WWE Hall of Famer Sting has revealed that there’s only one person that he would come out of retirement for, and that man is The Undertaker.
There were always rumors that the two would be wrestling against each other at a WrestleMania and when Sting came to WWE, those rumors grew even more. But it never worked out and the only WrestleMania match Sting has to his name is the one against Triple H at WrestleMania 31.
“I mean, everyone knows who it would be. Taker, he’s the only guy I’d come out of retirement for now. No one else. We could just never get it together to make it happen. When I started talking to WWE he was booked with Brock and then I did the deal with Triple H and he had another feud going on at the time, so it was just one of those things we couldn’t make happen,” Sting told the WrestlingTravel.org website.
The former WCW champion added that despite the disappointment that the two never met in the ring, he does not regret it not happening either. “I mean I got to face Triple H at my first WrestleMania and then wrestle Seth for the world title, so I didn’t do too badly out of that deal. But yeah, now, the only person I’m getting back in the ring for is Taker.”
Sting announced his retirement during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2016. He last appeared on WWE television a few weeks ago on Raw where he came out to be part of Ric Flair’s 70th birthday party segment.
The latest act during the non-televised Raw house shows is Elias making a duet signing the hit song Shallow from the movie A Star is Born.
But the attempts of singing the whole song have been cut short as Elias cuts off before his partners, or maybe in this case, victims, reach the high notes of the song.
Elias starts the song singing the verses that Bradley Cooper does, complete with perfect guitar play. His duet partner then takes over for the Lady Gaga part and that’s when the fun starts. The idea started earlier this week with Elias teaming up with Dasha Fuentes. The crowd popped big when she started her part but before she could get to the “I’m off the deep end…” part of the song, Elias cut her off to massive boos. “I thought it was a duet and I was your Lady Gaga LOL! Even though you changed your mind, thanks for letting me sing with you,” Fuentes wrote on Instagram afterward.
The singing act continued again at a live event yesterday with Elias teaming up with Finn Balor. Once his part of the song was done, Balor took over. “Tell me something, boy,” Balor started as the crowd laughed while Balor continued to go around Elias singing passionately. But as soon as he hit the “Ain’t it hard keeping it so hardcore?” note, Elias jumped up and attacked Balor.
With Elias set to be the “headline musical act” at WrestleMania 35, it will be interesting to see if this is used on the show since typically, stuff like this is tested at non-televised live events to gauge the audience reactions.
While the choice of which match will headline WrestleMania early next month won’t be decided probably until a few days before the show, it’s no secret that the triple threat for the Raw Women’s title is one of those two or three matches which is being considered to close out the show.
The match between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair is gaining the most momentum. So far, there’s no other match on the card which is getting people talking as much as this one. Maybe having Kofi Kingston and his KofiMania movement taking on Daniel Bryan will be another great contender to close the show, but frankly speaking, it’s pretty much now or never for the women to headline WrestleMania.
The feud between the ladies has gotten a lot of positive feedback from fans, critics, and peers alike. It’s mostly been Ronda and Becky, with Flair often treated as the “third wheel” in this feud, but this is the biggest chance they got to make history. No woman has main evented WrestleMania, and that’s why Ronda Rousey was brought in…to elevate the women’s division and she did just that. Last year, no one thought that there’s a big chance that the women would be in this position, but fast forward 12 months later and here we are.
According to SBD’s odds, the person with the highest probability to leave WrestleMania 35 with the Raw Women’s title is Becky Lynch. Her odds are set at 13/7, which stands at a 35% probability. Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey’s odds are 2/1 and 17/8 respectively. Converted into percentages, that’s 33.3% and 32%. Mighty close for all three which shows you that this match can go to any of the three. Last year, WWE surprised us by having Brock Lesnar defeat Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 34. Nobody expected that, but they threw in the swerve.
As history suggests, betting against Lesnar and Ronda – both in wrestling and in MMA – often tends to lead to undesirable results. If Ronda is staying around, it wouldn’t be surprising if she retains the title. After all, having the face chasing the title is more exciting than the other way around. But at some point, you need the payoff, and WrestleMania is the best place to do it. If Ronda is leaving for a while to start a family, then dropping the title at WrestleMania to either Becky or Charlotte would be the best way to go.
Meanwhile, Becky Lynch’s war of words with Ronda Rousey continues on Twitter with occasionally taking shots at Charlotte Flair as well. But this is clearly a war between Lynch and Rousey and Flair is rarely mentioned in the jabs.
Becky and Ronda’s trading of insults have often blurred the lines of storyline and reality, which makes this even more interesting. Is she shooting? Is Ronda really pissed off? A heel Ronda Rousey is certainly working better than a face Ronda Rousey. The “baddest bitch on the planet” moniker suits her better in this role.
Most often than not, WrestleMania has a happy ending, so the placing of this match will also give a hint of which whey they’re going. But are you ready to bet against Rousey?
Having a WrestleMania in an outdoor stadium has its own fair of challenges, but none bigger than the unpredictable weather. Having a WrestleMania in an open air stadium in New Jersey in the first week of April increases the risks.
So how do you keep everybody performing warm? You create a heated ring. That’s what WWE master ring builder Mark Carpenter has done for WrestleMania 29 and again for WrestleMania 35. In a behind-the-scenes video uploaded on WWE’s YouTube, Carpenter describes the challenges of making such rings for WWE.
This year, the specially-made ring will be powered by six electric furnaces that will be placed beneath the ring. It will be insulated like a regular house in hopes of keeping the temperature in and around the ring to 70 degrees. Different ring posts will also be used that will have holes in them where hot air will be distributed from, keeping the Superstars and referee in cozy temperature.
There’s no telling exactly yet on what the temperature will be come April 7. So far it’s showing around 60° fahrenheit, which translates to approximately 16° celsius. Might be okay for fans in the stands who are clothed all the way, but the story is different for those WWE Superstars who are, well, half naked in the ring!
You can see the seven-minute behind-the-scenes feature below.
PWInsider.com is reporting that Hulk Hogan will be in New York for the WrestleMania 35 weekend and will be attending the WWE events, although under which capacity remains to be seen.
The Hulkster is now back in the WWE good books, having made a few appearances such as at the Crown Jewel pay-per-view, on Raw to honor Mean Gene Okerlund, and kicked off the event in Tampa to announce that WrestleMania 36 was coming to town.
Hogan’s ban from WWE was lifted last year when he was invited to the Extreme Rules pay-per-view to address the WWE Superstars backstage. While it took a few more months for him to be back standing in a WWE ring, Hogan remained on his best behavior and eventually got his wish in late 2018.
The Hall of Famer has not attended a WrestleMania since the one in Santa Clara in 2015. He even made an appearance that night, coming to the aid of Sting along with fellow nWo members Hall and Nash as D-Generation X helped Triple H.
A few weeks ago, Hogan said that Vince McMahon has a “master plan” to bring him back and hoped that he would be more active with the company moving forward.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross confirmed that he is in talks with All Elite Wrestling to potentially join the company once his current WWE deal expires at the end of this month.
Ross announced that he will no longer be working for WWE as his contract, which expires on March 29, will not be renewed on his request. Speaking to ESPN’s Outside The Lines, Ross said that he opted to leave because they’re not using him very much and he feels like he has some great years left. “I need to get out of the house. I need to get involved. I need to be around people,” Ross added.
He explained that he has no issues with anyone there and that was the only reason he requested to leave. He feels that WWE, just like many TV productions, are looking for younger people to be on television and he’s been around for a long time so he needed plan B, and plan B was to exit gracefully. “Vince McMahon and his family have been amazing to my family and in 2018, Vince took great care of me as he always has financially, but I had two bookings in 2018,” Ross continued.
He put over WWE and said that he had a lot of joy working there for the past 26 years, which “is an eternity in that world!”
Speaking about his next move and possibly joining AEW, Ross said he doesn’t know yet. “We’re talking, we’re talking. I just haven’t signed anything yet. My people and their people are doing their thing,” he said.
JR is expected to join the brand-new wrestling promotion and it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s heading up the booth for the Double or Nothing May pay-per-view.
The NXT Takeover: New York card continued to take shape with the North American title now on the line as well.
NXT General Manager William Regal announced last night on Twitter that champ Velveteen Dream will take on number one contender Matt Riddle.
This is the fifth and probably last match to be part of the main card.
The NXT Women’s title match was also confirmed last week with a big fatal four-way match involving Shayna Baszler defending her title against Kairi Sane, Bianca Belair, and Io Shirai.
This year’s NXT Takeover will take place on Friday rather than Saturday and will stream live only on the WWE Network.
WWE couple Rusev and Lana appeared on the latest episode of Drop The Mic on TNT for a rap battle against the NBA’s Mavericks and AXS TV owner Mark Cuban.
The two sides took funny shots at each other, with Rusev dissing Cuban about the Mavericks not even making the playoffs and comparing him to Elon Musk and being a Jeff Bezos wannabe. He also took a shot at Cuban for his wife marrying him “for his looks” and indirectly said that she’s a gold digger. Lana also took the mic and said she’s starting a charity for his wife’s sexual needs. Lana finished her rap by twerking in front of Cuban.
Cuban did not hold back one bit either, calling Lana a mail-order bride and an Anna Nicole look-a-like. He dissed Rusev for being a “lamer John Cena” and for having bigger tits than Lana. Cuban said he wrestled Orton and Sheamus while Rusev looks like a hybrid of a man and a grizzly bear anus. Cuban also made fun of Rusev asking him how much Lana charges him every time he gets laid.
The hilarious battle went to around four minutes and at the end of the battle the crowd were more behind Rusev and Lana so host Method Man declared them the winners.
Laura Dennis, who wrestled with Impact Wrestling under the name of Allie, has signed a deal with All Elite Wrestling. The announcement was made during the latest episode of Road to Double or Nothing on YouTube and later Allie wrote a tweet saying she’s excited to announce that she officially signed on the dotted line with the new promotion.
The 31-year-old Canadian has been wrestling for TNA/Impact since 2013, winning the Knockouts title on two different occasions. Her deal with Impact expired in late 2018 and her contract was not picked up, leaving her a free agent.
Prior to signing with Impact Wrestling, Dennis worked as Cherry Bomb with Combat Zone Wrestling, Shine Wrestling, Shimmer, and other independent promotions.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque and his wife Stephanie McMahon made a massive contribution to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for a one-of-a-kind treatment room at a cost of $1 million.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held today at the UPMC Children’s Hospital to commemorate the million dollar donation with both Triple H and Stephanie present according to a news report by CBS Pittsburgh.
“In 2014, Stephanie and Paul established Connor’s Cure, this is a fund dedicated to fighting pediatric cancer through supporting research,” said Dr. Linda McAllister, Chief of Science, Hematology & Oncology. “Connor’s Cure has raised more than $3 million to date.”
The new family-centered MIBG Therapy Suite at the hospital will become the only of its kind in Western Pennsylvania. MIBG is used to treat high-risk neuroblastoma, an aggressive cancer of the nerve cells that spreads quickly, found mostly in children under age 5. The space will include state-of-the-art equipment and the ability to provide care without needing to transfer a patient out of the room, even if critical care is required. An adjacent room will also be constructed in order for family members to be able to provide support, but be protected from radiation exposure during treatment.
“A lot of people said thank you today, I’d ask rather than say thank you, spread the word,” said Paul. “What we did was not for thanks it was to get the word out. Everybody has to understand what is needed to make this change. Like the doctors said, we won’t stop until it’s 100% [cured].”
“This all started when we met Connor Michalek,” said Stephanie. “After Connor lost his fight, Paul and I knew we had to do something and it started right here at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.”
The new location of the WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut will feature a total of 415,000 square feet of space, allowing the company to continue to expand while also consolidate most of its offices and production facilities.
The building previously housed the North American headquarters of UBS, and now WWE will share the three-building complex with KPMG and Perkins Eastman.
“The agreement announced today represents a major step forward in restoring the property’s standing as the commercial center of downtown Stamford,” George Comfort & Sons said in a press release.
Comfort’s president and CEO Peter S. Duncan added, “For the past 20 years, 677 Washington Boulevard has been regarded rightfully as downtown Stamford’s commercial centerpiece. It’s both logical and exciting to have WWE be located there. Local office market conditions are continuing to improve and our firm is pleased to play a major role in that progress.”
The huge property was bought in December 2017 by Stamford Washington Investors LLC for $33 million. WWE did not disclose how much rent they will be paying for their space.
Wrestling is so famous and loved for its grandeur: epic ring entrances, dazzling performance, and a rippling physique create a wild and powerful image that is so attractive to many people. It has already grown from another form of performing art into a whole culture. One of its key elements is incredible athleticism. For the show to look spectacular and breathtaking, the appearance of wrestlers in the ring must match their characters, stories, and costumes. The amazing muscularity that’s expected of wrestlers, however, isn’t always achieved through blood, sweat, and tears in the gym. Trenorol is a testosterone booster and in addition to that, it is versatile and adequately provides you with immense gains, power and physique conditioning. Then why not try these out for natural proteins to your body.
Effects of Steroid Abuse, Overdose, and Addiction
Legal or not, it is obvious that many wrestlers use steroids. These are synthetic drugs, developed to function in ways that resemble the action of certain natural hormones in the human body. Originally, steroids were created for medical purposes. For instance, corticosteroids are used to treat allergies, rashes and many other inflammatory conditions. Anabolic steroids might be prescribed to counter muscle loss caused by diseases like cancer, diabetes, and HIV, help with delayed puberty and treat many other conditions associated with testosterone deficiency in men which can be healed with a Testosterone androgel prescription.
Essentially, anabolic steroids mimic the effects of testosterone, contributing to muscle growth and the development of male sexual characteristics. They are tempting to use for athletes in particular because of their specific properties that quicken the healing of muscles after exercising. Putting your body under unfamiliar stress forces your muscles to strive to put up with the load. When it’s impossible, microscopic rupturing occurs and lets the brain recognize that a certain group of muscles needs to become larger and stronger in order to avoid getting hurt again. Steroids speed up the adaptation process, allowing athletes to exercise harder and gain greater results. While cases involving drug possession for personal use tend to carry milder penalties than those associated with drug sales or trafficking, California’s narcotic laws are complicated and constantly changing. For this reason, it’s essential that you trust your The Law Offices of Jerry Nicholson to an experienced legal team.
Many people believe steroids can’t be addictive, yet the abundance of steroid withdrawal programs at private detox centers (explore more here) indicates it’s far from being correct. While it’s true that steroids don’t possess the same psychoactive properties like the majority of recreational and some prescription drugs, people who use them regularly are at high risk of growing addicted. The nature of this addiction is primarily psychological. Steroid users who turn to chemicals to stay fit may develop anxiety over their appearance over time, feel depressed when they miss a workout session or lose muscle mass. The disturbed psychological state may lead people to gradually increase the dosage, spend more and more money on steroids and use impulsively, which, in turn, can cause overdose and even death.
Adverse effects of steroid misuse or abuse can be quite extensive. They include high blood pressure, increased risk of developing heart attacks, artery damage, and strokes, liver damage, and tumors, severe acne, hair loss, and aggression. In women, anabolic steroids can trigger voice deepening, irregularities in the menstrual cycle and excessive body hair growth. Although the effects of steroid abuse are mostly physical, the hormonal nature of the drugs can make withdrawal cause mood swings, irritability, insomnia, cravings and a couple of more serious conditions including depression, anxiety, mania, and delusions. For this reason, withdrawal under medical supervision at private rehabilitation clinics is both safer and more effective than abrupt quitting.
Tragic Deaths of WWE Stars
The philosophy of doing whatever it takes to win is the usual one in sports and martial arts. Although it’s used metaphorically to encourage athletes to work harder and surpass their old limits, for Chris Benoit it clearly took too much. As described by Dave Meltzer, a journalist specializing in wrestling and MMA, Benoit was “one of the top 10, maybe even the top 5, all-time greats.” Being a one-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time World Heavyweight Champion in WWE, Benoit was a prominent figure in wrestling who died at the peak of his career. The wrestler also killed his wife Nancy and his son Daniel before committing suicide. He was then found to have ten times the normal levels of testosterone, as well as Xanax and hydrocodone in his system. Benoit’s actions were attributed to brain injuries from his years in the ring coupled with steroid abuse.
The list of wrestlers who died of steroid abuse or associated conditions is alarmingly long. Its loudest names include James Brian Hellwig, known as the Ultimate Warrior, Eddie Guerrero, whose death in 2005 forced the WWE to introduce a new strict drug testing scheme, David “Davey Boy” Smith, Rick Rude and many others. Most of those deaths were attributed to sudden heart attacks and the effects of deadly combinations of steroids with alcohol or other prescription medications and illicit drugs.
Benefits of Steroid Rehab
Enrollment into a private rehab center is the best way to fight steroid addiction in the majority of cases. One of the reasons for this is the complexity of treatment that can rarely be achieved without professional assistance. As the world saw on the bitter example of so many wrestling stars, steroid abuse frequently comes together with alcohol or drug addiction. Such combinations can result in violence and aggression, as well as severe heart and liver problems. Therefore, it’s not enough to treat the causes behind steroid abuse alone, since another disorder is already in place. Private rehab facilities are equipped to account for all disorders that surfaced during the initial assessment and they will provide support along with drugs like kratoms that help with reducing dependencies on steroids or any other drug. The blog and articles at students with diabetes have ton of info on the use of Kratoms..
Also, treatment of co-occurring conditions includes mental disorders. Depression and anxiety that frequently go hand in hand with drug abuse can not only hinder the recovery process but evolve and become separate issues that require treatment. Fighting steroid addiction, dealing with its potentially detrimental impacts on health and struggling to overcome a mental illness at the same time can be extremely hard to handle without professional help.
Finally, confidentiality is a huge concern that frequently deters celebrities from seeking treatment. If anyone catches the scent of steroid use, a wrestler can expect an avalanche of public humiliation, a string of terminated contracts and the prospects of stained reputation coming his or her way. While private rehab won’t eliminate the fear of consequences, it can reduce its intensity enough for the person to find the strength to make the first step towards improving their life, health, and career.
About the Author
Jaffrey Buckley is a columnist who focuses on drug use/abuse in the sport. His works aim to prevent athletes from improper drug use showing the consequences of abuse.
Episode nine of Total Bellas this past Sunday, titled Women Take Center Stage, drew 395,000 viewers, down 46,000 viewers from last week. That is a series low, doing 1,000 less viewers than the least-watched episode of the whole series. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Adam Cole received a shot at the vacant NXT title after he won a fatal five-way match on NXT TV last night.
With Tommaso Ciampa out injured, the NXT title was vacated and Triple H ordered a fatal five-way match between Cole, Ricochet, Aleister Black, Matt Riddle, and Velveteen Dream.
The main event of NXT Takeover: New York now has Adam Cole taking on Johnny Gargano for the title. Originally, Gargano was supposed to take on Ciampa for the title after the two former tag team partners turned on each other during last week’s show.
WWE will be moving away from Titan Towers as it will be relocating its corporate headquarters to a new office complex located at 677 Washington Boulevard in Stamford, Connecticut.
The move comes after 34 years in the same building and relocating the headquarters will mean that corporate offices and production studios will be in the same building rather than separate ones.
In a press release, the move is attributed to accommodate the ever-growing workforce. The new site also has better floor plans, greater flexibility, and it is located in Stamford’s central business district, which provides greater access from various forms of transportation. They also said that they are looking for professional movers.
Many movers claim to provide office moving services, but most treat office relocations like a typical household move when it comes to the type of equipment and processes they use. The result is a disorganized and unsecured move that ends up costing way more time and money than expected.
Businesses that want their move handled professionally count on office movers in the Commercial Relocation Network for all of their moving needs. The network is a membership organization comprised of reputable office movers that have been recognized as the best of the best in their geographical area. To better understand the benefits of hiring office movers in the Commercial Relocation Network. They found that Man and Van London are the best movers in the town to move their stuff.
“One of the most important elements necessary to execute WWE’s long-term growth strategy is world-class talent collaborating seamlessly to create compelling content. Our workplace initiative will be the foundation to meet these objectives and underpins our ability to deliver long-term value,” said George Barrios, WWE Co-President.
WWE will not own the space but will lease it initially for 16.5 years and then it is renewed after every five years. The company will sell its current HQ space at East Main Street. WWE will also stop the lease on another facility on the same street and will evaluate the options on two other leases of their production facilities on Hamilton Avenue.
The new lease starts in July 2019 but a complete move will not happen until early 2021.
Smackdown did 2,208,000 viewers last night, up 10,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The show was #1 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #5 in overall viewership for the night on cable. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The ninth episode of this season of Total Bellas, the events in the Bellas’ lives leading up to the very first WWE all women’s pay-per-view, Evolution. Much of the drama in this season stemmed from the fact that Nicole was chosen to compete in the main event of Evolution, while her twin sister, Brie, was chosen to be her valet.
Also, since Brie made her most recent comeback after giving birth to her daughter, she has received hateful backlash from members of the WWE universe after injuring fellow WWE Superstar Liv Morgan. The mistake even earned Brie a new nickname, Botched Bella. Brie was already insecure about her ability to return to the ring after giving birth, and causing Liv’s injury only made her self-confidence plummet.
Furthermore, going from being a main event superstar to being a valet is seen as a very big demotion in WWE. So, being given the valet position would cause Brie’s already eroding confidence to drop down even further. Meanwhile, Nicole was on top of the world after being asked to main event Evolution although she was always the underdog against Ronda Rousey in betting odds in online casinos like Casino US.
I guess that Nicole didn’t feel right about being so overjoyed while her sister was down in the dumps, because she added to her already-busy Evolution schedule by organizing a pep rally for fans of the Bella Twins, also known as the Bella Army.
While Brie was initially unenthusiastic while Nicole planned the pep rally, once the day of the pep rally arrived and Brie saw how many fans were there to cheer on the Bella Twins, her confidence seemed to soar again. She even made a speech at the rally thanking fans for all their support throughout her wrestling career.
The upcoming Evolution pay-per-view wasn’t the only thing that made Brie nervous, though. She spent much of this episode having anxiety about the fact that she and her husband, Daniel Bryan, are discussing trying to get pregnant with their second child. Brie already suffers from major “mom guilt” when she is forced to leave her daughter for wrestling obligations or for other obligations having to do with her wine and lingerie companies. So, it is no surprise that Brie would have anxiety about taking away more time from her daughter and devoting it to her new baby. At the same time, however, I feel as though having a second child isn’t something that anyone is required to do. If the prospect of having a second baby is already stressing Brie out, when she isn’t even pregnant yet, what will happen when the new little one actually arrives? Maybe Brie and Daniel should only have one child, or maybe Brie should speak to someone about her anxiety issues before she and Bryan seriously begin trying to add to their family.
I personally don’t think the way that Brie handled her anxieties this time was the best way. She and her sister-in-law Lauren went out for a mom’s night out. While I’m not saying that moms shouldn’t drink or party, I would think that someone who has been so concerned with her sister’s public image of late wouldn’t want to be seen taking tequila shots at a bar while her husband and daughter waited at home.
However, if the Bellas continue to have wild nights out, it should only make episodes of Total Bellas that much more exciting.
Vince McMahon made sure that Kofi Kingston did not walk out of Smackdown with a championship opportunity at WrestleMania.
The New Day member did what he was asked to do in the first place…he beat Sheamus, Cesaro, Rowan, Samoa Joe, and Randy Orton when he ran the gauntlet. But the WWE Chairman and CEO had one last trick up his sleeve for Kofi, and introduced Daniel Bryan as his final opponent for the night.
The celebrations of Big E and Xavier Woods were cut short as they were sent to the back and couldn’t stay at ringside to support their tag team partner. Unfortunately for Kofi, the WWE champion came up with the upper hand after he hit him with the running knee for the pinfall. The lengthy gauntlet match took nearly the whole second hour of the broadcast as Kofi put on another superstar iron man performance.
Meanwhile, some fans on Twitter used last night’s angle to bash McMahon for doing everything he can to screw black guys over and not letting them win the WWE title. One particular individual replied to the thread asking if he ever heard of The Rock. Dwayne Johnson caught the discussion after he was tagged in the post and actually replied, saying, “Glad I came across this and I’ll give you guys some context & truth. I identify as exactly what I am – both. Equally proud. Black/Samoan. And my friend, let me expand your thoughts a bit here – I transcended race in wrestling so there was no “booked that way.” Thx guys.”
Monday Night Raw drew 2,695,000 viewers this week, down 123,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. This was the least-watched Raw of the past five weeks.
Hour one did 2,810,000 viewers, then followed by 2,717,000 in the second hour, and down to 2,559,000 in the third and final hour.
Raw was #1, #2, and #3 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #4 in the overall viewership for the night on cable. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Last year, Asuka’s first WrestleMania did not end up as she had hoped for as Charlotte Flair broke her streak after all the hype of winning the Royal Rumble.
But this year, the Empress of Tomorrow will walk into WrestleMania as the Smackdown Women’s champion. Her opponent? It will be decided next week on Smackdown Live.
A fatal four-way match will take place on the show to determine the new number one contender for the Smackdown Women’s title. The four competitors are Carmella, Naomi, Mandy Rose, and Sonya Deville.
This match will be the fifth confirmed title match at WrestleMania. Both sets of the men’s Tag Team titles, the women’s Tag Team titles, and the Intercontinental title are still not confirmed for the show with just three weeks to go for the big day.
