A fan sitting ringside at Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view from Phoenix, Arizona was forced to remove his All Elite Wrestling (AEW) t-shirt. Another fan captured the incident on camera and posted it online. You can view that footage below.

Nick and Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks saw the video and assured fans that this is not how AEW will conduct business. Nick Jackson said, “Let it be known that if you wanna wear a WWE shirt at Double Or Nothing or any AEW related event we won’t do this to you.”

Matt added, “Bummer to see this. Hopefully he still has a good time tonight.”

• 7 Takeaways From Royal Rumble 2019

Here’s video of someone being forced to take off his AEW shirt by WWE.
Video courtesy of @m4rvelgirl. #RoyalRumble #AEW pic.twitter.com/Fy3whGzXYp

— Scrump_1 (@scrump_1) January 28, 2019

AEW Rally In Jacksonville 1/8, Smackdown From Jacksonville 1/8

Similar concerns were raised regarding the January 8th episode of Smackdown. AEW announced the signings of PAC and Chris Jericho at a rally held in the same city just hours prior. Fans at the event are reported to have been made to leave if they were wearing AEW merchandise.

“I’ve heard from several fans with issues at Smackdown tonight regarding the AEW merchandise they had on. One of them told me he was removed from the building and not given option to buy a WWE shirt,” stated journalist, John Pollock regarding the 1/8 show from Jacksonville.

“According to this fan, he offered to buy a WWE shirt to replace the AEW one, but his offer was declined. He left the building and changed in his car and was able to get back into the arena for Smackdown.”

Was just turned away from attending Smackdown for wearing @AEWrestling merchandise. Was told I would NOT be allowed in or to purchase a ticket per @WWE. @MattJackson13 @NickJacksonYB @CodyRhodes you guys wouldn’t turn me away from an AEW show would you?

— Scrump_1 (@scrump_1) January 8, 2019

John Cena came back a few weeks ago in order to announce himself as an entrant into the Royal Rumble match. He recently had an opportunity to win a chance against WWE Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar. Cena would lose in the Fatal 4-Way to Finn Balor.

After the matchup, WWE revealed that Cena actually suffered a storyline injury. He was seen limping before heading to the back. They then claim he has since re-aggravated an injury during a training session. This series of events has threatened his chances at appearing in the 30 man Royal Rumble event.

But with the rumor that Cena will instead be preparing to film a new movie, why would WWE bring Cena back, build him up, only to remove him days before the Rumble itself?

According to Dave Meltzer, their reasoning is identical to the recent Braun Strowman/Brock Lesnar debacle: sell tickets.

“The story going around is that Cena was never to be in the Rumble in the first place, but with a stadium to fill, they advertised Cena — similar to advertising Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman, another match never actually planned — to help sell tickets.”

Meltzer made a point that Chase Field has been configured to fit approximately 43,000 people. At this time, Royal Rumble is expected to have around 25-30,000 paid fans in attendance. 

The start date for Cena’s new movie is actually February 4th. So if Cena wanted to be a surprise entrant in the Rumble matchup, there’s still a possibility of that happening.

This Sunday, at WWE’s Royal Rumble event, Finn Balor will face off against ‘The Beast Incarnate’ Brock Lesnar. The two will clash for the WWE Universal Championship. Balor was inserted into the matchup after winning a Fatal 4-Way to fill Braun Strowman’s spot. Strowman lost the opportunity thanks to Vince McMahon during last week’s Monday Night Raw.

Balor has already shut down the prospect of the WWE Universe seeing ‘The Demon’ at Royal Rumble. He stated, “[…] I can assure you that the man who faces Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble will be Finn Balor, the man.”

Backstage Balor

In a recent interview with Scott Fishman of TV Insider, Balor reflected on his rise back to the main event, and his hard-earned journey to face Lesnar for the Universal Championship. Finn was also asked whether he thinks Vince McMahon believes in him, and what their working relationship looks like.

“I [have] got to be honest, I’m not sure what my relationship is with Vince McMahon. I’m not sure if he believes in me or not. He can be a man of few words. When I show up to work, I find out what I need to do and go handle my business in the ring,” Balor admitted. “That’s kind of how I’ve handled my career for the last 18 years. I’m not the type of guy who is going to be knocking on doors trying to pitch storylines and work inside angles. I’m just going to show up and do my job. I will say he has shown nothing but respect to me face-to-face, but that is as far as our relationship goes.”

Do you think Vince McMahon believes in Finn? Will Balor make the most of his opportunity this Sunday and walk out victorious? Does he need to channel ‘The Demon’ to stand against ‘The Beast’?

This Sunday, current WWE United States Champion, Rusev, will defend against Shinsuke Nakamura. Their match takes place during the Royal Rumble Kickoff Show, which begins at 5E/2P.

The three-time US Champion took the time for an interview recently with Planeta Wrestling. During their conversation, Rusev divulged that the popular ‘Rusev Day’ concept was only meant to be a one and done thing.

“It [Rusev Day] was supposed to be a one-off, just a celebration after I beat Randy Orton and that was it,” he admitted. “A few weeks after I was going “Rusev Day, Rusev Day” and people really started digging it. Even in the backstage, with the New Day and with Aiden singing “Rusev Day” helped. People just got it and loved the whole concept and it became really big.”

“I went from being the most hated or one of the most hated to now being praised. I loved being both.”

Rusev then talked about wanting to elevate the importance and prestige of the United State championship. He admits, however, that no matter the title, he would feel the same way.

That’s why “[…] every time I step foot in that ring I wanna have a great match to prove that this title belongs right there with all the rest.”

“There’s No Gimmick. It’s Just Me.”

In another interview, with sportskeeda.com, Rusev extrapolated on the importance of Rusev Day in relation to his WWE character. He claims that “It’s never been about [portraying] a good guy or a bad guy. I’ve always been me. And that’s what people don’t understand. Just because I supported Russia before because that was my belief or understanding, that doesn’t mean I was a bad guy.”

“I was just outspoken about what I believe in. And now, instead of Russia, I believe in Rusev Day. And being the best United States Champion I can be. That’s what I believe in. There’s no character. There’s no gimmick. It’s just me.”

Rusev will take on last year’s Royal Rumble winner, Shinsuke Nakamura this Sunday, 27th January.

H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription. 

Dolph Ziggler’s future with WWE remains a hot topic of conversation amongst fans. A few days ago, we reported on the possibility that Ziggler is wrapping up his duties with WWE. Ziggler hasn’t featured on TV since losing to his former partner, Drew McIntyre, inside a steel cage match last month on Monday Night Raw. Since then, he has removed any association with the name ‘Dolph Ziggler’ from his social media accounts.

With speculation surrounding him regarding an upcoming comedy tour, the timing does seem to coincide with his projected exit date of January 31st.

Commenting recently on the situation was Mike Johnson of PWInsiderElite.com. Reflecting on Ziggler’s current status with WWE, and how they’ve been implementing him, Johnson commented that, “Dolph Ziggler worked the house shows over the weekend and as we’ve talked about there are rumors around certain circles in WWE saying that on January 31st he’ll be done.”

He continued, stating that “Ziggler was not at Raw last night. I was told he was never scheduled to be there. He’s only scheduled for the house shows, so he worked the house shows on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and he went home while the rest of the crew went to RAW. So Dolph was not there.”

“People say ‘Well is it possible that Dolph Ziggler will be at the Royal Rumble?’ Of course, it’s possible, he lives in Phoenix so we’ll see if he actually appears at the pay-per-view or not.”

The timing of it all does seem to heavily indicate that Dolph is simply fulfilling his contractual obligations until January 31st. Still, with the Rumble event taking place this Sunday, could we be seeing him compete in the matchup, if only for one last time?

Do you think Ziggler is done with WWE? If he stays what do you think could be next for him?

WWE has updated their card for this Sunday’s Royal Rumble event. Two matches, previously featured as main card bouts, will now be taking place during the Royal Rumble Kickoff Pre-Show, beginning at 5E/2P.

Those matches are the WWE United States Championship match, seeing Rusev defending his title against former champion, Shinsuke Nakamura, and the Fatal 4-Way for the WWE Cruiserweight championship. The latter match will have Buddy Murphy attempt to retain against Kalista, Akira Tozawa, and Hideo Itami.

So if you were particularly interested in either of those matches, be sure to tune in for the Kickoff show this Sunday.

Royal Rumble 2019

WWE Universal Title Match
Brock Lesnar (c) vs Finn Balor

WWE Title Match
Daniel Bryan (c) vs AJ Styles

RAW Women’s Title Match
Ronda Rousey (c) vs Sasha Banks

SmackDown Women’s Title Match
Asuka (c) vs Becky Lynch

SmackDown Tag Team Titles Match
Cesaro and Sheamus (c) vs The Miz and Shane McMahon

30-Woman Royal Rumble Match

30-Man Royal Rumble Match

Kickoff Pre-Show

WWE United States Title Match
Rusev (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Cruiserweight Title
Buddy Murphy (c) vs Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami

Royal Rumble takes place this Sunday, January 27th, from Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.

Alexa Bliss suffered an unfortunate injury that resulted in a concussion late last year. Ever since then, there has been speculation and rumor surrounding Alexa Bliss’ overall health and when she may return to in-ring action.

Last night during her talk show segment, ‘Moment Of Bliss’, Alexa cleared up all worry and confusion. She’s coming back, and will officially return at this Sunday’s Women’s Royal Rumble event.

Alexa has not competed in-ring since a WWE Live Event back on October 20th 2018. In that time, she has gone through rigorous testing in order to ensure she is healthy and capable of returning to competition.

Thankfully, it appears that all the hard work, rehabbing, and tests have paid off as Lil’ Miss Bliss now aims to walk away with that lucrative number one contender opportunity.

Just after a massive brawl breaks out during a #MomentofBliss, @AlexaBliss_WWE announces that she will be competing in this year's Women's #RoyalRumble Match! #Raw pic.twitter.com/sy3XN0p54e

— WWE (@WWE) January 22, 2019

Royal Rumble 2019

WWE Universal Title Match
Brock Lesnar (c) vs Finn Balor

WWE Title Match
Daniel Bryan (c) vs AJ Styles

RAW Women’s Title Match
Ronda Rousey (c) vs Sasha Banks

SmackDown Women’s Title Match
Asuka (c) vs Becky Lynch

SmackDown Tag Team Titles Match
Cesaro and Sheamus (c) vs The Miz and Shane McMahon

WWE United States Title Match
Rusev (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Cruiserweight Title
Buddy Murphy (c) vs Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Hideo Itami

30-Woman Royal Rumble Match

30-Man Royal Rumble Match

Royal Rumble takes place this Sunday, January 27th, from Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.

Finn Balor and Seth Rollins are both official for the Royal Rumble this year.  Rollins declared his entry into the match at a recent WWE live event in Columbus.

With #RoyalRumble right around the corner, @WWERollins is officially throwing his name in the ring! #WWEColumbusGA pic.twitter.com/OI1H1k4wNG

— WWE (@WWE) January 5, 2019

Finn Balor made his inclusion into the Rumble match official in the following backstage segment.

BREAKING NEWS: @FinnBalor is entering the 2019 #RoyalRumble! pic.twitter.com/lA2yY45ZBv

— WWE (@WWE) January 5, 2019

Balor lasted almost an hour in last year’s Rumble match after entering in at #2. He was eliminated by John Cena with only 3 other competitors left in the match. Balor eliminated Baron Corbin, Aiden English, Dolph Ziggler, and Rey Mysterio.

Rollins entered into last year’s Rumble at #18 and was the 22nd eliminated. He was thrown out by Roman Reigns after lasting 19 minutes. He eliminated the Miz and Cesaro during the match.

Royal Rumble 2019

With Balor and Rollins official for the Rumble, there are now 7 Superstars set for the men’s Rumble match.

Confirmed for 2019 men’s Royal Rumble match:

• R-Truth (#30)
• Drew McIntyre
• Xavier Woods
• Big E
• Kofi Kingston
• Finn Balor
• Seth Rollins

Confirmed for the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble match:

• Carmella (#30)
• Ember Moon
• Natalya
• Bayley
• Sasha Banks
• Ruby Riott
• Liv Morgan
• Sarah Logan

Royal Rumble 2019 Lineup – January 27th, 2019

• Women’s Royal Rumble match
• Men’s Royal Rumble match
• Smackdown Women’s Championship
  Asuka (c) vs (Winner of Carmella vs Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch)
• WWE Championship
  Daniel Bryan (c) vs AJ Styles
• Universal Championship
  Brock Lesnar (c) vs Braun Strowman
• WWE Cruiserweight Championship
  Fatal 4-Way
  Buddy Murphy (c) vs Kalisto vs Akira Tozawa vs TBD