When the SBNation Twitter account asked its followers to name a sporting event that they went which they would recommend to their friends, American model Christine Teigen gave two thumbs up to WWE WrestleMania.
“I have never had more fun than I had at WrestleMania years ago,” Teigen wrote. “And I *really* did not want to go!” Teigen added that she had to be pried from her seat to leave early and avoid the exit rush. “Still mad about it,” she continued.
Teigen is married to John Legend and this week she was in the news when she tweeted about being onboard a flight to Tokyo from LA which had to turn back halfway through after crew found out there was an unauthorized passenger on the plane, dubbing the flight an 8-hour LAX to LAX!
Forbes.com combined a list of YouTube videos uploaded by WWE in 2017 which got the most dislikes from the WWE fans.
Unsurprisingly, a Roman Reigns video tops the list, by quite a few thousand dislikes, over other videos uploaded. The “winning” video was from the night after WrestleMania 33 where Reigns declared that WWE is his yard now after defeating The Undertaker the night before. That video got a whooping 35,000 dislike votes from fans and only 27,000 likes.
Another video involving Roman Reigns took the second spot with 23,000 dislikes. It was from the week after where Braun Strowman attacked him on Raw. But fans liked the video way more, with 124,000 likes.
Taking spot #3, #4, and #5 are all videos related to the now-released Superstar Emma. The video titled ‘Emmalina Can’t Wait to Reward Your Patience’ got 15,000 dislikes and only 2,000 likes. Emmalina’s premiere, which also was her character’s end, got 15,000 dislikes and 8,000 likes, while a video hyping her arrival got 11,000 dislikes and 1,000 likes.
Former Smackdown Women’s champion Becky Lynch returned to action this week at a non-televised live event in Detroit, Michigan.
Lynch has been out for over a month as she traveled to the United Kingdom to film The Marine 6: Close Quarters with The Miz and Shawn Michaels. She was written out of television in a late November episode of Smackdown when she was attacked backstage by new arrivals Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan.
At the Detroit show, Lynch teamed up with fellow former champion Naomi to take on Liv Morgan and Sarah Morgan in a tag team match.
The Miz, who wrapped up the filming at the same time, had another work assignment and traveled overseas as part of the USO tour on behalf of WWE and spent the Christmas holidays with the troops instead of at home with his pregnant wife.
The other four individuals who will be part of the United States title tournament on Smackdown are Xavier Woods, Zack Ryder, Aiden English, and Mojo Rawley.
Ryder will wrestle his former tag team partner Mojo Rawley next while English will be wrestling Woods. The winner of the Ryder/Rawley match will meet Bobby Roode and the winner of English/Woods will meet Jinder Mahal.
The final match of the tournament will take place at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that Paige has been pulled from the rest of the non-televised live events this week as precautionary measure following her injury scare last night in Uniondale.
The former NXT and Divas champion will now miss the events in Hartford, Albany, and Toronto, but will most likely participate on the New Year’s Day episode of Raw from Miami, although probably not doing any wrestling.
Former Raw General Manager Mick Foley tweeted that he heard that Paige was doing much better after the incident at the Nassau Coliseum so it looks like there is no big damage done. Pulling her from the non-televised live events is the best move for now considering she just came back from neck surgery and a long layoff from the company.
Bob Rosen, the long-time ring & transportation manager over at Impact Wrestling, was released from his duties after 13 years with the company.
In a post on Facebook, Rosen wrote that he’s officially gone from Impact, but not by his choice. “The last 13 years have been the greatest time in my life from the great talent who showed me much respect for what we did with the rings and cages,” Rosen wrote, thanking all those who trusted him to build and keep everyone safe.
“To the back production people who never got the credit they deserve. These people who come together under great stress and pull off some of the greatest show you’ve watched whether it was TNA or IMPACT WRESTLING. And to the friends and fans I had the privilege of making through my time on the road in this business. You will always be my friends! I’m not gone from wrestling,” he added.
Rosen wrote that his passion for the business took a hit because on how the Impact staff was treated but he still loves wrestling and vowed that he will be back because “every talent deserves to work in a great ring!”
The Boxing Day Smackdown from Chicago nearly beat Monday Night Raw in the ratings this week, drawing 2,656,000 viewers for the broadcast. It was up 78,000 viewers over last week’s show and just 47,000 viewers away from beating Raw only for the second time.
Smackdown was #1 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #3 in overall viewership for the night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
There’s a new number one contender for the NXT title and his name is Johnny Gargano.
Gargano defeated Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan, and Aleister Black in a fatal 4-way match to earn the title shot at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia on the eve of the Royal Rumble. He won the match after delivering a slingshot DDT on Black and the crowd at Full Sail University went crazy after the pinfall.
Gargano will now take on NXT champion Andrade “Cien” Almas and this will be their second NXT Takeover match, having previously wrestled for nearly 15 minutes in the opening match of NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III in August. Almas won that match in Brooklyn.
The Christmas Day edition of Raw drew an average of 2,703,000 viewers, down 83,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast.
Hour one started with 2,948,000 viewers, then dropped to 2,620,000 viewers in the second hour, and then further down to 2,543,000 in the third and final hour.
Raw was #5, #6, and #7 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and the day was won by NFL with over 11 million viewers. Raw also had competition from the NBA which did 3.4 million viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
WWE Superstar Paige, who just recently returned after a 17-month layoff, was injured at the non-televised live event in Uniondale last night.
The injury, which left Paige on the mat for a while, occurred during a six-woman tag team match featuring Paige, Sonya, and Mandy versus Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Mickie James. Sasha hit Paige with a kick that landed on her neck, with Paige going down motionless. The British star underwent neck surgery during her time away from WWE.
As the referee and the ringside physician attended to Paige, the trio of Bayley, Banks, and James looked on from the corner. EMTs came out with a stretcher but Paige eventually got up and walked to the back while being helped. The match was abandoned.
Paige has not addressed the incident on social media yet and WWE did not comment either.
You can see a video of this shot by Twitter user Nick Hirshon below.
After appearing on Monday Night Raw live in person for the first time under his new Woken gimmick, Matt Hardy came out for his Madison Square Garden return with a piano theme song.
The song, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14, is the same song that he used during his Impact Wrestling days when he did the similar Broken character. It’s not clear if this song will be used from this point onward for Hardy on WWE television or if it was just a one-off for Madison Square Garden. It is safe to say though that the Hardy WWE theme song that was brought back at WrestleMania 33 will not be used for the new Woken gimmick.
Hardy wrestled Bray Wyatt at MSG, an event that also included John Cena versus Roman Reigns. There were a lot of empty seats for this event and unlike the Chicago crowds for Raw and Smackdown, New Yorkers did not feel like spending the holidays with their favorite Superstars!
Brian Kendrick will be out for a few months after he suffered an orbital wall fracture and a displaced nasal bridge fracture thanks to Hideo Itami’s GTS finisher.
The injury occurred on Monday Night Raw in a match between the two that Itami won after he hit the Go To Sleep – invented by Itami but made famous by CM Punk – in Chicago. Unfortunately for Kendrick, Itami’s stiff knee hit him straight in the face, causing the injury.
“A fracture was suspected, and he was taken to a local emergency care facility in Chicago where a CT scan confirmed a diagnosis of an orbital wall fracture and a minimally displaced nasal bridge fracture,” WWE Senior Ringside Physician Dr. Chris Amann told WWE.com. “We will be following it closely and making sure everything heals appropriately and that surgery’s not needed,” Amann said.
WWE did not provide an exact timetable for Kendrick’s return but the injury for sure will put him out of the Royal Rumble.
The first Smackdown of 2018 will feature a tag team match for the Smackdown Tag Team titles following yesterday’s triple threat number one contenders match.
In the opening segment of the show, Daniel Bryan announced a match between Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, Rusev and Aiden English, and The New Day. Despite Rusev and English being the most popular thanks solely to Rusev Day, Gable and Benjamin came out victorious after Chad Gable pinned Big E.
Meanwhile, over at Raw, the team of Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan became the new Raw Tag Team champions after beating Sheamus and Cesaro on the Christmas Day edition of Raw.
A tournament that will crown a new United States champion kicked off on Smackdown last night after it seems that Dolph Ziggler surrendered the title he won at Clash of Champions.
An angle shot last week saw Ziggler leaving the United States title in the middle of the ring, walking away suggesting that he is quitting. Daniel Bryan, in announcing the tournament, wished Ziggler the best and described him as one of the greatest Superstars in WWE.
The first two matches in the tournament took place on the show, with Bobby Roode defeating Baron Corbin and later Jinder Mahal defeating Tye Dillinger. Four more WWE Superstars will be part of this tournament, with matches expected next week. There was no date given as to when the final will be held.
There will be a WCW/TNA reunion at the ACE Comic Con in Arizona next month as Hulk Hogan, Sting, and Eric Bischoff will all be appearing on the same day. Hogan’s sidekick, Jimmy Hart, will also be there.
A photo will Hulk Hogan will cost $100 while one with Eric Bischoff is $40. Sting’s photo is $85 and a dual photo with Hulk and Sting will be $175. An autograph with Bischoff will be $30, with Sting $70, and Hogan $80. If you bring a title belt for Hogan to sign, it will cost you $150. You will need to purchase a separate entrance ticket on top of these prices.
The ACE Comic Con Arizona takes place on January 13, 14, and 15 from the Gila River Arena in Glendale. Hogan, Sting, Bischoff, and Hart will be appearing on January 15. For more information go to http://www.aceuniverse.com/events/arizona.html.
Dean Ambrose will be out for much longer than expected following his triceps surgery and WWE.COM is reporting that the former WWE champion is now scheduled to be on the sidelines for a whopping nine long months.
Ambrose tore around 50% of the triceps tendon away from the bone and while the surgery was only 40 minutes, the rehab process is going to be a long one for the Lunatic Fringe. Ambrose went under the knife last week at the Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Alabama and the surgery was performed by Dr. Jeffrey Dugas, the same doctor who over the past several years fixed Superstars such as John Cena, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Cesaro, Sheamus, and many others.
Dean has already started physical therapy although he left Birmingham a few days after surgery to return home. This injury once again puts The Shield reunion on the shelf. The reboot of the group had its share of roadblocks, first with Reigns sidelined following a viral infection and now Ambrose.
Dwayne Johnson’s latest movie, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, was a success for Sony Pictures as it brought in an estimated $68,755,967 in domestic box office, just over the expectations set by the movie studio. The movie made its debut in #2 behind Star Wars.
Apart from the nearly $69 million domestically, Jumanji pulled in $49,500,000 in foreign box office as well, bringing its worldwide total to $118,255,967 according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Jumanji currently sits in #8 in Christmas Day grosses with $15,750,000 million.
The movie features Johnson along with Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, and Nick Jonas. It got good reviews from moviegoers, getting a 77% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- from CinemaScore.
We’re still two and a half months away from the Fastlane pay-per-view but it seems that the Nationwide Arena, the host of the Smackdown-brand pay-per-view, has just revealed the main event on its website.
The website lists a fatal 5-way match for the WWE title featuring champion AJ Styles vs Randy Orton vs Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn as the main event plus matches featuring Charlotte, Baron Corbin, Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal, The New Day, The Usos, Dolph Ziggler, and others.
This suggests that taking away the champion who will not be part of the Royal Rumble match, none of the others will be winning the 30-man over-the-top rope Rumble. Last year, Randy Orton from Smackdown won the Rumble so it could be a Raw individual this time around.
Fastlane takes place on March 11, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio and it is the last pay-per-view before WrestleMania.
This week’s episode of Total Divas picked up right where last week’s episode left off. Nikki Bella was busy having an engagement party in true WWE Superstar style, in Cabo San Lucas. However, no Diva party would be complete without a lot of drama. This time, it was Lana and Natalya whose bitter war of words had escalated into an all-out brawl on the last episode with both women becoming physically violent with one another.
When this episode began Natalya had just thrown Lana’s cell phone and luggage off the cliff outside their oceanfront villa. Upon discovering the missing luggage, Lana ran to Natalya’s room and demanded immediate return of her possessions. The two women kept on arguing until someone finally suggested that everyone should go to bed in order to sleep off the massive amounts of alcohol they had all consumed. The next morning, once she cleared her head, Natalya thought better of her actions and retrieved Lana’s things from the beach where they had fallen. However, it took a a boat (check out Boat Rentals Near Me ) trip where Lana went cliff diving to help Natalya discover just how much Lana meant to her. In the end, Nikki engagement weekend was a memorable one for all particularly the bride-to-be, Nikki Bella. The boat is specially maintained by using the meritt supply great quality products. To know what are the products used to maintained the boat Check This Out.
The drama didn’t stop when the Divas returned to their regular schedules though. The drama continued particularly between WWE Superstar, the Miz and his wife, Maryse. Apparently, the couple have different ideas about what constitutes a good meal. The Miz loves red meat, while his wife, Maryse, is a strict vegetarian. Maryse has apparently tried for years to mend the Miz’s meat eating ways with no success.
First, she took The Miz to a farm in hope.s that if he saw where his dinner came from, he would feel no desire to consume innocent baby animals. She also hoped that by showing him freshly grown vegetables, and allowing him to taste them after they had been freshly picked he would gain a new appreciation for vegetarian cuisine. However, the Miz is a very smart guy. He proposed a little wager to his wife. He suggested that Maryse try a piece of red meat, and in exchange he would try vegetarianism for one week. The Miz thought that Maryse would never try red meat, but he underestimated her. She tried a small piece of meat and therefore the Miz had to try to be a vegetarian for one week. Ultimately, Maryse purchased a tofu burger and convinced the Miz that it was meat proving that sometimes vegetarian cuisine can taste good. I don’t think that the Miz will be giving up prime rib anytime soon though.
Meanwhile, Naomi and Jey Uso were attempting to spice up their marriage by trying role-playing in the bedroom. First, they went to a costume shop where they attempted to purchase costumes that would make them more sexually attractive to one another. However, Jey ended up simply trying on silly costumes missing the point of the exercise. Further, the couple tried pretending to be strangers who simply picked one another up in a bar, however, they quickly figured out that neither one of them are very good at picking anyone up. So, they decided to simply make more time for one another. I think that this was the best course of action that they could have taken.
The Bella sisters continued to strike out on new business ventures sense their retirement from the WWE, however, they continue to seek the adrenaline rush that wrestling gave them, and are having little success finding it elsewhere. Both sisters attempted to get back in shape by playing soccer with kids, but neither of them were very good. Maybe the twins should make a wrestling come back after all, because it seems to be the only sport that they are good at. Their comeback would certainly add more drama to the next season of Total Divas.
There are rumors that an NXT Takeover event will be added to the Money In The Bank weekend from Chicago in June.
With Money In The Bank changed to a dual-brand pay-per-view it would make more sense to add a Takeover event to this weekend. This year, the extra Takeover that wasn’t attached to the big four pay-per-views was also held in Chicago during the Backlash weekend.
So far officially there are only two Takeover events announced, Philadelphia and New Orleans in January and April during the Rumble and Mania weekends. Takeover in August will return to Brooklyn for their biggest event of the year and then another Takeover is expected for the Survivor Series weekend in Los Angeles in November.
WWE will hold all events – NXT, pay-per-view, Raw, and Smackdown – in the same arena during each particular weekend.
