NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver continued to take shape yesterday with new matches and stipulations announced.
The NXT Tag Team titles will be decided on the show in a triple threat match as MSK, Grizzled Young Veterans, and Legado del Fantasma face each other to become the new champions. Regal vacated the titles after Danny Burch’s injury, leaving Oney Lorcan without a partner and unable to defend the titles.
The NXT UK title will be defended as Walter takes on Tommaso Ciampa in another match announced yesterday. Walter has been champion for a long time, since April 2019 and will also defend the title against Rampage Brown on NXT UK: Prelude, the day after Takeover night one.
The Undisputed Era members finally will collide at Stand & Deliver as the excellent feud between Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly reaches the next level in what surely will be one of the best matches of the whole show. This match will be “unsanctioned” as Regal said O’Reilly is still “not cleared” to compete.
The NXT Cruiserweight title unification match will now be…a ladder match! Shawn Michaels made an appearance on NXT last night and introduced a ladder as Jordan Devlin and Santos Escobar stood in the ring.
The NXT North American title will be defended by Johnny Gargano but his opponent will not be named until night one of Takeover after a 12-man battle royal which will transition to a gauntlet eliminator match with the final six entrants of the match. Participating in the battle royal, and thus potential opponents for Gargano, are Dexter Lumis, Leon Ruff, Kushida, Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Roderick Strong, Austin Theory, LA Knight, Tyler Rust, Jake Atlas and Pete Dunne.
Joining Kane in the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2021 will also be The Great Khali, becoming the first Indian to be inducted.
The news was announced by WWE Now India and delivered to Khali virtually by Dave Kapoor, the man better known to fans as Ranjin Singh, his former manager.
“You’re going into the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame class,” Kapoor said in a video call. “Yeeesss!” Khali replied as he raised his arms to celebrate. “It is very exciting, and Khali congratulations, you know I love you, we are like brothers, and I am so happy I was the one who was able to deliver the news to you,” Kapoor continued.
The Great Khali made his pro wrestling debut in 2000 and after a stint with All Pro Wrestling, he joined WCW in 2000 where he spent eight months there. His contract was not picked up by WWE after the purchase and he then moved to New Japan Pro Wrestling for a year. He eventually wrestled for CMLL and AJPW for a few years before in 2006, WWE came knocking on the door, becoming the first Indian pro wrestler signed to a WWE deal.
He made his debut on WWE television in 2006 by attacking The Undertaker and was managed by Daivari. He was drafted to the ECW brand that same year but was then moved to the Raw brand in 2007 where he was joined by Ranjin Singh as his manager. After another move, this time to Smackdown, Khali won the World Heavyweight title in a battle royal after eliminating both Kane and Batista at the same time. His title reign lasted only 61 days, losing the title to Batista.
His time on WWE television lasted until 2014 and eventually left the promotion in 2017 after his contract expired. He returned home in India after his WWE contract ran out and opened his own wrestling school titled Continental Wrestling Entertainment.
The 48-year-old made a surprise appearance at The Greatest Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia in 2018, but lasted less than a minute. That was his final time in a WWE ring.
Getting tired of your repetitive exercise routines? Well, if you haven’t tried wrestling workouts to mix up your everyday regimen, now’s the time to start. Wrestlers aren’t the only ones who can benefit from a good wrestling workout.
You’ll find dozens of wrestler’s home workouts online — some of them good and some of them…not so much.
Today, we’re giving you 5 easy examples of wrestler’s exercises you can try at home.
5 Wrestling Workouts to Try at Home
1. Pullups
Strong arms and shoulders, toned back muscles, and improved grip — these are just some of the benefits you can gain from doing pull ups. To do a pullup, you first hang onto a pullup bar with your palms facing away from your body. You then try to pull yourself up until your chin is above the pullup bar.
Pull Ups are different from chin ups, as chin ups require your hands to be facing toward your body. They also hit an entirely different muscle region.
Beginners can use a machine to assist them with their first pullup, and they’ll still get benefits from these variations.
Total Shape has tons of arm workout guides you can read and learn from up on their site, so make sure to visit them before starting a new regimen, to avoid unwanted accidents.
2. Deadlifts
Performing deadlifts helps improve your core strength, core stability, and posture. It’s also great for boosting your body’s fat-burning functions, helping you burn fat faster. If you’re trying to improve your grip strength, deadlifts are perfect for the job, as it strengthens your fingers, forearms, and shoulders.
Additionally, deadlifts are great for toning leg muscles and glutes, as well as your lower back. Just make sure you’re doing them right, or else you’re putting yourself at risk of an injury.
The iso chest press is the best exercise to develop upper body strength and stability. It’s similar to a bench press, in the sense that they both work the same muscle groups. But each person is different, so one might prefer chest presses from the bench press. If you want to benefit from both exercises, you can use them alternately. Otherwise, you can choose the one that feels most comfortable to you.
4. Zercher Squats
The Zercher squat is a great squat variation that challenges the upper back, quads, and core. It’s a front-loaded exercise, with the barbell placed in front of the body, between the creases of your elbows.
Some people like to use paddings or wear a long sleeve shirt when doing a Zercher squat, to prevent the barbell from slipping through their arms. Make sure you have a spotter to assist you during this workout to avoid any injuries.
5. Dumbbell Shrugs
If you’re suffering from chronic neck pain, bad posture, and weak upper back muscles, practicing dumbbell shrugs is a great way to improve your condition. If you’re new to this exercise, we recommend that you start with 5 to 8-pound weights to avoid shocking your muscles. You can slowly work yourself up from there once you develop more strength.
When doing this exercise, make sure you carefully lift your shoulders before dropping them back down in the same vertical direction to avoid injuring yourself.
How to Avoid Injury
Working out is great and can provide you with tons of benefits from muscle development to a boost in health — but only when you do it safely. There’s no point in exercising if you only end up with a bad injury.
Before beginning your routine, it’s good to do a few minutes of warm up to give your muscles time to get ready for your workout. In a similar way, you should also allow your muscles to cool down at the end of your routines. Do a couple of stretches before hitting the showers.
If you’re a beginner at working out with weights, we recommend you start with small weights before moving on to heavier ones. It might feel like you’re doing more for your muscles, but in reality, you’re actually putting yourself in danger.
To make the most out of your workouts, you might also want to consider taking supplements for muscle gain and energy. There are dozens of options available for you online. If you’re not sure which one to get for your training, here’s a great guide to help you make the best decision.
The road to Takeover: Stand & Deliver continues tonight on USA Network with another live episode of NXT. General Manager William Regal will be making an announcement regarding the NXT Tag Team titles, which were vacated after Danny Burch suffered a shoulder injury.
Speaking of the titles, one half of the now-former NXT Tag Team champions, Oney Lorcan, will be taking on Karrion Kross in a one-on-one match. Kross was the culprit for the injury to Burch last week and Orcan is seeking revenge. The NXT UK champion Walter will be in action as well as he takes on Drake Maverick. A non-title match between Cruiserweight champ Jordan Devlin and Kushida will be taking place and LA Knight will battle Bronson Reed. The women will be represented as well with Io Shirai teaming up with Zoey Stark to take on Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai and the NXT Women’s Tag Team champions Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon defend against Aliyah and Jessi Kamea of The Robert Stone Brand.
Plus, William Regal has promised to “take action” on Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly as the implosion of The Undisputed Era continues.
AEW is back tonight with a live episode of Dynamite and five matches have been announced so far, including a title match.
The TNT title will be on the line as champion Darby Allin will be defending against John Silver of The Dark Order. There are two six-man tag team matches also on the show, with The Young Bucks teaming with Brandon Cutler to take on The Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid while FTR and Shawn Spears of The Pinnacle wrestle Varsity Blondes and Dante Martin. The other two matches are Tay Conti vs Nyla Rose and AEW World champion Kenny Omega vs Matt Sydal.
Last week, AEW enjoyed a big victory over NXT with a women’s match main eventing the show for the first time.
Kane is the latest name being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2021 and the Big Red Machine was surprised with the news by The Undertaker on The Bump earlier today.
Sitting in a car, The Undertaker told his former tag team partner and arch nemesis – who was sitting in his office – that he’s the next one in.
“It is truly my honor to announce that you, Kane, will be the next inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame, the class of 2021. Well deserved, much earned, and couldn’t be more proud of you brother,” Taker said.
As he was telling him the surprise, Kane’s face went from smiling to dead serious.
“Are you serious about that?” Kane replied. “Definitely serious, there’s no Hall of Fame without Kane I can promise you that. You are the man,” Taker said.
A very visibly emotional Kane couldn’t find the words to continue. “That means a lot, thank you very much,” he said, as Taker told him that he earned every bit of it.
Glenn Jacobs is one of the longest-serving WWE Superstars, having started with the promotion in 1995. He started his career in 1992 and wrestled mainly for the USWA and SMW as Unabomb before he was hired by Vince McMahon three years later.
He kept his Unabomb name for a few months before being repackaged as Isaac Yankem, DDS, and was teamed up with Jerry Lawler as his private dentist. A year later, Jacobs transitioned to the gimmick of Diesel, taking over Kevin Nash’s gimmick after Nash and Hall moved to WCW. His role as Diesel was a short one and in 1997 he made his debut as Kane at In Your House: Badd Blood, interfering in the Hell In A Cell match between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels.
Throughout the years, Kane battled and tag teamed with The Undertaker and was involved in many epic storylines, kidnappings, fires, burials, and everything else in between. Considered one of the foot soldiers for the company, Kane won numerous titles in his WWE career, including the WWE title, the World Heavyweight title, the ECW title, the Tag Team titles, the Intercontinental title, and Money In The Bank.
Today, Kane shows up only when required and on special occasions as the man behind the mask serves as the Mayor of Knox County.
WWE is packing their ThunderDome and moving north of Tropicana Field and into the third different location at The Yuengling Center on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa.
With the MLB season starting next month, Tropicana Field was required for the Tampa Bay Rays and the ThunderDome setup could not stay there. This was already well-known when WWE started their residency on December 11 after it moved the ThunderDome from the Amway Center.
The first WWE show at The Yeungling Center will be on April 12, which is the Raw after WrestleMania.
“WWE has always been a highlight of our event mix and bringing this world-class residency to Yuengling Center only strengthens our relationship,” said Kevin Preast, Executive Vice President of Event Management at Vinik Sports Group. “Hosting WWE ThunderDome is another step towards a full return of hosting more events in the area.”
The Yeungling Center is a much, much smaller location than Tropicana Field with a capacity of 10,500 fans. Built in the late 70s and opened to the public in late 1980, The Yeungling Center last underwent renovation in 2011. The arena, under its old name of the Sun Dome, has already hosted WWE events in the past, including a few Saturday Night Main Event shows in the 80s as well as the Royal Rumble in 1995.
While stadiums and arenas in Florida have the permission to run at 100% capacity, WWE has opted not to have fans for their television shows.
NXT referee Tom Castor underwent successful surgery to repair a torn bicep, just over a week after he announced that he was injured.
Castor refereed the Io Shirai vs Toni Storm NXT Women’s title match and wrote, “Little did I know when I handed Io her championship that this would end up being my last match for the foreseeable future.” Castor tore the bicep off the bone in a non in-ring incident.
“Thank you everyone for all the love and support this last week. Whether it was a phone call or a text message or tweet or a Instagram message, you’ll never know how much your words of encouragement uplifted me during this trying time,” Castor wrote in a post on social media. “I am happy to report that, as of this morning, I had successful surgery on my bicep and my road to recovery starts tomorrow. I am not sure how long it will take to get back in the ring but I am more motivated than ever to rebuild myself and get back to what I love! Thank you all again for everything.”
The AFL is one of the most popular sports in Australia. This league attracts a great deal of attention from sports enthusiasts worldwide. A big part of being a fan of the AFL is placing bets on your favourite teams. People involved in sports betting from all over Australia look forward to the betting markets on the AFL. One of the best resources to make the best informed bets is on AFL tips.
AFL tips is a great place to do your research on what’s happening in the AFL. With regular updates and match previews, AFL tips is a great place to enhance your overall betting strategy. Some organizations will provide expert tips such as a staking plan, game date, methods, approaches, and advised bets for every betting game.
The tips are created by an expert analyst utilizing a proprietary model that identifies the perfect betting opportunities for its members. The tested method will be readily available for an AFL betting approach on which you can rely. They help to invest some amount of time and knowledge, thereby increasing the chances of winning. Some bettors will say that one must need a certain skill level in betting and betting systems to increase the winning chance. AFL Tips is a great place to to build your knowledge. The services offered by them are as follows.
Good knowledge of betting
When it comes to AFL tips, some organizations have adequate knowledge and understanding of the AFL. There is extensive research on each match covering the players, teams, the positions they play in, and their impact on the team’s performance.
Detailed research is conducted on both sides, along with their players, before assisting a punter. They will offer the pros and cons of betting on a team with some recent wins as sometimes there are hidden details to a team’s form. The organizations keenly observe such details before helping a customer or member. Having as much information regarding of both teams is crucial before making a bet.
Long-term solutions
These services have experts who back up all the results. The analysts in an organization play an important role in ensuring that they have exhibited excellent long-term solutions for their customers. Such organizations also have testimonials from customers that share the long-term experience and learning process involved in betting. It is done based on the information that was being shared with them throughout the whole process. It depicts that they meet customer expectations and the services offered by them are professional.
Glenn “Kane” Jacobs announced that he is seeking reelection as Knox County Mayor and appointed a treasurer on Monday to kick start his campaign.
Jacobs has a year left in his term and the Republican primary will take place in May of next year while the election is held three months later in August 2022.
“Four years ago, I pledged to stay true to my conservative values as Mayor. Nobody could have envisioned a pandemic and the economic shutdown that followed, but I’m proud Knox County has been able to weather the storm without a tax increase,” Jacobs said. “By tightening our belt and making smart cuts, we balanced our budget while continuing to make forward-thinking investments in our community. If reelected, the public can expect four more years of leadership with conservative values top of mind.”
He said that it has been the honor of his life to serve as Knox County Mayor. “I would appreciate your support and your vote,” he added.
Jacobs still reprises his role as Kane occasionally on WWE television. His recent appearance was at the Royal Rumble and was eliminated by Damien Priest. He donates the money he receives from his WWE appearances.
One of the headliners of the 2020 class of the WWE Hall of Fame will not be able to make it to the ceremony this year.
Former champ Batista confirmed the reports that he will not be inducted into the Hall of Fame for now due to a scheduling conflict, making him unable to physically be in Tampa for the taping of the ceremony.
“Unfortunately, due to previous obligations I am unable to be a part of the @WWE #HOF this year,” Batista wrote on Twitter. “By my request, they have agreed to induct me at a future ceremony where I’ll be able to properly thank the fans and people who made my career possible.”
The Hollywood movie star was part of the class from last year but the ceremony never took place due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 class includes The nWo, The Bella Twins, The British Bulldog, JBL, and Jushin Thunder Liger.
Soccer is a very emotional game. If the participants in a match cannot hold back, fights occur on the field, involving fans, coaches and club attendants. In this article, Telecomasia.net tells about the five greatest fights in soccer history
5. Aston Villa v Newcastle. Premier League (2005)
Clashes between players of opposing teams occur quite often. But in the championship of England, a completely different case occurred. The Magpies were losing to a club from Birmingham and were very upset about it. Teammates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer began to sort things out. First in words, and then using fists. Teammates and opponents began to separate the footballers. The referee sent off both players, so Newcastle had to play the match with eight men, as one player had already left the field.
Thus Bowyer and Dyer let the whole team down. The first was fined the amount that he earned in 6 weeks, and the second went unpunished, as he became a victim of the aggression of his teammate and only defended himself.
Later, the players publicly apologized to their fans and teammates.
4. Valencia v Inter. Champions League (2007)
Valencia’s Marchena and Inter’s Burdisso had an argument. Events then unfolded rapidly. Navarro hit Burdisso, breaking his nose, and then tried to escape into the dressing room. It was there that the real brawl began. The security guards had trouble calming the teams down and escorting the Inter players out of the Valencia dressing room.
Navarro, who was on the bench for this match, has been suspended from soccer for 7 months. The rest of the brawl participants missed from 2 to 6 games in European cups (you can find better odds for betting on European cup fixtures in the bookmakers from Meta.reviews) and the clubs have paid heavy fines for their players’ behaviour.
3. Roma v Galatasaray. Champions League (2002)
The footballers of both teams were outraged by the refereeing of Anders Frisk. The atmosphere between the Turks and Italians was heated to the limit. The explosion of emotions happened after the final whistle. Galatasaray footballers started insulting Roma player Francisco Lima, and his teammates decided to intercede for their friend. The two teams began to fight wall to wall. Ultimately, club staff, coaches and stewards managed to calm down the raging footballers.
2. Serbia v Albania. Euro 2016 qualifier (2014)
Unfortunately, sports and politics are still linked. During the match, the Albanians launched a drone with the national flag from the VIP box, which caused the indignation of the Serbs. When Alexander Mitrovich tried to shoot it down, real madness began. After a massive fight between the players, the Albanian national team tried to hide in the locker room, but Serbian fans began to throw them with everything that came to hand, run out onto the field and beat the players.
Albania was initially credited with a technical defeat for a provocation, but the Serbians were then declared the losers because they had failed to provide sufficient security during the international game.
1. Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao. Spanish Cup final (1983)
Let’s start with the backstory. It all started when Maradona moved to Barcelona and the club played against Athletic. Goikoetxea, nicknamed “The Butcher of Bilbao”, was instructed to guard the legend. However, he overplayed his hand and broke Maradona’s ankle as a result of heavy pressure and constant kicks to his feet.
Maradona missed more than six months and after watching the episode on television realised that Goikoetxea had acted so harshly on purpose. Diego decided to take revenge.
The opportunity came in the Spanish Cup final. After the whistle blew to end the game, Maradona started an incredible brawl with the Athletic players. TV footage captured his terrifying kick to the face of the goalkeeper. Players and fans of both teams clashed with each other in front of King Juan Carlos of Spain. Maradona was suspended from soccer for three months after the fight.
You can read other articles on a wide variety of topics on Centreforum.org.
The post-Fastlane episode of Raw drew an average of 1,816,000 viewers this week, down 27,000 viewers from last week’s show. The night was dominated by several NCAA games on TBS, TNT, and CBS.
Hour one started with 1,878,000 viewers, followed by 1,841,000 viewers in the second hour, and then down to 1,729,000 viewers in the third and final hour.
Raw was #4, #5, and #6 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic with 0.53, 0.53, and 0.52 ratings respectively. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The NXT Tag Team titles are being vacated due to Danny Burch’s shoulder injury and NXT General Manager William Regal will address the state of the titles further tomorrow night on NXT on USA Network.
Burch was injured last Wednesday while defending the titles with Oney Lorcan against Finn Balor and Karrion Kross. WWE medical personnel attended to Burch at ringside after he landed badly on his shoulder and he was not allowed back in the ring to finish the match. His tag team partner finished the match, pinning Balor.
With Burch seemingly out for a long time, Regal said that due to the unfortunate news, he will have to make the difficult decision to vacate the NXT Tag Team titles.
Burch and Lorcan have been champions for over 150 days, defeating Breezango on the October 21 episode of NXT on USA.
Jon Alba of Spectrum Sports 360 is reporting that WWE will end their residency at the Tropicana Field on Friday, April 2, with a final Smackdown taping there. The Tropicana Field will be used for the start of the Major League Baseball season and the Rays will have their first game a week later in the same location.
With WWE needing to vacate the premises so close to WrestleMania, John Pollock of POST Wrestling added to the story that the Monday Night Raw, Smackdown, and Hall of Fame during WrestleMania Week will be taped in advance.
The Raw which will air on April 4 will be taped on March 30 and the April 9 Smackdown will be taped on April 1. Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame ceremony will also be taped over two days on the same dates as the planned Raw and Smackdown tapings on March 30 and April 1.
WWE has not announced yet where the ThunderDome will be moving and if it will be kept in the same configuration but there are rumors that WWE will set up shop at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, an older arena which hosted the 1995 Royal Rumble.
The constant sound in your mind telling you to do the work on the table, whilst you are at a state of inertia trying to figure out the big bang theory! It is only at the last moment that you finish your work in hours – for what you were given days!
Sound familiar? That’s the sound of procrastination.
Why do you procrastinate? The answer to that question is the first step to getting yourself to stop doing it. And believe it that this journey is not supposed to be a guilt trip for getting late all the time and keeping people waiting. It is just that once you know where the problem starts – it is easier to cope up with it. So, let’s stop procrastinating.
The Psychology Behind Procrastination
From a clinical perspective, the reasons behind procrastination can be certain demotivating factors – like anxiety, boredom, fear of failure or lack of confidence. Procrastination is not a mental disorder, it is only a mental state. However, sometimes it can be a symptom or an early sign of mental illnesses like depression, ADHD or anxiety. Lack of sleep can also play a pivotal role in causing us to lose focus.
Lifestyle Choices, Emotional Stress, Video Gaming – Decoding Rumored Causes of Procrastination
There are many times when life choices, lifestyle choices and personal habits can turn down our performance at work by making us a procrastinator: when someone is pursuing a career or academic subject that does not interest them whilst their real calling is something else. Emotional and relationship issues fall in the same domain too. When you just can’t concentrate on work because according to your priorities, there are more important things happening in the world outside of your desk job.
Video gaming is also associated with procrastination, especially when it becomes an addiction. Speaking of online gaming, nowadays, there is another aspect of it – online gambling, which is now popular in many countries and many such online punters find themselves in similar situations being glued to slots or poker during a work hour.
Licenced gambling sites like the Vulcan Vegas online casino have certain settings that allow players to control their gaming habits. But according to experts, stopping to play doesn’t solve the problem because sometimes, there is more to the story.
In a recent study published in BMC Psychology, it was revealed that there is hardly any direct connection between video gaming and procrastination. It could not be pinpointed that excess video gaming causes procrastination. However, the report also revealed that when the survey members were asked the reason behind their video gaming, most of the responses were about reducing stress or taking some time off from reality – this can rather be a bigger concern.
How to Stop Procrastinating?
Now that you have an idea of the direct causes of procrastination – the best way to treat yourself to stop procrastinating is by understanding which one of these causes you relate to the most. What makes YOU procrastinate? Once you have your cause, you can choose your remedy accordingly.
Move anti-clockwise
Give yourself the free time to contemplate what holds you back from doing your work on time.
The guilt for constantly being late and running behind time has to stop – so for once, stop running, and maybe you will pick pace. Instead of doing a job at a work hour, why don’t you experiment by doing it beforehand at night and submit the job before time?
Make an accomplishment
Accomplishments can be excellent motivators that make you more and more ambitious. So, get yourself to do that one task that will earn you the status of a star performer. For many people, it is a direct healer for procrastination.
Challenge yourself
Most of the time, procrastinators are also secretly dynamic performers. So, you can coax yourself with a fake target. Plan a date with a friend or an appointment with the dentist after work or class – push yourself to the brink that you have to do it on time. And unleash the real performer within yourself.
Reward Yourself For No Reason
When you multitask with a remarkable lack of relaxation, usually starting a new day feels like a drudge. You need to give yourself the amount of relaxation that your body and mind need. Maybe a cup of tea at a fancy cafe or a day at the spa or a big Mac… whatever makes you happy.
Do a health checkup
Sometimes health issues like low blood pressure or malnutrition can lead to lack of energy. And lack of energy may lead to lack of focus at work. So, one thing leads to another. Be healthy to be wise.
Consulting a psychological counsellor helps
It has already been established that procrastination is not a mental disorder by itself. But seeing a psychological counsellor does not mean that you have a mental disorder either. General counsellors can also help with lifestyle management and help you perform better in your career or studies. When you can express yourself fully and have a wider perspective of things about yourself and your habits, the know-how radically boosts your conscience and motivation.
Final Word of Advice
So, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, know that procrastination may be a big problem, but there is a way out of it. And it doesn’t cost you a lot of strain or time. Decode the reason that makes you lose focus – you have to treat the reason to have a happy day end.
Some matches from WrestleMania have already been assigned a date on which night they will be airing on pay-per-view.
Night one looks like it will be headlined by the WWE championship match between Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre. Also on night one are Sasha Banks vs Bianca Belair for the Smackdown Women’s title and Bad Bunny vs The Miz.
Night two will feature Roman Reigns vs Edge for the Universal title, a match which is likely to turn into a three-way with the addition of Daniel Bryan. Asuka vs Rhea Ripley for the Raw Women’s title and The Fiend vs Randy Orton are also scheduled for night two.
Several new WrestleMania matches were revealed yesterday on Monday Night Raw.
The Raw Women’s title match will now feature Asuka taking on former NXT Women’s champion Rhea Ripley. Ripley made her main roster debut last night and challenged The Empress of Tomorrow for the title at WrestleMania. Ripley departed NXT in early January and then had a great showing at the Royal Rumble but was kept off television since that pay-per-view.
Grammy Award winner Bad Bunny will get his chance to shine at the Showcase of Immortals in a one-on-one match against The Miz. The match was originally thought to be a tag team match with Bad Bunny teaming with Damien Priest to take on Miz and Morrison. Bunny got his revenge on The Miz last night by smashing a guitar into the back of The Miz, payback for what Miz did to him last week.
Shane McMahon will stop running from Braun Strowman at WrestleMania as the two will finally meet on the pay-per-view. McMahon vs Strowman was initially advertised for the Fastlane show this past Sunday but mid-week, advertising changed and the match was removed from the card without notice. Sure enough, the match did not happen and it was Elias who took McMahon’s place after Shane got “injured” while doing training.
The final match announced on Raw was an expected one between The Fiend and Randy Orton. The Fiend returned at Fastlane and took out Orton and yesterday, the two, along with Alexa Bliss, closed out Monday Night Raw. This might be a gimmick match but nothing was announced on Raw.
Charlotte Flair announced yesterday that she has COVID-19 and that’s why she has been absent from WWE television.
“I know everyone has been wondering where I have been,” Flair wrote. “I tested positive for COVID and have been home resting. Thank you everyone for your love.”
There have been unconfirmed rumors that Charlotte threatened to walk out if Andrade did not get his release and the former NXT champion not only got his release, but also got away without the standard 90-day no-compete clause.
Flair was removed from WrestleMania promotional graphics a couple of weeks ago, a move which raised some eyebrows since she was scheduled to take on Asuka for the Raw Women’s title. That opportunity is now going to someone else and Flair looks like she will be missing WrestleMania completely this time around.
With no Axxess accompanying WrestleMania this year, WWE has announced that WrestleMania Week will feature virtual meet and greets every day from Monday, April 5 to Monday, April 12.
Tickets for all sessions will go on sale tomorrow at GrowTix.com and start at $125 each. Each ticket includes a 2-minute private one-on-one video with selected WWE Superstar and a downloadable video of your meet & greet which will be available within 2-3 days of the event.
The full schedule has Finn Balor, Big E, and Bayley on April 5, Bianca Belair, Naomi, and AJ Styles on April 6, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, and Alexa Bliss on April 7, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley on April 8, Edge and Seth Rollins on April 9, Damian Priest, Street Profits, Kevin Owens, and Jeff Hardy on April 10, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano and Candice LaRae on April 11, and Braun Strowman and Charlotte Flair on April 12.
More Superstar virtual meet and greet sessions will be announced later this week.
