WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on FOX from the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Tonight’s AEW Rampage on TNT at a special time (7pm ET) due to NBA All-Star coverage.
Jeff Hardy competed in a taped “AEW Rampage” match directly after last night’s “AEW Dynamite,” and was on the receiving end of a nasty botch in his bout against Sammy Guevara. While initial reports suggested Hardy could have suffered a serious injury, according to “Wrestling Observer,” the veteran’s official injury has been revealed to be a broken nose.
“Wrestling Observer’s” Brian Alvarez reportedly spoke to those backstage in AEW and conveyed the news to his X-Subscribers. Additionally, his report shot down speculation that Hardy might have suffered a concussion. “The word from within AEW is that Jeff Hardy suffered a broken nose last night but not a concussion.” Many fans online were naturally concerned after Hardy seemed to be knocked out, but a broken nose could explain why he seemed dazed. Hardy notably underwent surgery last year, so hopefully, his broken nose won’t result in him taking time off to get more surgery. In an appearance on his brother’s podcast, “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy,” last year, Hardy listed his eye surgery as something he considered to be one of the biggest challenges he faced in 2023. Hardy also revealed at the time that he still suffered from double vision, but he seemed hopeful about his future in the ring going forward.
It’s unclear when The Hardys will retire, but it seemed like “The Charismatic Enigma” was well into what seemed to be a singles run, and some fans online were notably praising his recent work. If his broken nose isn’t too severe, Hardy could be back in the ring very soon, potentially working the injury into a new angle at the same time.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Since the start of 2024, a slew of unexpected factors have seemingly resulted in some major shifts in the plan for WWE WrestleMania XL. Many fans have been captivated, for good or for ill, by the saga of Cody Rhodes in the lead-up to this year’s big event. In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer offered some additional details on the journey to Rhodes’ main event rematch against Roman Reigns.
According to Meltzer, following the injury to CM Punk, the decision was made internally to have Rhodes shift to facing Seth Rollins. With that in mind, WWE head of creative Paul “Triple H” Levesque came up with the idea for the segment on the February 2 edition of “WWE SmackDown,” with Rhodes stepping aside and offering his support for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to face Reigns instead.
Levesque reportedly believed that Rhodes’ endorsement of The Rock would tie up the storyline’s loose ends, but the fan reaction was overwhelmingly negative. At that point, an audible was called, with Johnson and his longtime writing and producing partner Bryan Gewirtz (a former WWE head writer) feeling that The Rock should turn heel based on the crowd response. That led to the WWE WrestleMania XL Kickoff press conference, pitting Rhodes and Rollins against Johnson and Reigns.
When the plan was for Rhodes to face Rollins, the idea within the company was that there would be no Men’s Elimination Chamber match at the next premium live event. However, as plans continued to shift around, it was decided to go back to that match to set up Rollins’ WrestleMania opponent. As many may have expected, the original plan was for Punk to win the Men’s Elimination Chamber until he suffered an injury at the 2024 WWE Royal Rumble.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s TNA Impact on AXS TV.
ROH will air a new episode of its weekly television show tonight at 7 pm ET on HonorClub.
You can sign up for the streaming service here. Below is the lineup for the show:
Earlier this month, TNA Wrestling revealed that Scott D’Amore was out as the TNA President. Anthony Cicione has now assumed the position.
Before his departure, D’Amore had a disagreement with the management and attempted to acquire the promotion with the support of a major banking institution. The offer was rejected.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, D’Amore made the purchase offer for TNA prior to Hard To Kill, which happened to be TNA’s most successful pay-per-view event in several years.
Source: eWn
Last night’s “AEW Rampage” taping, which took place immediately after “AEW Dynamite” at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas, saw Jeff Hardy battle Sammy Guevara. As per various videos that have surfaced online, Hardy appeared to suffer an injury during that bout. When Guevara attempted a Shooting Star Press from the top turnbuckle, Hardy managed to get his knees up, but Guevara’s leg inadvertently crashed “The Charismatic Enigma’s” head into the canvas.
When asked about Hardy’s potential setback on “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer provided his analysis of the incident. “It was pretty nasty,” Meltzer said. “I haven’t heard the severity of the injury, but it looked bad. It was one of those — I mean, you’ve seen them before, the knee just hit him right in the temple, I think it looked like. So he was knocked pretty silly. But we don’t know. It may not be that severe, but yeah, not sure.”
Hardy, who was performing in his fifth match of the year, was immediately attended to by the referee, with separate reports indicating Hardy was bleeding from the mouth and looking disorientated when he attempted to stand on his feet. Since the incident, Guevara has received some flak on social media, with some fans once again voicing their concerns about “The Spanish God” being an unsafe worker. Guevara had previously been criticized for his work during his feud with Jeff’s brother, Matt Hardy. The former AEW TNT Champion hit back at those claims by saying, “There’s a reason I’m doing this dangerous thing, and they’re watching this dangerous thing.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas (Just outside of Austin).
Taya Valkyrie is interested in using more of her “Wera Loca” style in All Elite Wrestling.
Speaking on a recent edition of the “Lightweights” podcast, the AEW and ROH wrestler commented on who she’d like to face using the crazy in-ring style she used on the indie scene prior to joining AEW.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On wanting to see more of her ‘Wera Loca’ style in AEW: “I’m really excited to kind of push those limits. I’ve had these No DQ (matches) in other companies, but I really want to bring that Wera Loca crazy style to AEW. I hope that I get that opportunity to show the world, show the people, why I am the crazy blonde, why Perro Aguayo was literally like, ‘Oh my God, this crazy blonde chick.’ I earned that nickname ten years ago. I want to bring that to AEW. I don’t know what that would be, the stipulations of it, but something, No DQ, with some badass women, we have so many in our locker room. I know it would deliver.”
On who she wants to face: “I would definitely go after Ruby Soho. I feel like me and her could create some absolute mayhem. I would love to have another rematch with Deonna [Deonna Purrazzo]. Saraya, I’ve never wrestled her. Kris Statlander, I’ve wrestled her once now, and she is so strong and so powerful. There are so many of us, and we all love this so much. When given the opportunity, I know we can absolutely thrive. Let’s get messy.”
