Intercontinental Championship while Bryan looked on. It looks like our lineup for the WrestleMania ladder match is basically set.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Seth Rollins open the show, as he hyped his confrontation with Jon Stewart later in the night. He of course talked a little smack, saying: “Unlike the Daily Show where they give away their tickets for free, every single person in a seat tonight paid to see Seth Rollins.” The only downside to this segment was the involvement of Roman Reigns. He arrived, said a few words that weren’t exactly memorable, performed his two signature moves, and basically stood in the ring hoping to be cheered (he failed miserably, in case you’re wondering). It’s sad that even when the the company is using New Jersey’s own Jon Stewart to get Rollins heat, the crowd still universally boos the thought of Reigns becoming champion. Overall, it seemed like another lame attempt to get Reigns over, but Rollins was money.
The Miz “Niagara” commercial was on point. I loved Mizdow’s involvement in the backstage segment and commercial.
There weren’t many spots during the Ambrose/Barrett match, but it was pleasant. Most of the exciting action took place outside of the ring, with Ambrose diving through the middle ropes to take out Barrett and later delivering a big elbow from the ring apron. He eventually picked up the win after hitting Dirty Deeds following a distraction. It’s nice to see the company getting multiple midcarders involved in this Intercontinental Championship ladder match (including Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, probably Daniel Bryan as well). With that said, it is absolutely cringeworthy hearing JBL and Cole interact with R-Truth on commentary.
Alundra Blayze was announced as the latest inductee into the Hall of Fame. That’s cool, I guess.
Finally, John Cena cut his usual “inspirational” promo this week. It’s obvious Cena doesn’t possess the necessary credentials to warrant inclusion into the prestigious Andre the Giant Battle Royal, and Stephanie of course quickly shot down his hopes. The two engaged in their typical banter to start the nine o’clock hour. Stephanie declaring, “For once, I actually like this chant” when referring to the Yes! chant was humorous.
Axel was easily the MVP of this segment though, and the crowd was eating it up big time. The two followed up the segment with a quick match, with Cena quickly forcing Axel to tap out to the STF. Rusev once again denied Cena his rematch following the match, keeping us all on edge as to whether this will match occur at WrestleMania.
On tonight’s edition of WWE RAW, which takes place in Newark, New Jersey, Paige will challenge Nikki Bella for the WWE Divas Championship.
Whether or not the Paige-Bella match plays into the planned angle heading into the tag-team Divas match scheduled for WrestleMania 31, which will feature Paige & AJ Lee vs. The Bella Twins, remains to be seen.
WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon has responded to the #GiveDivasAChance movement, assuring fans that WWE is well aware of the latest viral backlash campaign.
The trend is the product of widespread frustration surrounding the way women’s wrestlers are used on WWE television. It’s not a new situation, but it’s finally gaining some mainstream exposure due to fans being fed up and WWE’s top Divas speaking out publicly about it.
Earlier this month at a Wizard World Comic Con event, the Bella Twins spoke about the Women in NXT getting much more time int he ring than the Divas in WWE.
On Tuesday night, after #GiveDivasAChance had been trending for nearly 24 hours, AJ Lee sent Stephanie McMahon a series of tweets pointing out that Divas do not get equal TV time or compensation compared to the Superstars. (Read Her Tweets Here). Stephanie has since responded:
The following matches were taped for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to the SmackDown television tapings on Tuesday night in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dark Match
– The Prime Time Players def. two local wrestlers.
WWE Main Event
– Cesaro & Tyson Kidd def. The Lucha Dragons in tag-team action. This is the second straight week that the Lucha Dragons have worked the Main Event tapings. The finish in this one saw Cesaro hit his big uppercut for the 1-2-3.
– The Bella Twins def. Paige & Emma in Divas tag-team action. This was a rematch from Monday’s RAW, which saw Brie pin Emma for the finish.
– Stardust def. Kofi Kingston in the headline match of the evening. The crowd got on Stardust’s case with “Cody” chants throughout the match. In the end, Stardust picked up the “W” by way of clean pin fall.
Chuck Carroll of spoke to Paige on Turnbuckle Weekly this week about the #GiveDivasAChance movement. You can listen to the interview on the new Play.It podcast network or on CBS Radio and TV websites around the country.
Here’s what Paige said about the perception that WWE Divas not getting nearly enough time to wrestle on television and how things are different in NXT:
“If we get given the time (on the main roster)… a lot of us could be better than the guys, I feel like, if we get given the time,” she said. “The guys get all the time to showcase what they can do. So, of course people say ‘the guys are better than the girls.’ We do a couple minutes and that’s it. We don’t really get to showcase what we do…
”In NXT you do. I feel like a lot of people tune into NXT just to watch the women because they literally kick ass. They have all this time and they’re just incredible.”
Paige said she was unsure why the gender imbalance exists.
She also mentioned that she’s been in touch with AJ Lee who has been absent from TV since mid-December. “She’s great. You know, some people just need a break to rest up. It happens to all of us. You get tired or rundown or you just need your body to rest up. “
She added that the fourth season of Total Divas is starting to film this week and is believed to run through SummerSlam.
On Monday’s RAW, we saw another throwaway Divas match, with The Bella Twins defeating Paige and Emma in 30 seconds. Shortly after the match, #GiveDivasAChance was trending on Twitter – and it still trending on Tuesday afternoon more than 12 hours later.
WWE’s Bella Twins made headlines recently after their comments a Wizard World Comic Con panel about WWE Divas deserving more time in the ring. They said the women at NXT get much more leeway to practice their craft and entertain the fans, even saying that if they were NXT women’s wrestlers, they wouldn’t want to join the main roster.
Here are some of the tweets from the #GiveDivasAChance movement:
WWE Fastlane was held in Memphis last night at the FedEx Forum. It was a fitting venue, seeing as they pretty much mailed it in for most of the night. After a night of action, we now have a pretty clear idea of what WrestleMania will look like in five weeks. Here are the pros and cons from last night’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view.
Pros
After a night of non-finishes and botched endings, the main event between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns was an absolute treat. These two guys started off a bit slow, but once they got going, they really gelled well. Bryan’s wrestling style went so well with the brawling style of Reigns, and it was nice to see both guys getting support from the crowd.
A few of the highlights included Reigns countering Bryan’s dive to the floor into an overhead belly to belly suplex, Bryan countering the spear into a beautiful small package, and also Reigns turning a potential hurricanrana into a brutal powerbomb from the top rope. These two also employed some solid in-ring psychology due to Reigns selling Bryan’s kick to the liver as he tried to hit a Superman punch. Overall, it was an exciting match, both guys looked great, it ended clean, and it’s always nice to see a main event end in a handshake.
The tag team match was a close second for match of the night. These two teams have so much chemistry and it’s really a pleasure to watch them do their thing. Cesaro’s half crab Cesaro swing was cool, as was the combination of Cesaro’s suplex from the apron into a springboard from Kidd.
The Usos looked good as well, teaming up for a double team Samoan drop that I don’t recall seeing them bust out before. In the end, new champions were crowned after Kidd picked up the victory with a swinging fisherman suplex. After their victory, it was nice to find out that they are “still the new WWE Tag Team Champions” (perhaps suggesting the outcome was changed last minute, as the odds shifted after the “smart money” was in).
The Bray Wyatt segment was enjoyable. He had the crowd going nuts in anticipation of the Phenom, only to shatter their dreams by popping out of the coffin. Wyatt called himself “the new face of fear,” and said: “At WrestleMania, I will claim the soul of the Undertaker.” This feud should be entertaining, but it would have been nice to see Wyatt play up the fact that fans weren’t getting ‘Taker, as the company needs more dislikable heels right now.
I’m not totally sure how I feel about the Sting and Triple H segment, so I’ll go ahead and put it in the pros section. Triple H of course continued to bury a long dead company, stating: “My legacy is putting your legacy out of business.” He also threatened Sting with the Benoit treatment, saying he would wipe him from the history books if he didn’t cooperate. It was cool to see Sting use his signature black bat though, and Hunter was very intense throughout the segment. Overall, it could have been better, but it was a decent setup for their match at WrestleMania.
Finally, the Rusev and John Cena match was far from perfect, but it worked out well. There was some hard-hitting action throughout, including a big spinning side slam from Rusev. The action was slow-paced and methodical, but it was entertaining for the most part. It of course ended in another non-clean finish, but it worked well in this case. I have to say, seeing Cena stagger out of the arena was pretty satisfying, even though it means he will definitely get redemption at WrestleMania.
– During an interview this week with International Business Times, Paige, who will challenge Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship at Fastlane, was asked about Charlotte possibly being promoted to the main WWE roster in the near future. “The Anti-Diva” believes Charlotte needs to spend some more time in NXT.
“She’s good. She’s still new, so I feel like at one point people want to see her, but they’re kind of rushing it,” Paige said. “I think she could do with some more time, but I still think Sasha Banks is the one that I personally want to come up and who I think is completely ready and the full package, boxed up and ready to go. I feel like she’d be absolutely perfect up here. Charlotte is good, but (needs) some more time.”
While Charlotte has not publicly responded to her comments, she did ‘favorite’ theses message backing her on Twitter:
“the reason @RealPaigeWWE doesnt want @MsCharlotteWWE coming up to the main roster before sasha is because charlotte is a bigger threat.”
“@RealPaigeWWE has been talking smack huh? Well, Do it with #Flair shut her down. #RunIn #FastLane #DivasTitle.”
– Here is the synopsis for an all-new episode of Total Divas airing on Sunday, Mar. 1 at 9:00 p.m. on E!: “Ariane is embarrassed for her father to meet Vinnie’s family; Nattie struggles with TJ’s new career choice, finding it difficult to be supportive when he strips down with some hot models; and Paige feels the need to rebel when WWE tells her not to get a tattoo.”
– Saturday would have marked as the 54th birthday of Rhonda Singh, who formerly competed in WWE as Bertha Faye. She died on July 27, 2001 at the age of 40 in Calgary, Alberta. The nature of her death remains unclear to this day as it was never reported. Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer stated in 2009 on the F4WOnline.com message board that she “probably died of suicide.” It has been rumored that a drug overdose caused her to suffer a heart attack.
The Road to WrestleMania will become a lot clearer after Sunday’s pay-per-view. Fastlane is available for free to all new WWE Network customers, and even those who previously cancelled their account and re-subscribed, so there’s really no reason to miss out on the action. Here is how I expect the event to play out.
Goldust vs. Stardust
Man, they really should have saved this one for WrestleMania, but I guess there is only room on the card for one tag team breakup storyline, and it looks like that’s going to be Miz and Mizdow. Expect these guys to put on one hell of a match, as they have been lobbying for it for what seems like years. After a solid ten-minute contest with a number of near-falls, Stardust will pick up the win with Cross Rhodes.
Result: Stardust via pinfall
Rusev (United States Champion) vs. John Cena
These guys have done a pretty good of building up this match over the past few weeks, and it genuinely seems like Cena is interested in winning the United States Championship, which is always a plus. It’s almost guaranteed that this feud is going to continue into WrestleMania, so I expect Rusev to pick up the win, but certainly not clean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHA5g_T227k
Lana will become involved at some point, possibly distracting Cena long enough for Rusev to pounce and pick up the win via the deadliest finisher in all of wrestling (the distraction roll-up), or by using the title as a weapon to knock out Cena while the Ravishing Russian distracts the referee. This will set up a rematch at WrestleMania where Cena will most likely go over.
Result: Rusev via pinfall
Nikki Bella (Divas Champion) vs. Paige
Paige is the most popular diva in the entire company by far right now. They are going to want her to capture the title at WrestleMania. Nikki wins with help from her sister before dropping the title to Paige next month.
Below are the latest online betting odds for Sunday’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view. Keep in mind that the numbers, which are from the 5Dimes website, don’t mean much until about 90 minutes or so before the beginning of the show, where at that point they have approximately a 95-percent accuracy rate.
Ahead of WWE Fastlane this Sunday, Paige spoke to Crave Online to talk about challenging Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship, how the name ‘Paige’ was chosen when she arrived to Florida Championship Wrestling, Total Divas, which celebrities she wants to fight, and more. Highlights from the interview are as follows:
Facing Nikki Bella at Fastlane:
“She is an awesome competitor. I’m very excited to face up against her. I know, hopefully, we’re going to get to tear the house down. It is going to be a good competitive match. You’re going to see some surprises and crazy stuff. I can’t really tell you much about it but tune in and watch cause its going to be great, I promise.”
How was the name ‘Paige’ chosen and were there any other candidates?
“Yeah, there actually was. So when you first get to, it was FCW back then, you give them a list of names of what you want and they bring it down to maybe they will choose it or they will give you like three. They only choose one of my names and that was Paige and they gave me two others. It was Echo and [laughing] I said “No”. Then there was Mara, from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [Rooney Mara]. So that was the one that stood out to me.”
Which celebrities she wants to fight:
“Oh my gosh! I’d probably end up getting my butt kicked but probably Ronda Rousey because she’s cool…and Kim Kardashian [laughs].”
This Sunday at WWE Fast Lane, Paige will challenge Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship. To promote the match and event, the 22-year-old spoke to International Business Times about her first year in WWE, her fellow Divas, NXT and more.
Paige offered her thoughts on potentially holding the Divas Championship at her first WrestleMania.
“It’ll be my first WrestleMania. I think it would blow my mind just because this whole year has been absolutely incredible for me, so to make more history and become a three-time WWE Divas champion would be absolutely incredible. And then to take it into WrestleMania would be the cherry on top. So if I could do that, it would be my dream come true, basically,” Paige said.
Paige discussed how her character has evolved since her WWE debut and why she keeps it fresh.
“I like to keep changing and evolving character-wise, so it’s always nice to change it up. When I first came up I was like “Oh man, I can’t be this little, prissy babyface,” so it was kind of weird. And then turning heel was a blessing. I love it. I love being the bad guy. And I still get to act the same, but they cheer me now, so I like that. It kind of reminds me of Stone Cold, in that he could kind of keep his character and he could be either a heel or babyface, and that’s kind of what I’m trying to do right now. So I was a heel, and now I’m basically a heel that gets cheered,” said Paige.
Paige offered her thoughts on NXT Diva Charlotte, who may be promoted to the main WWE roster in the near future. “The Anti-Diva” feels Charlotte should spend more time in developmental, whereas NXT Divas Champion Sasha Banks is ready to go.
“She’s good. She’s still new, so I feel like at one point people want to see her, but they’re kind of rushing it,” said Paige. “I think she could do with some more time, but I still think Sasha Banks is the one that I personally want to come up and who I think is completely ready and the full package, boxed up and ready to go. I feel like she’d be absolutely perfect up here. Charlotte is good, but (needs) some more time.”
