A small group of fans at the NXT non-televised live event in St. Petersburg, Florida, were verbally harassing Kairi Sane with typical Japan stereotypical insults.
According to eye witnesses at the event, Sane received “Pearl Harbor” and “happy ending” comments while wrestling Rhea Ripley on the penultimate match of the house show.
Responding to the insults on Twitter, the Mae Young Classic tournament winner posted a cartoon of kids from different races holding hands surrounding a globe.
It’s pretty sad that in 2018, such insults at a family-oriented wrestling event by certain fans are still tolerated. There were no reports that the fans were approached by security.
The tournament bracket of the third annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament was published by WWE.
Eight teams in total are taking part in this tournament, a tournament that will wrap up just before NXT Takeover: New Orleans where the eventual winners will receive a title shot on the show.
Occupying the left bracket are The Street Profits vs Heavy Machinery and Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss vs SAnitY. The right side has TM61 vs The Authors of Pain and Only Lorcan and Danny Burch vs Tyler Bate and Trent Seven.
Filmmaker Jon Bravo, who is investigating the Wellness Fitness Nutrition steroid story and the allegations against Roman Reigns leveled by incarcerated owner Richard Rodriguez, seems to have pretty solid evidence that Reigns was involved in the scheme and will reveal all in his upcoming documentary. “The evidence on Reigns may cause a stir in the WWE testing policy,” he wrote.
Bravo said that the evidence he has in his possession come from the laptop used by WFN which was released in a court proceeding “and is 110% genuine.” He also posted a screenshot of Reigns’ contact record found on the WFN laptop which was originally seized by the DEA.
“I would not risk my career or reputation on anything that was not based upon 100% facts,” Bravo wrote, adding that his platform is not built on rumors, but solid facts. Bravo also posted a photo in front of a GNC location which he said is “a key to the Reigns case.”
Reigns has denied knowing Rodriguez or being involved in any scheme and said that his error in judgment from 2016 was not going to be repeated as he learned from those mistakes. In a separate post, Bravo wrote that the drug test failed by Reigns in July of 2016 was directly as a result of some of the orders placed with WFN. “Was Reigns truthful in denying knowing Rodriquez? Will that or any other info disclosed cause an additional suspension for Reigns?” the post said.
The winners of this year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will be competing for the NXT Tag Team titles at the upcoming NXT Takeover: New Orleans on the eve of WrestleMania 34.
This will be the third year that NXT will be holding the Dusty Classic tag team tournament, with Finn Balor and Samoa Joe and Authors of Pain being the two winners so far.
Several first round matches were taped at the NXT television tapings in Atlanta earlier this month. Another taping will be held next month which will include the rest of the tournament.
The previous winners only got a trophy but this time around the stakes are a bit higher and the tag team title match stipulation might add some more interest in the tournament.
The preview for WWE’s entry reads, “For coming off the top rope to make streaming of pro wrestling a global success,” touting the worldwide reach of the WWE Network in every corner of the world including China.
The WWE Network, while successful in its own right, seems like it has been stuck in the 1.4-1.5 million subscribers mark for the past year and the needle only moves for WrestleMania, after which subscriptions go back to the usual average.
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Smackdown this week drew 2,613,000 viewers, up 164,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. This was the second most-watched broadcast of 2018 following the January 2 episode. Smackdown was #1 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #4 in overall viewership. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
This week’s Raw, which featured a different format with an almost two-hour match opening the show, did an average of 3,282,000 viewers, up 177,000 viewers from last week’s show.
The gamble certainly paid off, with 3,518,000 viewers tuning in for the first hour and 3,509,000 viewers in the second hour. The third hour had a massive drop of nearly 700,000 viewers, ending the night with 2,821,000 viewers.
Raw was #1, #2, and #3 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Johnny Gargano and Andrade “Cien” Almas will have an NXT Takeover: Philadelphia rematch on tonight’s WWE Network episode of NXT, however this time around, the stakes are a little bit bigger.
Gargano vs Almas will be an NXT career vs title, with the stipulation being that if Johnny Gargano loses his match, he will have to leave NXT.
The two put on a match of the year candidate classic last month on the eve of the Royal Rumble, with Almas winning the match and retaining the title. Unfortunately for Gargano, his former tag team partner Tommaso Ciampa also returned and attacked him after the match.
Gargano vs Almas headlines tonight’s NXT episode exclusively on the WWE Network starting at 8PM EST.
With Fastlane just over three weeks away, three title matches were announced on last night’s Smackdown, joining the WWE title match as the only matches on the card so far.
The United States champion Bobby Roode will defend his title against Randy Orton although there might be a possibility that Jinder Mahal might get involved in the match by the time Fastlane comes around.
Ruby Riott of the Riott Squad will get her first crack at the Smackdown Women’s title as she will be taking on the champion Charlotte Flair.
And The New Day became the number one contenders for the Smackdown Tag Team titles after they defeated Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable on the show. They will go to Fastlane to renew their feud with The Usos, a feud that played out for the most of 2017 with the two teams trading the titles between them a couple of times.
Dwayne Johnson’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle movie crossed the $900 million mark in worldwide box office receipts this weekend.
In the United States, the movie dropped to fourth in the box office chart as less theaters are now carrying it following the release of Black Panther. Jumanji is now at $379,678,565 in U.S. box office revenue and $527,000,000 in foreign box office, sending its worldwide total to $906,678,565.
His next big release is Rampage which comes out on April 20. In Rampage, Johnson will play a primatologist and head of an anti-poaching unit in Rwanda.
The first round of Mixed Match Challenge comes to a close tonight with the final match featuring Apollo and Nia Jax taking on United States champion Bobby Roode and Smackdown Women’s champion Charlotte Flair.
The winners of this match on Facebook will move on to take on Rusev and Lana in the quarter finals. Quarter final matches will kick off next week.
So far Raw has three tag teams which advanced to the next round while Smackdown has two. There will also be a 2nd chance fan vote where an eliminated team will re-join the competition in the semi final.
It’s every women’s worst nightmare in the ring: wardrobe malfunctions! But accidents do happen even if the gear seems to be holding on strong.
The undefeated Asuka found out yesterday that even herself is not immune to wardrobe malfunctions and the dreaded nipple slip! The slip-up took place after Nia Jax beat up The Empress of Tomorrow in the middle of the ring shortly after interrupting her in-ring interview segment with Renee Young.
The incident was edited off the replays, the Hulu version of Raw, and the YouTube clip of the segment, although it looks like the people backstage missed it during the live broadcast as it was shown from multiple angles.
Asuka is certainly not the first one – and won’t be the last one – to suffer a wardrobe malfunction during a live WWE broadcast. Nikki and Brie Bella, Rosa Mendes, Cameron, Kaitlyn, and others all were victims of such incidents in the past!
Seth Rollins is WWE’s newest iron man, breaking the record of the longest in-ring performance on WWE television.
Rollins took part in the first three matches of the seven-man gauntlet match last night on Raw, defeating Roman Reigns and John Cena before getting pinned by Elias. Rollins lasted a total of 1:05:35 for the three PPV-caliber matches.
“It’s nights like these when I remember why I fell in love with professional wrestling. Thank you to the men I shared the ring with this evening. It was truly special. I’ve drawn a line in the sand,” Rollins wrote on Twitter.
Rey Mysterio held the previous record which was set at the 2006 Royal Rumble, lasting a total of 1:02:15 in the ring and eventually winning the match. Before that, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had the record with 1:01:52 for their match at WrestleMania 12.
The whole gauntlet match lasted a whopping 1:46:55, which in itself is a record for the longest-ever WWE match in history.
Braun Strowman won the match, coming in last and defeating The Miz. Prior to that, Finn Balor defeated Alias, and The Miz defeated Finn Balor.
In his first comments on social media, soon-to-be WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett said that there is not enough space in a tweet or post to say all the thank you’s that he wants to say, so he’s going to save them for New Orleans on April 6.
Jarrett tagged the post with the hashtag #NeverSayNever, a true and tested saying in the world of professional wrestling.
Speaking to NBC Sports, Jarrett said that he never dreamed that in 2018 he would be going into the WWE Hall of Fame. “But as I’ve sat back and looked I said, ‘Welp, I guess there are some things that are just meant to be.’”
Coincidentally enough, Jarrett will be going in the Hall of Fame on the exact day – just 32 years later – of his wrestling debut. “When I first heard about it I looked at my calendar and saw that the date of the ceremony is April 6, 2018 and April 6 of 1986 was the day that I had my very first match. So 32 years to the day is sort of surreal.”
Meanwhile, Jarrett also pointed out that he’s going in the Hall of Fame on the same weekend that AJ Styles is in one of the main events of WrestleMania defending the WWE title. He called it poetic justice.
“I don’t believe in coincidences, only convergences and AJ headlining and me going in to the Hall of Fame is perfect,” Jarrett said. “He’s been a friend since the early days of our relationship and it’s been great to watch him progress as a performer. I can’t say enough about the guy.”
The next Impact Wrestling pay-per-view might be called Redemption, but according to a post on Twitter, Redemption is more than just a simple name for the show.
“It’s a mission statement,” the post read. “We’re not asking for redemption, we plan to earn it – little by little every week.”
Impact has undergone so many reboots and regime changes over the past few years and it seems that they cannot catch a break. The new team leading the company involves Ed Nordholm, Don Callis, and Scott D’Amore, and together they plan on taking Impact Wrestling to new heights.
“Jump on board now because we’re creating something special,” the tweet concluded.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross announced a show in New Orleans during WrestleMania weekend titled Slobberknocker Sessions, taking place on Friday, April 6 at 10AM.
The show will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn New Orleans Airport located at 4535 Williams Boulevard in nearby Kenner.
Price of attendance is $85 which includes a Q&A session, a copy of the book signed by Jim Ross, a bottle of his famous BBQ sauce, and a photo as well. Tickets go on sale on Friday, February 23 at 10AM CT on Ticketfly.com. There will only be 100 tickets available.
In one of the most surprising Hall of Fame announcements, WWE today announced that Jeff Jarrett has been selected to be part of the 2018 class, marking his first connection with WWE since 1999.
Jeff Jarrett started his WWE career in August 1992 where he had a run of four years, including winning the Intercontinental title. In 1996 he left WWE to go to WCW but his first run there only lasted a year and returned to WWE in October 1997.
His second WWE run was more successful than his first, winning different titles including the Tag Team ones with the late Owen Hart. He left in 1999 to join WCW again but his departure from the company turned ugly. Jarrett was supposed to drop his IC title to Chyna at No Mercy that year but his contract expired a day before the pay-per-view and extorted Vince McMahon for $300,000 in order to wrestle and drop the title.
Jarrett returned to WCW in October 1999 and stayed there until the company was bought by WWE in 2001. His contract was not picked up by WWE and on the simulcast episode of Raw and Nitro, Vince McMahon mocked Jarrett on live television, saying that Jarrett would be gone.
In June 2002, Jeff Jarrett launched Total Nonstop Action Wrestling with his father to compete with WWE. He eventually sold the company to Dixie Carter and in December 2013, he resigned from his position within the company but remained a minority shareholder.
Jarrett created Global Force Wrestling in 2014 but the company failed to gain traction and he returned to TNA in 2015, selling his minority stake in return for some promotion for his GFW company.
After Anthem bought Impact Wrestling in 2017, Jarrett returned to the fold to run the day-to-day operations in the company but his stint lasted less than a year and was fired in October due to several personal issues.
Jarrett was admitted to a rehab clinic shortly thereafter and WWE picked up the tab for his stay after his wife Karen, the ex-wife of Kurt Angle, reached out to the WWE for help.
During his long career, Jarrett won the WWE Intercontinental title six times, the WWE European title once, the WWE Tag Team titles once, the WCW World title four times, the WCW United States title three times, the TNA World title six times, and the TNA King of the Mountain title once, apart from several other titles in AAA, CWA, and USWA.
Today is the last day that you can book your Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans stay for the WrestleMania weekend using our promo code and special price of $309 per night.
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This distinctive luxury hotel in New Orleans features a 25,000-square-foot destination spa with 22 treatment rooms, an acclaimed signature restaurant and a stylish lounge. Rooms with the preferred Wrestling-Online rate are available from April 5 to April 10, both days included (latest check-out is Wednesday, April 11). A minimum 3-night stay is required to take advantage of the discounted rate.
A new faction is being tested in NXT at non-televised live events, involving Chad Lail, Steve Cutler, Wesley Blake, and Lacey Evans.
Three of these individuals – Lail, Cutler, and Evans – have one thing in common: they’re all former members of the United States Marine Corps.
Lail, formerly known as Gunner in Impact Wrestling, served in the USMC as a machine gunner and was a lance corporal before transitioning to professional wrestling.
Steve Cutler served in the Marines between 2007 and 2011 and served two tours in Afghanistan.
Evans was a member of the Marine Corps Special Reaction Team and served in the Corps for five years after she enlisted at the age of 19.
