– The WWE Extreme Rules pre-show panel tonight will consist of Josh Mathews, Alex Riley, Booker T and Sheamus.

– The following is the official trailer for WWE’s upcoming “Wrestling’s Greatest Factions” DVD and Blu-ray, which is scheduled for a May 26th release.

http://youtu.be/4R6X79Gyu3M

– The planned heel turn for Sheamus could end up taking place during the upcoming WWE tour of Europe, or immediately after it. WWE didn’t want Sheamus turning heel right before the tour, with the feeling that his heel turn could lose momentum if he were to get cheered so early in his heel run.

– According to one report, WWE is strongly considering pairing up Tyson Kidd and Evan Bourne as a new tag-team combination.

The following are highlights of a new CBS Sports interview with Sheamus:

On locker room resentment from him being WWE Champion after five months on TV: “I really didn’t give a damn. I wasn’t a kid. I wasn’t there to make friends I was there to be successful.”

On WWE now compared to when he debuted: “I think the locker room is a lot better. There’s a lot more willingness to help everybody.”

On working for Vince McMahon: “Vince is really quiet. You’ll see him backstage and he’s quiet. He’s really focused on what he’s doing … He’s cool, always been cool with me I’ve never had a problem with him. Get along with him well and he’s a fair boss.”

On Nancy Grace: “You know, I’ve never been a fan of Nancy Grace. It’s not a talk show. It’s just her talking. I don’t even think she has a soul, to be honest with you … It’s garbage. Her show is garbage.”

Check out the complete interview above.

The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on Tuesday night and will air on Friday, May 2, 2014 on the SyFy Network.

– Rob Van Dam vs. Jack Swagger

– Alexander Rusev vs. R-Truth

– The Wyatt Family vs. Sheamus & The Usos

– Damien Sandow vs. Dolph Ziggler

– Big E. vs. Titus O’Neil

– Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback vs. Curtis Axel vs. Alberto Del Rio

For a complete spoiler report for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …

The following are results for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which aired live on the WWE Network on Tuesday, April 29, 2014.

– Goldust def. Alberto Del Rio in a singles bout to open the show. The match saw a lot of back-and-forth action until Goldust counters Del Rio’s superkick attempt and blasts him with his Final Cut finisher for the 1-2-3 and the victory.

– After Goldust picks up the victory, Cody Rhodes comes in and congratulates him. Renee Young enters the ring and interviews both guys. She asks if their recent singles matches means they are going their separate ways. Goldust says that the Brotherhood is still together. He says they may work singles matches from time-to-time, but ultimately they have each others backs. Young asks Rhodes if he is proud of his brother. He seems offended at the question and asks if she thinks Goldust is better than him because he won tonight and Cody lost on RAW. Eventually he apologizes and reiterates the fact that the Brotherhood is together and says things will stay that way. The two hug and that’s that.

– Paige def. Alicia Fox in Divas action to retain her WWE Divas Championship. The match went back-and-forth, with Paige taking a lot of punishment before ultimately hitting Fox with a big DDT to score the pin fall victory. After the match, as Paige was walking up the ramp, Tamina Snuka comes out to the top of the stage and the two have a staredown.

– Backstage, Renee Young is with Sheamus. She asks Sheamus for his level of concern knowing he has to face Bray Wyatt in the main event tonight. Sheamus talks briefly about how he’s not afraid and informs Wyatt that tonight — it’s time to fight.

– Bad News Barrett def. Kofi Kingston in singles competition. Barrett cuts a promo before the match dressing down Big E., informing him that he’s going to take his WWE Intercontinental Championship this Sunday at Extreme Rules. The two have a solid back-and-forth match that ends when Kingston leaps in the air off of the ringside steps, but gets caught on the way down with the Bull Hammer Elbow from Barrett. Barrett rolls Kingston back in the ring and covers him. 1-2-3. Barrett wins.

– Bray Wyatt def. Sheamus in the headline bout of this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. Bray Wyatt sings along with the crowd, singing of course, “he’s got the whole world in his hands.” He sings along with them until Sheamus’ music hits to interupt him. The two end up having an extremely competitive match that sees Erick Rowan and Luke Harper distract Sheamus at the end, allowing Wyatt to hit him with his Sister Abigail finisher for the 1-2-3.

– After the main event ends, Rowan and Harper join Wyatt in a three-on-one beatdown of Sheamus until The Usos come out to make the save. The show goes off the air with all six guys staring each other down.

Headline Bout For This Week’s Main Event, Hugh Jackman RAW Segment (Video)

– The headline bout for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which airs live on the WWE Network on Tuesday night, was announced on Monday’s WWE Extreme Rules “go-home” edition of RAW. In a one-on-one bout, Bray Wyatt will take on Sheamus.

– The following is the Hugh Jackman segment from Monday’s RAW, which also included Dolph Ziggler and Damien Sandow as “Magneto.”

The following are results of this week’s WWE Main Event, which aired on the WWE Network on Tuesday, April 22nd from Hershey, Pennsylvania.

– Big E. def Alberto Del Rio in the opening match of the show. The finish comes when Del Rio goes for a tornado-DDT, which Big E. reverses into his “Big Ending” for the 1-2-3. After the match, Bad News Barrett pops up on his podium. He’s afraid he’s got some bad news. He informs Big E. that he’s only got 12 days remaining as WWE Intercontinental Champion.

– Hornswoggle def. El Torito in singles action. The finish comes when El Torito goes for his finisher, but Hornswoggle moves and hits him with his Tadpole Splash for the 1-2-3.

– Sheamus def. Titus O’Neil in another one-on-one contest. The finish in this one saw Sheamus nail O’Neil with a big headbutt and follow it up with his Brogue Kick for the pin and the 1-2-3.

– Ryback def. Jimmy Uso in the headline bout of this week’s Main Event. Both Jey Uso and Curtis Axel were at ringside and after a bunch of distractions, Ryback eventually hits Jimmy with his Shellshocked finisher for the pin and the win.

WWE RAW returns live tonight from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. The show is scheduled to feature the return of WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, along with his new bride Brie Bella.

Bryan and the return of “masked Kane” are expected to begin their feud heading into the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view on May 4th.

Also on tonight’s show is the semifinals of the WWE Intercontinental Championship contender tournament. The second round matches on tonight’s show will feature Cesaro vs. Rob Van Dam and Sheamus vs. Bad News Barrett.

On their official website, WWE is focusing on the following five points for tonight’s show:

The following is a spoiler-free preview for tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown, taped Tuesday night in Nashville, Tennessee.

– WWE Intercontinental Champion Big E. vs. Alberto Del Rio

– WWE Divas Champion Paige vs. Aksana

– Hornswoggle vs. El Torito

– Alexander Rusev vs. R-Truth

– Santino Marella vs. Fandango

– Batista vs. Sheamus

You can read a complete spoiler report for the show by clicking the link below.

WWE SmackDown Spoilers (April 18, 2014)

The Big Red Monster is back, and it appears he is on a collision course with Daniel Bryan. After reclaiming his mask last week on Raw, Kane vowed to take care of the WWE Champion and send him to the depths of hell.

In true WWE storytelling fashion, they had a Kane video package queued up and ready to go about five minutes later, leading me to believe that he will be featured prominently in the storyline in the coming weeks.

With Evolution set to take on the Shield at Extreme Rules and seemingly no other contenders in line, it appears that Daniel Bryan’s first pay-per-view title defense will be against his former tag team partner.

Kane has temporarily retired his suit in favor of his signature mask in an attempt to exact revenge.

The thought of Kane headlining a pay-per-view in 2014 and competing for the WWE Championship could leave some fans scratching their heads, but I believe it could work well if planned appropriately. With other storylines, particularly the Shield/Evolution program, eating up a good portion of the main event roster, creative was left with few options for Bryan’s matchup at Extreme Rules.

Randy Orton still holds a rematch clause but is fighting with Evolution, not to mention that Orton/Bryan headlined three pay-per-views last year and most fans would like something fresh. I think Brock Lesnar is being built up to eventually challenge Bryan for the title, but it would be too soon and neither superstar could afford a loss immediately following WrestleMania. Lesnar needs to continue winning to validate his win against the Undertaker and Bryan cannot lose the title just one month after finally winning it. A no contest would also leave the crowd unsatisfied with the outcome.

Therefore, I think Bryan and Lesnar will both be built up over the coming months to set up a blockbuster showdown at SummerSlam. Bryan’s first victim will almost assuredly be Kane. It is no secret that Kane is past his prime, but he can still put on a decent match if paired with the right opponent.

At the very least, the two have been involved with one another in the storyline over the past several months and creative can rely on that to tell a decent story. It certainly works a little better than randomly choosing someone like Sheamus or Alberto Del Rio to challenge for the title.

As previously reported, it was announced on WWE RAW this week that John Cena will be squaring off against Bray Wyatt in a steel cage match at the upcoming WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

Also announced for the show, which takes place on May 4th from the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is a WWE Intercontinental Championship match between current title-holder Big E., and the winner of the ongoing number one contender tournament. The semi-finals of the tournament takes place next Monday night and features Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro, as well as Bad News Barrett vs. Sheamus. The Superstar who advances to the finals will challenge Big E. for the title on May 4th.

Additionally, rumored for Extreme Rules is a faction vs. faction match between The Shield and the reunited Evolution group. As previously reported, it is unclear yet as to whether or not Daniel Bryan and Kane will be added to the match.

The following news and notes were revealed during this week’s edition of WWE RAW, which took place on Monday night in Birmingham, Alabama.

– Next week on RAW, the rest of the WWE Intercontinental Championship number one contender tournament will take place. Advancing in first round matches on Monday night were Rob Van Dam, Cesaro, Sheamus and Bad News Barrett. Squaring off next week in the semi-finals will be RVD vs. Cesaro and Sheamus vs. Bad News Barrett.

– Taking place on this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which airs live on the WWE Network on Tuesday night, will be Big Show vs. Jack Swagger.

– Announced for the upcoming WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view, which takes place on May 4th at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt in a steel cage match.

– Confirmed as the main event of this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which will be taped on Tuesday night and airs Friday night on SyFy, is “The Animal” Batista vs. Sheamus.

– Finally, it was announced that on next week’s edition of WWE RAW, the returning Daniel Bryan will square off against Kane, who is returning as a masked Superstar.

– The following is a new Razor Ramon WWE Hall Of Fame t-shirt:

First look at @SCOTTHALLNWO #WWEHOF T-shirt #WrestleMania #WM30 #WrestleMania30 #WWE @MBoone420 @RyanClarkWZR pic.twitter.com/ZFzQ380vf9

— Jorge Romero (@Jromer0) April 3, 2014

– The following is the latest video in the “My First WrestleMania” series, which features Sheamus talking about his experiences in his first ever WrestleMania.

The following are results for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. The show was taped on Monday night in Washington, D.C. prior to WWE RAW.

– Sheamus def. The Miz in singles action to open the show. Miz played heel throughout this match, as many would expect. The finish saw Sheamus pick up the victory after hitting Miz with his Brogue Kick for the 1-2-3.

– Tamina Snuka def. Nikki Bella in Divas action. AJ Lee was in Tamina’s corner, and of course Brie Bella was in Nikki’s. The finish came when Tamina hit the top-rope splash on Nikki for the 1-2-3.

The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. For complete spoiler results, click ahead to page two.

– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
– Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
– Goldust vs. Fandango
– Batista vs. Sheamus
– The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka
– Jack Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso
– The Miz vs. Mark Henry
– Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show

For complete spoiler results for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …

– Jim Ross has debuted part one of his lengthy three-part WrestleMania editorial feature at FOX Sports. Part one features JR’s look back at WrestleMania I through WrestleMania IX, with comments from past WWE Superstars and executives who were part of the events. You can check out the feature at FOXSports.com.

– As previously reported, WWE scrapped the planned Intercontinental Championship match between Big E. and Christian on Tuesday’s live edition of WWE Main Event. The reason given was that Christian had suffered a “slight concussion” at RAW, which resulted in a triple-threat match taking place between Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus. Ziggler would go on to win the bout, earning himself a shot at Big E., a match that he would go on to lose in the evening’s main event.

The following are results of this week’s WWE Main Event, which took place at the TD Garden in Boston and aired live on the WWE Network.

– The show opens with WWE Intercontinental Champion Big E. making his way to the ring. Big E. joins the announce table, where it is explained that Christian, who earned the right to challenge him for his title tonight, will not be competing due to a “slight concussion” that he suffered on Monday’s RAW.

– Dolph Ziggler def. Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio in a triple-threat match to become the new number one contender to the Intercontinental Championship. Ziggler will get to challenge Big E. for the title later tonight.

– Layla, Alicia Fox, Aksana, Tamina Snuka and Summer Rae def. Eva Marie, Natalya, Emma, Cameron and Naomi in a ten-Diva tag-team match.

– A Bad News Barrett segment takes place with Barrett talking about John Cena being freaked out by Bray Wyatt the same way the fans get freaked out when they look in the mirror. He suggests everyone should wear a sheep mask because of their bad looks.

– Big E. def. Dolph Ziggler to retain his WWE Intercontinental Championship in the main event of the evening.

At Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, a fatal four-way match took place between Christian, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio. The stipulation saw the winner receive the right to challenge Big E. for the WWE Intercontinental Championship on the live edition of WWE Main Event, which airs Tuesday night on the WWE Network.

Christian ended up winning the match, so on this week’s Main Event, Christian will challenge Big E. for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

The following are highlights of a new Long Island Newsday interview with Sheamus:

On the Nassau Coliseum and Long Island fans: “It has a reputation. We know it’s a crowd that might go against the grain, and we deal with it. There’s a couple cities like that. When you go, they want the show to be about them sometimes or their opinions, which is cool. They’re paying their money. They’re going to do what they want to do and it makes it interesting for all of us. You just go with it,man. We’re professionals. If you fight them, you’re going to drown.”

On his WWE return: “I was ready to come back at the Survivor Series, but for whatever reason they wanted me to wait for the new year. I firmly believe everybody knew I was going to come back at the Rumble. I was just glad to be back in the ring. I rehabbed my shoulder really, really well. It was my first injury and I got through it with flying colors. So, for me, in that respect it was a success.”

On changing his character and the road to WrestleMania: “Rehabbing my injuring, I was kind of spinning my wheels and I kind of realized I let my character become a little bit hokey. So coming back, I’m a lot more motivated, a lot more direct. I want to have fun every now and again . . . but you can’t just rest on your laurels. There a lot of young guys in the developmental system coming up and the way you handle that is by going out there and having the best match you can each and every night. WrestleMania is around the corner and we’re all looking to tear it up. Everybody is on their A-game.”

Check out the complete interview at Newsday.com.

– WWE recently shot the intro video for WrestleMania XXX in New Orleans. The theme of the intro was a Mardi Gras parade. The WWE Superstars that were reportedly in attendance include The Big Show, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Fandango, Summer Rae and The Bella Twins.

– WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross will be taking part in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” chat on March 28th at 11am EST.

– Stephanie McMahon will be taking part in a Twitter chat on Wednesday at 7pm EST. Stephanie will be chatting with the “WWE Moms” group, which you can access on Twitter @WWEMoms.

Very excited to host twitter chat with our @StephMcMahon on Wednesday 3-19 at 7pm – join us? RSVP http://t.co/yiH47gwJRP #WWEmoms

— WWEmoms (@WWEmoms) March 14, 2014

– Sheamus is teasing a St. Patrick’s Day “treat” of some kind for Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. Sheamus tweeted the following on Sunday:

Yes i can @DiscoverIreland. Watch WWE #Raw tomorrow night… I may give you a wee #StPatricksDay treat.

— Sheamus (@WWESheamus) March 16, 2014

The following is a list of the current merchandise sellers at the arenas in WWE.

1. John Cena
2. Daniel Bryan
3. CM Punk (down on the list because he’s been off TV and hasn’t been at the arenas)
4. Batista
5. Sheamus
6. Hulk Hogan
7. Randy Orton
8. Brock Lesnar

On the official WWE website, the list of top merchandise sellers is as follows:

1. John Cena
2. CM Punk
3. Daniel Bryan
4. Hulk Hogan
5. The Shield
6. Steve Austin
7. Brock Lesnar
8. Undertaker
9. Randy Orton

Notably absent from the list are Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio, both of whom have been among the top merchandise movers, especially Mysterio, who has been in the top tier list for several years.

According to an internal list that was just made in WWE, the company is projecting the following five guys to be the top Superstars, in order, going forward after WrestleMania XXX in April.

1. John Cena
2. Daniel Bryan
3. Randy Orton
4. Sheamus
5. Roman Reigns

Many found it interesting that both Sheamus came in at number two, and that Batista was not on the list at all. In the case of Sheamus, many point to the fact that Triple H has been very high on him for quite a while.

It should be noted, by the way, that this is a list of the guys they feel will be in those positions several months down the line, as opposed to where they are today. Obviously when they get to that point, things will likely have changed many times, but this is the list that the company just recently made.

– The latest edition of the “30 Years Of WrestleMania” podcast, which features Renee Young interviewing Mick Foley, is now available at PodcastOne.com.

– WWE is advertising a steel cage match between John Cena and Randy Orton, as well as Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio, for the company’s return to Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York on March 22nd.

– The shirt that Jerry “The King” Lawler wore on RAW last night in his hometown of Memphis was said to be a hot topic of discussion backstage during the show. Lawler tweeted the following about the shirt after the show:

My Raw shirt tonight in Memphis was a tribute to Elvis & his gold lame’ suit. From the Graceland gift shop! pic.twitter.com/nuX4aDuhAR

— Jerry Lawler (@JerryLawler) March 11, 2014

• PHOTO: Triple H Giving Speech To WWE Locker Room

– Jim Ross will be interviewing 2014 WWE Hall of Fame inductee Lita tonight for an upcoming episode of his Ross Report podcast at PodcastOne.com.

– Sheamus tweeted the following photo of his back after wrestling Christian in a Memphis Street Fight on RAW:

Question… #MemphisStreetFight anyone? #MemphisRAW pic.twitter.com/1vrgTFC6rv

— Sheamus (@WWESheamus) March 11, 2014

– WWE has published a video of Cesaro interviewing Santino Marella and asking him about Emma and Fandango: