The 205 Live non-televised live event which was scheduled to take place on Friday, January 19 has been canceled.
The show was being held at The Ryan Center on the campus of the University of Rhode Island. All tickets for this event will be fully refunded. According to the website, the event was canceled “due to routing and scheduling issues,” or in other straight-forward terms, low ticket sales. The Ryan Center is an 8,000-seater basketball arena.
The other shows on January 20 in Lowell, Massachusetts at the Lowell Auditorium, and on Sunday, January 21 in Poughkeepsie, New York at the Mid Hudson Civic Center are still a go as of today.
Rusev and Lana will not be the only husband and wife to be teaming up for Mixed Match Challenge as Smackdown GM Daniel Bryan paired up Jimmy Uso and his wife Naomi for the tournament.
“Obviously I want my wife Naomi,” Jimmy Uso told Byron Saxton outside the GM office. He said he doesn’t want Naomi just because she’s his wife but because he knows she will have his back 100%.
When Jimmy walked in Bryan’s office, the lights went out and Naomi’s theme kicked in as an individual wearing her glowing outfit walked in. Jimmy started hugging the person and then the lights came on…and it was Daniel Bryan! Bryan then introduced Naomi as Jimmy’s tag team partner.
The Smackdown crew has certainly taken a comedic side to reveal the pairings for the Mixed Match Challenge. You can see the video below.
Episode eight of season seven of Total Divas, titled Single in the City, drew 684,000 viewers, up 72,000 viewers from the previous episode. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
With his Kenny Omega match done and dusted, Chris Jericho moved over to the next target in New Japan Pro Wrestling, attacking Tetsuya Naito at the end of the New Year’s Dash show at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Jericho only appeared after the main event was over, surprising Naito with an attack from behind. Naito wrestled Okada in the main event of Thursday’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 and over the past few weeks traded barbs with Jericho on Twitter as both argued who the real main event of WK12 was.
The two eventually got separated after brawling and then Naito spit in Jericho’s face. The brawl resumed after that with chaos around the ring. Before being taken to the back, Naito took a chair and sat down, inviting Jericho to come get some more.
NXT held its first-ever NXT television tapings at Center Stage Theater in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday, the old stomping grounds of WCW Saturday Night.
Due to scheduling conflict with Full Sail University, the first few months of NXT TV will air from Center Stage Theater as additional tapings will be held on February 1 and February 2. The tapings held yesterday will take NXT TV up until NXT Takeover: Philadelphia and the fallout from that show will be taped on February 1 and 2.
The Center Stage Theater was the home of WCW Saturday Night between 1989 and 1996. Last night’s tapings saw over 500 fans turn up.
The funniest Mixed Match Challenge partnership reveal video has to go to Smackdown and the newest team in the competition: Rusev and Lana.
The real-life married couple got chosen to team up for the WWE/Facebook project and it was Aiden English who broke the news – along with Daniel Bryan – who sang to Rusev that his partner will be his wife.
The video ended with all of them dancing and singing, “Lana is the best, Lana’s number one,” only for Daniel Bryan to realize a bit later that Brie is actually number one! Hah!
The third team for the Facebook Mixed Match Challenged was revealed today, another super combination featuring Finn Balor and Sasha Banks.
Prior to entering Kurt Angle’s office, Banks told Renee Young that whoever will be teamed up with her will be superior to anyone on Smackdown and even from the Raw side as well. Banks told Renee that they will win the MMC and she can bank on that.
Angle described the team as a “WWE Universe dream team” before introducing her partner….and in walked Curt Hawkins, who was informed that he’s not in the MMC. Hawkins said he was only there to get his parking validated! Oops! After that, Balor walked in to a much-elated Sasha and Finn rated this 10/10 and the “real coup de grace.”
The first Smackdown of 2018 drew a total of 2,720,000 viewers, up 64,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. That is the best number since the April 11 broadcast and a strong start to the year. The show was #2 on the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #5 overall. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
In his latest Talk with Jericho podcast, Chris Jericho revealed how he broke the news to Vince McMahon that he would be wrestling for a rival promotion and how he asked for permission first before accepting the deal.
Jericho said that the phone call he was waiting from McMahon felt like it was coming from his dad after wrecking his car or something similar and he was “shitting his pants.” He explained how he told Vince that NJPW called him and wanted to wrestle “this guy called Kenny Omega, a really great performer” at the Tokyo Dome on January 4.
“You have to do it. Absolutely,” Jericho quoted McMahon. McMahon continued, “This is great for you. It’s great for me.” McMahon told Jericho that everyone knows that Chris is a WWE guy and that he would be somewhat flying the WWE flag in Japan.
A relieved Jericho told Vince that going to NJPW to wrestle Omega would put him on a different level when he eventually makes his next WWE return, to which McMahon replied with, “Absolutely.“
Chris Jericho went to war with Kenny Omega at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 event today in Tokyo, Japan.
In front of a packed crowd at the Tokyo Dome, Jericho came up mighty close to winning the IWGP United States title, but the leader of the Bullet Club Kenny Omega managed to get the three count over the former WWE champion after delivering his finishing move One Winged Angel on a chair.
At one point in the match that lasted almost half an hour, Jericho had Omega locked in the Walls of Jericho for a very long time, but Omega scraped through and grabbed the bottom rope after using the referee as leverage.
Jericho came out using the song Judas from his band Fozzy and had the jacket that lights up as well. Y2J looked several pounds heavier than his WWE days but kept up with the athleticism of Omega who is 13 years younger than him.
Chris Jericho has said that this would not be the last time that he wrestles for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
While a guest at the Springfield Thunderbirds hockey game, Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan said that if he doesn’t wrestle by WrestleMania, then he probably won’t be wrestling at all with WWE.
The news, carried by Sports Illustrated, comes to no surprise and Bryan will be looking elsewhere once his WWE deal expires if he wants to return to the ring.
“It’s not a black and white answer,” said Bryan of his WWE in-ring return. “There are a lot of issues with me getting cleared by WWE. They have a very strict protocol, which is a good thing, but the timeline of all that happening was not the best for me. It’s an interesting situation that will develop.”
Bryan took his first “bump” in a WWE ring since he was forced to retire at the Clash of Champions pay-per-view when Kevin Owens pushed him over the referee to break the pinfall count on Sami Zayn. Things have been escalating between Bryan and Shane McMahon leading to rumors that the two will eventually step in the ring either together against Owens and Zayn or against each other.
Chris Jericho will be returning to the ring in a few hours as he takes on Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States title in one of the main events of Wrestle Kingdom 12, being held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.
Jericho last wrestled in a WWE ring on July 25, making a surprise appearance at Smackdown and participating in a triple threat match involving Kevin Owens and AJ Styles. His last run with WWE ended in May of last year. Y2J has not wrestled outside a WWE ring since he joined the company in 1999.
The former WWE champion’s involvement with New Japan was made official two months ago when Jericho appeared in video at the end of NJPW’s Power Struggle show, challenging Kenny Omega to a match to see who really is the best in the world. The match came after weeks of exchanging Twitter insults.
Former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes is also on the show and will be wrestling Kota Ibushi.
Wrestle Kingdom 12 is headlined by Kazuchika Okada taking on Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight title.
The show starts at 4PM JST / Jan 3 at 11PM PST / Jan 4 at 2AM EST / Jan 4 at 7AM GMT / Jan 4 at 8AM CET. It can be streamed on NJPWWorld.com and requires a one month subscription of $9 USD.
The first Raw of 2018 which happened to be on New Year’s Day pulled in an average of 2,865,000 viewers, up 162,000 viewers from the Christmas Day episode.
Hour one drew 2,969,000, followed by 2,912,000 viewers in the second hour, and then 2,714,000 viewers in the third and final hour.
Raw was #10, #14, and #15 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic, the worst placement in a very long time. The night was dominated by college football which did over 20 million viewers head-to-head with Raw. The first eight placements in the 18-49 demo were all dominated by football. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Following Raw’s announcement of Strowman/Bliss teaming up for the Facebook Mixed Match Challenge, the Smackdown brand also chose its first combination…and it’s glorious!
In a backstage segment taped at Smackdown, Roode was asked by Byron Saxton who he would like to be teamed up with. Roode said that the obvious choice would be the queen of the Smackdown brand, Charlotte, but there are others like former champion Naomi, or future champion Carmella.
After talking with Daniel Bryan for a bit, Bryan introduced Roode’s partner…and Roode’s first choice: Charlotte Flair! A few Wooooos later, Charlotte said, “We’ll work on the Wooooo, let’s get matching robes and win the Mixed Match Challenge!”
Chris Jericho wrote on Instagram that he will be dedicating his match against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 to his “fallen brothers,” Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit.
The Instagram post was accompanied by a cartoon-like drawing from a fan which had Jericho, Benoit, and Guerrero with the words, “Hey, New Japan! We are back!” written on it. Jericho was super close to both deceased stars.
Wrestle Kingdom 12 takes place tomorrow in Tokyo, Japan at the Tokyo Dome with Jericho vs Omega co-headlining the event.
Total Divas returns on E! tonight for season seven’s episode eight, an episode titled Single in the City.
The synopsis for the episode reads, “The Raw and Smackdown women reunite in Brooklyn for SummerSlam, however, when Alexa’s fiancé shows up, Nia confronts them on their sketchy wedding plans and ruins the fun. Meanwhile, Lana’s physical affection for women pushes Rusev to his limit as a husband, and Carmella confronts Lana for messing with her career.”
The first pairing for Mixed Match Challenge was announced via a video on Facebook.
Kurt Angle broke the news to Raw Women’s champion Alexa Bliss that Braun Strowman would be her tag team partner, pitting the biggest and smallest participants together!
Strowman did his usual scream as he came in, scaring Alexa. He told her that the two of them will scare the rest of the competition when it kicks off. Bliss kept cool and even tapped him on his shoulder and then told him that if he listens to her, they will be good. The two then shook hands and Strowman then pulled in Alexa for a hug and said, “Okay, partner!” as they walked away.
Meanwhile, Enzo Amore has been pulled from the Mixed Match Challenge series due to his illness.
You can see the funny Strowman and Bliss video below.
The pre-sale for the WWE Backlash pay-per-view has gone live and will end tomorrow, January 4 at 10PM EST.
Fans wishing to attend the show and “skip the line” to purchase tickets can use the code WWEPC on Ticketmaster.com to unlock the pre-sale. Tickets range from $30 to $505. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, January 5 at 11AM EST.
The show will take place from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on May 6. This will be a Raw-branded pay-per-view.
Brock Lesnar vs Goldberg, Universal Championship (WrestleMania 33)
After being embarrassed at the hands of the veteran at both Survivor Series and Royal Rumble, the Brock Lesnar was itching to face Goldberg and take him to Suplex City.
Although the match was initially dominated by Goldberg, once Brock took him to Suplex city, there was no going back.
Brock won the Universal title and ended the unbelievable comeback run of Goldberg in WWE. With this match, Brock finally got the Goldberg sized chip off his shoulder.
John Cena vs AJ Styles, WWE Championship (Royal Rumble)
In what was arguably the best match of the event, John Cena finally equaled Ric Flair’s record of 16 World Championship wins as he won the WWE Championship.
The two wrestlers presented the finest quality of wrestling and the match was a nerve wrecking encounter. In fact, John Cena had to deliver four Attitude Adjustments to The Phenomenal before he could lay hands at the title for the sixteenth time.
Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton, WWE Championship (Backlash)
This match gave the 1.3 billion Indians a new hope in the WWE. Jinder Mahal was going against a veteran, a 13-time world champion and there were very low chances of him grabbing the title.
Randy Orton attacked Mahal even during the introductions and he went on to be ruthless once the match started as well. If it had not been for the Singh Brothers, the viper would have successfully defended his title.
Although the Chicago crowd didn’t seem to be pleased to see the new champion, the fans back in India were surely delighted.
The Hardy Boys, Raw Tag Team Championship (WrestleMania 33)
This match marked one of the greatest WWE returns ever. As the Hardy Boys made a comeback in what was supposed to be a triple threat match, the thousands of fans erupted with joy.
The Hardy boys dominated almost entire match and the most significant moment came when Jeff Hardy delivered a Swanton Bomb off a 20-foot ladder and put Sheamus and Cesaro through the ladders suspended alongside the ring.
After this, all Matt had to do was climb up the rope and get the belts and he did so.
Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne, United Kingdom Championship
Technically, this was not a title exchange, as the United Kingdom was introduced in the WWE for the first time. But it deserves a mention. WWE may have found its next star in Tyler Bate, who entered the tournament as the youngest competitor at an age of 19 years and ended up with winning it.
The match was a back and forth contest and both the wrestlers displayed some decent wrestling as the match went on for twenty-minute minutes. Tyler ended up becoming the first-ever United Kingdom Champion.
The task of keeping the WWE title past Royal Rumble just got a little bit more tougher for AJ Styles as he will be defending the title against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a handicap match on the pay-per-view.
The match came after Styles lost his non-title match against Sami Zayn on Smackdown last night thanks mostly to several interferences from Owens, Shane, and Daniel Bryan who were all at ringside. Last week, AJ Styles lost his match against Kevin Owens as well.
It was Styles who demanded the handicap match against the best friends at the Royal Rumble and urged the Smackdown GM and Commissioner to stop acting like little kids. Daniel Bryan then made the match official after liking the idea.
