SEScoops

Author: Andrew Ravens

  • Bryan Danielson on His Final WrestleMania Match: \”It Meant Nothing To Me\”

    Bryan Danielson had a wild 2021 as he went from being a top star in WWE to disappearing from the wrestling business for months to making his debut for AEW. 

    In the main event of WrestleMania 37 – Night 2, Danielson worked with Edge and Roman Reigns in a triple threat match for the Universal Title. It was Danielson’s second WrestleMania main event. He previously won the World Heavyweight Title from Randy Orton in a triple threat match that also included Batista in 2014 at WrestleMania 30. 

    Danielson decided not to renew his contract with WWE and took the summer off before signing with AEW instead of staying with WWE. 

    The Match

    While speaking with Sports Illustrated, Danielson noted that the WrestleMania 37 match didn’t mean anything to him. 

    “That was a match people enjoyed,” says Danielson. “It didn’t mean anything to me. I felt nothing. You have to remember—it was our first time back in front of a live crowd [since the start of the pandemic], and we were in front of thousands of people. I felt nothing during that match. I was trying my best, but it felt like I was going through the motions.

    Then I wrestled Roman in the ThunderDome in front of all these screens, and I loved that match. It was the perfect way for me to end my WWE career. Putting together the [WrestleMania] match, I could feel a little bit of my apathy, but that’s happened before and then I walk out there and I feel, ‘This is what I live for.’ That was very weird psychologically.”

    Danielson will challenge AEW World Heavyweight Champion MJF in a 60-minute iron man match this Sunday at AEW Revolution. 

  • Britt Baker \”Hoping and Praying\” Mercedes Moné Joins AEW

    Britt Baker is keeping a close eye on the career of Mercedes Moné, who departed from WWE and got her release from the company before signing with NJPW in January. She won the IWGP Women’s Title from KAIRI at NJPW Battle in the Valley in February. 

    This marked Moné’s first match since May 2022 as she had walked out of WWE alongside Naomi due to creative differences. 

    In January, the build-up to a tag match on AEW Dynamite had speculation that Mercedes would’ve been revealed as Saraya’s mystery tag team partner to take on Baker and AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter. Baker went as far as referring to herself as ‘The Boss’, which was Mercedes’ nickname while she was in WWE. 

    The Dream

    Baker told the New York Post that she hopes and prays to see Moné in AEW in some capacity.

    “It’s weird to see now that she’s out in the wild,\” she said. \”She’s not completely inaccessible in a way. These are very realistic matchups that could happen and I think the world is ready to see Mercedes Moné let out of the cage. What is she gonna do now?\”

    \”I hope and pray that someday, we see her in some capacity in AEW. And if by chance I could be in the connection too, I would be very, very for that.”

    – Britt Baker on Mercedes Moné

    Mercedes Moné would be a huge addition to AEW, but she won\’t come cheap. With her budding acting career outside of pro wrestling, and her proven track record of moving merchandise, she would be one of Tony Khan\’s highest-profile acquisitions to date.

    AEW has been strengthening its women\’s division, which has never looked better. The promotion\’s top female competitors include the likes of Women\’s World Champion Jamie Hayter, TBS Champion Jade Cargill, Britt Baker, Toni Storm, Hikaru Shida, Ruby Soho, Ember Moon, Thunder Rosa, Serena Deeb, Willow Nightingale, Riho and Kris Statlander.

  • Vince McMahon Influenced The Booking of WWE WrestleMania Match

    Ever since Vince McMahon made his return to WWE as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, there has been speculation on whether he would return to creative or if he had a say in the creative direction on the main roster. 

    Triple H took over creative last summer and has publicly said that he will get suggestions from McMahon, but he is still in charge, not his father-in-law.

    However, McMahon reportedly does have some influence over the WrestleMania card regarding at least one match. On this past Monday’s episode of Raw, WWE made the Brock Lesnar vs. Omos match at WrestleMania 39 official. 

    The Report

    The WrestleVotes Twitter account, which has broken several big stories in the past, reports that the idea did come from McMahon, who was high on Omos while he was still in charge of creative. 

    \”I’m told the highly anticipated, very compelling Brock Lesnar vs Omos WrestleMania matchup was the idea of one specific, powerful person who pushed it through,” the tweet read. 

    It’s been reported by multiple media outlets that there have been several changes made to the WrestleMania card in recent weeks including Lesnar’s plans for the show as those were changed sometime within the last week or two. 

    Fightful Select reported that one person in the company thinks McMahon is running creative, but that hasn’t been confirmed and WWE sources have denied this.

    WrestlingNewsPremium reported just last week that people in WWE pointed out how this match is a sign that McMahon has been getting more involved with creative.

  • Jim Ross Recently Met With Former WWE Executive

    Jim Ross shared an interesting story recently about catching up with former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis. 

    Ross was the Head of Talent Relations before he stepped down from the role and was replaced by Laurniatis, who held the role for years until 2012, when Triple H took over. From 2011 to 2012, he also served as General Manager while working as an on-air character. In 2012, Laurinaitus lost his position as one of the WWE\’s producers. 

    In March 2021, Laurinaitis returned as head of talent relations, but let go in August 2022 when WWE launched an investigation in relation to the Vince McMahon-Wall Street Journal sexual misconduct story regarding a former WWE employee who had a sexual relationship with him. It was alleged that  Laurinaitis also had a relationship with the employee. 

    Ross knocked Laurinaitis in his book for the way that Laurinaitis treated him after taking over the role and using him. 

    Ross saw Laurinaitis with Dean Malenko at the AEW hotel during his trip to Phoenix, AZ for AEW Dynamite. He believes Dean told him that Laurinaitis was picking him up at the airport and that’s why Laurinaitis was there. 

    The Conversation

    \”And I look up and here comes Raphael Morffi and Jonny Laurinaitis. And I’m thinking, ‘Oh, geez, I wasn’t ready for this conference. It wasn’t a confrontation at all. We had a nice conversation. I told him, I said, ‘you know, I’m too old and I’m trying to overcome these issues of my skin cancer and all the subsequent treatment. I got more important things to worry about than having a grudge, and living a grudge. So we kind of cleared the air and had a nice conversation. And I thought it took a lot of balls for him to come approach me, to be honest with you. Because he had read everything I’d written about, you know, him being a chicken sh*t. And I told him, I said I apologize for some of the things I said. I get emotional and there you go. So anyway, we had a nice little 10-15 minute chat.”

    Ross noted that he’s glad they got to talk and get it out of the way to let go of all the negative things. He said it was a surprise meeting and Laurinaitis was very sincere. 

    “And so I thought I’d share that with our folks here on the podcast. I haven’t talked about it at all. So this is breaking news. So anyway, it was good. It was surprisingly good. And I’m glad he stepped up and we had a nice clean talk conversation and cleared the air, so to speak. You know, I don’t know that we’ll be on each other’s Christmas card list. But nonetheless, I kind of admired what he said to me and him making the first move, because like I said, I forgot he was even coming. And I didn’t see him standing at the bar with Dean, and all everybody else that was there.”

    Ross speculated that Laurinaitis may be looking for work, but admired Laurinaitis for talking to him even though he seemed prepared for it. 

    “And he just got caught in a crossfire there seems to me like, made some bad decisions, apparently. I don’t know. We didn’t delve into his situation very deeply. But I was glad that we got at least got a chance to chat. Conrad, I’m 71 years old. I don’t know, I’m hoping I’m gonna be around a long time as I’m knocking on wood. But you never know. Right? We got no guarantees here. Tomorrow’s are not guaranteed. Tomorrow’s are not guaranteed. So it was an interesting conversation. Glad it happened and I wish him well.”

    Transcription courtesy of WrestlingNews.co

  • WWE NXT Results (2/28/23): Open Challenge, Hayes vs. Bate

    The February 28, 2023 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center. 

    WWE NXT Results 

    • Wes Lee def. Nathan Frazier to retain North American Title
    • Indus Sher (Veer Mahan & Sanga) def. Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs.
    • Meiko Satomura def. Zoey Stark
    • Sol Ruca def. Elektra Lopez
    • Tiffany Stratton def. Katana Chance
    • Axiom def. Hank Walker
    • Carmelo Hayes def. Tyler Bate

    Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:

    Open Challenge

    \"\"

    NXT North American Champion Wes Lee opened the show with an Open Challenge. So who answered it? 

    Nathan Fraiser did and as expected, they put on a heck of a match that saw Lee go over with his finisher. 

    Meiko Satomura vs. Zoey Stark

    \"\"

    Meiko Satomura vs. Zoey Stark in a singles match took place. 

    Satomura is slated to challenge Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women’s Title at the upcoming Roadblock edition of NXT TV. Last week on NXT, Stark cut a promo about how didn’t like the fact that Satomura had gotten a championship match ahead of her so she vowed to make her pay for it. 

    The match had some time and was a good effort by both ladies. Meiko went over with her finisher. Post-match, Perez and Meiko had a staredown to further hype their match. 

    Carmelo Hayes vs. Tyler Bate

    \"\"

    NXT North American Champion Wes Lee opened the show with an Open Challenge. So who answered it? 

    Nathan Fraiser did and as expected, they put on a heck of a match that saw Lee go over with his finisher. 

    Gigi Dolin Speaks

    \"\"

    Gigi Dolin did a promo segment on this show about returning last week and attacking Jacy Jayne, who turned on her a few weeks ago during a segment with Bayley after they lost a triple threat match at Vengeance Day while wrestling NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez. 

    Dolin stood at the entrance way with a flower in her hand. Gigi said that three weeks ago, her life changed when Jayne turned on her. She said that isn’t the first time she’s had someone turned on her who she thought was family. Gigi said that Jayne made her realize who she really is. She said that Jayne and Toxic Attraction was all about material things. She said that her mother is just like Jayne who put her down. She said that she escaped her mother and now has escaped Jayne. She said next week at Roadblock, she will take all of her anger and put the final nail in the coffin of Toxic Attraction. 

  • Endeavor CEO Comments on Potentially Buying WWE

    Endeavor, the parent company of UFC, and Saudi Arabia have been considered the leading bidders in potentially acquiring WWE as the company is up for sale with Vince McMahon leading the way. 

    Now, the CEO of Endeavor has commented on the possibility. On Tuesday afternoon, during Endeavor’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Ari Emanuel was asked about this and noted that they were not going to do anything that would change their leverage position.

    Ari Emanuel Speaks

    “As it relates to WWE, it’s an unbelievable product. Vince, you know, created a great business. We’ve had a longstanding relationship with them over two decades. We’re doing on-location business with them, streaming business with them. His business is really valuable. But we’re not going to do anything as it relates to changing our leverage position right now.”

    This past January, the sale talks picked up after Vince McMahon forced himself back as Chairman of the company and brought back George Barrios and Michelle Wilson with him to the board of Directors to facilitate a sale of the company. 

    Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that McMahon was looking for $9 billion for the company.

  • Ariane Andrew Explains Why Naomi Has Yet to Make a WWE Return

    Naomi has been away from WWE since last May, when she walked out due to creative differences alongside Mercedes Mone. 

    It was reported by Bryan Alvarez last month that Naomi was expected to make her return to the company, leading to speculation that it could happen with her being a surprise entrant in the Women\’s Royal Rumble match.

    That same week, Dave Meltzer reported that talks between WWE and Naomi were ongoing, although nothing had been signed. Fightful also reported that one WWE higher-up was confident Naomi would return to WWE. 

    Surgery

    Obviously, the Royal Rumble PLE has come and gone, and Naomi is still not back. However, her former tag team partner Ariane Andrew (Cameron), may have shed some light on the situation as Andrew noted that Naomi underwent surgery. 

    She was asked about Naomi as she was doing a virtual signing for Golden Ring Collectibles, and Andrew stated that Naomi is currently recovering from shoulder surgery. 

    “So, she (Trinity Fatu/Naomi) is recovering from shoulder surgery and you know, I want her to answer the question for herself (of what’s next for her). I know she’s recovering from shoulder surgery,” Andrew stated (H/T to POST Wrestling). “But, I’m super proud of her. That’s my sister from another mister and I think you have to ask her for yourself how she’s feeling. See if her shoulder is feeling good because she’s recovering right now. Ask her that question.\”

  • Details on WWE Booking Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn Rematch

    WWE is going back to a match between Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn for this Saturday’s house show in Toronto. 

    They first wrestled in Montreal at Elimination Chamber earlier this month that saw Reigns go over to retain the title. 

    Although this is a non-televised show, WWE felt they needed to make a change to what they originally announced, a tag team bout featuring Reigns and Solo Sikoa against Zayn and Kevin Owens, for the live event due to ongoing storyline reasons. 

    The Reasons

    While speaking on today’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that the original tag team bout was changed as Zayn and Owens are still in the process of trying to get on the same page as Zayn wants Owens to forgive him and they go up against The Bloodline together. 

    Meltzer stated that it wouldn’t make much sense for Owens and Zayn to suddenly team together even though they’ve yet to make up, even if it is in front of a few thousand people in attendance. Also, WWE felt that they could sell more tickets to do Reigns vs. Zayn.

    WWE has sold under 6,000 tickets for the show after the announcement. This was an increase of 600 tickets sold after Reigns was first added to the lineup of the card. 

    This proves that Reigns is a draw for WWE, although not as strong as John Cena, who drew an additional 2,000 tickets just 48 hours after he was announced for the March 6 Raw in Boston.

  • Chris Jericho: ‘AEW is The Place to be, No Matter Who is in Charge of WWE’

    Chris Jericho is expecting to finish his career with AEW despite working for WWE for the majority of his time in the wrestling business.

    Jericho was the biggest name to sign with AEW in 2019 before Tony Khan secured a weekly television deal to air Dynamite on TNT, now TBS. 

    The top AEW star was asked about this while speaking with Daily Star, and he has zero interest in ever going back to WWE. Jericho said he loves everyone in WWE. 

    The Place to be

    “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. I don’t hold a torch for WWE. To me, that’s not ‘the place to be’. AEW is the place to be. It really is. I’ve been in WWE. I know how it works. They work that way, I don’t care if Vince is there, Hunter is there, or whoever is there. They have a way of doing things, and I was there for 20 years and was pretty good at it.”

    Jericho stated that he likes how things are done in AEW and doesn’t know why he wouldn’t want to finish his career in the promotion because he’s having fun in wrestling. 

    “Business is business and there’s always ups and downs, but I have zero interest in ever going back to WWE. That’s not out of bitterness or anger. I love Vince and I love Hunter and all the people there.”

    Jericho believes he has a stake in the game and he takes pride in being one of the few to have had the experience of being on national TV before AEW launched in 2019. He also feels like there is so much more for him to do in the promotion. 

    After signing an extension, Jericho is under contract with AEW through December 2025. Jericho will be in action at AEW\’s Revolution by taking on Ricky Starks.

  • Brock Lesnar vs. Omos Made Official for WWE WrestleMania 39

    Brock Lesnar will indeed be wrestling Omos at the biggest event of the year for WWE, WrestleMania 39. 

    On last week’s episode of WWE Raw, there was a segment where Omos and MVP laid the challenge out for \’The Nigerian Giant\’ to face “The Beast.” On this week’s show, they invited Lesnar to appear to answer the challenge, and he did when he showed up at MVP’s Lounge. 

    They traded some words before MVP sold Lesnar on a match with Omos. They had a drink to celebrate the match being made official, but MVP accidentally spit moonshine in Lesnar\’s face. Lesnar laid out MVP with an F5 before leaving the ring. 

    WWE presents the WrestleMania 39 premium live event on April 1 and 2, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, CA that will air on Peacock. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks. Here is the updated card:

    Updated WWE WrestleMania 39 Card

    Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes

    WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley

    WWE Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Asuka

    Brock Lesnar vs. Omos

  • AEW Revolution Betting Odds

    The betting odds have been released for the AEW Revolution pay-per-view event ahead of the show this Sunday night from the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.

    So far, five normal AEW titles are on the line, including the AEW Tag Team Title bout pitting champions The Gunn Club vs. The Acclaimed vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal vs. a tag team that will be decided on Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite. 

    As of this writing, the only title expected to change hands is Wardlow being favored to win the TNT Title from Samoa Joe. 

    AEW Revolution Odds

    As a reminder, we will provide the show coverage this Sunday. The favorites to win are listed as –, while the underdogs are listed with +. Here are the final betting odds, courtesy of BetOnline:

    AEW World Champion MJF -5000 (1/50) vs. Bryan Danielson +900 (9/1) 60-Minute Iron Man Match

    AEW Women’s Champion Jamie Hayter (c) -1000 (1/10) vs. Ruby Soho +350 (7/2) vs. Saraya +450 (9/2)

    TNT Champion Wardlow -500 (1/5) vs. Samoa Joe (c) +300 (3/1)

    AEW World Trios Champions The Elite -220 (5/11) vs. House of Black +155 (31/20)

    “Hangman” Adam Page -600 (1/6) vs. Jon Moxley +350 (7/2) – Texas Death Match

    Ricky Starks -400 (1/4) vs. Chris Jericho +250 (5/2)

  • AEW Performer Expected to Leave This Summer

    Vickie Guerrero will be leaving AEW in a few months. 

    Guerrero made her promotional debut as a guest commentator in December 2019 on an episode of Dark. She was later revealed as Nyla Rose\’s manager at Fight for the Fallen the following summer. 

    Behind the scenes, Guerrero also worked with the AEW Heels community and recently appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast with Aubrey Edwards and Amanda Huber to discuss the project. 

    AEW later paired Vickie with Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir as their manager. As recently as last week, she was in their corner when they teamed Diamante on the Dark: Elevation taping before Dynamite. The bout will air on this week’s edition of the show. 

    The Report

    Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported today that Guerrero and All Elite Wrestling have mutually decided not to renew her contract when it expires this July.  This comes after she has been teasing \”a new journey\” on social media.

    Outside of the ring in 2019, Guerrero graduated from Herzing University with a Bachelor of Science in healthcare administration. While with WWE, she was General Manager of SmackDown from 2007 to 2011 and Raw from 2011 to 2013 before leaving in 2014. 

    https://twitter.com/VickieGuerrero/status/1628861999445684229
    https://twitter.com/VickieGuerrero/status/1626562220711632898

  • CM Punk to Fan: \’I\’ll Wrestle Again Just to Upset You, You\’ll Watch No Matter Where\’

    CM Punk has given an interesting response to a fan on Instagram following the recent comments made by Mark Henry. 

    Punk hasn’t wrestled since AEW All Out 2022, when he won the AEW World Title from Jon Moxley, but suffered an injury that led to him getting surgery and being sidelined ever since, in addition to the drama that played out after the show. 

    During the post-event press conference, the former AEW World Champion ripped Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, and others. He later got into an altercation with The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks), leading to him being suspended. 

    Where It Started

    Henry stated on Busted Open Radio today that he doesn’t view Punk as a ‘cancer’ to the locker room, considers himself and Punk to be outsiders in AEW, and thinks AEW should bring back Punk.

    Punk responded to a fan on Instagram who wrote, \”Keep CM Punk retired.” Punk replied to the comment, \”you liked your own comment. Bold. I’ll wrestle again just to upset you. You’ll watch no matter where.\”

    https://twitter.com/redheadwriter/status/1630312972152086528

    Punk’s future with AEW remains unknown, but he’s expected to be medically cleared in the next few months. 

    Mark Henry: CM Punk Is Not a Cancer to Wrestling

  • Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn Rematch Announced

    WWE is running back Roman Reigns vs. Sami Zayn following their match at the Elimination Chamber PLE. 

    The two stars are slated to meet in the main event of an untelevised house show. On Monday, it was confirmed by the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto that Reigns will defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Zayn at the show this Saturday as part of WWE\’s Road to WrestleMania live event tour.

    Originally, it was advertised as a tag team match seeing Reigns team with Solo Sikoa against Zayn & Kevin Owens for the event. However, a change was made. 

    The First Match

    At the Elimination Chamber in Montreal earlier this month, Reigns retained his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Zayn. Post-match, Owens saved Zayn from a Bloodline. 

    Since then, Zayn has tried to convince Owens to work together to dismantle The Bloodline, but Owens continues to reject him. 

    It’s believed that Zayn and Owens will challenge The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania 39. Jey Uso is currently conflicted in storyline between siding with Zayn or staying loyal to his family. 

  • Former WWE NXT Wrestler Made AEW Debut at Dark Tapings (Photos)

    On Sunday, a former WWE NXT wrestler made their AEW debut at the Dark tapings from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

    Steph De Lander, formerly known as Persia Pirotta in WWE NXT, was that star as she lost to Marina Shafir. 

    Before signing with WWE, Pirotta had previously worked for Melbourne City Wrestling and Newcastle Pro Wrestling. In March 2021, she was one of two Australian wrestlers signed by WWE. She was used most notably in a tag team with Indi Hartwell before being released in April 2022. 

    AEW Dark Spoilers

    Here are the spoilers, courtesy of F4Wonline.com: 

    • Parker Boudreaux defeated Vinny Pacifico
    • Peter Avalon defeated Dean Alexander. In a post-match interview with Tony Schiavone, Avalon spoke about his match with Chris Jericho coming up.
    • Julia Hart defeated Zoey Lynn
    • Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal & Satnam Singh defeated Oliver Sawyer, Jay Malachi & Jackson Drake. In a post-match interview with Schiavone, Lethal and Jarrett said they will be the next tag team champions.
    • Juice Robinson defeated Leon Ruffin
    • Dark Order (John Silver & Alex Reynolds) defeated The Outrunners
    • Riho defeated Diamante
    • Leila Grey defeated Kiera Hogan
    • Action Andretti defeated Lee Johnson (w/ Cole Karter)
    • Sonny Kiss (w/ Jeeves Kay and Slim J) defeated Terry Kidd
    • Iron Savages defeated The Wingmen (Ryan Nemeth & Cezar Bononi). In a post-match interview with Schiavone, the Savages said they are in the best shapes of their lives and want to put AEW on their backs
    • The Renegade Twins defeated Avery Breaux & Mafiosa
    • Brock Anderson & Brian Pillman Jr. defeated O\’Shea Edwards and Moses
    • Toni Storm defeated Billie Starkz
    • AR Fox defeated Nick Comoroto
    • Skye Blue defeated Queen Aminata
    • Evil Uno defeated Alexander Moss
    • Marina Shafir defeated Steph De Lander
    • Zack Clayton defeated Schaff
    • Top Flight defeated Adrian Alanis and Liam Grey
    • Brady Booker defeated Serpentico
    • Konosuke Takeshita defeated Cole Karter (w/ Lee Johnson). Post match, Johnson attacked Takeshita until Orange Cassidy made the save to send everyone home happy.

  • Spoilers: ROH TV Tapings Results (2/25/23)

    On Saturday night, ROH held its first set of TV tapings of the weekend from Orlando, FL, at Universal Studios. The promotion will return on Sunday evening for another round of tapings. 

    The relaunch episode under Tony Khan will premiere on Thursday, March 2nd, that will air on the HonorClub streaming service. ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. AR Fox will headline this show. 

    The Results

    Here are the spoilers, courtesy of F4Wonline.com:

    • Mark Briscoe defeated Slim J.
    • The Kingdom defeated The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo).
    • NJPW TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Blake Christian.
    • Christopher Daniels defeated Rohit Raju.
    • Konosuke Takeshita defeated Josh Woods.
    • ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Embassy (Brian Cage, Kaun & Toa Liona) defeated LSG, Joe Keys & Rex Lawless.
    • Ari Daivari defeated Gran Metalik.
    • Madison Rayne & Skye Blue defeated The Renegades.
    • During a Wheeler Yuta in-ring promo with Ian Riccaboni, Timothy Thatcher challenged Yuta for the Pure Title that happened later in the tapings.
    • Willow Nightingale defeated Lady Frost. Nightingale challenged ROH Women\’s Champion Athena to a future title match. 
    • ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli defeated AR Fox to retain the title. Eddie Kingston came out after the match where he had promised Jon Moxley that he wouldn\’t beat Castagnoli\’s butt in AEW but this wasn\’t AEW. Claudi left without saying anything to him. 
    • ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe defeated Tony Deppen. After Joe asked for his next challenger, Mark Briscoe came out and accepted because the title was his destiny.
    • Dalton Castle & The Boys defeated Cody Chhun, Guillermo Rosas & Marcus Kross.
    • Rush & Dralistico defeated Angelico & Serpentico.
    • Trish Adora defeated Billie Starkz.
    • Ari Daivari & Slim J defeated Jake Crist & \”Manscout\” Jake Manning. 
    • ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta defeated Timothy Thatcher to retain the title. Post-match, Yuta says he\’s in the \’96 Bulls with Jordan and Pippen while these \”track suit dojo boys\” think they\’re so great because they train with Shibata. Clark Connors challenged Wheeler to a match.
    • Aussie Open defeated Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus
    • Eddie Kingston defeated Ben Dejo (aka Jon Cruz/Serpentico). Post-match, he demanded a shot at the ROH World Title. Castagnoli said that \”a man without honor will never be ROH Champion\” and left. 
    • ROH Women\’s Champion Athena defeated Willow Nightingale to retain the title.

  • Details on Mercedes Moné\’s NJPW Contract

    Mercedes Mone made her NJPW in-ring debut last Saturday night at the Battle in the Valley pay-per-view event where she defeated KAIRI to capture the IWGP Women’s Championship.

    This was after she walked out of WWE last May due to creative differences, negotiated her release from the company, and signed with NJPW at the beginning of January before she made her promotional debut at Wrestle Kingdom 17 where she attacked the fellow former WWE star to set up the BITV match. 

    In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that Mones winning the title at this show was the plan from the moment she signed with NJPW as the promotion felt having her as the champion would make the title feel important and raise its profile. 

    Where Thing Stand

    Meltzer also shared an update on Mone’s NJPW deal, and how many dates she has left, which is two dates. Mone will work the April 8th Sakura Genesis show at Sumo Hall where she will face STARDOM High Speed Champion AZM. The original plan was a rematch with KAIRI but things changed. 

    Mone will also work the  23rd STARDOM event at Yokohama Arena where currently, she is scheduled to face Mayu Iwatami at that show. Should she not sign an extension with NJPW for more dates then she is likely to drop the title to Mayu at this event.

  • Eric Bischoff Compares Sami Zayn to Respected Veteran

    Eric Bischoff recently made an interesting comparison between Sami Zayn and Diamond Dallas Page (DDP). 

    Zayn had been portrayed as a lovable babyface in NXT after making a name for himself as El Generico on the independent wrestling scene. On the main roster, he continued the babyface character he came up with in developmental before portraying a heel for many years up until he was aligned with The Bloodline where the fans slowly turned him back into a babyface. 

    Parallels 

    While speaking on WrestleBinge, Bischoff explained how DDP and Zayn share similar trajectories.

    “There are some parallels there. [DDP] was kind of in the middle of the roster, right, and he was pretty good,” Bischoff stated, “but once [DDP] made that transition, once he turned down the NWO and started working with Randy Savage and so many other top names, he just blew out of the pack. He didn’t slowly grow his way to the top of the roster; he just blew the doors off.”

    There are some parallels there. [DDP] was kind of in the middle of the roster, right, and he was pretty good,” Bischoff stated, “but once [DDP] made that transition, once he turned down the nWo and started working with Randy Savage and so many other top names, he just blew out of the pack. He didn’t slowly grow his way to the top of the roster; he just blew the doors off.”

    Zayn came up short when challenging Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title at the Elimination Chamber after being kicked out of The Bloodline at the Royal Rumble. 

    H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcription

  • WWE King and Queen of the Ring Event Location Revealed

    Following the report that WWE is planning to hold two PLEs in the month of May, the location of one of them has been revealed to be Saudi Arabia, and that’s the King and Queen of the Ring. 

    As previously noted, WWE is planning to present Backlash on Saturday, May 6, an event that dates back to 1999, in addition to bringing back King of the Ring under the King and Queen of the Ring name on Saturday, May 27. 

    WWE hasn’t used the tournament theme as a pay-per-view event since 2002. 

    The Location

    PWInsider Elite reports that WWE’s 2023 King and Queen of the Ring premium live event is slated to be in Saudi Arabia. WWE has yet to confirm either of these events, but WWE does have a 10-year deal with the Saudi Arabia government that calls for them to hold two PLE events each year in the country. The other 2023 event will take place later this year, likely in October or November. 

    This will be the second time that Saudi Arabia hosted the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments, as WWE previously held the tournaments in 2021 with them taking place at Crown Jewel. 

    The 2021 tournaments saw Xavier Woods be crowned King of the Ring after defeating Finn Balor and Zelina Vega defeat Doudrop to become Queen of the Ring, then known as the Queen’s Crown.

    Two WWE PLEs Including ‘King and Queen of the Ring’ Planned for May

  • WWE Money In The Bank Tickets Quickly Sold Out

    WWE is off to a great start with this year’s Money in the Bank event ahead of its July 1st date at the O2 Arena in London as tickets for the show that went on sale on Friday quickly sold out. 

    The Daily Mail’s Alex McCarthy first reported that tickets for the show sold out in just one minute after issues with Ticketmaster, leading to a brief delay in tickets being put on sale. 

    The demand was strong for the event as over 30,000 fans were trying to get tickets during the general on-sale on Ticketmaster alone.

    Build It and They Will Come

    While it will be a historic event as it marks the first time since the 1992 SummerSlam event that one of the big 5 PLEs (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, MITB, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series) will be held in the UK, MITB will be without one notable name. 

    Roman Reigns is not advertised for the show. Instead, Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair, and Cody Rhodes are advertised to appear.

    Reigns headlined the last PLE in the UK back in September with Clash at the Castle where retained his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Drew McIntyre. Here is the updated WWE PLE schedule: 

    • WWE WrestleMania 39 night one, Saturday, April 1
    • WWE WrestleMania 39 night two, Sunday, April 2
    • WWE Backlash, Saturday, May 6
    • WWE King and Queen of the Ring, Saturday, May 27
    • WWE Money in the Bank, Saturday, July 1
    • WWE SummerSlam Saturday, August 5

  • Wrestler to Make AEW Debut in Face of the Revolution Ladder Match on Dynamite

    AEW has announced several things for Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite including the debut of a wrestler. 

    Komander will make his AEW debut in the Face of the Revolution ladder match on the show. He will be taking on Konosuke Takeshita, Ortiz, Action Andretti, Sammy Guevara, Powerhouse Hobbs, Eddie Kingston, and AR Fox in the bout.

    The winner of the match will get a shot at the TNT Title, currently held by Samoa Joe who will be on commentary for the match. 

    Kommander, a 24-year-old high-flyer, has worked for AAA, Lucha Memes, MDA, Pro Wrestling Mexico, EMLL, and WAR City.

    Also announced for the show include Orange Cassidy will defend the All-Atlantic title against Big Bill, Hook vs. Matt Hardy in an FTW Title match, Toni Storm vs. Riho, and Chris Jericho vs. Peter Avalon.

    Updated AEW Dynamite Card

    • Komander vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Ortiz vs. Action Andretti vs. Sammy Guevara vs. Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Eddie Kingston vs. AR Fox – Face of the Revolution Ladder Match for a future TNT Title shot
    • Top Flight vs. Aussie Open vs. Matt Menard & Angelo Parker vs. Best Friends vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver vs. Mike Bennett & Matt Taven vs. Preston Vance & Rush vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta vs. The Lucha Bros vs. The Butcher & The Blade – Casino Tag Team Battle Royale for a spot in the Tag Team Title Match at Revolution
    • AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy vs. Big Bill
    • FTW Champion Hook vs. Matt Hardy
    • Chris Jericho vs. Peter Avalon
    • Toni Storm vs. Riho
    • MJF & Bran Danielson speak

  • Top WWE Star Referenced AEW Wrestler During SmackDown

    An AEW star was referenced on Friday Night SmackDown this week during a segment by Charlotte Flair while building to her WrestleMania 39 showdown. 

    The SmackDown Women’s Champion came out to the ring for a promo segment and she gave an early Happy Birthday shout to her father, Ric Flair. She also referenced another Papi.

    Flair was exchanging words with Dominik Mysterio when she referenced her real-life husband, Andrade El Idolo as a way to make it clear that she had no interest in Dominik or his shenanigans when he answered her call for Rhea Ripley to come to the ring for their advertised showdown.  

    The Moment

    Flair told him that she has a real Latino man at home that calls her Mami who does it with a much thicker accent.  Once Flair squared up with the son of Rey Mysterio then Ripley came out to the ring where they had a staredown before Ripley got out of the ring and went to the backstage area. 

    Andrade and Charlotte were married last summer, the original reason why Charlotte went on hiatus from WWE TV. 

  • AEW Star Injured in Recent Rampage Match

    Anna Jay AS has revealed why she has been sidelined for the last month in a message on Twitter. 

    The AEW star suffered dislocated ribs during a recent AEW Rampage match. In a response to a fan on Twitter, Jay confirmed the injury that took place in a match that aired on January 13.

    The Confirmation

    “No bruised tailbone, but I did have some dislocated ribs. Not fun,” Jay AS wrote.

    This injury would’ve happened when she teamed up with Tay Melo to wrestle Ruby Soho and Willow Nightingale in a street fight on the show that airs every Friday night on TNT. At one point in the match, Jay was grabbed by Nightingale and powerbombed her off the ramp. 

    Both stars were supposed to go through a table. Unfortunately, Jay ended up missing the table. She landed hard on the floor and the ribs were dislocated.  As a result, she has not wrestled since the match took place.

    In recent months leading up to this bout, Jay has aligned herself with the Jericho Appreciation Society and formed a tag team with Melo, who has been feuding with Soho since her return from a broken nose. Ironically, she was sidelined with the injury that was caused by Melo during the AEW All Out pre-show last September.

  • Viewership Report for WWE Raw, AEW Dynamite, NXT, MLW Underground, More

    Another week of television ratings is in the books for WWE, AEW, and MLW. Let’s take a look at how the top shows performed. 

    WWE SmackDown 

    The February 17, 2023 edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown averaged 2.383 million viewers on FOX, down from 2.468 million viewers, and did a 0.58 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic, down from the 0.64 rating a week ago. 

    The age demo group breakdowns were 18-34 – 0.34, 18-49 – 0.58, 25-54 – 0.81, 18-49 – 4.1, 18-49 – 7.9, and 50+ – 3.3. This was the Elimination Chamber go-home edition of SmackDown.  The show featured Intercontinental Champion Gunther vs. Madcap Moss and more. 

    AEW Rampage

    AEW Rampage that same night on TNT in the 7 pm ET timeslot drew 287,000 viewers and a 0.07 key demo rating, down from the show did 375,000 viewers and a 0.12 rating in 10 pm ET timeslot. 

    Ratings were expected to be down due to coverage of the NBA all-star festivities. This caused Rampage to draw its lowest key demo rating and total viewership in its history. Rampage ranked #59 in the top 150 shows on cable for the night. 

    WWE Raw

    WWE Monday Night Raw drew an average of 1.2.006 million viewers and a 0.56 key demo rating on the USA Network, up from the 1.812 million viewers and 0.47 key demo rating the previous week.

    The first hour did 2.186 million viewers with a 0.60 demo rating, hour two did 2.065 million with a 0.58 demo rating, and the third hour drew 1.768 million viewers with a 0.50 demo rating. 

    Raw ranked #1 in the top 150 shows on cable for the night. Here are the ratings from the same week last year for comparison: 1.945M (0.54) in hour one, 1.868M (0.52) in hour two, and 1.666M (0.47) in hour three. 

    This fallout edition of Raw for the Elimination Chamber PLE that featured Edge vs. United States Champion Austin Theory. 

    WWE NXT

    WWE NXT on February 21 drew 589,000 live viewers on the USA Network, down from the 640,000 viewers the show previously drew a week ago, while it did a 0.14 rating for the 18-49 demographic, down from the 0.15 rating one week ago.

    It ranked #16 in the top 150 shows on cable for the night, up from last week’s #17 ranking. The episode featured NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. Jinder Mahal in the main event. 

    MLW Underground

    This past Tuesday’s MLW Underground episode on Reelz at 10-11 pm EST drew 97,000 viewers and did a 0.03 key demo rating while ranking #117 on cable for the night. 

    This is up from last week’s 73,000 and 0.02 rating. The MLW Underground replay at 1 am drew 42,000 viewers last week for the replay. 

    AEW Dynamite

    Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite drew 1.028 million viewers, up from the 824,000 viewers the show drew last week, and did a 0.35 rating, up from the 0.27 rating. 

    Dynamite ranked #1 in the top 150 shows on cable for the night and was the highest ratings of the year. The previous total viewership high was in October and the key demo rating in September. The episode featured Jon Moxley vs. Evil Uno in the main event and “Tony Khan’s important announcement.”

    Ratings courtesy of ShowBuzz Daily and Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics.

  • Roman Reigns Booked for Big Match at Upcoming WWE House Show

    Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns will be working a rare house show next month ahead of WrestleMania 39. 

    “The Tribal Chief” defeated Sami Zayn to retain the championship in Zayn’s hometown of Montreal at the Elimination Chamber PLE earlier this month. Post-match,  Kevin Owens returned to television after the bout to make the save for Zayn, who had been beaten down further by Reigns and Jimmy Uso. Owens hit a stunner to Heyman while Zayn laid out Reigns to send the crowd home happy. 

    On this week’s Raw, the show opened with Zayn doing a promo segment with Owens where he tried to reignite their friendship and form a reunion to go after The Usos’ Undisputed Tag Team Titles. However, because Owens tried to tell Zayn what was going on months ago with The Bloodline using him and Zayn shut him out, he turned down the offer and walked away. 

    The Match

    According to PWInsider, the Coke-Cola Coliseum in Toronto has announced that Reigns will be teaming with Solo Sikoa to face Zayn and Owens in the headliner of the March 4th house show. 

    WWE hasn’t used Solo on television since the February 3 edition of SmackDown. Reigns is slated to make his next Undisputed WWE Universal Championship defense against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39 this April.