– WWE NXT star Tino Sabbatelli was profiled by The Portland Tribune recently. He spoke on coming from college football to WWE:
“For a guy like me, coming from a football background, it’s been a chance to learn from great coaches, work out in great facilities and learn how to work in the ring.”
– WWE looks at 450 splashes in this new Fury video:
– Roman Reigns granted another wish at Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings. Here he is with 29 year old Megan Hicks, thanks to Spread a Little Joy Foundation:
Ahead of their WWE Championship rematch at Extreme Rules later this month, WWE has released a video looking at Roman Reigns’ feud with AJ Styles.
– Several fans have reported issues with ordering tickets for the WWE NXT live event in Nashville next month as the pre-sale began Thursday morning with glitches. No word yet on how the Evansville show, did but the Atlanta live event pre-sale quickly sold out.
– WWE and the Susan G. Komen foundation will be sending a few lucky fans to this year’s SummerSlam in Brooklyn, New York.
The two will square off in an Extreme Rules match on Sunday, May 22nd. An interesting note about the Payback main event, which was restarted twice and eventually turned into a no disqualification match. A fan asked former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas why a rope break was called, since it was no-DQ. Korderas clarified that rope breaks are still enforced in no-DQ matches.
Alread addressed. No DQ is NOT falls count anywhere so getting to ropes negates pin attempts. https://t.co/MQlicWuYEK
Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio were backstage. At one point, there were plans for them to wrestle on the show as part of the blowoff to the League of Nations disbanding.
The “Chicago Screwjob” finish to Charlotte vs. Natalya was somewhat of a last-minute decision. This feud will continue and they’re slated for a stipulation rematch at Extreme Rules.
Prior to Enzo Amore’s concussion in the show opener, the original plan was for the Vaudevillains to win the #1 contender’s tournament.
WrestleMania 32 brought out a new side of Roman Reigns. As soon as he won the WWE World Heavyweight championship, Reigns came out with the title and said that he wasn’t a good guy or bad guy, but the guy.
Much to the dismay of WWE fans all around the world, he continues to say it week-after-week.
Alongside Reigns’ new attitude came even more hatred from the WWE Universe. It was the first time since The Miz’s WWE title win at WrestleMania 27. Not even the Rock could save that match.
A lot consider Reigns’ push from the WWE to be a failure. One controversial figure agrees with that logic, as former-WWE employee Vince Russo says, “It’s all Vince McMahon,” while on the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Podcast.
“It’s Vince. In Vince’s mind, it’s Bruno. It’s Backlund. Look at his history. He’s done it over and over and over again . . . Kevin Nash was this killer who beat Bob Backlund in like 8 seconds in Madison Square Garden. I was the editor at the WWF Magazine at the time. Diesel wins the belt. The next thing I know, Vince wants a picture of him on the cover of the WWF Magazine smiling like a Cheshire cat. And I remember arguing with Vince at the time, saying ‘What are you doing? This is not the character.’ And Vince wanted the white bread babyface. From there, it was Shawn Michaels’ turn. I remember Vince had me write every single promo for Shawn when they did the house show promos. Vince wanted every single promo being that white bread babyface promo. And I sat there with Shawn for hours. And it was so difficult and hard for Shawn to do, because he wasn’t that guy. After that it was the Rock. I’ll never forget. I was sitting in the office—me, The Rock and Vince— the day after The Rock won the title with that corporate swerve. And Vince is sitting there wanting him to go out and cut this white bread, babyface promo. And Rock kept looking at me like, ‘Is this guy serious?’ . . . Here we are with Roman Reigns 25, 30 years later. He’s doing the exact same thing, because Vince, at 70 years old, really believes that the 1970s philosophy is going to work today. . . It’s all he knows. He’s repeating it over and over again. And there’s nobody there with the balls to say, ‘Vince, this does not work in 2016.’”
That may be the most-accurate representation of Roman Reigns’ booking to date. Russo makes great points about the “white bread babyface” in the WWE. Until a few weeks up to WrestleMania, Reigns was making himself look foolish on the microphone.
He never had to pick up the mic to get over, but McMahon wanted it to happen.
Will Reigns’ style of booking change at WWE Payback? There are a lot of theories floating around that Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows will join Reigns. They are only theories, but something like that would give Roman Reigns a new dynamic that could work long-term.
ECW Legend Tommy Dreamer returned Busted Open this week and gave his thoughts on Monday’s RAW and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns.
Despite the mixed reactions Reigns has received thus far, Dreamer is convinced Reigns should be “the guy” and deserves the chance to carry WWE into the next era.
“I’m a huge Roman Reigns supporter and I’ll tell you why,” Dreamer explained. “I watched – I was there live in Florida on a house show – him and Sheamus, and I cannot praise Sheamus enough for being a great heel. Everyone’s talking about, ‘Oh, Roman Reigns and the Wyatts pairing together’, but you got to have great heels to actually work with that. Sheamus, Del Rio, and Rusev – who I’m big fans of, the bad guys. And, you think about it, the people are going to be on their feet for all of those matches. For the haters, to see AJ Styles win, and again, we work for the reactions and we work for people talking about it the next day… I watched [Reigns] and Sheamus work about 25 minutes on a Sunday show and they had a WrestleMania match and the people were so into it.”
It was that live experienced that convinced Dreamer that Reigns is ‘pure money.’ Especially when guys like Seth Rollins and Randy Orton get back in action, the fresh heel challengers will allow fans to get behind the champ even more.
Dreamer then pitched an out-of-the-box idea of how to fully get Reigns over – and how it relates to boxing legend Mike Tyson.
“I wish he went out there and talked like Mike Tyson, who couldn’t really cut a strong promo because of the way he actually spoke. You’d be like, ‘Oh, I could kick that man’s butt. Listen to how he talks’, but yet Mike Tyson was the baddest man on the planet. If they kind of went that way with Roman Reigns – because when you think about it, we loved to hate Mike Tyson and then we just loved Mike Tyson. It’s an interesting time for the Roman Reigns lovers and haters. I’m a Roman Reigns lover.”
You can find more from news articles at BustedOpenNation.com and tune into Busted Open Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays from 2-4pm ET on SiriusXM Rush 93 and on the SiriusXM App on your smartphone.
– Roman Reigns was recently interviewed by CSNChicago.com, where he talked about “immediately” wanting to be on the Chicago Bears after a trip there. He had signed with the Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars in the off-season.
“I actually came up to Chicago and took a trip,” Reigns said. “I got to meet the head coach Lovie [Smith] at the time and I was sold. I wanted to be a Chicago Bear immediately. But unfortunately it didn’t work out, but we found the right team.”
– Speaking of the NFL, The New York Times has an article about the league looking at the WWE Network for inspiration for their own online streaming. The article also talks about the possibility of the NFL making a subscription-only app for streaming games.
– WWE stock was down 3.39% today, closing at $15.66 per share. Today had a high of $16.36 and a low of $15.58.
– John Cena posted a video on his official Twitter account on Monday afternoon talking about his upcoming FOX show American Grit. The show premiers on Thursday night.
WWE Fastlane was the least-purchased PPV in company history, according to the Wrestling Observer.
Fastlane did 18,000 PPV buys in North America and 25,000 ppv buys outside of North America with a total of 43,000 PPV Buys. In comparison, last years Fastlane did a total of 56,00 PPV Buys.
Fastlane 2016 was headlined with Roman Reigns defeating both Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar for the right to face Triple H at Wrestlemania 32.
Its worth noting that WWE is primarily focused on getting people signed up for the WWE Network, which would reflect the poor buy-rate numbers, but WWE still makes PPV available to fans. In a press release on Monday, WWE revealed the WWE Network now boasts 1.82 million subscribers, which is a 39 percent increase from a year ago.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns was a guest on Ring Rust Radio during WrestleMania weekend, prior to his big win over Triple H. There were many topics discussed, including main eventing WrestleMania in back-to-back years, multiple WWE legends calling for him to turn heel and a potential match with The Rock. Here are some highlights of what Reigns said about:
Steve Austin, Jim Ross & more calling for him to turn heel:
“You know, I don’t look at it as turning on the fans, because I don’t think they have turned on me. I still have a really large fan base and supporters that dig what I do. They love my matches and are entertained by my segments. For me, I think I need to stick with what I have been doing. We live in a world where everybody has an opinion and an opportunity to voice their opinions so it becomes a very critical era that we live in. For me, I know who I am, where I want to go, so I am just going to stick to my guns and keep doing what I am doing. It’s making for a loud reaction and that’s all that matters.”
A potential match with The Rock:
Roman Reigns: We haven’t spoken too much about wrestling each other. We speak and I do see him quite a bit. We usually exchange different ideas, share different tips, and advice. If I do win on Sunday, there are only a couple of people I want to see and that would be my wife, daughter, mom, and dad. It would be my immediate family. If he comes out there I might be on high alert and he might get it too.
A potential reunion of The Shield:
“I’ll always hold the Shield close to the heart. I think we can all say that’s the vehicle that got us out of the warehouse. We spent many hours in that hot, Tampa warehouse trying to get to this point. I definitely one day would want to do it but I don’t see it anytime soon. I think that’s what makes the Shield different is we all broke out and were able to maintain the level of success that we had within the group but now we are doing it as individuals. It’s really nice to be the quarterback out there. You don’t always have to worry and coordinate with everybody else. You just go out there, do your thing, beat some ass, and go home. I always enjoy that part of it. I think the Shield was so special that one day we will have to get it back together.”
His love-hate relationship with the WWE Universe:
“The beauty of this business is that it’s changing and evolving. The crowd, the company, the business, the stories, everything is different now. It makes it that much greater of an opportunity to become that much better of a performer. It helps when it’s that tough and that big of a learning curve. It’s intense and you have to have that urgency to learn. I think that’s what makes us better and makes a great performer overall. Dealing with tough crowds has helped me and I am grateful for it. It’s not the perfect situation as far as receiving cheers and things like that but it is the perfect situation to learn and get better with.”
AJ Styles was Michael Cole’s guest for this week’s WWE.com sit-down interview. Here are the highlights:
– Styles was asked about his first three months in WWE since making his debut at the Royal Rumble. Styles said it’s unbelievable that he’s already the #1 contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It’s been a wild ride thus far, having defeated Chris Jericho on RAW, making his Madison Square Garden debut at competing at his first WrestleMania. It’s going to get even better now that he’s challenging for the industry’s top prize.
– Styles said competing at WrestleMania was everything he expected and more. Working in front of 100,000+ fans was an indescribable moment and nothing could have prepared him for it.
– Cole mentions how Jericho had Styles’ number at WrestleMania. Styles says the great thing about losing is that you learn to hate it. He’s not naive enough to think he’ll never lose again – but he was victorious the following night and is already moving on to bigger and better things. Styles says Monday night was emotional for him, especially when fans chanted “you deserve it” at him.
– Cole says we’ve never seen Styles face someone with the size and power of Reigns. Styles says there’s no doubt he can handle Reigns, he’s handled guys as big as Reigns outside of WWE before. He knows he’ll have to make everything count in the ring when he faces Reigns. Reigns has a chip on his shoulder as the new champ – but his job is to knock that chip off.
Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns says that you might find yourself getting kicked out of a WWE event if you flip him the middle finger. Reigns says that the trademark hand gesture of WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin is no longer welcomed at family-friendly WWE events. Here’s what Reigns told the Orlando Sentinel today when asked about fans at live events still booing him:
“I think there’s a few different reasons why,” Reigns said of the negative crowd reactions. “You could name a bunch of them. I don’t think we could actually put a finger on one and say this is the reason why. Typically if you hear the boos, it generally is grown men my age and I’m not really in this business for the grown men. (laughs) I’m in this business for the families. That’s what we are; we’re a PG product. We’re a family-based product. We’re here to entertain families and give them enjoyment. If you’re a 30-year-old man and you want to flip me off at a kids show, then, hey, like I said, you paid your money but just be careful because you could get kicked out.”
Reigns says it doesn’t bother him when fans don’t like him, but he wants fans to be better role models for the children in the crowd.
“There’s nothing to complain about as far as reaction, because we’re storytelling here and not everybody is going to have the same opinion about the story. […] A lot of times, these pay-per-views and Monday Night Raws, they’re on school nights so it is a lot more of a grown-up feel. I think if you pick and choose and just think with logic, everything will be all right. That’s just one thing, you have to be concerned with the example we’re setting. At a show, I’m not the only role model. These kids are sitting next to these other grown-ups and they’re seeing how these people act. That’s just a reflection of what they see and they probably act the same way.”
With WrestleMania only one day away, Roman Reigns finds himself in the same situation he did last year. He faces Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight championship.
I spoke to Reigns on Thursday about how he is preparing for the match, how he stays healthy and the differences between Triple H and Brock Lesnar as opponents.
Q: What are your thoughts going into WrestleMania 32 this Sunday?
Roman Reigns: “The main thing for me is to just finish. That was the big thing. We endured everything that Brock [Lesnar] threw at us. We countered him and I was that close. We reset the whole match and then right when that happened, here comes Seth [Rollins].”
“For me, it’s to keep my head on a swivel and to have that urgency to win quick and finish the night off right.”
“I think just that urgency. Just that experience of knowing this is the time to get it done. No more games, no playing around. Nothing cute, do what works. Go out there, hammer people and leave.”
Q: What are the differences between Triple H and Brock Lesnar?
Roman Reigns: “Triple H is a lot smarter competitor. Brock is like a gorilla that can just tear stuff. He has mass amounts of strength. He won’t think too clearly, just like a bull in a china shop. Triple H, there’s a why he’s the Game, the Cerebral Assassin.”
“He’s very smart. He’s always thinking, so I think he’ll have a better-layered game plan. Brock, I think just goes in there and tries to beat you with pure strength and power. He doesn’t think about how too often. He just goes.”
“I think HHH has had a lot of time to prepare and to mentally focus on what he needs to do this Sunday. But, it’s really not going to matter.”
Q: With all of the injuries to WWE superstars this year, how did you stay relatively healthy?
Roman Reigns: “It’s been a little bit of everything you said. That’s the toughest part we have is recovery. It’s pretty much impossible for us to recover every night. So, a lot of it comes from how you get there. Like, what are you eating? What are you putting in your body?”
“How are you training? What kind of stretching are you doing? What kind of extra stuff are you doing? You have all types of different ways to help that process with massage and ART.”
“I think one of the things that’s really helped me is that I’ve stretched a lot more before and after workouts.”
Q: Who is your favorite wrestler?
Roman Reigns: “My favorite wrestler would be Bret “the Hitman” Hart. He was my guy. I wanted those shades every, single day. Every time I saw him I wanted those shades.”
Q: Last year, you couldn’t capture the WWE championship. This year, you have
Roman Reigns: “I’m going to go out there and make a statement. That’s what my plan is, to show Triple H who the best in the game is right now and that’s me. I go out there 300 nights a year and do it every single night. And that’s my plan for Sunday, to go out there and deliver.”
Yesterday, we reported on how Chris Smith at Forbes had put together a list of WWE’s highest paid wrestlers. While lists of this kind have gone around for years, they’re usually of some nebulous origin or an incredibly unreliable source like CelebrityNetWorth. This is different, however: Not only is it from Forbes, the magazine of record for finance, but it’s also an actual Forbes staff writer as opposed to their larger contributor network. Nothing against them, but they weren’t hired with the financial angle in mind. Since it’s a Forbes article from a Forbes staffer, the list is being taken a lot more seriously than these things usually are.
In his article, Smith claims that “Over the last year we’ve pored over court documents, SEC filings and WWE’s booking contracts and spent hours speaking with industry sources, allowing us to construct the first ever FORBES list of WWE’s Highest-Paid Wrestlers.” Let’s take a look at the list again:
John Cena: 9.5 million
Brock Lesnar: 6.0 million
Triple H: 2.8 million
Randy Orton: 2.7 million
Seth Rollins: 2.4 million
Roman Reigns: 2.1 million
Undertaker: 2.0 million
Big Show: 1.5 million
Kane: 1.3 million
Dean Ambrose: 1.1 million
So, what do we know about the numbers on Smith’s list for Forbes?
The only one whose pay would come up in SEC filing is Triple H, since he’s an executive officer of WWE under his real name of Paul Levesque. This does appear to be correct: If you don’t include stock awards, and Smith didn’t, he made $2,812,629 in 2015. That’s broken down as $573,269 in salary for his executive role, $526,000 in incentive plan compensation, and $1,713,360 for his pay as talent, $1 million of which is his contracted downside guarantee. There’s a note that “Mr. Levesque has out-earned this minimum guarantee in each of the past several years.”
Randy Orton and John Cena both had divorces, though only Orton’s finances went public as a result. TMZ reported that at the time of the July 2013 divorce, Orton was making $291,666 a month, or just $8 short of $3.5 million in a year. It’s not clear if that was his total 2012 pay or what, as the belief is that WWE’s downside guarantees never top $1 million. Cena did have his annual earnings pegged as about $10 million by Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer in January, while Meltzer has also reported Brock Lesnar’s pay in the past because he gets a flat fee per appearance. In the past, Meltzer has said something to the effect of how these days, it’s understood that The Undertaker’s $1 million guarantee is considered his WrestleMania payoff. With additional appearances headlining SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell last year, $2 million sounds reasonable.
It gets hazier after that as you move further down the line.
In a deposition that I cited in my January article for SBNation about Big Show’s flirtation with boxing, Big Show said that when he returned to WWE in 2008, he asked for $1.25 million and a $250,000 signing bonus…but that was eight years ago and it’s not clear in the public filings if he even got what he wanted. A deposition with his wife, who apparently handles their finances, had her testifying that she didn’t think he made any bonuses on top of his base salary. That would be unusual for a full time WWE performer, but it could also have to do with confusion over the nature of WWE contracts. WWE pay works two ways: You can just take your per-event pay and royalties as they come, or you can take your downside guarantee as a salary and get a balloon payment at the end of the year for what goes over the guarantee. Since he has little merchandise, $1.5 million doesn’t sound outrageously low, though.
Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Kane, and Dean Ambrose all have little to no information out there about their pay. Kane recently put his home up on the market and it was huge, sprawling property with a house customized to his specific needs as a very tall man, but because he’s based in Knoxville, Tennessee, the price was dramatically less than you’d think, coming in under $1 million. The rest seem realistic enough.
What do you think of the list? Let us know in the comments.
Despite the mixed reactions Roman Reigns has been receiving from WWE audiences, the company does have some tangible evidence that he is worth investing in.
Results from a recent marketability study showed Reigns among the most popular Superstars on the roster. The study, which was conducted amongst current WWE fans, yielded the following results in terms of popularity and likability: John Cena, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. Cena earned the top spot by a wide margin.
Other talent that scored well were Randy Orton, Triple H and AJ Styles. Ambrose was surprisingly far behind that 2nd tier, while Kevin Owens didn’t fare well at all. In this era, WWE is very much a global corporation and data like this is considered in business planning.
It’s also worth noting that an (undisclosed) major retailer had these Superstars selling the most merchandise in 2015: John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.
Roman Reigns putting life and limb on the line – right before fans began chanting, “You Still Suck”
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H spoke with CBSSports.com this week to promote this Sunday’s WrestleMania 32 event at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Topics discussed include his WrestleMania XII debut against The Ultimate Warrior, staying in shape with Joe DeFranco and more. Perhaps the most newsworthy quotes came when Triple H addressed his challenger this Sunday, Roman Reigns.
“He’s a great kid, and I’m really happy for his success and how well he’s done,” Triple H said. said. “But it’s a tough road and a long road. That success has come fast. Sometimes that can be a blessing and sometimes it can be a curse. So I think he’s done the best that he can with it.”
Despite the fact that Reigns has been pushed as the “new face of the company” for well over a year, fans just aren’t buying it. WWE is not blind to this reality and Triple H shared his insight about why Reigns isn’t catching on.
“You know, the hardest thing in this business to do now is, as a character, to either make everyone love you or everyone hate you,” he said with a laugh. “The world is a divided place in politics, in music and everything. Choices now, and people’s opinions, are front and center more than ever. The Internet makes that readily available to everybody. They know all of the machinations of everything and the behind-the-scenes of everything, you know.
“It used to be that the good guy was the guy that didn’t cheat, you know what I mean? It was just very simple. The world has changed. I think [Reigns has] done a phenomenal job. He’s, you know, from a behind-the-scenes standpoint, a great human being. I’m really happy for his success, as I am for all of them.”
Comment on this article and tell us if you agree with Triple H’s explanation.
This week AJ Styles sat down for an interview with Digital Spy to promote WrestleMania 32. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
The WWE Title picture & WrestleMania main event:
“I think that Roman Reigns is the guy for the job right now. I think him and Triple H are going to tear it up at WrestleMania. It’s a very exciting match that I think a lot of people wanna see.”
Not going to NXT:
“I wasn’t able to make that decision. But I’m very happy to be on the main roster…(Finn Balor) the perfect guy [to be holding the belt]. And he’s doing a wonderful job. He’s not the only reason NXT is doing so well but he’s definitely a big part of it.”
Facing Kevin Owens again:
“Then I go after a title and if it’s around Owens’s waist then I’m going to go after it. Kevin and I have wrestled before so we know each other very well, so it’s easy for us to get in the ring and do great things.”
AJ will be making his Wrestlemania debut against Christ Jericho this Sunday.
When asked why he thinks he’s still getting such a strong negative reaction from WWE crowds, Reigns has some theories (emphasis mine):
“I think there’s a few different reasons why. You could name a bunch of them. I don’t think we could actually put a finger on one and say this is the reason why. Typically if you hear the boos, it generally is grown men my age and I’m not really in this business for the grown men. (laughs) I’m in this business for the families. That’s what we are; we’re a PG product. We’re a family-based product. We’re here to entertain families and give them enjoyment. If you’re a 30-year-old man and you want to flip me off at a kids show, then, hey, like I said, you paid your money but just be careful because you could get kicked out.”
Despite the fact that he’s been pushed to the moon and positioned as “the next John Cena,” the majority fans just aren’t taking to his act the way WWE has hoped. When asked if he’s bothered by fans rejecting him as the new face of the company, he gave another head-scratching reaction.
“There’s nothing to complain about as far as reaction, because we’re storytelling here and not everybody is going to have the same opinion about the story,” Reigns said. “My only concern is you’re setting a bad example. I’ve seen grown men flip me off and there were children right there. There’s a guy who got kicked out of one of the shows because I’m pretty sure he was drunk. He’s going nuts, screaming and cussing, acting like a fool when there’s children right next to him. That’s something we have to keep in mind.
A lot of times, these pay-per-views and Monday Night Raws, they’re on school nights so it is a lot more of a grown-up feel. I think if you pick and choose and just think with logic, everything will be all right. That’s just one thing, you have to be concerned with the example we’re setting. At a show, I’m not the only role model. These kids are sitting next to these other grown-ups and they’re seeing how these people act. That’s just a reflection of what they see and they probably act the same way.”
In context, it’s honestly not an unfair comment, albeit one seemingly designed to pivot from Fritz’s actual question. The whole interview is worth reading, as he also gives the non-storyline reason for his nasal surgery (deviated septum from bad allergies, worsened by all of the travel he does).
Roman Reigns says despite the boos we hear on TV, he has a lot of supporters too. In an interview with The Kingston Whig-Standard to promote WrestleMania 32, Reigns was asked about the WWE fans’ love-hate relationship with him heading into the biggest event of the year.
“It’s a tough one because there is no one answer. There is no one reason why someone would want to boo me. Maybe they don’t like what I wear, how I sound, maybe I did something to offend them, but for me, it’s hard because I’m under the microscope and I’m dealing with a lot of different things and there’s a lot of things flying my way,” Reigns answered. “For me, I can only continue to stay within myself and worry about the things I can control and the things I can control are, Am I healthy?; Am I showing up to where I need to be on time?; Am I here to perform and do my job? If I do that, then our fans, they can cheer me, they can boo me, as long as we all show up to the arena, everything will be fine. We’ll be able to create that awesome experience, create that energy.”
“As for the reasons why these things happen, I don’t know. I do know I have a lot of supporters. These people have my back. There’s nothing that anybody can say negatively to me that will make me believe you are correct. It’s just your opinions,” he added.
Reigns is scheduled to face Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 32 on April 3rd.
– WWE Divas Champion Charlotte has been battling flu symptoms over the past few days. She defeated Natalya last night on RAW.
– Former WWE Diva Eve Torres Gracie will appear on the April 11th “Supergirl” episode on CBS. She will play DC Comics character Maxima, who is affiliated with Superman and The Justice League in the comics.
– WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan will make his first post-Gawker trial appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday morning.
– Speaking of Hogan, he tweeted the following early Tuesday morning in celebration of Monday’s ruling that he’s owed another $25 million from Gawker and owner Nick Denton. The grand total owed to Hogan now stands at $140,100,000.
Roman Reigns might be WWE’s golden boy heading into WrestleMania 32 – but don’t expect him to remain silent if you talk trash to him on social media.
Reigns has been dealing with tepid crowd reactions for over a year now, with WWE going to great lengths to drown out boos and pipe in cheers whenever possible. On Thursday, WWE fan @Chief_Bigcat tweeted to Reigns:
WWE has their work cut out for them over the next several weeks if they want to avoid a crowd-reaction disaster at WrestleMania. Unless there’s a big swerve planned that involves Reigns turning heel, there’s a very real possibility that he’ll get booed mercilessly by the record-setting crowd.
– It looks like WWE has finally put an end to Roman Reigns’ crowd entrance. After entering from the stage (like the rest of the roster) on Monday’s RAW, Reigns came out the same way at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings from Cincinnati.
– At Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings, The Social Outcasts announced themselves as the first participants in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32.
– Neville is thanking fans for their support after he was injured during his match against Chris Jericho on Monday’s RAW. WWE released footage of Neville being checked out by medical personnel backstage after the match and it was confirmed that his ankle is fractured. He tweeted on Tuesday night:
Overwhelmed by the love and support. Thank you all.
Roan Reigns has arrived in Pittsburgh, PA and is scheduled to return to WWE television tonight on RAW.
Reigns has been off television since Triple H viciously attacked him at the conclusion of WWE RAW back on February 22nd. It’s believed that Reigns legitimately underwent nasal surgery that week in a procedure that was unrelated to the storyline beatdown.
Reigns appeared at last week’s WrestleMania 33 press conference in Orlando, but tonight will mark his official return to WWE storylines.
Reigns will challenge Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMaina 32 on Sunday, April 3rd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.
As noted last week, Roman Reigns’ surgery looked like it was just a storyline, but he did really get surgery. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the angle where Triple H injured him on RAW was to cover for pre-existing surgery plans. The surgery may have been for a deviated symptom.
On Wednesday it was revealed that Reigns was pulled from advertising Monday’s RAW in Chicago. It could be a strategic move to avoid having Reigns booed on TV by the Chicago fans, who are known for being vocal. Reigns has been removed from The Allstate Arena’s website but is still listed on WWE.com. As we noted earlier, Reigns is still being advertised for next Tuesday’s SmackDown taping.
The Allstate Arena is advertising Triple H, Dean Ambrose and Shane McMahon for this Monday’s Raw.
– WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall and Ernest Miller were visiting at last night’s Smackdown taping from Atlanta, GA.
– Roman Reigns is no longer being advertised to appear at Monday’s RAW from Chicago at the Allstate Arena. As of this writing, he is still being promoted for next Tuesday’s SmackDown taping from Milwaukee, WI at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
– Australian rapper Iggy Azalea says she’s open to stepping in to a WWE ring. She had this exchange with the Bella twins on Twitter last night:
Roman Reigns has been pulled from this weekend’s WWE live events as a result of the surgery WWE reports he underwent this week. While some people are assuming that the ‘surgery’ was just a storyline to sell the beatdown from Triple H on RAW, there’s also some speculation that Reigns did in fact undergo a procedure this week to correct a pre-existing injury.
As for the ‘blood’ we saw on RAW, the Wrestling Observer reports that WWE officials were surprised at how graphic the scene was. Even though the blood we saw was not real, the call was made not to shoot any close-ups of Reigns’ face.
Dr. Chris Amann provided an update to WWE.com regarding Reigns’ condition:
“Roman underwent nasal reconstruction surgery, which consisted of a deviated septum that was fixed and realigned. He also had a turbinate that was also fixed as well as a reduction of a nasal fracture Reigns will continue to undergo observation as he recuperates but a timetable for his return to action has not yet been discussed.”
Reigns is still advertised for Monday’s RAW and next week’s SmackDown tapings.
WWE issued a breaking news alert on Tuesday afternoon announcing that Roman Reigns underwent surgery earlier today in Tampa, FL to repair a “shattered nose.” Reigns was injured at the hands of WWE World Heavyweight champion Triple H in the closing segment of RAW.
No timeframe has been given for how long Reigns will be out of action. At this time, we don’t know if Reigns actually did have surgery on his nose (or something else) or if this is a storyline.
Update: Reigns tweeted the following ‘post-surgery’ update on Tuesday evening: