In the latest episode of his podcast Dinner With The King, WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler revealed that he suffered a stroke just two weeks before WrestleMania.
Lawler said that on March 21, his girlfriend noticed that one side of his face looked paralyzed and he was slurring his speech. She took him to the hospital and registered a blood pressure of 296/145 which is really bad. He was hospitalized for three days but was feeling better after he was released.
“The King” said that nobody knew about his situation apart from Kevin Dunn and Triple H, who he alerted since he was supposed to do commentary for the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34.
Lawler looked absolutely fine during WrestleMania weekend showing no after effects from his stroke.
The Undertaker will be making the trip to Saudi Arabia too as WWE just announced that Taker will be wrestling Rusev at the Greatest Royal Rumble event in a casket match.
Taker wrestled a three-minute match at WrestleMania against John Cena, squashing the former 16-time champion after he did not appear on one single Raw show to promote the match leading up to WrestleMania.
When you have individuals like The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar making the long trip to the Middle East, you know it’s a very important show for WWE.
Pretty much the whole roster, minus the women, will be on the flight to Jeddah as WWE looks to impress the Kingdom with a spectacular live event. WWE signed a massive, multi-million dollar 10-year deal with Saudi Arabia to bring shows to the region every year as part of Saudi Vision 2030.
There will be no more Yes! chants, or Rusev Day chants, or Wooooo’s, or any other kind of wrestling chant on the streets of New Orleans from today. And the man behind the Darth Vader costume dancing to WWE theme songs on Bourbon Street will need to get new music.
With Smackdown Live over, it is a wrap on WrestleMania week. While the majority of wrestling fans departed Monday as evident by less people at Smackdown and in restaurants around the area, most of the remaining fans will leave the city today.
Bourbon Street in particular was invaded by wrestling t-shirts and title belts throughout the week and despite over 70,000 fans in the area for WrestleMania, no major incidents were reported. Police almost at every end of the blocks and on horses roamed the area and while there were some mock matches on the filthy streets and some titties showing for beads all in the name of fun, wrestling fans behaved pretty good.
This year, the chant of Rusev Day was the new catchphrase that took over the city, more so than the usual Yes! and Wooooo that dominated the city four years ago.
While different cities have their own thing, there’s something about New Orleans that brings together wrestling fans more than any other city where WrestleMania has been held so far…or maybe it’s just because of that Bourbon Street!
Apart from Chris Jericho who was announced as one of the 50 WWE Superstars who will be performing in the Greatest Royal Rumble WWE Network event, several more names were added to the match.
Joining the event are Baron Corbin, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Shelton Benjamin, Chad Gable, Sin Cara, Mojo Rawley, and Dolph Ziggler. Already announced for the show are Daniel Bryan, Big Show, Kane, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Kurt Angle, Apollo, Titus O’Neil, Elias, and Goldust. That leaves 30 more Superstars needed to fill up the 50 number.
Meanwhile, The Usos defeated The New Day on Smackdown to receive a title shot at the Smackdown Tag Team titles at the show and will now face The Bludgeon Brothers. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns, John Cena vs Triple H, and a ladder match between Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, The Miz, and Samoa Joe are the other confirmed matches so far.
All WWE titles – except the women’s ones – will be on the line on the show. The women are not making the trip this time around.
The Greatest Royal Rumble will air live on the WWE Network on April 27 at Noon EST.
During WrestleMania week, USA Network aired three extra hours of WWE programming apart from the usual five-hour block of Raw and Smackdown Live.
WrestleMania’s Greatest Moments which aired on Thursday night did a total of 746,000 viewers. The one-hour condensed version of the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on Saturday night pulled in 665,000 viewers, while hour two of the WrestleMania Kickoff show on Sunday did 762,000 viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
PWInsider.com is reporting that Paul Heyman signed a new deal with WWE and will be sticking around as long as Brock Lesnar remains in the company.
WWE announced the surprise re-signing of their Universal champion yesterday in a press release although failed to specify what kind of deal it is. There was no mentioning if it was a multi-year deal or one more appearance. Lesnar’s next time on WWE television will be in Saudi Arabia taking on Roman Reigns in a steel cage match.
During interviews leading up to WrestleMania, Heyman said that he was treating WrestleMania as his final WWE appearance if Lesnar was leaving.
We just had WrestleMania a few days ago but the build for Backlash, the next WWE pay-per-view, has already started and there are three matches announced so far.
On Smackdown, Randy Orton beat Bobby Roode and Rusev in a triple threat match to become the number one contender for the United States title and will now face Jinder Mahal on the show.
Meanwhile, over at Raw, The Miz chose to invoke his rematch for the Intercontinental title at Backlash while Samoa Joe challenged Roman Reigns to a match. Reigns has a title match against Brock Lesnar on April 27 in a steel cage match so if he wins that one, he’ll go on to face Joe for the Universal title.
Backlash will take place on May 6 live from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Starting from this PPV, both Raw and Smackdown Superstars will be sharing the same pay-per-view as the dual-brand specials have been dropped.
Two other NXT stars made the transition to the main roster on Smackdown as the show after WrestleMania saw the arrival of the Iconic Duo: Peyton Royce and Billie Kay.
Now using the name The Iconics, the Australian duo answered Charlotte Flair’s challenge when Flair wondered who will she do magic with next. Royce and Kay taunted Flair for a while before attacking her, laying her out and leading the way for Carmella who cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase a few minutes later.
The 25-year-old Royce has been with WWE since April 2015 and made her NXT television debut a month later. Kay, who is 28, also signed with WWE in April 2015 and made her TV debut on NXT in June.
Their arrival was widely rumored to be happening this week. Royce took part in the Women’s WrestleMania Battle Royal on Sunday but Kay was not one of the few NXT stars who was chosen to participate.
Former WWE Divas champion Paige, who retired from in-ring competition on Raw 24 hours earlier, was named as the new Smackdown General Manager by Shane McMahon.
McMahon opened the show by first thanking the fans for coming to WrestleMania week and then announced that Daniel Bryan is now a full-time competitor so he had to resign from his post as Smackdown General Manager.
The Commissioner said that it was time to bring in a new GM for the show and introduced Paige to a big pop from the New Orleans crowd. Paige found herself in the same situation as Daniel Bryan, as in she’s still contractually obliged to work for WWE but cannot wrestle. Daniel Bryan was brought in as Smackdown GM in July of two years ago when the brand split happened, with Stephanie choosing Mick Foley to head up Raw and Shane choosing Bryan.
“Thank you Shane! Smackdown Live, you’re my house now,” Paige tweeted after the segment.
After 297 days holding the Money In The Bank briefcase, Carmella successfully cashed in on the Smackdown after Mania, beating Charlotte.
Carmella took advantage of the situation after the Iconic Duo – Peyton Royce and Billie Kay – attacked Charlotte a few minutes earlier laying her out. The crowd was chanting for Carmella but it took a while before her theme song hit the speakers to a large pop from the crowd.
Referee Mike Chioda stalled after Carmella handed him the briefcase as she kept yelling at him to ring the bell. Eventually Chioda handed over the briefcase, the ring announcer confirmed the cash in, and the bell was rung.
Carmella quickly hit Charlotte with a kick to the head and covered her for the pin.
The 30-year-old has been signed to a WWE deal since 2013 and this is her first title in the company. She graduated from NXT and moved to the main roster during the July 2016 draft.
The Raw after WrestleMania 34 did an average of 3,921,000 viewers, a 564,0000 increase over last week’s broadcast.
Hour one started with 4,098,000 viewers, followed by 4,069,000 viewers in the second hour, and then down to 3,597,000 viewers in the third and final hour.
Last year, the Raw after WrestleMania 33 did 3,767,000 viewers so when comparing year-over-year, it did 154,000 viewers more. This was the most-watched Raw since the Raw 25th anniversary episode which did 4.53 million viewers on January 22.
Raw was #1, #2, and #3 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #1 in overall viewership for the night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The Andre The Giant documentary on HBO will air tonight at 10PM EST immediately following the conclusion of Smackdown Live.
Produced by HBO Sports, WWE, and the Bill Simmons Media Group, this documentary will chronicle the myth that was Andre The Giant, his rise in professional wrestling, being the leader in the locker room, and the pain he suffered throughout the years until his eventual death.
Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Jim Ross, Ric Flair, Mean Gene Okerlund, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, actress Robin Wright, and many other appear in sit-down interviews during the course of the documentary.
A premiere was held in Los Angles for the first screening a few weeks ago and another private screening was held in New Orleans over WrestleMania weekend.
The description from HBO for this documentary reads, “Discover the Eighth Wonder of the World. At 7′ 4” and over 500 lbs, Andre the Giant certainly lived up to his wrestling moniker – but he was a gentle giant as well. HBO Sports and WWE form a tag team for this documentary, which combines never-before-seen footage and revealing interviews for a comprehensive and intimate portrait of one of WWE’s most beloved, yet largely unknown, figures. The wide-ranging film explores Andre’s upbringing in France, his celebrated career in WWE and forays in the entertainment world (such as “The Princess Bride”), and includes interviews with Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Billy Crystal, Rob Reiner, family members and more.”
The documentary will run for 90 minutes and will be replayed tomorrow at 10:05PM EST tomorrow. It will also be available on demand on the HBO app tomorrow. The documentary will stream live on HBO GO and HBO NOW.
Chris Jericho is returning for one night only to the WWE and will be participating in the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia later this month.
Jericho was the latest name added to the show along with WWE Hall of Famer and Raw GM Kurt Angle, who is also going to be one of the fifty Superstars in the Rumble match.
Y2J last appeared in a backstage segment at the Raw 25th anniversary episode back in January just two weeks after wrestling Kenny Omega at the NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 event. He has not wrestled in a WWE ring since last July.
WWE is bringing all their biggest Superstars to this historic event in Jeddah in hopes of filling the 60,000-seater stadium.
The Raw Tag Team titles were vacated on Raw last night by Braun Strowman and Nicholas after Strowman told Angle that his tag partner has a schedule conflict since he’s still in school!
The crowd popped big when Nicholas appeared backstage in the segment and Strowman said that when he’s out of school, they will team back together and reclaim the Raw Tag Team titles. Nicholas then told Angle that somebody was going to get these hands to another big pop from the crowd!
Angle then announced a tag team eliminator, with four tag teams. The first match was The Revival defeating Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows while the second one was Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt defeating Titus O’Neil and Apollo.
The winners will face each other next week and whoever comes out victorious will take on The Bar at the Greatest Royal Rumble WWE Network special from Saudi Arabia for the vacated Raw Tag Team titles.
The Raw after Mania crowd was on their best behavior in several years last night but all hell broke lose after the show got off the air.
When cameras stopped rolling, Intercontinental champion Seth Rollins demanded a microphone and asked where the beach balls were. During the broadcast, a few beach balls were passed around but were quickly confiscated by security unlike previous years. He said for the past few years they’ve seen the fans have fun with the beach balls but now they want to be part of the fun too.
Rollins told the crowd that this was the moment to get those beach balls out and on command, dozens of beach balls across the arena popped out to a large ovation from the crowd as beach ball mania took over.
Rollins, Balor, and Hardy played with the fans, kicking the balls back to the crowd for several minutes before heading backstage to end a fun night.
Ryan Satin of ProWresltingSheet.com is reporting that Brock Lesnar and Vince McMahon ended up in a verbal altercation immediately following the end of his match at WrestleMania on Sunday.
Details are still sketchy but apparently Lesnar was not happy when he returned backstage and McMahon ended up being chewed out by the Universal champion at the Gorilla position. Lesnar then threw his Universal title although it’s not clear if he threw it at McMahon or at the wall. The reason for the argument is still unknown.
Dave Meltzer of the Observer added to the story that almost nobody knew that Lesnar was going to retain the title over Roman Reigns and while it was not a last-minute decision on the day of, it was a late change to the script as Reigns was scheduled to eventually go over. Lesnar re-signing, while it was not announced for how long, contributed to the former UFC champion retaining the WWE Universal title.
Meltzer continued saying that Lesnar did not go off script as it was originally suggested and him opening up Reigns the hard way with those elbow strikes was part of the match just like it was when he bloodied up Randy Orton at SummerSlam a few years ago.
Lesnar will defend his title against Roman Reigns on April 27 at the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in a steel cage match. Roman Reigns addressed the situation on Raw and said that if they keep putting him in matches against Lesnar, the end result will be that he will eventually win the Universal title.
There will be a Superstar shake-up next week on WWE television as both Raw and Smackdown Superstars will be up for trades.
The now-annual shake-up episode will take place over a period of two days on both Monday Night Raw and Smackdown Live. The announcement was made today during Raw.
The shake-up will freshen things up for both rosters as new people will move to different brands offering the opportunity to present new feuds and angles. The first Superstar shake-up took place last year after WrestleMania in Orlando.
This will not be a full-on draft but a lot of Superstars will be changing brand colors in the process. Following WrestleMania 34 there will be no longer dual-brand pay-per-views and both brands will move forward on the same PPV shows from now on.
Four years after she made her main roster debut in the same arena winning the Divas title from AJ Lee, Paige announced her retirement on the Raw after Mania episode.
While Paige has not wrestled since late December when she was injured in a six-women tag match at a non-televised live event, WWE chose not to address her situation on television until today.
An emotional Paige took the mic and stage after Mandy Rose defeated Sasha Banks and then proceeded to tell the crowd that she has been forced to retire due to her neck injuries. Paige thanked the women in the WWE locker room, her family, Daniel Bryan for giving her hope, Edge for showing her that there’s life after wrestling, the WWE for allowing her to live her dream, and the WWE fans for sticking with her.
Paige said that this will always be “her house” before putting down the microphone and a shirt bearing her logo in the middle of the ring.
The former champ has been signed to a WWE deal since April 2011, wrestling for Florida Championship Wrestling at the time before transitioning to NXT in 2012. She was the first-ever NXT Women’s champion, defeating Emma in July 2013. She made her main roster debut on April 7, 2014 on the Raw after Mania in New Orleans and defeated AJ Lee to capture the Divas title, making her the youngest Divas champion in history at the age of 21.
Paige returned to the ring following a lengthy layoff after neck surgery in November 2017 but her return only lasted a month after she suffered another neck injury during a non-televised show following a kick to the back by Sasha Banks. The match was stopped and referees and WWE’s ringside physician helped Paige to the back.
Several WWE women paid tribute to the 25-year-old Paige on Twitter following the announcement of her retirement.
Former TNA champion Bobby Lashley returned to Monday Night Raw and Elias was his first victim.
Lashley, who last wrestled for WWE in 2008, came out after Elias kept bashing the international crowd at the Smoothie King Center. The crowd kept going along but pretty much exploded when Lashley appeared.
Elias threw the first swing at the former champ but Lashley was ready and eventually hoisted Elias up for a long vertical suplex and then left the ring after he dumped him. Lashley did not speak to the crowd.
Lashley wrapped up his Impact Wrestling duties in January of this year and he was rumored to be going back to WWE along with EC3 who also departed in the same week.
Perhaps his biggest moment in WWE came at WrestleMania 23 when he wrestled Umaga in a hair versus hair match involving now-President of the United States Donald Trump and Vince McMahon. Lashley won that match and helped Trump and Steve Austin, who was the referee, shave McMahon’s head.
On his @fightbobby Twitter account, Lashley retweeted the video of his return with simply “I’m back.”
Dixie Carter, the former TNA President who was watching Monday Night Raw as well, tweeted, “Dang. Kudos to @wwe for getting @fightbobby. A total BEAST!!! One of my absolute faves.”
Former NXT Women’s champion Ember Moon, former NXT Tag Team champions The Authors of Pain, and No Way Jose made their Monday Night Raw debut on the Raw after WrestleMania.
Ember Moon was the surprise tag team partner of the new Raw Women’s champion Nia Jax in a tag team match against Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. Moon lost the NXT Women’s title to Shayna Baszler on Saturday night. She signed with WWE in September 2015. She made her NXT television debut in August 20 at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II.
The Authors of Pain answered Rhyno’s and Heath Slater’s open challenge during the show. They were accompanied by WWE Hall of Famer Paul Ellering but after they won the match, the duo left Ellering behind. Akam and Rezar made their NXT television debut in June 2016 at Next Takeover: The End.
And finally, No Way Jose, the Santo Domingo native also was called up from NXT, defeating enhancement talent John Skyler. His debut was less than a minute and his introduction lasted longer. No Way Jose has been signed to a WWE deal since April 2015 and made his NXT television debut a year later.
