Three matches will be taking place on the two-hour Royal Rumble pre-show this coming Sunday. This means that the Rumble, in total, will have six hours of broadcast.
The United States title will be on the line with Bobby Roode issuing an open challenge, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson will be taking on The Revival, and a six-man tag match with the cruiserweights featuring Lice Dorado, Kalisto, and Gran Metalik versus Drew Gulak, Jack Gallagher, and TJP.
Meanwhile, the pre-show panel, anchored by Renee Young, will include Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, Ric Flair, and Madusa.
This episode began with more drama For Lana and Rusev. It seems as though Lana has not learned from her previous experiences this season, and is continuing to act in ways that upset her extremely conservative husband.
This time, Rusev objected to Lana wearing a bikini while standing in their front yard in full view of the neighbors. Lana insisted that she was only trying to get a tan, but Rusev seem to think that Lana was trying to give their male neighbors a great view of her impressive body. While Lana is extremely attractive, I agree with Rusev that Lana should try to respect her husband’s feelings a little more.
In order to show Lana how it felt to have your significant others’ body on full display, Rusev mowed their lawn wearing only his underwear. This didn’t phase Lana, however, she even took a picture to post on social media. So, in order to continue to prove his point Rusev showed up to a barbecue completely nude. So, Lana had to finally admit that maybe Rusev had a point and she would try to be more respectful of him when dressing.
Meanwhile, another couple had their own drama this week. In order to try to be more romantic, Naomi’s husband, WWE Superstar, Jey Uso planned a romantic getaway in their home state of Florida. He rented a large hotel suite and even hired two massage therapists to give them a couples massage.
The only problem was that Naomi was feeling sick that weekend. However, rather than inform her husband of the situation, and perhaps reschedule their getaway for another time, Naomi chose to remain at the hotel while feeling completely miserable ruining both her and her husband’s good time. Maybe it just me, but I thought a husband was supposed to love his wife in sickness and in health, which is hard for him to do if he doesn’t know about the sickness. Naomi made it up to Jey with a costumed bedroom romp.
Naomi and Jey weren’t the only couple who were traveling this week. Brie Bella and her husband, Daniel Bryan were finally making their long-awaited move from Phoenix, Arizona to Aberdeen, Washington. They decided that the trip would be so much more fun if they did it road trip style renting a large RV and hiring two longtime friends of Natalya to drive them.
But it seems that the couple’s daughter, Birdie, isn’t fond of road trips. The baby refused to nap for the two-day RV stint and her parents weren’t too keen on their chauffeurs. So, Brie made the executive decision that the family should catch a flight from Sacramento to Washington. I guess that there are just some things that you can’t do with a baby in tow.
Another WWE couple will soon find out what life is like with a baby. The Miz and Maryse discovered that they are expecting at the end of this episode and a second bundle of joy added to the cast should make for plenty of drama on upcoming seasons of Total Divas.
WWE announced another Performance Center All Access behind-the-scenes tour for Tuesday, March 6 in Orlando, Florida.
At $1,499 per person, the tour is not cheap, but it’s a great look at what goes on to become a WWE Superstar, plus you get to see the state-of-the-art facility that is the Performance Center and get to do some pretty cool stuff.
The price includes a light breakfast and lunch with NXT Superstars, a Q&A and orientation session with the NXT coaching staff, a Q&A and autograph sessions with NXT Superstars, a one-day WWE booking contract and admission to a private NXT live event where you will help produce, manage, and watch along with the staff, an all-access tour of the facility, an inside look at a private NXT training session, attend promo class and get your own video, and create your own entrance in front of the NXT stars.
After the whole tour is over, you will walk away with a commemorative WWE Performance Center: All Access credential, a Performance Center gift bag, a limited-edition event chair signed by NXT Superstars, a highlight reel of your tour, your personal promo video, and professional photos that will be taken throughout the day.
NXT Takeover: Philadelphia and the Royal Rumble are around the corner and you can watch both of them live and free on the WWE Network if you are a first-time subscriber.
Subscribing today will get you both events along with the premiere of WWE 24: WrestleMania Orlando and even the Elimination Chamber which is set to air on Sunday, February 25. All the WWE video library available on the WWE Network will also be a click away for the next month.
In the latest Jerry Lawler podcast titled Dinner With The King, the WWE Hall of Famer addressed the controversial picture of himself and Jim Ross snoozing during the Raw 25th anniversary special that went viral on the Internet.
Lawler said that nobody slept during the broadcast and that one particular photo was snapped during a commercial break. He said that JR was really upset about the photo and mentioned that Ross was doing a lot of different things while broadcasting, including texting and tweeting so they definitely were not asleep.
The King also complained about the chairs and monitors used at the broadcast table, saying that the monitors were tiny compared to the old ones so it was hard to see them while the chairs were not comfortable at all to sit in for three hours.
Lawler also addressed the unrest inside the Manhattan Center when fans were not happy they got the short end of the stick in the broadcast and loudly voiced their opinions. He credited Triple H for making the necessary changes and bringing over individuals from the Barclays Center who were not supposed to be there in the first place.
WWE cruiserweight Rich Swann is in the clear after all charges against him were dismissed yesterday citing insufficient evidence.
Swann was arrested in early December and was charged with battery and false imprisonment after an incident with his wife. The original police reports states that Swann was critiquing his wife’s performance after a show in downtown Gainesville just hours earlier. He began to get angry with her and she got scared and got out of the car on the way to home. “The Def stopped his vehicle in the middle of traffic and the vic jumped out. The Def gave chase and yelled for the Vic to get back in the car. The Vic told the Def she did not want to get back in the car and she continued to walk away,” the report states.
Whatever disagreement the couple had, it seems that it was over soon enough as his wife posted on social media photos of the two together sharing laughs.
WWE immediately suspended Swann pending the outcome of the case and with his name cleared, Swann will probably return to the 205 Live roster soon.
WWE stocks hit a new 52-week high today on the announcement of the XFL, even though this will be a completely separate entity from the WWE that Vince McMahon is personally funding. Stocks hit $34.18 during the afternoon trading and eventually settled for $33.92 by the time the market closed.
WWE stocks have been performing well lately with high hopes of mega money coming from a new television deal. After today’s closing, WWE’s market cap stands at $2.58 billion.
Episode 11 of season seven of Total Divas, titled Let’s Get Naked, did a total of 609,000 viewers, up 16,000 viewers from last week’s episode. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon today announced the revival of the XFL football league during a live stream from the new digital properties of his newest venture – Alpha Entertainment LLC. McMahon will be spearheading the XFL on his own with no partners this time around.
Standing in front of a virtual set, McMahon said that it’s time to give the game of football back to the fans and they will listen to players, coaches, medical experts, technical experts, and the media.
The league will consist of eight teams, all owned by the company, with a 10-game regular season, two semi-finals, and a championship game. The league will kick off in 2020. No cities have been announced but McMahon said it would make sense to go to cities where football is already being played.
McMahon said that there’s no television deal in place yet although there are interested parties and added that this will be a multi-platform league, with fans able to watch on a TV, mobile device and anything in between.
When asked if the XFL will take away his duties from WWE, McMahon said he will continue to be the Chairman and CEO of WWE and the league will not affect his day-to-day operations. He will be hiring professionals to run the league and this would probably be the last time we see him in front of a camera for the XFL.
McMahon said that they are targeting for a two-hour game as three hours tends to be boring more often than not, a somewhat ironic statement considering that Raw is three hours long and often considered to be an hour extra too much.
Vince also said that there will be no cross-over between WWE and the XFL and these will be two separate entities.
The black and red logo of the XFL has been replaced with red and dark blue but the logo has remained largely the same, with a big X behind the letters XFL.
When the announcement was done that McMahon was going to make a major sports announcement, Twitter blew up and ‘Vince McMahon,’ ‘The XFL,’ and ‘He Hate Me’ all started trending worldwide.
The next WWE 24 special on the WWE Network will premiere this Sunday immediately following the Royal Rumble.
WWE 24: WrestleMania Orlando will take a backstage look at the WrestleMania 33 weekend and the activities and chaos leading up to the biggest event of the year.
This is the 14th episode of the popular WWE Network original series. WWE usually puts out four or five of these episodes every year. WWE Network cameras were filming on Monday at both locations for Raw 25 for an upcoming episode of this series.
Ronda Rousey told TMZ.COM that she will not be at the Royal Rumble as she will be 2,500 miles away…in a different country.
Rousey jetted to Colombia to finish shooting the movie Mile 22 and said that she won’t be back in the United States until mid-February. If this turns out to be just a swerve remains to be seen but if it is, the company is going to great lengths to keep her involvement a secret.
Mile 22 also features Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, and John Malkovich in the leading cast and the movie is about a CIA field officer and an Indonesian police officer who are forced to work together as they confront violent and extreme political corruption.
Ronda also added that she has not signed any deals with WWE yet and talks are still ongoing.
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon will be making a major sports announcement starting at 3PM EST through his Alpha Entertainment LLC company.
The announcement is believed to be the creation of another football league and the revival of the XFL, rumored to launch in 2020. Recently, the newly-formed venture registered a bunch of trademarks related to profssional football and the XFL.
On Deember 21 oflast year, McMahon sold 3,340,000 shares of WWE’s Class A Common stock for a transaction worth over $100 million to fund Alpha Entertainment.
The live stream will be available via Alpha Entertainment’s Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube pages.
WWE’s Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon today announced on Twitter that she will be joining the commentary team at the Royal Rumble to call the women’s Rumble match.
“Announcing the first-ever women’s #RoyalRumble match was one of my all-time favorite moments in @WWE… And now I’m proud to share that I’ll be joining the Announce team for this historic match this Sunday! #RumbleForAll,” McMahon tweeted.
The broadcast team that will call the Rumble has not been made public yet and usually WWE selects three or four individuals to call the long match. Michael Cole will be leading the team.
While Stephanie has joined the broadcast booth several times during matches as part of storylines, this will be her first time doing color commentary for a match.
Smackdown this week drew a total of 2,580,000, down 22,000 viewers from last week’s show. The big bump in viewership from Raw did not help Smackdown at all this week. The show was #2 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and it was #10 in overall viewership. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
A former friend of Philomena Sheahan, the alleged victim in the Enzo Amore rape case, has come out to discredit her story, showing text messages that contradict everything that she has said so far.
In a video posted on YouTube titled “WWE’s Enzo Amore is INNOCENT. Receipts provided,” YouTube user “imsamcook” showed his phone that contains all the messages that he exchanged with Sheahan the day after the alleged rape occurred.
“I’m going to f*cking rehab today. Or to get a ketamine infusion,” Sheahan wrote in the group text message. When asked why, she wrote back, “I met Too Poor & did coke with her Tyler & f*ck their friend.” She then corrected herself and wrote “f*cked.”
After further messages requesting a picture from her to provide proof, Sheahan texted back. “Believe it or not bitch it happened & I’m laying in bed next to a famous wrestler.”
He wondered why someone who is alleging that got raped would wake up the next morning and brag about having sex with a famous wrestler.
The YouTube user explained that he revealed these to show credibility and has submitted them to the police. “I support and stand with all those accused,” he wrote in the description of the video.
Samir Singh, one half of the Singh Brothers, revealed that he tore his ACL last week and has undergone surgery.
“Last week I tore my ACL and it goes without saying that this past week has been very emotional,” Samir wrote in a post on Instagram. “The more I think about it, the less it makes sense. All I know is that God is the sovereign of my life and that everything that comes to pass is his blessing. I thank you all for the continued love and support. I can’t wait to be back.”
An ACL tear usually is a long recovery, between six to eight months if everything goes according to plan so it will be quite a while before we see the brothers back together on WWE television.
WWE’s quick turnaround from suspending Enzo Amore to firing him just 24 hours later has raised some questions as why the company decided to terminate their relationship with the Cruiserweight champion when in the past, suspensions lasted throughout the case and a final decision was only taken after the case was solved.
PWInsider.com is reporting that Enzo Amore was not fired because of the alleged rape but because he failed to notify WWE about the investigation. According to sources, Amore knew since day one about the investigation but failed to disclose the very important information to his superiors. If he did, he would have been suspended immediately and fired or cleared to return pending the outcome of the case.
The Phoenix Police Department had this case open since late October, so for three months Amore flew under the radar as Cruiserweight champion, only for his luck to run out when the alleged victim Philomena Sheahan spoke about it on Twitter.
Amore rolled into the Barclays Center for the Raw 25th anniversary episode with a t-shirt that had “Today Is The Best Day Of My Life” printed on the front and “Can’t Wait For Tomorrow” printed on the back according to eye witnesses. The news of the alleged rape had already been public before the show started so his choice of attire speaks volumes about his character.
Amore, who is completely denying all the allegations against him, was not liked backstage at all and was getting the famous “Miz treatment” backstage – not allowed to dress with the rest of the guys and basically being an outcast. Amore was also thrown out of a tour bus last year during the WWE European tour after he was told repeatedly to lower his voice so everyone can rest. He ignored those requests and Roman Reigns stood up and took care of business for the rest of the boys.
While firing a reigning champion wasn’t the ideal situation, it is safe to say that Amore will not be missed backstage by his peers.
WWE announced that travel packages for SummerSlam will go on sale on January 18 at SummerSlamTravel.com.
There will be three packages: The Big Apple, Platinum, and Gold, with all three consisting of 3 or 4 night hotel accommodation in a Times Square area hotel, round-trip subway transport, breakfast buffet and autograph session on SummerSlam Sunday, and tickets for SummerSlam, NXT Takeover, Raw, and Smackdown (if you take the 4-night package). Seating location will differ depending which package you choose.
The Big Apple package will also include a brunch on a NYC cruise ship with WWE Legends including transport and an exclusive reception with WWE Superstars prior to the pay-per-view.
The Gold package will start at $1,225 per person, the Platinum at $1,850 per person, and the Big Apple at $2,850 per person based on an occupancy of four in the same room.
Episode 11 of season 7 of Total Divas airs tonight on E!, with an episode titled Let’s Get Naked!
The synopsis for tonight’s broadcast reads, “Brie and Bryan make a cross country move that ends up as a major disaster. Meanwhile, Jon takes Trinity on a romantic weekend trip, which is interrupted by Trinity’s embarrassing secret, and Rusev tries to give his wife, Lana, a taste of her own medicine after she strutted in a bikini in Bulgaria.”
The big question that is being asked for this Sunday’s Royal Rumble is if former UFC Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey will be entering the first-ever women’s over-the-top rope Rumble match.
Earlier this month, TMZ caught Triple H, Ronda Rousey, and her agent Brad Slater exiting a restaurant in Los Angeles. Triple H did not talk, but the TMZ paparazzo did manage to get a few words out of Rousey and Slater. They did not divulge any important information and rumors are now that the whole thing was “staged” and the info that all three were at the same restaurant was leaked to TMZ by WWE themselves to create buzz surrounding the Rumble.
Several betting sites such as 1xbet are offering bets on Rousey winning the Royal Rumble with odds from top bookmakers ranging from 10/11 to 11/8. There are also odds on other former WWE female Superstars such as AJ Lee, Trish Stratus, Lita, Stacy Keibler, Michelle McCool, Beth Phoenix, and others. WWE needs to add 11 women currently not on the roster to hit the 30 mark so surprise entrants are certainly expected.
Rousey has been busy training over the past few months and did work at the WWE Performance Center as well. Triple H insists that the two sides are still discussing options, saying Rousey is interested in what they have to offer and obviously the company is delighted to have her as well.
