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Major pricing error on WWE’s eBay store leads to hundreds of angry customers

By
Colin Vassallo
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A major pricing error on the official WWEShop eBay store led the hundreds of orders for replica title belts for just $40…but WWE is not honoring the orders and instead are refunding every eBay purchase.

Every item on the eBay store was listed for $40, be it a pair of socks, a baseball cap, a t-shirt, DVDs, action figures, and even replica titles. While spending $40 to buy a cap was not worth it, getting title belts for that price when they’re usually over $300 and $400 each was a major bargain.

But if it seems too good to be true, sometimes it’s just that…too good to be true! Replica titles including the WWE, Universal, World Heavyweight, Raw and Smackdown Tag Teams and Women’s, Undisputed, Intercontinental, UK, Cruiserweight, Winged Eagle, and every other title belt imaginable went for $40 each.

eBay buyers quickly snapped a lot of them but after realizing the mistake, WWE switched back to its regular pricing and started canceling the orders and refunding buyers.

The action did not go over well with the buyers who placed over 100 negative feedback so far, all angry for WWE not honoring the sale. According to most feedback, the orders were just canceled with no communication whatsoever. “Refusal to honor purchase price, cancelled order without warning,” wrote one buyer. “Not honoring stated prices for customers, never shopping here again,” another one said.

As a disclaimer, we did put in an order for four different title belts and the order has not been canceled…yet.

Smackdown rating for 01/30/2018

By
Colin Vassallo
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Smackdown yesterday did 2,509,000 viewers, down 71,000 viewers from last week’s show. It went against heavy competition from Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address which did nearly 12 million viewers on Fox News alone. Smackdown was #9 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and was #21 in overall viewership. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Ed Nordholm and Impact’s two EVPs talk about Borash and EC3 leaving

By
Colin Vassallo
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Impact Wrestling’s Ed Nordholm confirmed to Newsweek that longtime employee Jeremy Borash has left the company and is now working for WWE.

“We wish him all the best. He’s a talented guy and has been with the company forever since the old TNA days. But we have a lot of talented guys—change is good and it gives other guys a chance to step up,” Nordholm said.

His comments were echoed by Impact Wrestling EVP Scott D’Amore, who credited Borash for giving him one of his first breaks in wrestling. “But we have editors on our team who don’t get the notoriety that Jeremy does in terms of the work they put in to making the show perfect. We have great players ready to step up.”

Don Callis, the other EVP for Impact Wrestling, also talked about EC3 leaving, mentioning that change is good and while EC3 was a talented individual, they acquired the services of Brian Cage, Johnny Impact, and Austin Aries.

Total Divas episode preview for tonight: Breaking The News

By
Colin Vassallo
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The season finale of season seven of Total Divas airs tonight on E! with an episode titled Breaking The News. This is also the 100th episode of the series.

The synopsis for the show reads, “On the 100th episode and season finale, Mike and Maryse have to break the big news of their pregnancy to WWE. How will the fallout affect their successful career? Brie is determined to help Nikki plan the wedding of her dreams to John Cena, but Nikki’s intense training for her Dancing with the Stars premiere puts planning on pause. Meanwhile, Lana tries to get close with TJ, but Nattie attempts to shut it down.”

Met Life Stadium rumored to be hosting WrestleMania 35 next year

By
Colin Vassallo
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Robbie Fox from Barstool Sports is reporting that WrestleMania 35 will take place from the Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

If the news is confirmed, this means that the Met Life Stadium will host its second WrestleMania, having last hosted WrestleMania 29 in 2013 with a main event of The Rock vs John Cena for the WWE title.

The report also states that Detroit and Philadelphia were heavily considered as host cities but ultimately the company went again with New Jersey.

The announcement of the host city will be done later this week according to Fox and the date is expected to be April 7. WWE will be promoting the whole WrestleMania week event as from New York, rather than New Jersey.

It’s worth nothing that this past November, Brad Shepard – the man who broke the XFL news and announcement date last year – reported that “barring an unexpected change, Metlife Stadium will host WrestleMania 35.”

Triple H explains negotiating with Rousey and the logistics behind her Rumble surprise

By
Colin Vassallo
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Speaking to USA Today, Triple H explained the long process that it took to get Ronda Rousey signed to the WWE full time.

Triple H said that he heard years ago she was a fan and then came over to do the Ice Bucket Challenge with Stephanie McMahon during SummerSlam and that’s when she told them how much she really loved WWE and what they do.

Following their spot at WrestleMania 31, all they did was have conversations with each other, and last year she asked about coming to the Performance Center with a few friends for a bachelorette party. “And we had a discussion about it, and during that discussion, boy, it really started to come up that this is something she was not just throwing out there or suggesting – it was something that she really wanted to do,” Triple H recounted.

He said that there was no pressure to debut her at the Rumble and they knew she had been training the whole time to get in the ring but they still had yet to sit down and and nail everything down. “Once we did, the timing just worked out. Once we did, it went extremely quick from there.”

Discussing the careful planning it took to keep Rousey a complete secret for the Rumble, Triple H acknowledged the headache of bringing someone from a different country and not alert the whole world.

“She was in Colombia doing the movie. Trying to get somebody on a flight that is as famous as Ronda is, and as visible as she is – and internationally she’s almost bigger than she is in he U.S. – on a flight, into the country, through customs, clear security, on another flight to Philly, shuttle to a hotel, into the service entry, brought to a bus, hidden in the arena the whole day, and not until right before she walks out there does anybody see her. It was a monumental task,” he said.

Triple H also added that they kept it very quite on all fronts and very few people knew, “only a handful” that were aware Rousey was going to appear at the Rumble.

Rockstar Spud debuts on 205 Live as the new General Manager

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former Impact Wrestling star Rockstar Spud made his debut on 205 Live yesterday and was introduced as the new 205 Live General Manager.

Introduced by Daniel Bryan under the new name of Drake Maverick, he said that he’s been waiting for this moment to be in WWE his whole life. Bryan added that under his new leadership, the cruiserweight division will deliver the action that everyone wants.

Addressing the Cruiserweight title situation, a title which was vacated by Enzo Amore after he got fired, the new General Manager announced a 16-man tournament to crown a new champion.

Two matches took place on the show, with Cedric Alexander defeating Gran Metalik and TJP defeating Tyler Bate to advance to the next round. Next week will see Hideo Itami vs NXT’s Roderick Strong and Kalisto vs Lince Dorado.

Spud departed Impact Wrestling at the end of October of last year after he requested his release. He had been working for TNA since 2002 and got his deal after winning the British Boot Camp reality series.

RAW rating for 01/29/2018

By
Colin Vassallo
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The post-Royal Rumble Raw did an average of 3,394,000 viewers, down 1.13 million viewers from the Raw 25th anniversary episode. Taking out the special, Raw had an increase of just 144,000 viewers over the January 15 episode.

Hour one did 3,662,000 viewers, followed by 3,461,000 in the second hour, and then down to 3,061,000 viewers in the third and final hour. Raw lost 600,000 viewers from hour one to hour three. Compared to the post-Rumble Raw of last year, Raw did 222,000 viewers less even though there was all the hype of Ronda Rousey.

Raw was #1, #2, and #3 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Nikki Bella, Nia Jax, and Sasha Banks not happy with Rousey overshadowing the Rumble

By
Colin Vassallo
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A couple of female WWE Superstars don’t seem to be too thrilled about Ronda Rousey joining WWE or how the company pushed her debut overshadowing the history-making first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match on Sunday.

Nikki Bella started the whole thing on Twitter when she replied to a WWE tweet about Ronda Rousey offering her candid thoughts on the night just moments after the Rumble finished.

“Wonder what all the 30 other women candid thoughts were too?” Nikki tweeted. She then answered a fan’s question who asked what did she think of Rousey’s arrival. “Awesome!… if it was tonight,” Nikki wrote, referring to Monday. “Not last night when the women of WWE that have worked so hard for SO many years and years to make history.”

Nia Jax also spoke about WWE’s continuous push of Rousey on social media. “UP NEXT: We receive the moment you’ve all been talking about…” the WWE Twitter account said showing a photo of Rousey pointing to the WrestleMania sign. “Cool she’s here….I guess 30 women making history can just be forgotten,” Jax responded.

Sasha Banks, appearing on the Busted Open radio show, was asked repeatedly about Rousey and every time the topic came up, she replied with, “I have nothing nice to say so I can’t say anything at all.” When then quizzed about what she would do if she goes to work and her name is next to Rousey’s for a segment, the former champion said she’d do what she does every time and does her job.

WWE Hall of Famer Madusa also took a dig at WWE for suddenly ignoring the Rumble. Madusa said that the problem is not with her, but with the company for discrediting all the women before her. “I totally love and support Ronda and everything she did to change the future for women. My rant is not at her. I am merely making sure the women of wrestling get the credit that is due,” she wrote.

Rey Mysterio’s Rumble entry video on YouTube flying high

By
Colin Vassallo
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The Rey Mysterio YouTube videos from the Royal is crushing every other video that WWE is uploading, including Ronda Rousey’s debut and interviews.

In just one day, the Rey Mysterio’s surprise entry in the Rumble gathered over 6.1 million views on YouTube, nearly three times as much as Rousey’s debut, which is currently at 2.3 million. Trish Stratus’ return is also doing well with over 1.9 million views.

His post-Rumble interview with Cathy Kelley is at 1.1 million views, while Ronda’s is at 634,000 views.

Mysterio has been absent from WWE since February 2015 following a 13-year career with the company.

#1 contender for Universal title to be decided inside the Elimination Chamber

By
Colin Vassallo
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While the Raw women will wrestle in the Elimination Chamber in a match for the Raw Women’s title, the men will also have their own Elimination Chamber match, but it is to decide who will go to WrestleMania as the #1 contender for the WWE Universal title.

At the Royal Rumble, Smackdown’s Shinsuke Nakamura won his express ticket to WrestleMania and then chose to wrestle AJ Styles for the WWE title, leaving the Universal champion Brock Lesnar with no opponent.

On Raw last night, three qualifying matches took place between John Cena and Finn Balor, Kane and Braun Strowman, and Elias and Matt Hardy, with the winners advancing to the match. Cena, Strowman, and Elias won their respective matches and are now part of the match. The three remaining spots will be determined in upcoming Raw broadcasts.

Rousey back in Colombia for movie as WWE tries to secure The Rock for Mania tag match

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE’s newest recruit, Ronda Rousey, is back in Bogota, Colombia to resume filming her scenes for her upcoming movie Mile 22.

Rousey flew in via a private jet on Sunday and was kept totally hidden from everyone at the Rumble until her time was up to come out in front of the cameras. The former UFC Bantamweight champion flew back to Colombia after the show.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that WWE is trying to secure the services of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to team up with Rousey at WrestleMania to take on Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. All four worked an angle years ago at WrestleMania 31 in Santa Clara, with Rousey hip-tossing Triple H and then grabbing Stephanie by her arm, only to let her go unharmed.

Meanwhile, Roddy Piper’s kids Colt and Ariel spoke with TMZ regarding Rousey’s arrival and the jacket she was wearing. Colt was the one who personally gave his father’s jacket to Ronda on Sunday so she could wear it for her debut. Colt said that Roddy would be “damn proud” of Ronda because she deserves everything that she has gotten in her career. His sister Ariel said that she feels honored and cried a lot when she saw her wearing the jacket at the Rumble.

“That jacket, I saw it going down that aisle a thousand times and I never thought I’d get to see it again, but she’s the right lady to wear it,” Colt said.

First-ever women’s Elimination Chamber match announced

By
Colin Vassallo
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Money In The Bank ladder match, Hell In A Cell match, over-the-top rope Royal Rumble match, and now another first for the WWE women: Elimination Chamber.

In four weeks, Alexa Bliss will be defending the Raw Women’s title inside the unforgiving steel structure to see who will be walking into WrestleMania as the champion. Asuka has yet to decide on who will she be taking on at WrestleMania and might not make her decision until the Elimination Chamber is over.

None of the other five participants who will be in the match were announced.

WWE hires longtime Impact employee Jeremy Borash

By
Colin Vassallo
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PWInsider.com is reporting that WWE has hired longtime Impact Wrestling employee Jeremy Borash.

This is a major, major, major loss for Impact Wrestling as Borash pretty much did everything in the company, was a great team player, a huge asset backstage, and was well-liked by everyone. His shocking departure will leave a big gap in the company. Borash is in Philadelphia and was backstage at the weekend shows reports PWInsider, but he kept a low profile telling people he was just visiting friends.

Borash started working for TNA since its inception in 2002, becoming the second employee on the company’s books. Throughout his 16-year career there he worked as a ring announcer, backstage interviewer, creative writer, editor, and was jack of all trades.

During the last set of Impact tapings, Borash did commentary for several weeks worth of television so his voice will still be heard on Impact for a couple of months unless the company decides to completely redo commentary in post-production.

Prior to joining Impact Wrestling, Borash worked for WCW doing their WCW Live! internet audio show and then moved to creative and on-screen character.

Why the women’s Royal Rumble had to go on last

By
Colin Vassallo
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I had a feeling throughout the day that the Women’s Royal Rumble match was going to go last on the card. No, I did not have any insider info about it. It was just that gut feeling.

So I went on Facebook and Twitter and asked all our social media followers what would they think. Should the Women’s Royal Rumble go on last on the card? I was surprised actually by the reaction. An overwhelming no.

It baffled me. It’s history. There’s only a first once. And it was a big deal for the women, and a big deal for WWE. It HAD to go on last, regardless if Ronda was there or not. For history’s sake, it had to.

There’s a reason why certain women’s title matches went on last on Raw and Smackdown. And a reason why the Hell In A Cell match between Sasha and Charlotte main evented that pay-per-view. I was bummed that the first-ever Money In The Bank ladder match didn’t main event that PPV, but after seeing how it finished, I’m kinda glad it did not.

But this is the Royal Rumble. The first women’s Rumble in 31 years. 31 freakin years. It’s a long time coming, and they deserved it. The talent is there. It’s always been there, just in the previous years, WWE thought the women were better flaunting their tits and asses rather than showcasing their real talent in the ring.

Can you imagine if Legends like Lita, Trish, Michelle McCool, Molly Holly, Victoria, Kelly Kelly, Torrie Wilson, Jacqueline, Maryse, and others were wrestling with this crop of generation of women? THEY deserved THIS kind of respect that women’s wrestling is getting. Some of them were lucky to be part of it yesterday and they all showed us that they still got it.

Now, if you tell me, if Ronda wasn’t a part of the ending, would the women’s Rumble still go on last? I don’t know. I’d like to think yes. Asuka winning the first-ever women’s Rumble is a big deal anyway. Adding Ronda Rousey to the mix was an excellent idea. Yes, she’s probably still green. But so was Trish Stratus, and looked how she turned out. It was smart to debut her the way she did and not part of the Rumble match. It was more effective, although some might think that her debut devalued Asuka’s win and people left with Rousey on their mind, rather than Asuka who had just made history.

The female Rumble was well done. It gave us some cool face offs between those from the past and present. We got to see some nice returns. And no wonder Sasha Banks wore that Wonder Woman outfit. She was the “iron woman” in this one. It’s really interesting to see that when she’s the champion, they pull the plug on her quickly, but when it comes to something like this or a gimmick match first for the women, who’s the first one picked? Sasha Banks.

I’m happy this Rumble went on last. It would have been hard to top it with the men’s Rumble. Just the surprises alone were enough.

Next target: main event WrestleMania. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

The Dudley Boyz to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2018

By
Colin Vassallo
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The next inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2018 were announced by CBS Sports today and they are the most decorated tag team in the history of professional wrestling, The Dudley Boyz.

Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley made their debut together in ECW in 1996 and positioned themselves as the dominant tag team in the promotion, a run that lasted till 1999 when the duo went to the WWE.

The Dudleys achieved a ton of success in WWE as well and wrestled in several firsts, such as the TLC match with Edge and Christian and Matt and Jeff Hardy. The feud between the three teams was one of the highlights of the Attitude Era, a feud which created several “Holy sh!t” moments.

In 2005, the two left WWE and started wrestling in TNA Wrestling where once again, success came along in the form of titles and even a Hall of Fame induction in 2014.

After a short stint in WWE in 2015, D-Von eventually got a backstage job while Bubba Ray moved to Ring of Honor.

During their illustrious career, The Dudley Boyz won the ECW Tag Team titles six times, the WWE World Tag Team titles 8 times, the WWE Tag Team titles once, the WCW Tag Team titles once, the NWA Tag Team titles once, and TNA Tag Team titles twice.

Congratulations to Bubba Ray and D-Von!

Jonathan Coachman returns to WWE as commentator for Monday Night Raw

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Jonathan Coachman has returned to WWE and will be joining the Raw commentary team, replacing Booker T.

Coachman, who worked for WWE between 1999 and 2006, was released from ESPN along with tons of other employees last year after a decade with the Disney-owned sports network.

“Worlds collide. Anything is possible. When you do the right things and believe in each other you can do great things. This has been my vision for years and today it finally happened. WWE Universe I am privileged to be back. And it feels amazing to come back home. Philly tonight,” Coach wrote on Twitter.

He was also instrumental in getting ESPN to cover WWE on its website and network, a partnership which is going strong as evident yesterday with the Ronda Rousey exclusive.

The Coach will return to his commentary role starting tonight. Booker T will go back to his PPV panel duties and continue as a WWE ambassador. Booker T’s role was supposed to be short, replacing David Otunga while he was filming a movie, but that role turned into a quasi permanent job on Raw.

The statistics behind the 2018 Royal Rumble

By
Colin Vassallo
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Every year at the Rumble, there’s always someone who comes in and throws a bunch of people out. This year it was different, as the most thrown in the men’s Rumble was four, while it was five from the women’s Rumble.

No one lasted an hour either, with two individuals coming close to that but they came up a few minutes short.

Here are some fun facts and stats from this year’s Royal Rumble matches.

Finn Balor nearly went an hour in the Rumble, with 57 minutes and 38 seconds in the ring, eliminating Baron Corbin, Aiden English, Dolph Ziggler, and Rey Mysterio. Unfortunately for the first-ever WWE Universal champion, John Cena threw him out in the final four.

Shinsuke Nakamura, the winner of the match, came in second in terms of total time in the ring, with 44 minutes and 38 seconds. He eliminated Sami Zayn, John Cena, and Roman Reigns to become the first Japanese Superstar to win the Royal Rumble.

Sheamus was the “Bushwhacker Luke” or the “Santino Marella” this year, getting eliminated 20 seconds in after stepping between the ropes. It’s not a record, but something that Heath Slater will brag on about probably forever!

There was only one other person who eliminated four individuals apart from Finn Balor, the most in this year’s men’s Rumble. That was Roman Reigns, who threw out Titus O’Neil, The Miz, Seth Rollins, and Randy Orton.

The total match time was 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 27 seconds.

Sasha Banks was the longest one in the ring with 54 minutes and 46 seconds on the clock, eliminating three people – Vickie Guerrero (with Becky), Bayley, and Trish Stratus, before being thrown out by the Bella Twins.

Becky Lynch came in second in terms of longest in the ring, with 30 minutes and 54 seconds. She eliminated Lita and Vickie Guerrero (with Sasha) but was thrown out by Ruby Riott.

The shortest time in the ring went to Vickie Guerrero, with 57 seconds on the clock screaming “Excuse me!” before Sasha, Becky, Ruby Riott, and Michelle McCool threw her out.

Michelle McCool had the most eliminations, five in total, throwing out Sonya Deville, Liv Morgan, Molly Holly, Lana, and Vickie. Nikki Bella, Asuka, and Nia Jax were second with four eliminations each.

The winner, Asuka, came in at #25 and lasted 19 minutes and 41 seconds.

The total match time for the women’s Rumble match was 58 minutes and 57 seconds.

Viral video star Shanquis meets his favorite WWE Superstars at the Rumble

By
Colin Vassallo
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Last month, a video went viral of a high school student named Charles Thompson Jr., giving an NXT toy belt for Christmas to his friend Shanquis while in the hallway of their school.

The special needs boy Shanquis was overjoyed and quickly posed ala Randy Orton with the title. The original video, posted on December 22, got over 422,000 likes and over 139,000 retweets. “Everybody know I love Shanquis and that he loves the WWE, so it was only right I got him a belt for Christmas,” Thompson wrote at the time.

Yesterday at the Royal Rumble, Thompson brought Shanquis with him to meet his favorite WWE Superstars. In a four-minute heart warming video posted by WWE, Shanquis is seen meeting Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, John Cena, Randy Orton, and AJ Styles as they are showered with gifts.

You can see the awesome video below.

Nakamura and Asuka make history at the Royal Rumble

By
Colin Vassallo
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Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka made history last night at the Royal Rumble by becoming the first Japanese Superstars to win the over-the-top rope Rumble match…on the same night!

If you go back through all the winners of the Royal Rumble, you will find a lot of Americans, Canadians, a Mexican, and an Irish who won the Rumble, but never a Japanese.

Asuka joined WWE in 2015 and has so far embarked on an undefeated streak that has not been seen since the days of Goldberg. Her streak has surpassed the former Universal champion’s one and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop heading into WrestleMania. Asuka has been part of the Raw brand since October of last year after two years in NXT.

On a side note, Japan was also represented in the women’s Rumble by the Mae Young Classic winner Kairi Sane, who has not wrestled for the last several weeks due to an injury.

Nakamura followed Asuka to WWE a few months later in February 2016 and while already a mega star in New Japan Pro Wrestling, he was still kind of new for WWE fans. His style, theme song, and first match against Sami Zayn changed that immediately though and while he was not undefeated, he became a two-time NXT champion before moving to the main roster on the post-WrestleMania Smackdown last year. Nakamura vs Styles in a WWE ring is a dream match despite the fact that it already happened in New Japan.

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