A total of 11 female WWE Superstars have so far announced that they will be part of the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble match next month.
Naomi became the first female from the Smackdown roster to throw her hat into the match, joining ten others from Raw. Those from Raw are Alicia Fox, Asuka, Bayley, Dana Brooke, Mandy Rose, Mickie James, Nia Jax, Paige, Sasha Banks, and Sonya Deville.
The two current champions – Alexa Bliss and Charlotte – will not be part of this historic match unless they lose the title between now and January 28.
Just like the men’s Rumble, the winner of this Rumble match will receive a WWE Women’s title shot at WrestleMania.
Following his debut on the main roster on Monday Night Raw, Hideo Itami finally landed at 205 Live last night where he will be a permanent member of the cruiserweight division for the time being.
Itami saved his NXT friend Finn Balor on Raw and then got himself into a tag match for his first match on the main roster. But after several weeks of hype, Itami arrived on 205 Live and defeated Colin Delaney in his first match as part of the cruiserweight division, winning with the popular GTS finisher.
The man formerly known as Kenta will also be part of the upcoming 205 Live mini tour in mid-January as he wrapped up his NXT non-televised event duties.
Former WWE champion Dean Ambrose is facing several months on the injured list after a high-grade triceps tendon injury according to WWE.COM.
The angle shot on Monday was to cover up his lengthy disappearance from WWE television. Dr. Chris Amann told WWE.COM that there could also be a tear and Ambrose was supposed to undergo surgery late yesterday afternoon although we don’t have any details of that yet.
Ambrose traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to get checked out by Dr. Jeffrey Dugas at Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center, where surgery was going to take place as well.
Dr. Amann added that further information, such as timeline for recovery, and the extent of the damage, would be released sometime today.
The penultimate Raw of 2017 drew an average of 2,786,000 viewers, up 102,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast.
Hour one started with 3,085,000 viewers, which then dropped to 2,803,000 viewers in the second hour, and then further down to 2,470,000 in the third and final hour. Raw lost 615,000 viewers from hour one to hour three.
The show was #3, #4, and #5 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
EUE/Sokolow, an Emmy-nominated production company behind Nat Geo’s Genius franchise, and producer Jeff Fisher are bringing AJ Mendez’ New York Times Best Seller “Crazy is my Superpower: How I Triumphed by Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts, and Breaking the Rules” to television. The bestselling book chronicles former WWE wrestler AJ Lee’s unlikely rise to stardom after growing up in poverty and enduring years of abuse. Mendez will serve as an Executive Producer and writer on the project.
“Crazy is my Superpower” intricately details Mendez’s harrowing struggle to understand her demons and the mental illness diagnosis that helped her gain control over her life, and how she harnessed that strength to become an internationally-beloved professional wrestling superstar. The three-time WWE champion fought against stereotypes, forced the men in her industry to view her with respect and inspired millions of fans with her fierce independent streak.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to work with this team to turn “Crazy is My Super Power” into a scripted show,” said AJ Mendez. “This is a story about the power of female strength and our incomparable ability to survive, persist and overcome. I knew that I would need partners that connected to that message, and Jeff and Sam’s bold vision was a perfect fit. I can’t wait to get started.”
“Jeff Fisher initially talked to me about this book and told me what an amazing story this woman had,” said Sam Sokolow, co-founder of EUE/Sokolow and executive producer of National Geographic’s first-ever scripted series “Genius.” “We’re so excited to get to work with AJ and tell her incredibly inspiring story.”
PWInsider.com is reporting that the ROH duo known as War Machine and Ricochet, who worked for Lucha Underground as Prince Puma, are expected to sign WWE deals and join NXT next month.
War Machine, composed of Hanson and Raymond Rowe, have been tearing it up at Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The two will be having their final match at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 12, a gauntlet match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team titles, before moving to NXT.
Ricochet, the 29-year-old from Orlando, is one of the most exciting wrestlers in the world and he has wrestled all over the independent circuit, including Chikara, EVOLVE, Dragon Gate USA, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and lately Lucha Underground. He has held titles in every promotion he worked for.
WWE is beefing up their Christmas Day edition of Monday Night Raw next week with the return of John Cena.
Cena, who wrestled at the Survivor Series after WWE changed things up that affected a couple of matches, has been out of action since No Mercy in late September. At No Mercy, Cena lost to Roman Reigns.
The former 16-time champion is expected to return to the company pretty much “full-time” until his next movie. He has been out to film the Transformers spinoff Bumblebee and was also doing promotion for the movie Ferdinand.
“Thru good and bad the @WWE is my family. Can’t think of a better way to spend #Christmas than in the place of my 1st match, with my family,” Cena said in a tweet.
The Christmas Day edition of Raw will take place from Chicago. It will be the first time that WWE did a live Raw on Christmas. A live Raw will also take place on New Year’s Day from Miami.
The WWE Universal title will be defended in a triple threat match at the Royal Rumble as three of the biggest WWE Superstars currently on the roster – Brock Lesnar, Kane, and Braun Storwman – are set to go against each other.
The match was made official by Raw General Manager Kurt Angle last night on Monday Night Raw, which also featured the return of Lesnar. The Universal champion walked out of the ring as the only man standing after he clotheslined Strowman over the top and then delivered an F5 to Kane.
It has been several years since Kane received a title shot while Strowman last wrestled Brock Lesnar for the title at No Mercy earlier this year, a match he lost clean.
Standing in the middle of the ring surrounded by the female Superstars of Monday Night Raw, Stephanie McMahon announced that at the Royal Rumble, the women will once again make history with the first-ever women’s Rumble match.
The Rumble match will add to a list of firsts from the women, who over the past year had their own Hell In A Cell and Money In The Bank matches. Stephanie mentioned the “this is hope” chants that fans in Abu Dhabi chanted when Sasha Banks wrestled Alexa Bliss on the tour a few weeks ago, becoming the first two female WWE Superstars to wrestle in the very strict country.
“The chant was ‘this is hope’ and all of you have inspired people all over the world with your courage, with your passion and with your unbridled talent,” McMahon said. “But that’s not enough. What do you say ladies, you make history once again?”
It’s still unclear if this Rumble match will feature 30 Superstars or less but at the moment as things stand, there are not 30 females on the main roster so if they’re going with 30, they have to get outside talent or bring some from NXT. The current champions will also probably not participate in the match.
Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan will have some explaining to do as the duo butted heads last night at Clash of Champions over disagreements with pinfalls during the Owens/Zayn vs Orton/Nakamura match.
The climax of their disagreements came after Owens pushed Bryan over Shane McMahon who was counting the pin for Orton after delivering the RKO on Sami Zayn. Bryan broke the count inadvertently and McMahon was pissed off, and so was Orton.
After Orton and Zayn traded some pin attempts between each other with McMahon and Bryan counting at a time, Zayn had the three-count but McMahon stopped the count at two. Daniel Bryan was not impressed and went face-to-face with his “boss.” When Zayn went for a rollup on Orton, Bryan hit the three count super fast and McMahon’s attempt to block the count was late.
The fans chanted “Yep!” with Owens and Zayn as the Smackdown General Manager looked on from the aisle. The win means that Owens and Zayn will keep their job.
The animated movie Ferdinand, which has John Cena lending his voice for the main character of the movie, opened in #2 on the box office chart behind Star Wars.
The movie, produced by Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox Animation, did a total of $13,325,000 domestically and an additional $6,193,395 in its first weekend of release. While #2 doesn’t sound bad at all, it is the worst opening ever for a Blue Sky Studios film, which has animated flicks such as the Ice Age and Rio franchises in their portfolio.
Just as a comparison, Star Wars: The Last Jedi delivered $220,047,000 domestically and $230,000,000 worldwide for the second largest opening weekend of all-time.
Jumanji, featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the leading role, will be released this weekend and is expected to debut in #2.
WWE television is coming to the country of Mongolia for the first time ever as the company and SPS HD, Mongolia’s premier sports broadcaster, today announced an agreement to broadcast WWE’s flagship programs, Raw and SmackDown.
Beginning this week, SPS Sports will air a two-hour version of Raw on Saturdays at 11AM local time, and SmackDown at 11AM local time on Sundays. Both shows will be available in English with Mongolian subtitles.
“We are proud to bring WWE programming to Mongolia for the first time,” said Naranbat Nasanbat, CEO of SPS HD. “Our fans across the country will enjoy WWE’s highly entertaining storytelling.”
“We are thrilled to complete our first-ever broadcast deal in Mongolia,” said Michelle Wilson, WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer. “This partnership to televise WWE programming allows us to expand our reach and deliver our unique blend of action-packed, family-friendly entertainment to WWE fans throughout the country.”
Raw and SmackDown will also be available on SPS HD’s TV Everywhere platform for authenticated subscribers, and on its 14-day VOD catchup window.
With a couple of Superstars dropping from the 205 Live mini-tour due to different circumstances and possibly due to slow ticket sales, WWE announced that Matt Hardy will be joining the tour along with Bray Wyatt.
The duo will be wrestling each other at all three events, which will take the cruiserweight division to Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York on January 19, 20, and 21.
Hardy has yet to appear in-person on television ever since becoming “woken” and undergoing his transformation. Him and Wyatt are set to continue their feud leading up to the Royal Rumble and possibly further than that.
Nia Jax will also be joining the tour and will serve as the special guest referee for the Enzo Amore vs Kalisto matches.
Here are the results from last night’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view which took place from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mojo Rawley defeated Zack Ryder in the Kickoff match; Dolph Ziggler defeated Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode to become the new United States champion; The Usos defeated Rusev and Aiden English, The New Day, and Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable to retain the Smackdown Tag Team titles; Charlotte Flair defeated Natalya in a lumberjack match to retain the Smackdown Women’s title; The Bludgeon Brothers defeated Breezango; Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton; AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal to retain the WWE title.
Hello everybody! It’s @TheMagnumDA with your WWE Clash of Champions Pick’em report. This has become an intriguing PPV for more reasons than championships. Tonight, the WWE careers of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are on the line in a tag team match with two active referees scheduled…Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon! Who knows how this is going to unfold, but I have a feeling tonight will be quite memorable. Let’s get down to the picks!
Preshow: Mojo Rawley vs. Zack Ryder
Magnum: THE HYPE BROS EXPLODE, BROTHER. I always believed that if the Hype Bros would split up…that Rawley would end up being the benefactor. I expect Rawley to finally show that aggressive edge, leading to a big win.
Colin: How ironic, the start of their feud and they’re stuck in the Kickoff match! The heel will go over in this one, so Mojo for the W.
Baron Corbin (c) vs. Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler (United States Championship)
Magnum: Bobby Roode got the mic time on Tuesday night, although he did not exactly deliver. That said, I think they’ve got their eye on Roode as US Champion. I think Corbin will be kept strong, so if Roode wins the title, he’s going to pin Dolph Ziggler to do it.
Colin: In my opinion, Roode should be in the main event picture, not stuck here. Boy did they kill his momentum coming from NXT. Oh well. I think Corbin will retain here.
The Usos (c) vs. The New Day vs. Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin vs. Rusev and Aiden English (SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
Magnum: I’ve heard for the longest time that Vince wants to put the titles on Gable & Benjamin. I am really enjoying the Rusev/English tag team, but since they got the win on Smackdown, I can’t get behind them. Give me the collegiate legends to take the WWE Tag Team Championships.
Colin: I love The Usos as the champs. I don’t see Rusev/English winning, we’ve been there with The New Day, but is it time for Gable/Benjamin? I don’t think so, at least not tonight. Usos to retain.
Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan as co-referees, if KO and Sami lose they are fired from WWE)
Magnum: I have this strange feeling that Daniel Bryan is going to accidentally cost RKO and Shinsuke the match. This will allow Sami and Kevin to continue their claim that Daniel Bryan is looking after them. I know that KO and Sami have been in hot water with WWE management, but I think they’re going to keep their jobs after tonight.
Colin: I can’t see Zayn/Owens leaving so they will go over for sure. The million dollar question is how? Will someone turn heel?
Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Natalya (Lumberjack match, SmackDown Women’s Championship)
Magnum: This has all the makings of a Riot Squad assault, followed by a MITB cash-in. I could see the Smackdown roster revolting against Ruby and friends, but when Carmella appears…she’s going to bring Big Cass with her. Not even the Riot Squad will want to mess with Big Cass.
Colin: I’m picking Charlotte here and I could also see a MITB cash-in. Charlotte needs to move to a new feud, and so does Natalya.
AJ Styles (c) vs. Jinder Mahal (WWE Championship)
Magnum: I am thinking this is the end of the line for Jinder Mahal. He’s had a good run legitimizing himself, although he had some missteps along the way. It’s all part of the learning process. Tonight, he’s going to learn how to do the J-O-B on the P-P-V. AJ wins in a surprisingly phenomenal match.
Colin: The Mahal experiment, for all intents and purposes, failed. Nothing against the guy, but not even India backed him. I can see AJ walking down WrestleMania still as the WWE champion.
Well, folks…there you have it. Enjoy the PPV tonight! See you in 2018! 🙂
Tom Zenk, the 59-year-old former professional wrestler who wrestled for WWE, AJPW, AWA, and WCW, passed away on December 9 according to the Minnesota Star Tribune website, which published his obituary today.
Zenk passed away at the North Memorial Medical Center and is survived by his parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. No cause of death was reported. A celebration of Tom’s life will be held on Saturday, January 13 at 11:00AM at St. Olaf Catholic Church in Minneapolis.
Zenk joined the WWE in 1986 and teamed up with Rick Martel to form The Can-Am Connection. His only WrestleMania appearance came a year later at WrestleMania III in the opening match. In 1989, Zenk moved to NWA/WCW as The Z-Man. He teamed up with Brian Pillman, winning the U.S. Tag Team titles once. He also won the WCW TV title and the Six-Man Tag Team title with Dustin Rhodes and Big Josh during his five-year stint in WCW.
Former ECW and WWE wrestler Justin Credible made a fool out of himself on Friday after he stormed the ring during an indy show promoted by Blitzkrieg! Pro while being drunk.
Credible came in the ring holding a pipe and asked for a microphone, which obviously was not given to him. He spoke to the fans and wrestlers around the ring but the promoter of the show got super ticked off and asked Credible to get the hell out of his ring. “I’m the guy that’s paying you tonight and asked you not to come here because you reek like booze and you tell everybody that you’re sober?” the promoter said as he stood ringside. “You’re not. And all these people paid to see you and you’re in there glossed over. Stumbling everywhere. Get out!”
He eventually left, but not before he tried to come back to the ring. His way was blocked and Credible finally left.
Posting a video earlier today, Justin Credible said he was going to rehab sponsored by WWE but he had a bad night and thought it was a good idea to drink. “It’s not wrestling’s fault. It’s my fault. I f*cked up,” Credible said.
He added that he’s starting a new journey now thanks to the help of Diamond Dallas Page. “All I want from this is to redeem myself, for me and my family and the few fans I have left out there,” Credible continued in the video.
He thanked Sean Waltman for listening to him cry for over an hour as he explained his problems and suicidal thoughts and then thanked WWE, in particular Triple H, Stephanie, and Vince McMahon for helping him. “I’m not going to f*ck up again. Just please, please, please have faith in me one more time. Please,” he concluded.
You can see his scene from the Blitzkrieg! Pro event and the subsequent video he filmed below.
If bookies are correct, the WWE championship is not expected to change hands tonight as odds are in favor of champion AJ Styles at 2/9, while Jinder Mahal is 3/1 for the upset.
Charlotte Flair is also the overwhelming favorite to retain at 1/7, while her challenger Natalya is at 4/1 to reclaim the Smackdown Women’s title. The Smackdown Tag Team champions The Usos are at 11/10 to win and favorites, with their opponents The New Day, Rusev and Aiden English, Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable are at 3/1, 11/4, and 3/1 respectively. The United States title also looks like its staying with the current champion with Baron Corbin the favorite at 2/7. Bobby Roode is at 4/1 for the win and Dolph Ziggler is at a distant 8/1 for the upset.
The match between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn versus Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura looks to be going to the heels, with Owens and Zayn the clear odds on favorite at 1/12 while their opponents are at 6/1. In the final match of the pay-per-view card, The Bludgeon Brothers are at 1/25 to win against Breezing who are at 10/1.
Live tonight from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, WWE presents Clash of Champions 2017 on pay-per-view and WWE Network. This will be the final PPV of 2017. The card is as follows:
AJ Styles vs Jinder Mahal for the WWE title; Charlotte Flair vs Natalya for the Smackdown Women’s title in a lumberjack match; Baron Corbin vs Bobby Roode vs Dolph Ziggler in a triple threat for the United States title; The Usos vs Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable vs The New Day vs Rusev and Aiden English in a fatal 4-way for the Smackdown Tag Team titles; Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura vs Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn with Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan as special guest referees and the stipulation that if Owens and Zayn lose they will be fired from WWE; Breezango vs The Bludgeon Brothers; and Zack Ryder vs Mojo Rawley in the Kickoff match.
Clash of Champions is available for free on the WWE Network for first-time subscribers. To start your 30-day free trial go to http://w-o.it/wwentwrk.
A 25-carat, $70,000 Ric Flair pendant was ordered as a gift for Migos band member Offset and it looks very…flashy!
Apart from the 25 carats on the pendant, there’s another 27 carats on the chain. The pendant is styled on Flair posing with his robe and arms wide open. It was made by Wafi Lalani at Jewelry Unlimited in Atlanta according to TMZ.COM.
“Thank you for all the respect @offsetyrn! You are stylin’ and profilin’ sir! WOOOOO,” Flair wrote in a post on Instagram that also features a photo of the very expensive jewelry.
