The second entrant in the Royal Rumble was announced last night on Monday Night Raw and joining Goldberg will be his Survivor Series opponent, Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar’s entry was revealed by Paul Heyman who did an interview with Michael Cole on the broadcast, saying that if Goldberg will be in the Rumble, then his client will be in it too.
Brock competed in this year’s Rumble and eliminated Braun Strowman, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan. Unfortunately for the former champ, the Wyatt Family returned to the ring and then eliminated him as payback.
Goldberg last participated in the Rumble in 2004 and eliminated Nunzio, Charlie Haas, and Billy Gunn, before getting eliminated by Kurt Angle.
The opening of the show from Charlotte was a recap of last week where Kevin Owens wrestled Seth Rollins, with highlights such as the balcony dive, the power bomb on the side of the ring, and the Jericho attack from the audience.
HIGHLIGHT REEL
The Highlight Reel started out the show with Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho insulting Americans for celebrating Thanksgiving and they refer to themselves as a superior breed of humans…Canadians.
Kevin Owens said that Seth Rollins wasn’t medically cleared to compete tonight due to the power bomb on the apron last week and then Roman Reigns’ music kicked it as Reigns came down to the ring.
Roman Reigns said that Kevin Owens was a joke to be called the Universal champion and Owens was just “a guy” who needed a lot of help for everything. Chris Jericho made sure to let Roman Reigns know that anyone who makes fun of his best friend Kevin Owens gets…
Kevin Owens cuts him off and told Chris Jericho to shut up and told Reigns he did not have the right to talk to him that way cause he’s the Universal champion.
Reigns challenges Owens for a match and if he wins, he’ll get another shot at the Universal title at Roadblock. Owens accepts.
After the break, Jericho and Owens are seen arguing and Kevin tells Chris he doesn’t want him to help him anymore and Chris Jericho lets him know that he’s no longer his best friend.
R-TRUTH vs BRAUN STROWMAN
Strowman hits a running bodyslam and easily takes out R-Truth. After the match, Goldust confronts Braun. Sami Zayn comes to the ring to interfere and then Strowman destroys Sami Zayn. Mick Foley comes out and stops Strowman from destroying Sami.
After the break, we see the continuation of Sami Zayn and Mick Foley arguing over Foley giving Sami special treatment.
Backstage, Dana Brooke interrupted Charlotte in her dressing room. Charlotte says she’s going to end the rivalry between her and Sasha Banks tonight and told Dana to go plan a celebration party.
CEDRIC ALEXANDER vs TONY NEESE
Tony Neese pins Cedric Alexander with the pump handle slam after interference from Drew Gulak.
We return from a break and we see Chris Jericho with his suitcase getting ready to leave the arena in his limousine and the driver makes him drop his list. Someone yells to Y2J, “did I make the list?” and he turns around and it’s Seth Rollins. Rollins beats up on Chris Jericho in the garage and then hits the pedigree on the roof of a car. This is last we see of Y2J tonight.
CHARLOTTE vs SASHA BANKS – Women’s title match
Next we have the Raw Women’s title match between Charlotte and Sasha Banks. Charlotte was accompanied by Dana Brooks
The match ended quickly with a double count out and Charlotte was noticeably very, very happy and the ring announcer makes the announcement that Charlotte retains the title because of a count out.
Mick Foley’s music was queued and he came out and announces that later in the show that they would have another match and that it would be a no disqualification, falls count anywhere match. Charlotte was definitely not happy.
RUSEV vs ENZO AMORE
The rematch between Rusev and Enzo Amore takes place, Enzo is accompanied by Big Cass and Rusev is accompanied by Lana. Enzo Amore and Big Cass start the pre-match with their usual shenanigans which was quite funny. The highlight was about what Lana and Rusev had for Thanksgiving dinner, and Enzo said Lana was fantasizing about him stuffing her turkey, which got a large pop from the audience.
The bell rung and the match lasted about 10 seconds and Rusev was immediately disqualified.
RICH SWANN vs NOAM DAR
Next is a cruiserweight match with Rich Swann versus Noam Dar.
Brian Kendrick joined the team on commentary. Swann pins Noam Dar with a kick to the head and afterward Corey Graves interviews Swann about the 205 Live show.
Next segment showed Sheamus and Cesaro in a bar in Charlotte and they’re both chatting about that they are so glad that they don’t have to tag team together anymore. Some locals are rude to them and Cesaro tells Sheamus to ignore the locals and then one of the locals burps in Cesaro’s face and then they both kick everybody’s butt.
ROMAN REIGNS VS KEVIN OWENS
The stipulation is if Roman defeats Kevin, he gets another shot at the Universal title at Roadblock. The match was a typical Roman Reigns match with the superman punches, spears, etc… The match ended with Roman Reigns pinning Kevin Owens after two Superman punches and a spear. With this win he now has another title shot at the Universal title championship.
After the commercial break they attempted to interview Kevin Owens and then he talks about Chris Jericho still being his best friend and said the interviewer is a mindless robot and should have brought him a water.
Michael Cole does a one on one interview in the studio with Paul Heyman about Brock Lesnar’s loss to Bill Goldberg. Heyman says they took Goldberg lightly. They thought this would be the easiest payday of Brock’s career. Heyman says Goldberg’s spear to Lesnar broke his ribs. Heyman says Lesnar is embarrassed by the loss.
Heyman announces if Goldberg is in the Royal Rumble match, then Brock Lesnar will be in the Royal Rumble match as well.
THE NEW DAY VS LUKE GALLOWS and KARL ANDERSON – Tag Team title match
The New Day come out and they throw Booty O’s at Corey Graves as they are heading to the ring! A big spot had Big E spear Karl Anderson through the ropes to the floor (looked like Big E might have hurt himself). Xavier Woods made the pin on Karl Anderson by pulling his tights.
CHARLOTTE vs SASHA BANKS – Women’s title match
They fought on the ramp, Charlotte did a moonsault off of the announcers table onto Sasha Banks. Bank also had a kendo stick which she used numerous times during the match. The finale was interesting as Sasha Banks forced Charlotte to submit to the bank statement as she had Charlotte stuck in the guard rail on the steps in the audience. This was a no DQ, falls-count anywhere match so it counted.
After the match, Ric Flair came out to raise Sasha Banks’ arm and hug her in the ring! This got a huge pop from the Charlotte audience.
The newest in-ring show exclusively on the WWE Network debuts tonight at 10PM EST immediately following Smackdown.
Titled 205 Live, this one-hour weekly broadcast with commentary from Smackdown’s Mauro Ranallo and Raw’s Corey Graves, will spotlight the WWE’s cruiserweight division. The show was created following the success of the Cruiserweight Classic tournament series earlier this year.
Tonight’s broadcast will be headlined by a Cruiserweight title match as The Brian Kendrick will defend his title against Rich Swann.
Anthem Sports & Entertainment yesterday issued a press release officially announcing the settlement with Billy Corgan over the unpaid TNA loans. With this agreement, the former TNA President agreed to dismiss his lawsuit against Impact Ventures.
Anthem Executive Vice President Ed Nordholm said, “We are pleased to conclude these arrangements with Mr. Corgan. The events leading to litigation were unfortunate but also reflected all parties’ desire in good faith to support the company.”
Corgan said that he’s pleased with the agreement in place that will allow wrestling operations to continue. “For my interest from the start was to provide support, be it material or creative, to such a great roster and crew. And as I plan on continuing in the business side of pro wrestling, I look forward to seeing where Anthem’s leadership takes the company in 2017, and wish them the best.”
Episode two of season six of Total Divas drew 461,000 viewers last week on Thanksgiving eve, the lowest rated episode in the series’ history. It saw a drop of 263,000 viewers from the season premiere episode. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Triple H announced on his Twitter that the next NXT Takeover will be in San Antonio, Texas on the eve of the Royal Rumble.
The Takeover shows will be joining the big four pay-per-view schedule and they will all take place in the same arena as the PPV (non-stadium shows), Raw and Smackdown during that weekend. There’s usually a Takeover show in June but it’s not clear if that will remain or no since there’s no big pay-per-view attached to it.
Tickets for NXT Takeover: San Antonio go on sale this Friday, December 2 at 10AM CT on Ticketmaster.com.
There will be two title matches on Raw tonight as both the Women’s and Tag Team titles will be on the line as Raw rolls into Charlotte, North Carolina.
Charlotte Flair returns home to defend her title against Sasha Banks. Charlotte defeated Sasha in Sasha’s hometown of Boston and now vowed to defeat her as well in her own hometown.
Meanwhile, The New Day look to extend their tag team title reign when they take on Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. The New Day are just a couple of weeks away from smashing Demolition’s 478-day tag team title reign.
WWE Superstar John Cena will be spending more time away from WWE as he has been cast in a movie called The Pact along with Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz according to Variety.
It’s not known when this movie will start filming or how long Cena will be away due to his commitments to the movie. He’s currently out filming the television series American Grit for FOX and is returning to WWE after Christmas.
Cena, who no longer tours full-time, has recently stated that he’d like to do more movies but his main job will still be with WWE. He recently appeared in the comedies Trainwreck and Sisters.
WWE and SNICKERS will once again team up for WrestleMania, with the popular brand serving as the exclusive presenting partner of WrestleMania 33.
SNICKERS’ presenting partnership of WrestleMania 33 is highlighted by custom TV creative produced by WWE for SNICKERS, which will feature WWE Superstars and the brand’s popular ‘You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’ campaign. The creative will appear across WWE’s global digital and social platforms, WWE Network, and on WWE’s flagship TV programs Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live on USA Network, a long-standing SNICKERS partner.
SNICKERS will also leverage WWE’s YouTube channel with a complete brand takeover the day of WrestleMania. Additionally, SNICKERS will have promotional activity at WrestleMania Axxess, presence at WWE live events leading up to WrestleMania 33, retail promotions, as well as custom digital and social content, including a Snapchat live story.
“When it comes to displaying the ‘hunger symptoms’ that SNICKERS satisfies, nobody embodies them better than WWE Superstars,” said Allison Miazga-Bedrick, Director, SNICKERS Brand. “We’re back for a second consecutive year as the presenting sponsor of WrestleMania 33 to once again share our ‘You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’ message to an extremely engaged WWE fan base in unique ways.”
Michelle Wilson, WWE Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer, said, “We are excited to partner with SNICKERS for the second straight year as we aim to raise the bar in bringing their award-winning ‘You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’ campaign to life in entertaining ways that only our WWE Superstars can. As the exclusive presenting partner of one of the biggest sports and entertainment events in the world, SNICKERS will reach our global fan base that consumes content across all platforms.”
The pre-sale for the post-WrestleMania Raw and Smackdown package starts this morning at 10AM EST on Ticketmaster.com.
Purchasing a ticket will provide each customer with a ticket to both Raw on Monday, April 3 as well as Smackdown on Tuesday, April 4. Separate tickets for both shows will go on sale on Friday, December 2 at 10AM EST and there is no pre-sale for the individual shows. The combo package goes on sale to the general public as well on December 2.
Ticket prices for each show are $25, $35, $45, $55, and $75 plus additional taxes and fees.
The pre-sale password to unlock the tickets is COMBO. Thanks to Twitter user @NUFC_Leazes for the password.
Both Raw and Smackdown following WrestleMania will take place at the Amway Center in Orlando.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is this weekend’s king of the box office as his latest movie, Disney’s animated adventure Moana, has an estimated $81.1 million for a five-day opening according to data published by Box Office Mojo. The figure is just shy of the largest Thanksgiving debut of $93.6 million which belongs to Frozen.
Apart from being the second largest five-day Thanksgiving opening of all-time, it’s also the third largest three-day Thanksgiving opening of all-time. Moana did an estimated $55.5 million three-day opening. The movie is also the third largest opening for Walt Disney Animation Studios, behind only Zootopia and Big Hero 6.
Internationally, Moana did $16.3 million so far, bringing the total worldwide gross revenue to $97,408,000.
ProWrestlingSheet.com is reporting that Spirit Squad member Kenny Dykstra was fired from his day job after missing several days to work for WWE.
PWS says that Dykstra was a director at a non-profit charity and was pulling double duty working for WWE again, however working for WWE meant getting away from his job, ultimately causing his pink slip.
The 30-year-old returned to WWE in early October to team up with his former Spirit Squad tag team partner Mikey and was used in the storyline involving The Miz and Dolph Ziggler.
Dykstra is working on a pay-per-appearance deal with WWE and has no full-time contract.
Speaking to ESPN.COM, Chris Jericho revealed that he is on a rolling three-month contract with WWE at the moment and he is on his fourth short-term deal this year so far since his return in January.
Jericho said that the original idea was that upon his January return, he would stay on until WrestleMania and then head out again to do some work with Fozzy. “Then we decided to push those back, so then I just kept signing for three months at a time,” said Jericho.
Y2J added that in this business, “sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle” and decided to stay as long as he could rather than looking for reasons to get out. “I just kept looking for reasons to keep it going,” Jericho told ESPN of his current run.
And where does this run stand in is all-time favorite? “It might not be my favorite run of my career, but it’s my second favorite, for sure. It has been a blast, and it continues to be a blast,” he said.
You can read the full interview with Jericho on ESPN.COM’s WWE section.
WWE is going to Switzerland next year as part of the European tour in May but the only Swiss WWE Superstar on the roster is not even featured on the poster!
The company will be touring Zurich on May 11 and the localized poster features Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, The New Day, Charlotte, Sheamus, Sasha Banks, and Roman Reigns, leaving Cesaro out.
“When you can’t even make it onto the poster for the show in your home country…” wrote Cesaro on Twitter, adding the hashtags #2swiss and #2tearsinabucket. Perhaps the marketing department have no idea they have a Swiss guy on the roster!
Daniel Bryan, who’s been publicly trying to get Cesaro on Team Smackdown, replied, “If you were on #TeamBlue you’d be on every poster… just saying #BlueIsBetter.”
Tickets for the Raw and Smackdown television tapings in London, England at The O2 Arena went on sale this morning on Ticketmaster.co.uk.
The tapings, set for May 8 (Raw) and May 9 (Smackdown), will be part of the first European tour of 2017 which has been moved by a month since it usually take place in April right after WrestleMania.
Ticket prices are £25, £35, £45, £65, and £85 plus additional fees. The lowest priced ticket carries £4.75 in fees while the highest priced ticket has an additional £11.50.
The second episode of this season of Total Divas displayed the impeccable moral character of all of the WWE Divas. This episode proved that being a WWE Diva isn’t only about performing well as a wrestler inside the ring, but a great role model for young girls when a Superstar is outside the ring.
The first person to display an outstanding mark of character was Natalia, who was willing to help Lana prepare before her first big match on Monday Night Raw. However, I think that Lana may have asked for a little more help than Natalia was willing to give.
Natalia had agreed to help Lana with her entrance before her workout, but Natalia did not to work out all. Lana was intent on receiving Natalia’s opinion about every aspect of her entrance. Further, she continued to pester Natalia with questions during her entire weekend off. Eventually, Natalia became fed up with Lana’s constant questioning.
She told her mother, ”I don’t know whether I need Advil, or vodka.” The final straw for Natalia came when Lana interrupted her time with her family, and convinced Natalia’s to teach her how to throw a shot put.
Apparently, Lana won’t be turning into a professional shot put thrower anytime soon, because just as she tried to throw her first shot put, shot put slipped and fell on Natalia’s car. This made Natalia furious, and resulted in her car having a busted windshield. Here’s a tip Lana, destroying property is not the best way to make friends!
However, Natalia managed to forgive Lana and to assist when another new WWE superstar stole one of her new moves. Nothing brings people together like a common enemy.
Meanwhile, other WWE Divas were engaged in their own drama. After Brie Bella retired from the ring at WrestleMania 32, her main focus was trying to have kids with her husband, WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan.
However, her sister Nikki felt that it was more important for the sisters to launch their new lingerie line, Birdee Bee. So, while Nikki was busy scheduling the sisters for everything from photo shoots to red carpet walks, Brie was only trying to figure out how to get home.
Things became more heated when Brie accused Nikki of being jealous of her attempts to become a mother. Many WWE fans are aware that Nikki’s boyfriend, WWE Superstar John Cena, has been adamant that he does not want to have children, while it has been Nikki’s lifelong dream to be a mother. Perhaps Brie detected a little sisterly jealousy on Nikki’s part.
Another Diva, who had her problems to cope with was Naomi. Naomi is from Orlando, a city so recently devastated by the mass murder that occurred in the nightclub Pulse, a popular hotspot for Orlando’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community. Naomi chose to show her support for her community by connecting with a local charity and holding a vigil for the victims.
It was great to see these women Superstars show community love. Hopefully, there will be more good deeds to come on this season of Total Divas!
It’s a great Thanksgiving for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and the rest of the cast of Moana as the Disney animated movie had a record-breaking pre-Thanksgiving opening day with an estimated $15.6 million, topping the previous record of $15.1 million set by Frozen according to Box Office Mojo.
Moana currently has a 97% rating on RottenTomatoes and an “A” CinemaScore from those who saw it yesterday and the preview on Tuesday. Industry insiders are predicting that Moana will break Frozen’s five-day haul over Thanksgiving weekend.
With Natalya and Paige on Total Divas, fans expected that both Tyson Kidd and Alberto Del Rio, the significant others of both cast members, would be featured in season six however this will not be the case.
Del Rio, who left the company in late September following a Wellness Program violation, told KENS5 Eyewitness News in San Antonio that he will only be featured for a few seconds during the whole season as WWE and E! have no permission to use his image or voice for Total Divas. Del Rio said that we will see plenty of Paige though, and despite her two Wellness Program violations, she’s trying to get back to training after her recent neck surgery to return to the ring.
Meanwhile, Tyson Kidd told a fan on Twitter that he’s been taken off the show by WWE after he was asked if he would be part of season six. “You’ll have to contact them to figure it out [why]. You won’t see me once this season. It’s all good,” he wrote earlier today. When another fan expressed her disappointment that his “situation” won’t be addressed on the show, he replied saying that he doesn’t believe WWE want to explain it at all. “I’ll leave it at that for now,” he added.
Kidd was injured mid-last year after taking a botched Muscle Buster from Samoa Joe in a dark match. He had to undergo a very dangerous neck surgery and his career is effectively finished.
Black Friday came a day early for WWE Shop with up to 75% off from hundreds of products plus an additional 25% off the entire order.
Action figures, hats, belt buckles, blankets, DVDs, flags, t-shirts, and every other merchandise you can imagine are part of the deal.
There’s also free U.S. Standard Shipping on orders over $15 (post-discount). Use the code FRIDAY for the additional 25% discount. Go to http://w-o.it/wweshopcom to start your shopping!
Goldberg told ESPN.COM that at the Survivor Series, the best way to take Lesnar down was to go the shock and awe route, something that nobody would expect against “a monster like that.” He noted that he doesn’t believe any of the smart marks all over the world thought the match was going to end like that.
The former WCW champion was encouraged by the reaction of the fans since his comeback, keeping in mind that the last time he was in a WWE ring – with Lesnar as well – fans did not appreciate any of them and booed them out of Madison Square Garden. The reaction of the fans was the reason that he made the decision to extend his deal with WWE. “I’m concentrating on the Royal Rumble and that’s it. I don’t have any plans of doing anything afterwards. My focus is on the 29 other men that I’m going to have to crucify to win that damn match,” Goldberg said, adding that he’s only as good as his next appearance.
“To be able to be booked to win against a guy like Brock Lesnar is a dream come true,” Goldberg said. “You’re looking in a lot of ways at a mirror image of yourself. I think we bring something to the table that is completely different than any other two people in the sport of professional wrestling. And I am proud of that, and I think that we’ve got that market pretty much cornered. I don’t know if that was the case prior to me coming in and being his opponent, but I do believe that that’s a special space and I think we can pretty much call our own right now,” he added.
Goldberg admitted that time is no longer on his side and things have changed, especially how he presents himself physically. “But it doesn’t mean that inside of this mind there’s still not that monster that’s ready to come out,” Goldberg concluded.
