The final betting odds for most of the matches that will take place at the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view event have been released.
The card for the show that takes place this Sunday (January 31, 2021) from St. Petersburg, Florida at the Tropicana Field has likely been finalized as only five matches have been announced with WWE expected to announce a pre-show contest.
The favorites to win are listed as – while the underdogs are listed with +. Odds call for all three titles to change. Here are the final betting odds courtesy of BetOnline:
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns (-800) vs. Kevin Owens (+425) – Last Man Standing Match
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre (-400) vs. Goldberg (+125)
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka & Charlotte Flair (+150) vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler ( -200)
Royal Rumble Betting Odds (Men\’s)
Daniel Bryan +125
Keith Lee +400
Big E +750
Brock Lesnar +650
Edge +850
Goldberg +1400
Bray Wyatt +1500
Seth Rollins +1600
Kevin Owens +2500
Drew McIntyre +1400
Roman Reigns +2500
AJ Styles +2000
The Rock +3300
CM Punk +5000
Braun Strowman +2500
Sheamus +2500
John Cena +3300
Randy Orton +3500
Adam Cole +3300
Aleister Black +5000
Karrion Kross +5000
Matt Riddle +5000
Andrade +5000
Finn Balor +6600
Samoa Joe +6600
King Corbin +6600
Lars Sullivan +6600
Johnny Gargano +8000
Bobby Lashley +5000
Tommasso Ciampa +6600
Kofi Kingston +8000
Ricochet +10000
Walter +8000
Buddy Murphy +8000
Rey Mysterio +8000
Mustafa Ali +8000
Velveteen Dream +10000
Tyson Fury +10000
Pete Dunne +10000
Angel Garza +10000
Xavier Woods +15000
John Morrison +50000
Shinsuke Nakamura +1200
Erick Rowan +15000
The Miz +10000
Conor McGregor +20000
Dean Ambrose +15000
Rusev +15000
Elias +25000
Robert Roode +50000
Dolph Ziggler +50000
Humberto Carrillo +50000
Shane McMahon +250000
Vince McMahon +250000
Royal Rumble Betting Odds (Women\’s)
Bianca Belair +180
Alexa Bliss +265
Rhea Ripley +350
Ronda Rousey +1600
Bayley +1000
Charlotte Flair +1400
Shayna Baszler +1600
Sasha Banks +2000
Nia Jax +2000
Sonya Deville +1400
Io Shirai +2500
Asuka +3300
Paige +5000
Lana +2500
Carmella +2500
Liv Morgan +3300
Ruby Riot +6600
Kairi Sane +5000
Nikki Cross +5000
Mandy Rose +4000
Naomi +4000
Ember Moon +6600
Natalya +5000
Dana Brooke +4000
Lacey Evans +4000
Toni Storm +6600
Peyton Royce +5000
Tegan Nox +6600
Candice LeRae +6600
Dakota Kai +6600
Kay Lee Ray +8000
Mercedes Martinez +8000
Make sure to join us this weekend for match recaps and our takeaways from this latest pay-per-view event held by WWE.
\”It\’s strange. I really feel like he misspoke. Because Mark is a really good guy. He\’s very knowledgeable. Obviously, he has a ton of respect for the business. Goldberg is just Goldberg. Who cares? But he\’s talking about guns and knives in the locker room. Come on.”
Reigns stated that the older generation traveled just like they do now and doesn’t think TSA would let wrestlers travel with weapons these days. He noted that he has chosen to play video games on his own time, but not at work.
He stated that he’s trying to network and politic while at work while other wrestlers stay in the locker room. He brought up how The New Day can get away with playing games at work. He hopes the younger guys don’t fall into that because they’re not all the same.
Reigns stated that he puts his mind into work when he goes to events and sometimes he needs a reminder to shut his mind off when he comes home to stop thinking about it.
The Big Dog stated that he doesn’t always think there should be video games in the locker room, but due to their hectic schedule, he would rather have “my guys be playing video games than breaking into a bag of some sort.\”
Reigns continued, \”It\’s a different time and I think we\’re smarter. I think you\’re gonna see that from the financial side of it, from how we save our money, how we prepare for the future, having a life after the business when we can\’t fall down anymore to our actual health. I think it was just like a retired guy trying to sound gangster.\”
Reigns will defend the Universal Title against Kevin Owens in a Last Man Standing Match at the Royal Rumble.
The January 27, 2021 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
MSK def. Drake Maverick & Killian Dain
Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez def. Aliyah & Jessi Kamea
Tyler Rust def. Daniel Garcia
Grizzled Young Veterans def. KUSHIDA & Leon Ruff
Bronson Reed def. Isaiah \”Swerve\” Scott.
Finn Balor and Kyle O\’Reilly def. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Women\’s Division Builds
Toni Storm walked out to the ring for a promo where she said that she doesn’t just want to hurt NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai, but she wants to take the title from her as well. She said that she wasn’t just willing to….this led to the champion coming out to the ring.
Io said that she will fight her anywhere. She said that she doesn’t like Storm. Toni knocked her down and a brawl broke out. Io took her out with a drop kick and stood tall in the ring until Mercedes Martinez ran out and attacked Io from behind. Toni and Mercedes argued over the title before Io took out the heels.
Io hit the double knee strike to Mercedes in the corner, but Toni sent Io into the steel steps. Toni a few hip attacks to both stars before standing tall in the ring with the title.
NXT has a TakeOver event slated to take place next month. That’s likely where this three-way will take place.
NXT Champion Finn Balor and Kyle O\’Reilly vs. NXT Tag Team Champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch in a non-title match took place.
No surprise here, but this was the main event of the show. It was a really good match with Kyle tapping out Burch for the win with the unlikely opponents. Post-match, Pete Dunne came out and the heels attacked Balor and Kyle. That was until Bobby Fish and Adam Cole ran out to make the save. The eight men had a staredown to close the show.
Two weeks ago, Pete Dunne, Lorcan & Burch confronted Balor in the ring. Basically, Dunne tried to get a title shot and was tired of waiting. Dunne, Lorcan & Burch attacked Balor until O\’Reilly made the save.
Dunne, Lorcan & Burch also attacked O\’Reilly at ringside during the Adam Cole & Roderick Strong vs. Breezango main event on that same show. Balor tried to get involved and fight off Dunne, Lorcan & Burch, but failed.
Last week, the top NXT star asked NXT general manager William Regal for a match with Dunne, but wanted to start with Lorcan & Burch first. Balor later went to Undisputed Era and asked O\’Reilly to team with him next week. O\’Reilly agreed and the match was made official.
MSK vs. Drake Maverick & Killian Dain in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic quarterfinal match was booked.
This was the first match of the night and oh what energy that MSK brings to this show. It was a great slot for them to start off the show. They picked up on where they left off with their promotional debut.
MSK hit a wild tag team move on Drake as one did a standing backflip while the other shoved his partner onto Maverick. The finish saw Carter hit the blockbuster for the win.
As a result of this win, they will move onto face the winner of Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado vs. Legado Del Fantasma\’s Raul Mendoza & Joaquín Wilde.
The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Kushida & Leon Ruff
The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Kushida & Leon Ruff in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic quarterfinal match took place.
The babyfaces started off strong, but then right before the commercial break, the heels took over and controlled a few minutes. Ruff fought back and got the hot tag to Kushida, who made a babyface comeback.
Young Veterans hit the Doomsday Device yet they did a near fall spot. Yes, Kushida kicked out of the Road Warriors’ finisher. However, the finish of the match saw Young veterans Ruff miss a swanton bomb off the top rope and allowed the heels to hit their finisher for the win.
As a result of this win, they will move onto face the winner of Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher vs. Undisputed Era\’s Adam Cole & Roderick Strong.
Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez vs. Aliyah & Jessi Kamea
Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez vs. Aliyah and Jessi Kamea in a Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match was booked.
Raquel hit her finisher to Kamea with a clothesline then a chokeslam for the win. It was a solid match with the heels getting the majority of the offense.
As a result of this win, they will move onto face Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter in the semifinals.
Shaquille O’Neal threw out the challenge to Cody Rhodes to a wrestling match.
It happened when the NBA Legend released a short video promo ahead of Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. It was directed at the top AEW superstar where he insulted him then told “the American Nightmare” that any time or place he wants to fight he’ll be there.
“Cody Rhodes, you little punk. You want a battle? You just name the time and the date. I’ll be there. You little punk, with your little blonde hair…look like a little girl. You want some of the Shaq-attack… let\’s do it in March. How about that?”
With Shaq bringing up March, which just so happens to be when AEW holds its Revolution pay-per-view event (reportedly March 7th), many fans quickly came to the conclusion that the former NBA star was teasing a match at this show.
Rhodes wrote on Twitter, “(deep breath) Let’s be serious here…with the utmost respect, I would eat this guy alive in the ring.” He added he would address Shaq on Dynamite and that’s exactly what he did.
On Dynamite, Cody Rhodes came out with Arn Anderson for a promo. Midway through, Arn Anderson introduced Red Velvet. She called out Jade Cardgill, who is aligned with Shaq and also has a beef with Cody. This was taken as a challenge, with Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet taking on Shaquille O\’Neal and Jade Cargill.
Nia Jax has no time for fans who call out her dangerous botched moves on WWE television.
Monday’s episode of Raw on the USA Network saw Lacey Evans, Jax & Shayna Baszler defeat Charlotte Flair, Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose. During the match, Jax hit a chokeslam to Brooke, which resulted in her head hitting the mat hard. There was some concern about Brooke’s condition, but it was reported that she was said to be okay.
Various fans took to social media to criticize Jax. This far from the first instance of something like this happening. She responded to a video that shows the botch by stating that those criticizing her are \”whiners.\”
Another fan wrote, \”another RAW, another dangerous Nia Jax spot.\” She replied by saying, \”Glad to see I’m still living rent free in all you weak ass loser’s heads.\”
In the past, there have been notable instances that have either resulted in wrestlers being injured or nearly hurt due to botched spots involving Jax. She had a situation where she sent Kairi Sane headfirst into the steel steps last year on an episode of Raw that resulted in the former WWE star suffering a concussion.
Jax will team up with Shayna Baszler to challenge Charlotte Flair and Raw Women’s Champion Asuka for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles at Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view in St. Petersburg, Florida at Tropicana Field on the WWE Network.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.819 million viewers with a 0.52 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. Last week’s show did 1.854 million viewers with a 0.60 rating.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Monday night:
The first hour did 1.904 million viewers and a 0.57 rating (A18-49).
The second hour did 1.838 million viewers and a 0.51 rating.
The final hour of the show had just 1.716 million viewers and a 0.47 rating.
This was the go-home edition of Raw for the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Historically, these types of shows usually get a bump and the belief heading into this show was that it would be more than in recent months due to WWE not having to go up against the NFL on ESPN.
Next week will be more interesting to follow as there is usually intrigue from fans who want to see the fallout from the Royal Rumble.
Friday’s SmackDown averaged 2.383 million viewers. This is up from the 2.262 million viewers on FS1 that the show did for the previous week.
SmackDown pulled in a 0.63 rating in the 18-49 demos, up from the 0.67 rating the previous week’s show. The episode drew an average of 2.282 million viewers in the overnight ratings, up from the previous week that did 2.153 million viewers.
The first hour saw it pull in 2.284 million viewers while hour two did 2.280 million viewers. The show did 2.200 million viewers in hour one while hour two did 2.105 million viewers two weeks ago.
WWE announced a new title match, which will see Charlotte Flair and Raw Women’s Champion Asuka defend their Women\’s Tag Team Titles against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler. It turns out that this is a rematch from last month’s WWE TLC pay-per-view where Asuka and Flair dethroned their opponents to become the champions.
WWE has announced that the two wrestlers who will be kicking off the Women\’s Royal Rumble Match as the first and second entrants will be announced on WWE Backstage this Saturday. Also on this show, the wrestler who will be entering the Men\’s Royal Rumble Match last at number 30 will be revealed.
Updated WWE Royal Rumble Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens – Last Man Standing Match
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Goldberg
Daniel Bryan, WWE United States Champion Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Otis, The Miz, Jey Uso, Cesaro, Jeff Hardy, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, SmackDown Tag Team Champion Dolph Ziggler, WWE Intercontinental Champion Big E, Sheamus, John Morrison, Edge, Elias, Mustafa Ali, 12 Superstars TBA – Men’s Royal Rumble Match:
Nia Jax, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Bianca Belair, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, Shayna Baszler, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, Tamina Snuka, 18 Superstars TBA – Women’s Royal Rumble Match
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka & Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler
Edge made an appearance on Monday’s episode of Raw by providing an injury update and also making an announcement.
WWE didn’t announce this segment ahead of the broadcast, but rather in the first hour of the show on the USA Network. On the show, Edge cut a pre-recorded promo inside of a ring backstage. He said that 2020 taught him that nothing is guaranteed.
He said that 10 years ago he went to bed as the world champion yet within a week he was told he couldn’t wrestle again. Now that he has his career back, it’s time to go do it again and declared himself for the Royal Rumble.
He said that the window closes on him each day and wants to get back what is his, something that he never lost. He said that it’s time to fight to get his dream back of being a world champion.
The WWE Hall of Famer suffered a torn triceps injury when he lost to Randy Orton in a singles match at the WWE Backlash pay-per-view event last year in Orlando, Florida. At the time, the belief was that he would be back in time for WrestleMania 37.
Since he went down due to the injury, it had been reported that there had been talk about Edge finishing up his program with “The Viper” at WrestleMania 37.
WrestleVotes reported last November, “WrestleMania update: Source states that while Edge vs Randy Orton has been the long-standing plan, and still is at the moment, the idea of Edge vs The Fiend has been discussed a great deal for the show.”
News broke on Monday that WWE and NBCU had reached a streaming rights deal to the WWE Network in the United States that will see all WWE programming – PPV events, archives, and new series – move to the Peacock service come March 18th.
Fightful Select has some notes on the backstage reaction to the news. One WWE star said they hadn\’t heard of the news before it broke and said the company\’s profit would be massive. The first impressions were the additional eyes on the product with this new deal.
Another wrestler stated they didn\’t care where the shows aired, but would if it affected their pay. There is no negativity among those in WWE but did consider it a big move for the company.
Talks about such a move to a different streaming service have been ongoing since last January. Fightful notes they were not able to confirm that one of the companies was Peacock at the time. ESPN had been one of the players in these talks.
Several people within the company said they actually expected a move much sooner than this, but understood it was easier said than done from a negotiating standpoint.
This topic was also discussed by Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Live this afternoon.
It was also reported that the move to Peacock caught the WWE Network employees off-guard and word is that WWE Network employees did not know about the actual move to Peacock as of one week ago.
This topic was discussed by Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Live this afternoon. The deal will see all WWE programming that had been on the WWE Network in the United States move to NBCU’s Peacock streaming service this March.
It was stated that speculation about how NBCU trying to acquire SmackDown would be justified now that NBCU has signed the WWE Network for Peacock. Of course, NBCU owns the USA Network, the home of Raw, and previously had the rights to SmackDown before WWE inked a big-money deal with FOX.
It was noted that the idea of NBCU trying to get back the rights to Smackdown wouldn’t be far-fetched or even the possibility of NBCU trying to buy WWE due to them already paying TV rights to Raw and now with the WWE Network programming.
Once Alvarez remarked that this new NBCU – WWE deal for Peacock is a good sign that Disney, the parent company of ESPN, not trying to negotiate a sale of WWE right now, Meltzer indicated there are issues between WWE and ESPN.
The belief is ESPN was a significant part of the WWE Network talks before WWE decided to ink a deal with NBCU. Over the years, there have been rumors of Disney being interested in buying WWE. ESPN found out three weeks ago that they were not getting the WWE Network deal.
Meltzer added that ESPN has “pretty much shut down” any WWE coverage and won’t air any WWE content on their networks going forward.
Last February it was rumored WWE and ESPN had talked about potentially moving pay-per-view events to the ESPN+ platform. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down that.
Aleister Black hasn\’t been seen on WWE TV in a few months, which has caused fans to wonder what his status is. His disappearance also came at a time where his wife, Zelina Vega, was released by the company.
According to PWInsider, there are big plans in store for him. WWE made the call to purposely pull him from television so he could have a big “dramatic debut” on SmackDown. As to why that hasn’t happened just yet, there’s no word, but it’s possible the company is waiting for the right time to do so.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson stated, “I was told he was purposely pulled from television so he comes back and have a big dramatic debut for SmackDown, and it just hasn’t happened. My feeling is maybe the stuff with his wife Zelina, might have led to them saying ‘hey, let’s wait a bit, let’s the waters kind of calm.”
Black was sent from Raw to SmackDown last October during the WWE Draft. However, after dropping losses to Kevin Owens, he disappeared a few weeks later.
When Paul Heyman was still the acting Raw Executive Director, he was high on the former NXT Champion with the idea to push him as a top star on Raw a year ago. However, once Heyman was removed from this role, Black’s push stopped.
WrestleVotes has since reported that once it was determined that this year’s show would take place over the course of two nights then the creative team started working on “bigger” ideas for the show. WWE is looking to lock in four marquee matches for the weekend, with two matches per night to take place.
The report goes onto state that the company feels they need some outside assistance from big names. John Cena and Goldberg are said to be \”nearly\” locked in for WrestleMania.
John Cena
The Rock is unlikely to appear while things are to be determined with The Undertaker even though he retired last November at Survivor Series. Triple H\’s status is considered \’TBD.\’
Cena does live in the area and is likely to be more available than usual since production in Hollywood has slowed down because of the pandemic. The former WWE Champion was also featured in the “WrestleMania Report” video to promote the event and announce the dates and locations for the next three WrestleMania events.
Once a decision was made to run the 2 night card for Mania, the creative team started working on “bigger” ideas. Thought is WWE now needs 4 MAJOR matches, 2 per show. That probably requires outside assistance from big names. Cena & Goldberg nearly locks. Rock unlikely. Taker TBD.
NBC Universal, parent company of the USA Network, is shutting down the NBC Sports Network channel. This could have a big impact on WWE programming, most notably NXT.
NBC Sports Network currently airs popular sports properties such as NHL and NASCAR. NXT could be directly impacted since many of the NHL games on NBCSN air on Wednesday nights. NASCAR coverage could also potentially impact Raw.
Because the USA Network is in more homes than NBCSN, the belief is the sports leagues mentioned above should see their ratings go up and eventually TV rights. If that theory happens then bigger money deals could also be given to WWE.
If this move leads to NXT changing nights, the models people have regarding time frame of AEW beating Raw IF THINGS GO AS THEY DID THE LAST 12 MONTHS moves up. USA had tried to protect its investment but this changes that game because of the real world.
There have been rumors since last year of NBC Universal moving NXT to another night where they would not have to go head-to-head with AEW Dynamite on Wednesdays. What that new night would be or when a move could be made remains to be seen.
The belief has been since AEW got a TV deal with TNT, WWE moved NXT to the USA Network as a way to compete, but more importantly, to keep AEW down to a certain level, which could see AEW have less leverage once it’s time to get a TV deal/extension done.
Of course, that original belief was before AEW got an extension with TNT. There is no word yet on the exact date when NBCSN will be shutting down.
The January 20, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Kushida and Leon Ruff def. Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory
Karrion Kross def. Ashante \”Thee\” Adonis
Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik) def. Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner)
Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro def. Toni Storm & Mercedes Martine
Bronson Reed def. Tyler Rust
Timothy Thatcher def. Tommaso Ciampa in the Fight Pit.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Women\’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match
Toni Storm & Mercedes Martinez vs. Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter in a Women\’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match was booked.
This was the first match of the tournament to take place. Unlike the men’s tournament, there are not as many teams in it, which means there won’t be as many matches. There is no second round so the winners of the first-round matches will move onto the semi-finals.
Io Shirai came out and took out Martinez for revenge. Kacey hit a dive off the top rope for the win.
As a result of this win, they will move onto face the winner of Aliyah & Jessi Kamea vs. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez.
Men\’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match
Kushida and Leon Ruff vs. NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory took place in a Men\’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match.
This opened the show. The heels dominated most of the match. There was a spot where Ruff accidentally took out Kushida that led to a double team spot with Gargano and Theory. The baby faces made a comeback with the finish seeing Kushida pinning Gargano with a suplex.
As a result of this win, they will move onto face the winner of Grizzled Young Veterans. It should be noted that WWE has recently teased Kushida coming after Gargano’s North American Title and with him pinning the champ, this sets up a future title match after the tournament. Something to keep an eye on.
Imperium (Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner) vs. Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado took place in a Men\’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match.
The match had some fun moments with the babyfaces hitting some high spots. It felt like old school versus new school with the way that each team works, but they made it good. After a commercial break, the babyfaces made a comeback including Metalik hitting a springboard moonsault off the top rope for 2. Imperium hit a double team move to Dorado for a near fall.
Dorado hit a shooting star press for the win. Many people would consider this was an upset as Imperium were one of the favorites to win the match.
As a result of this win, they will move onto face the winner of Legado Del Fantasma.
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher took place in the fight pit, which is a fan favorite after the company booked this gimmick themed match earlier this year. Thatcher was also involved in the first match by defeating Matt Riddle this May. Kurt Angle was the special guest referee for it.
The match featured them beating the heck out of each other. They brawled on top of the structure then into the cage. The finish saw Thatcher pin Ciampa’s leg in between the cage and Thatcher pulled on it until Ciampa tapped out. It was a brutal match. Now, Thatcher moves to a 2-0 record in the fight pit.
Ciampa defeated Thatcher in their match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames earlier this month. On last week’s episode, Leon Ruff got a surprise win by pinning Thatcher with a cradle. Post-match, Thatcher beat down Ruff until Ciampa ran out to make the save. Ciampa laid out Thatcher with the Willow\’s Bell DDT. This is when Ciampa laid out the challenge.
It turns out that Jason Jordan isn’t giving up hope regarding a possible in-ring return.
Chad Gable, the former tag team partner of Jordan, made an appearance on today’s episode of WWE’s The Bump. Around the 58-minute mark, Gable reflected on teaming up with Jordan.
This is where he noted that Jordan is working towards to a potential comeback.
“Just speaking from a personal standpoint, he became one of my best friends throughout the process and still is. It\’s unfortunate what happened with his injury, but you never say never. He’s working on it. He\’s trying to get back, and who knows? A reunion is always something that I would never be against.”
Jordan and Gable won both the NXT and SmackDown Tag Team Championships as a tag team together before they were separated in 2017 during the Superstar Shake-Up. Jordan would later win the Raw Tag Team Titles with Seth Rollins.
Jordan had neck surgery in early 2018 and still hasn’t been cleared to return to in-ring action. It’s been reported that the likelihood of him wrestling again isn’t likely.
On the flip side, Gable would go onto win the Tag Team Titles on the red brand with Robert Roode. He is currently a member of the Friday Night SmackDown where he\’s paired with Otis.
Over the years, WWE has typically just announced the competitors, or even in some cases, there will be qualifying bouts with the winners being added to one of the most exciting matches the company puts on all year.
This year has been a bit different as there have been various wrestlers just declaring for it and automatically added without question.
Adam Pearce, who serves as a WWE Producer as well as an on-air authority figure, recently clarified WWE Superstars declaring themselves for the match. He did so in a post on Twitter by writing the following:
“It’s actually pretty simple: Those that have been granted the ability to simply declare entry into the Royal Rumble by management are free to do so. Those that haven’t must qualify. I don’t write the rules, I enforce them.”
So far confirmed for the Women’s Royal Rumble Match include Nia Jax, WWE Women\’s Tag Team Champion Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Bianca Belair, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, and Shayna Baszler.
Jeff Hardy, Jey Uso, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, WWE United States Champion Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Otis are named thus far set for Men’s Royal Rumble Match.
WWE is moving forward with WrestleMania 37 in what will be the closest to a normal presentation that fans haven\’t seen in nearly a year by having a show not held in a closed set environment.
Since March, WWE hasn’t had any fans in attendance for their shows due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That will change with WWE’s biggest pay-per-view event of the year.
WWE confirmed over the weekend that this event will be held over the course of two nights – April 10th and 11th – from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
PWinsider.com reports that the current plan is for each night to be a three-hour show, airing live on the WWE Network from 7-10pm ET. WWE will likely have a Kickoff pre-show that airs before the main card. There’s no word yet whether the pre-show will be an hour or two hours long as everything is subject to change at this point.
Regarding fans being allowed to attend the show, WrestleVotes reported today that both nights are expected to have 25,000 fans in attendance, which would give WWE 50,000 fans in total. Now, WWE shifts its focus on what they will do after WrestleMania regarding traveling and fans attending shows.
WWE is planning on permitting upwards of 25,000 fans for WrestleMania on each night. The real internal discussions are what to do after. Some would like a soft “reopening” of the touring schedule for Live TVs as continuing the ThunderDome post Mania comes with location headaches.
Pwinsider added that no other events have been locked in for this special weekend although there has been talk of holding the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony as a virtual event.
In the past, WWE would announce the date and location of the following year’s WrestleMania either before or after that year\’s event. However, WWE didn’t do that for WrestleMania events over the next three years.
This past weekend, WWE confirmed that they would hold WrestleMania 37 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on April 10 and April 11 of this year, WrestleMania 38 on April 3, 2022 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on April 2, 2023.
WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon recently spoke with Tony Maglio of The Wrap. During the interview, she explained why WWE bucked the trend of announcements.
“It just helps everybody,” she said. “It helps us for planning purposes, it helps our fans plan their trips, it helps in so many different capacities. And now we can really work with all of our partners across the board in all of these major cities and really blow everything out as big as we possibly can,” McMahon said.
She added that she thinks people need hope and something to look forward to during this difficult time as we all live in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.854 million viewers with a 0.60 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. Last week’s show did 1.819 million viewers with a 0.55 rating.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Monday night:
The first hour did 1.991 million viewers and a 0.64 rating (A18-49).
The second hour did 1.875 million viewers and a 0.61 rating.
The final hour of the show had just 1.697 million viewers and a 0.56 rating.
For the second time since September, WWE didn’t have to face competition from any football coverage whether that was Monday Night Football with the NFL or in the case of last week with the college football championship game.
The January 4th edition didn’t have any competition from football, but that was the Legends Night Special, which saw a tremendous boost in buzz and intrigue among fans to the point that it drew Raw’s highest rating in months.
WWE will get a boost next week as it will mark the go-home edition of Raw for the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.
SmackDown Viewership
Friday’s SmackDown averaged 2.262 million viewers. This is up from the 2.120 million viewers on FS1 that the show did for the previous week.
SmackDown pulled in a 0.67 rating in the 18-49 demos, up from the 0.56 rating as previous week’s show. The episode drew an average of 2.153 million viewers in the overnight ratings, up from the previous week that did 2.003 million viewers.
The first hour saw it pull in 2.200 million viewers while hour two did 2.105 million viewers. The show did 2.036 million viewers in hour one while hour two did 1.969 million viewers two weeks ago.
WWE continues to announce more competitors for both the Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumble Matches.
The company announced the latest batch on Monday’s episode of Raw. The women’s match has added the likes of Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss and Shayna Baszler. There are now 21 spots left in the 30-Woman Royal Rumble Match.
On the flip side, Jeff Hardy has now been confirmed to be in the men’s match.
So far, WWE has only announced four matches for this show including two big championship matches.
Updated WWE Royal Rumble Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens – Last Man Standing Match
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Goldberg
Men\’s Royal Rumble Match: Jeff Hardy, Jey Uso, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, WWE United States Champion Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Otis
Women\’s Royal Rumble Match: Nia Jax, WWE Women\’s Tag Team Champion Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Bianca Belair, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, Shayna Baszler
WWE presents the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event on January 31, 2021 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida which will air on the WWE Network. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks.
Joey Ryan has been posting more on social media in the new year and took to Twitter today to send out an interesting message.
Ryan has apparently seen tweets about him from various people and how they think he should live his life in the wake of serious allegations against him during the #SpeakingOut movement.
He wrote, “I have not committed any crimes. I have never been investigated for a crime. There has never been any evidence connecting me to a crime. I have never even been a person of interest in a crime. It is bizarre that some would expect me to live my life like a criminal.”
The sexual assault allegations were made against him last year. Ryan had his contract with Impact Wrestling terminated in June due to the accusations. Later on, he released a video that was about one-hour long where he addressed the allegations. However, the video wasn’t available for long as it was deleted on his YouTube channel.
Since that time, Ryan has filed various lawsuits including two against his accusers for defamation. However, those lawsuits have been dismissed.
AJ Styles was part of the Bullet Club faction during his time with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Also part of the group was Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and The Young Bucks.
With the working relationship between AEW and Impact Wrestling in place, there was a mini-reunion on the first episode of AEW Dynamite between Omega, Gallows, Anderson and The Young Bucks.
Styles’ career in NJPW took off when he joined the group in NJPW. While doing an interview with Bleacher Report, he looked back on his time in the group.
Styles started off by wondering how it got over so well and thinks it was because there were guys that genuinely wanted to hang out together. He noted that they were together outside of the ring.
Styles then briefly commented on the members mentioned above being back together.
\”We were actually hanging out, and I think that\’s why it worked so well for us at that time. We all hang out together, so seeing those guys, I\’m happy for them. It\’s cool they\’re able to continue what they started, whenever it was.\”
The WWE pay-per-view schedule for this year is slowly coming together.
The company will be hosting the Elimination Champion pay-per-view next month. However, per a report by Pwinsider, the show won’t take place on February 28th as originally planned. Instead, the show has been moved up a week and will now take place on February 21st.
There have been various changes made to the 2021 pay-per-view schedule. Originally, the Royal Rumble was supposed to take place on January 24th, but will now take place on January 31st. The belief is WWE will not have fans in attendance at the show St. Petersburg, Florida at Tropicana Field.
It was just reported that WrestleMania 37 was supposed to take place on March 28th, but has now been pushed back to April 11th.
Updated 2021 PPV Schedule
Royal Rumble – 1/31
Elimination Chamber – 2/21
Wrestlemania 37 – 4/11
The 2020 Elimination Chamber event was the last PPV event presented by WWE before the COVID-19 pandemic.
It featured Shayna Baszler defeating Asuka and Liv Morgan and Natalya and Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan in the Elimantion Chamber Match to become the new #1 contender to the Raw Women\’s Title, which was held at the time by Becky Lynch. This was the main event.
The premiere date for the upcoming “Young Rock” television series has been announced by NBC. On Friday, it was announced by the television network that the series is slated to debut on February 16th at 8:30 EST on NBC.
The synopsis of the new series reads, \”Young Rock focuses on different chapters of Dwayne Johnson’s life. From growing up in a strong and resilient family, to being surrounded by the wild characters of his professional wrestling family, to playing football at the University of Miami, the show will explore the crazy rollercoaster that has shaped Dwayne into the man he is today and the larger-than-life characters he’s met along the way. \”
The show will star Dwayne Johnson, Joseph Lee Anderson, Stacey Leilua, Adrian Groulx, Bradley Constant, Uli Latukefu, Ana Tuisila, Fasitua Amosa and John Tui star.
The Rock released the following trailer for Young Rock on Saturday:
? @nbcyoungrock I wish my dad was around to see. Maaaaan he would’ve been proud.
Yes, I kicked puberty’s ass at 15 and turned tequila tycoon by 10 ???????
The executive producers listed for the series include Nahnatchka Khan, Dwayne Johnson, Jeff Chiang, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz and Jennifer Carreras.
NBC picked up the series that is about the early life of the former WWE Champion last year. The first season, which began production in October in Queensland, Australia, at locations in and around Brisbane and South East Queensland, will have 11 episodes.
The January 13, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Candice LaRae def. Shotzi Blackheart
The Grizzled Young Veterans def. Ever-Rise
Johnny Gargano def. Dexter Lumis
MSK def. Jake Atlas and Isaiah \”Swerve\” Scott
Xia Li def. Jobber
Undisputed Era def. Breezango
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Johnny Gargano vs. Dexter Lumis
Johnny Gargano vs. Dexter Lumis took place in the second hour of the show.
There were a few instances of Austin Theory getting involved and the referee didn’t do anything about it. Lumis hit a suplex to Theory, which allowed Gargano to roll him up for the win.
Post-match, Lumis locked in his submission hold on Theory only for Gargano to attack him from behind. Kushida ran out to make the save and told Gargano that he was coming after the NXT North American Title.
Lumis was the host of NXT New Year\’s Evil last Wednesday. After Blackheart and Kushida interrupted a celebration for Gargano breaking his title defense curse, Lumis made a mixed tag team match where Kushida & Blackheart defeated Gargano & LeRae.
Gargano broke his title defense curse by retaining the North American Championship against Leon Ruff on NXT two weeks ago.
Candice LaRae vs. Shotzi Blackheart served as the opening contest of this show.
The match was good and that\’s as expected due to LeRae’s abilities. She dominated most of the match, but Blackheart made a babyface comeback towards the end of the contest. The end of the match saw Blackheart got distracted by Indie Heartwell, and allowed LeRae to hit a neck breaker off the top rope.
Blackheart and LeRae were the captains for the women\’s WarGames match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames last month. It turned out that LeRae, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez & Toni Storm defeated Blackheart, Ember Moon, Rhea Ripley & NXT Women\’s Champion Io Shirai in that contest.
Based on the finish of this match, it appears the feud will continue.
Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Roderick Strong) vs. Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) in a first round match as part of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament took place.
This was the main event and these four guys put on a heck of a match. Pete Dunne attacked Kyle O’Reilly at ringside. This concerned Cole and he got super kicked in the face by Breeze. Finn Balor later came out to take out Dunne. Moments later, Cole connected with a superkick of his own to Fandango for the win.
Obviously, Cole and Strong are the favorites to win the match as they won the tournament in 2018. Breezango was pushed quite a bit last year by management including a run with the NXT Tag Team Titles. However, they still remain a comedy act.
The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) vs. Ever-Rise (Chase Parker & Matt Martel) in a first round match as part of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament took place.
The match was short, but exactly what you would’ve expected. GYV has advanced to the second round of the tournament.
Grizzled Young Veterans have been featured on TV in the past while WWE has held off on really putting Ever-Rise in a showcase match where they went over strong.
MSK turned out to be the new name for Desmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz, formerly known as The Rascalz in Impact Wrestling.
Xavier and Wentz recently signed with WWE while the third member of the faction, Trey Miguel, hasn’t signed with any promotion just yet. The new MSK logo is similar to the logo used for The Rascalz in Impact, which led to speculation heading into the show that the former Impact stars could be this mystery group.
Nash Carter and Wes Lee, their new names, took on Jake Atlas and Isaiah \”Swerve\” Scott in the first round of the Dusty Classic. It was a spot fest. MSK went over with their finisher.
Finn Balor had successfully retained the WWE NXT Title over Kyle O’Reilly in the main event of last week’s show.
On Wednesday’s edition, WWE had him come out to the ring for a promo. He said that he’s still the champion and praised Kyle for being great, but noted that he’s not on his level. He said that Kyle got put down for a second time, but this time, it’s Kyle eating his meals through a straw.
He said that he put a target on his chest for a reason and told anyone who plans to come after him next to know that they stopped making the cloth that he’s cut from. This led to Pete Dunne walking out with Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. Dunne said that Balor shouldn’t question what’s next. He said that he knew it would always come down to both of them. He said that Balor is the poster boy for UK wrestling and that’s only because he didn’t take it from him yet.
He said that he wasn’t waiting in line anymore. A brawl broke out. O’Reilly eventually ran out to make the save but was attacked. Roderick Strong and Adam Cole also came out to clear the ring.
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2020/12/pjimage-2020-12-09T204116.383.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-27T144258.698.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-27T144257.135.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-27T144301.099.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-27T144302.847.jpg\")
![\"John](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2020/06/john-cena-711x400.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-20T115828.694.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-20T115826.266.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-20T115833.407.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-20T115823.974.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-13T133737.285.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-13T133746.284.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-13T133742.409.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-13T133739.422.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-13T202338.849.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/01/pjimage-2021-01-13T193143.940.jpg\")