With the Elimination Chamber just a few hours away, we present you the latest odds for tonight’s pay-per-view, which takes place from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. A total of seven matches are on the card including one on the Kickoff show.
In the WWE title match inside the Elimination Chamber structure, Daniel Bryan remains the favorite to walk out with his title. Bryan has odds of 1/8, making him the clear favorite with Kofi Kingston at 5/1, Randy Orton at 12/1, Samoa Joe at 16/1, AJ Styles at 20/1, and Jeff Hardy at 25/1.
The second Elimination Chamber match of the night features six women tag teams as they fight to become the new WWE Women’s Tag Team champions. Bayley and Sasha Banks are currently the top at 4/5 while Nia Jax and Tamina are second favorites with odds of 5/4. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville at are 8/1, The IIconics are at 9/1, The Riott Squad are at 25/1, and Naomi and Carmella are a long shot with odds of 50/1.
As it’s often the case, in the Raw Women’s title match, Ronda Rousey is the favorite by a mile, with her odds of winning and retaining at 1/50 while Ruby Riott is at 11/1. Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush are favorites to win the Intercontinental title handicap match with 8/11 odds while their opponent Finn Balor is at 1/1.
The Smackdown Tag Team titles will be on the line as Shane McMahon and The Miz remain favorite at 1/6 to retain the titles against The Usos who are at 7/2. Braun Strowman is at 4/9 to win the no disqualification match against Baron Corbin who is at 13/8. And in the Kickoff match, Buddy Murphy is also a solid favorite with odds of 1/8 to retain the Cruiserweight title against Akira Tozawa who is at 9/2.
All odds are correct at time of this writing. Odds might change as events gets nearer to bell time.
While doing press rounds for tonight’s UFC Fight Night on ESPN, former UFC Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez told The Mac Life that there’s 70% chance of him going to WWE.
When asked to put a percentage number on him wrestling in WWE, Velasquez thought about it for a moment and then came up with the 70% number. He was told that travel is “meant to be brutal” but Cain shrugged it off. “So? Okay, I gotta go to new places,” he replied with a smile.
“The feeling that I got going to the WWE and training at the Performance Center, the camaraderie that they have, you know it was definitely a family that they have,” he explained. Velasquez was pictured training with Shawn Michaels last year when he visited the facility.
He mentioned that they had an NXT tapings when he was there and highlighted how Triple H talked to everyone at the show like it was family and how they all wanted to make WWE the best. “I like that aspect of it, you know? It’s a little bit different for us here in the UFC, it’s not like that,” he added.
Eddie Edwards has signed a new long-term deal with Impact Wrestling, the company announced in a post on Twitter.
The 35-year-old from Boston has been working for Impact since 2014 and has won his fair share of titles since then. Edwards already has already won the Impact World Heavyweight title once and the X Division title twice. As a tag team with Davey Richards, the duo also won the Impact Tag Team titles five times. He’s also a two-time World Cup winner and is the company’s eighth triple crown champion.
Impact did not reveal how long Edwards has signed on for.
The Becky Lynch injury and suspension angle continued during a Smackdown non-televised live event yesterday in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Lynch came out from the crowd and jumped Charlotte Flair who was wrestling Asuka for the Smackdown Women’s title. Flair quickly regained the advantage though and attacked Becky’s knee, working on it for several minutes including hitting her with a chair.
Several WWE officials broke up the fight and when Lynch tried to leave, Charlotte attacked her again, dragging Becky back to the ring for another beat down.
Becky has been storyline-suspended for 60 days, losing her WrestleMania spot…for now. On Twitter, Becky wrote today, “The McMahons are killing everything I’ve built, and they’re doing it week by week, and show by show. And even though I have NEVER ENDING knee issues, I will figure out a way to stay alive in all of this.”
Total Bella returns tonight on E! with episode five of season four titled The Big Mistake.
The synopsis for the broadcast reads, “The Bellas overload their schedule the week of their first ever Birdiebee fashion show and an overwhelmed Brie cancels on an appearance a day before, leaving Nicole frustrated that she needs to pick up the slack. However, all of this exhaustion takes a toll on Brie when she makes one of the biggest mistakes of her career in the ring and accidentally injures her opponent, leaving her questioning why she made this comeback at all.”
This episode will tackle the fallout from the accident where Brie Bella kicks Liv Morgan in the face, causing her to lose consciousness during the match.
Live tonight from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, WWE presents Elimination Chamber 2019 on pay-per-view and the WWE Network. The full card is as follows:
Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles vs Jeff Hardy vs Randy Orton vs Samoa Joe vs Kofi Kingston in an Elimination Chamber match for the WWE title; Nia Jax and Tamina vs The Riott Squad vs Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville vs The IIconics vs Bayley and Sasha Banks vs Naomi and Carmella in an Elimination Chamber match for the new WWE Women’s Tag Team titles; Ronda Rousey vs Ruby Riott for the Raw Women’s title; Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush vs Finn Balor in a handicap match for the Intercontinental title; The Miz and Shane McMahon vs The Usos for the Smackdown Tag Team titles; Braun Strowman vs Baron Corbin in a no disqualification match; and Buddy Murphy vs Akira Tozawa for the Cruiserweight title in the Kickoff match.
Elimination Chamber is free for first-time subscribers to the WWE Network. To activate your 30-day trial go to http://w-o.it/wwentwrk.
Things blew up yesterday on social media after Amy Polinsky, the wife of WWE announcer Corey Graves, accused him of sleeping with fellow co-worker and former Smackdown Women’s champion Carmella.
In a post on Instagram which was later deleted, Polinsky posted a photo of her family writing, “This may be totally below me to do but I’m hurt. I’m sad. I’ve put 11 years into supporting a man to accomplish his dream only for him to punch me in the gut.”
She continued writing that she’s been through suicide attempts, alcoholism, and many other things with him but she stuck by his side. “The kicker is finding out that he’s been sleeping with one of my daughter’s role models all along. @CarmellaWWE and @WWEGraves I hope you guys are happy. I really do!”
Amy then posted a screenshot of text messages exchanged with her husband where he asks her if she’s drunk. She replies saying that he’s an awful human being and not to text her anymore. Graves replies saying that she better take down the post or WWE is going to sue her.
To further support her case about sticking by her husband’s side through depression, she also posted private messages that he sent her saying that he doesn’t want to wake up anymore and came to terms that he needs to “shut it all down.” She also posted a video on Instagram showing Carmella wishing their daughter a happy birthday with the caption, “good chat”
WWE returns for their second pay-per-view of the year Elimination Chamber tomorrow night with seven matches on the card. Two of those matches will be held inside the Elimination Chamber structure and today we will take a look at the betting odds for those two particular matches. Full betting odds for the Chamber PPV will be published tomorrow a few hours before the show.
Daniel Bryan will be defending the WWE title inside the steel cage against five other opponents. Luckily for him, he is the favorite to walk out of the show still champion, with odds at 1/7 to retain. Kofi Kingston, who replaced Mustafa Ali this week, is second favorite with 9/1 odds. Randy Orton will be entering the match last after winning the advantage on Smackdown but his odds are 10/1 to win the match. Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and Jeff Hardy have odds of 14/1, 16/1, and 20/1 respectively.
The other Chamber match is to crown the brand new WWE Women’s Tag Team champions. This is also the second-ever women’s Chamber match. Favorites to win as of this writing are the team of Bayley and Sasha Banks with odds of 4/6. Second are Nia Jax and Tamina with odds of 6/4, followed by The IIconics at 13/2. The Riott Squad are 12/1, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville are at 40/1, and Naomi and Carmella are far away with odds of 50/1. In this match, Bayley/Banks and Rose/Deville will be starting after they both lost their respective tag matches on Raw and Smackdown this week.
PWInsider.com is reporting that WWE has come to terms with Major League Wrestling (MLW) to acquire all the rights and trademarks associated with the WarGames match.
WWE never renewed the trademark from the WCW days so the name was eventually made available for anyone to trademark. MLW did that after they used the concept for the match in one of their shows in 2003. A few years later, MLW applied for the WarGames trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and since 2007, the company has owned the name.
The WarGames concept never saw the light of day in WWE until November 2017, when WWE reintroduced the match for its November NXT show titled NXT Takeover: WarGames. Another WarGames event was held last year also in November during the Survivor Series weekend and now it looks like it will be a yearly tradition for NXT.
PWInsider.com adds that as part of the agreement, MLW will not be using the match or the name on their shows anymore.
The late WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes was the brains behind the WarGames concept which included two rings and a giant steel cage covering the rings. It was part of the Fall Brawl pay-per-views in WCW. WWE’s revival of the concept still includes two rings and a steel cage but there’s no roof for the cage, allowing NXT stars to perform high-flying moves from the top of the cage.
Shane McMahon, one half of the current Smackdown Tag Team champions, will be appearing in an upcoming episode of NCIS: Los Angeles, airing on March 31.
Not much is known what McMahon’s role on the popular CBS show will be and McMahon didn’t comment much about it, apart from thanking the cast and crew for making it such a great experience. He specifically mentioned LL Cool J and Daniela Ruah which suggests he’ll be sharing most of his on-screen time with them.
LL Cool J recorded the cool WrestleMania 31 intro a few years ago when the show was held in Santa Clara, California. NCIS: Los Angeles is in its 10th season and has Chris O’Donnell, LL Cool J, Daniela Ruah, Linda Hunt, and Eric Christian Olsen as the main cast.
Another baseball stadium will be hosting next year’s Royal Rumble as the Houston Chronicle reported that the Minute Maid Park in Houston will play host to the 2020 Royal Rumble.
Minute Maid Park is the home of the MLB’s Houston Astros and has a retractable roof. It was built in 2000 and has a seating of just over 40,000. In its 19-year history, the Minute Maid Park only hosted one non-baseball sporting event, which was a soccer match in 2006. Several concerts have been held at the location as well.
“We had a wonderful experience at Chase Field, and that underscored our excitement with the decision to place the 2020 Royal Rumble at Minute Maid Park,” WWE executive vice president of special events John Saboor said. “We want to expose the WWE brand and its events to as many people as possible, and the size of facilities in which we present our major events is a key catalyst.”
Houston has not hosted a Royal Rumble since 1989, the first one to be held on pay-per-view at The Summit. That event was won by Big John Studd.
Jake Hager, the artist formerly known as Jack Swagger, will be returning inside the cage for a second MMA bout under Bellator.
Ariel Helwani of ESPN reported that the former World Heavyweight champion will be part of the Bellator 221 event on May 11. No opponent has been named as of yet. This will be Hager’s second professional MMA fight after he beat J.W. Kiser last month at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Hager made quick work of his opponent, submitting him in the first round.
Hager has stated that he would like to use the name Jack Swagger for his second fight and was in the process of putting a trademark on the name.
Bellator 221 will take place at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, a place where he wrestled numerous times before for WWE.
The behind-the-scenes show WWE Confidential will be coming to the WWE Network this coming Monday, with around half of the available episodes to be uploaded. The full Confidential library has over 40 episodes.
Hosted in studio by the late “Mean” Gene Okerlund, Confidential took a behind-the-scenes look at some controversial issues and aired on Spike TV between 2002 and 2004. Topics covered on Confidential at the time were the Montreal screw job which featured Shawn’s first public admission of his involvement, Steve Austin quitting the company in 2002, the Monday night wars, Miss Elizabeth’s death, and more.
This Sunday, WWE Network will also air a one-hour original documentary on Mark Henry which will start immediately following the conclusion of the Elimination Chamber.
WWE is selling a special VIP ticket for NXT Takeover: New York titled Blacklist.
Selling for $750 per ticket, the VIP experience will include a VIP suite seating for the show, visits from NXT Superstars during Takeover in your suite, photo opportunity with NXT Superstars, group photo on the entrance ramp, VIP access to the merchandise stand before doors open for the general public, and an NXT Takeover: New York collectible VIP poster.
Limited tickets are made available for this VIP experience and they can be purchased from NXTTickets.com.
The Undertaker will be making an appearance at the upcoming Starrcast II fan interactive event which will take place during the AEW Double or Nothing weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Phenom has started taking non-WWE bookings for personal appearances lately and is commanding a whopping $25,000 an hour.
That fee did not slash hopes of Conrad Thompson though, the man behind the Starrcast event, who yesterday announced Taker’s involvement in his event.
The news was originally broken by Sports Illustrated, who had Thompson’s comment about the major coup. Thompson said this is not an AEW event but rather an event for all wrestling fans and promotions (not casino promotions). Several WWE Hall of Famers, including Ric Flair, Sting, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and others will be appearing that weekend.
“The Undertaker experience is its own stand alone experience at Starrcast. We are so proud to bring The Undertaker experience to fans this Memorial Day weekend at Starrcast II,” Thompson added.
As things stand apparently, Undertaker is not booked for WrestleMania and while things can change, this might be the first Mania without Taker for a very, very long time.
Starrcast II will take place between May 23 and 26 and tickets go on sale today at Noon at Starrcast.com. Tickets for The Undertaker event will go in sale at a later date.
Thompson is now an AEW employee and is married to Ric Flair’s daughter.
Jimmy Uso, one half of The Usos, was arrested in Detroit after he got in a drunken dispute with police according to TMZ.
The incident happened after police pulled over Jimmy’s and Naomi’s car after Naomi was driving the wrong way in a one-way street near downtown Detroit. When they approached the vehicle, cops smelled booze and ordered the driver, in this case Naomi, out of the car.
But as the former Smackdown Women’s champion talked to the police, her husband got out of the car and took off his shirt and jacket and was ready for a fight despite repeated commands to stay in the car. One police officer pulled out his taser in case of a fight but eventually he calmed down, handcuffed, and arrested for disorderly conduct and obstruction says TMZ. After he was booked in jail, he posted bond and was allowed to leave.
The Usos are set to take on Shane McMahon and The Miz this Sunday at the Elimination Chamber.
You can see Jimmy’s mug shot from the booking below.
John Cena got a new hosting gig of a popular television show on Nickelodeon.
In comments given to Variety, Nickelodeon chief Brian Robbins explained how the network is trying to attract back the young viewership demographic and one of the moves they as a network are making is hiring John Cena to be the host of the popular game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Produced by Mark Burnett of Survivor, the show features a contestant who attempts to answer ten questions taken from elementary school textbooks, two from each grade level from first to fifth. During the game, contestants who are playing for the $1,000,000 prize can be helped by school kids in answering the questions.
The show was revived for a fourth season in 2015 but no new episodes have been filmed since then.
It’s February 11th, 2019 and New Beginning continues today in Osaka, where Tanahashi will defend the belt for the first time against Jay White, who is also getting his first title shot. Will the new Bullet Club leader get his first loss in a while? Will Tanahashi lose the belt in his first defense? The second seemed more unlikely. But let’s find out what happens.
I am going to do something new and add a summary at the end for those who don’t want to read everything (and for our editor to copy to his newsletter).
1. Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Takashi Iizuka, Minoru Suzuki & TAKA Michinoku
In the beginning, Tenzan told Iizuka to look at his shirt, which said Friends and had a picture of hte former partners.. This led Iizuka to charge him, just like he did the last time. After as good a match as most of these guys (Suzuki excepting, that guy doesn’t age) can still do, Kojima and Tenzan beat Iizuka down. Tenzan then placed his shirt on Iizuka, hoping he will see what it says. At this moment Suzuki charged the ring with a chair and started attacking everyone. Suddenly Iizuka got up, and grabbed the chair out of Suzuki’s hands as he was about to hit Tenzan. Then, and I can’t say I was surprised, Iizuka turned around and nailed Tenzan with the chair in the neck, as Suzuki stopped Kojima and Iizuka nailed Liger with the chair. Iizuka used the Iron Glove on Tenzan and tore the shirt with Suzuki.
2. EVIL &Sanada vs Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino
Umino got a couple of close pinfalls at the end, but was ultimately pinned by Sanada after a Skullend.
3. Tetsuya Naito, Bushi & Shingo Takagi vs El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi
Not sure what the purpose of this match is, as the feud seems to have been settled already. After a long sequence by Naito and Takagi on Kanemaru, including a backbreaker and a lariat, Naito get the pin with Destino. Naito and Taichi exchange words afterwards. And just when it seemed like this match would go into the pile of puzzling oblivion and the LIJ Jr Tag Team Champs were heading to the backstage, they were stopped by … Roppongi 3K. After some shoving, Sho & Yoh stole the belts and ran to the ring. LIJ retrieved the belts, but in the exchange of words, a title shot was agreed upon.
Ok, so we saw Suzuki and Iizuka’s career-closing angle, the tag team champs, the IC champ Naito and the Jr Tag Team Champs set up their next angle. This is in the first three matches. Now what could possibly follow this?
4. Yoshi-Hashi & Tomoaki Honma vs Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens (with Tokyo Latina)
OK, WTF? None of these guys ever get any push, except Yoshi-Hashi and even his is pretty small. Also nobody here can wrestle except for the above mentioned individual. The opening sequence between Honma and Yujiro was as bad as you will see in New Japan ring. Then Yoshi-Hashi came in and things picked up, but, surprisingly, instead of building his return to action, it ended with Bullet Club throwing him into the guardrail, double-kicking Honma, doing their version of the Killer Bomb, and finally Chase winning with a Packaged Piledriver.
Kota Ibushi makes a surprise appearance and says he is not leaving New Japan and will return for the New Japan Cup.
5. Guerillas of Destiny (with Jado) vs Togi Makabe & Toru Yano
Tanga & Tonga attacked their opponents during the entrance, hitting them with foreign objects. Later, as Makabe made a comeback, they turned it around with Jado’s cane, but Yano then took over. He nearly pinned Tanga Loa with a low-a blow, but Jado distracted him, allowing the GoD to take him out with Nightfall. It was great seeing Makabe and especially Yano in action together. Too bad this ended with another Bullet Club win.
6. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title match: Taiji Ishimori vs Ryusuke Taguchi
Taguchi came out in green overalls and seemed to pretend to be a DJ with dance moves. Ishimori eventually won with a gutbuster, although Taguchi almost got the upper hand after an anklelock, which ended up turned in to a variation of the same move. Ishimori then challenged Liger, who was doing commentary ringside. Jushin “Thunder” Liger got back into the ring and said he is up to it.
7. Kazuchika Okada vs Bad Luck Fale (with Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens)
Fale was dominating the earlier portions of the match, but as soon as Okada made a comeback, Chase and Yujiro came into play, which resulted in the ref and Okada going down. All of a sudden Yoshi-Hashi stormed ring and destroyed Owens and Takahashi. Finally Fale knocked him down. When Fale went for his finisher, Okada slid down the back and dropkicked him twice. He then went for the Rainmaker, but Okada almost turned into a chokeslam, but Okada dropkicked him again. Okada set up a Rainmaker again, but Fale chokeslammed him into a punch and covered for a close 2. He went for a splash off the top rope, but Okada dropkicked him yet again and superplexed him. Fale started punching away, but Okada grabbed his hand and turned into a Rainmaker. Okada repeated the move and covered him for the pin.
8. IWGP Heavyweight Title match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White
A long match which White eventually won with a flying elbow and a Blade Runner. Lots of long leg-work spots. This brings up interesting questions as to whether White is winning to move him into MSG as a gaijin champion or if the plan is to get somebody else (Okada or Naito) over, as he has been unbeatable lately. Whatever it is, I am actually kinda excited.
Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Takashi Iizuka, Minoru Suzuki & TAKA Michinoku via disqualification. Tenzan appealed to Iizuka’s sanity with a “Friends” t-shirt. Iizuka teased rejoining his former partner, but in the end nailed him in the neck with a chair for a DQ. EVIL & Sanada beat Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino. Tetsuya Naito, Bushi & Shingo Takagi beat Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado. After the match, Roppongi 3K stole the Jr Tag Belts and got a title shot in the word exchange. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens (with Tokyo Latina) beat Yoshi-Hashi & Tomoaki Honma. Ibushi announced he wasn’t leaving. Guerillas of Destiny (with Jado) beat Togi Makabe & Toru Yano. Taiji Ishimori beat Ryusuke Taguchi to retain the Jr Heavyweight Title. He then challenged Jushin “Thunder” Liger, who was doing commentary. Liger got in the ring and accepted. Kazuchika Okada beat Bad Luck Fale. Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi interefered in the match, but were stopped by Yoshi-Hashi. HIroshi Tanahashi lost the New Japan Heavyweight Title to Jay White.
A major cast shakeup is coming to the ninth season of Total Divas.
Raw Women’s champion Ronda Rousey is being added to the cast according to the website Squared Circle Sirens and E! cameras were at her farm last week to commence filming.
In what is maybe a surprise, Nikki and Brie Bella will not be returning to the series. Both had been an integral part of the show over the past eight seasons but Ryan Satin over at Pro Wrestling Sheet adds to the story that the Bellas will now be concentrating on their Total Bellas show moving forward.
Former Smackdown General Manager Paige will also not return for the ninth season after being re-added to the cast last year.
Carmella, Natalya, Nia Jax, Sonya Deville and Naomi will be the other individuals featured on the show along with Rousey.
Natalya is the only person who has so far managed to appear as one of the main cast in all seasons including the upcoming one.
All Elite Wrestling’s upcoming Double or Nothing pay-per-view managed to attract ticket buyers from all 50 states, something that usually happens only at WrestleMania.
In a post on Twitter, Cody wrote that apart from all the U.S. states, fans with addresses in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, the United Kingdom, Finland, Germany, Austria, and Australia all purchased tickets for Double or Nothing.
The show also became the first wrestling event to sell out in the same day in Las Vegas.
The remaining tickets which went on sale to the general public yesterday were sold in just four minutes.
Double or Nothing takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 25.
