Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode will air live from the WWE Performance Center with more build for the upcoming Vengeance Day event.
Author: John Bass
WWE Morale Was Low Backstage After Royal Rumble
According to a report, WWE morale was low backstage after the Royal Rumble largely because a plethora of changes were made before the event.
The backstage “morale” following Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view was reportedly low.
Before the Royal Rumble pay-per-view commenced, it was reported that Vince McMahon had made several changes to the Royal Rumble matches. As previously noted, Riddle was reportedly initially scheduled to win the men’s Royal Rumble match, but WWE ultimately went with Brock Lesnar.
According to a report from Mike Johnson of PWInsider, “the morale with the WWE locker room among talents was down” after the show. This was largely “due to the whirlwind of changes made to the Rumble matches in the days and hours” before the Royal Rumble event started.
It was noted by Johnson that Triple H (Paul Levesque) and producer Tyson Kidd (T.J. Wilson) usually play major roles at the Royal Rumble event. Specifically, Triple H would be used “in an advisory role of sorts”, which includes making adjustments “to accentuate certain talents”. Triple H remains sidelined as he continues to recover from a serious cardiac event back in September that required surgery.
Johnson added that Kidd often plays “a massive leading role in producing the women’s division”, but he wasn’t present for Saturday’s event in St. Louis, Missouri.
Kofi Kingston botched a spot and was eliminated from the men’s Royal Rumble match sooner than planned. It was also reported that Shane McMahon, who returned to WWE programming following a lengthy hiatus, has plenty of backstage heat for largely booking the Royal Rumble around himself.
There was plenty of hype around Saturday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but in many ways, it did not live up to expectations. For one, why couldn’t Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley just win their respective matches cleanly? Why did Lesnar himself have to win the Royal Rumble when he’s already an established main event star? WWE missed several opportunities to piece together a top quality Royal Rumble event here, and it’s no wonder that so many fans were left greatly disappointed.
Source: TheSportster
WWE RAW Preview 1/31/22
The post-Royal Rumble edition of WWE RAW will air live tonight from the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Kurt Angle Reveals WWE Called Him To Appear On TV For “The Next Month Or So”
On the latest episode of The Kurt Angle Show, the former Olympic Gold Medalist revealed that he will be coming back to the WWE in time for the build up to WrestleMania 38. Angle was seen at this past weekend’s Royal Rumble with Shelton Benjamin and teased that he will be with the WWE for the “next month or so.”
“I did [receive a call] from WWE and they want me to be involved in the show for the next month or so,” Angle mentioned. “I’m really excited about it, so we’ll see what’s in store for me.”
After retiring at WrestleMania 35 in a loss to Baron Corbin, Angle was released by WWE back in April of 2020 and hasn’t been seen with the company since. After stating numerous times that he was offered several roles with AEW, Kurt Angle never appeared with the company and will seemingly make his return on-screen for WWE shortly.
During a previous episode of the podcast, Kurt Angle teased possibly coming out of retirement and wrestling again. It’s unclear what Angle will be doing during the lead up to WrestleMania 38,.
During the podcast, Kurt Angle also spoke about William Regal being released by WWE recently and why he was surprised by the move. Regal has been steady with the company for the last 20+ years, most recently recognized for his role as the NXT General Manager for the past eight.
“I was surprised, he was a huge asset to the company,” Angle said. “He was a great trainer and coach, one of the best technicians I have ever known. He was a big plus for the company. I was really shocked they let him go.”
Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to The Kurt Angle Show
ROH Announces The Briscoes For Inaugural Hall Of Fame Class
ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes are headed to the Ring of Honor Hall of Fame.
ROH announced today that the first inductees into the inaugural class of the ROH Hall of Fame will be Mark Briscoe and Jay Briscoe.
The Briscoes have been with ROH since the start as 18 year old Jay Briscoe defeated The Amazing Red in the first-ever ROH singles match at The Era of Honor Begins on February 23, 2002. Jay was accompanied to the ring by Mark. Since then, The Briscoes have held the ROH World Tag Team Titles twelve times, the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Titles once, with WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray, and Jay has held the ROH World Title twice. The Briscoes were also named the Tag Team of the Decade for the 2010s, and they were named Tag Team of the Year in 2019. Mark and Jay have also held NJPW’s IWGP World Tag Team Titles, and numerous indie titles.
The Briscoes won the ROH World Tag Team Titles this last time by defeating The OGK at Final Battle on December 11.
To celebrate The Briscoes, a career retrospective will air this weekend during the ROH TV episode. A YouTube special on The Briscoes will be released on Monday, February 7 via the official ROH YouTube channel.
ROH will air a special Hall of Fame episode of ROH TV during the weekend of March 5. The company will be announcing more inductees over the next several weeks.
ROH will return from their hiatus on April 1 with Supercard of Honor XV, live from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, TX, during WWE’s WrestleMania 38 Weekend.
Former WWE And Impact Star Ken Anderson Accused Of Unprofessionalism By Students At Wrestling School
Former WWE and Impact Wrestling star Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy) has been accused of unprofessional business practices by students at his wrestling school in Minneapolis, MN.
On Sunday, a Reddit user, claiming to be a student enrolled in Anderson’s “The Academy: School of Professional Wrestling,” stated that the school has been closed for “quite some time now,” and hasn’t resumed activities unlike other gyms in the area. The post claimed that students enrolled in the school for nearly two years have yet to receive any semblance of training, “not even remote homework like tape study, character development or promos.” Furthermore, the user pointed out that the school’s website was deactivated a while ago.
The user noted that Anderson has “gone silent and his only update every 2-3 months is that they’re in talks with a realtor for a new facility but no real progress comes out of it.”
The post led to another Reddit user commenting on his experiences with Anderson’s school. They claimed to have signed up for a 30-minute free consultation, only to show up to an empty warehouse at the time of the scheduled appointment. The Reddit thread can be found here.
According to Bodyslam.net, while some students are still hopeful that the school will eventually reopen, one particular student has given up hope. The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, pointed out how the reopening of the school has been postponed several times in the last 18 months since they paid for the program. He also corroborated claims by users in the Reddit thread that Anderson’s school has yet to issue refunds.
The student revealed the reasons he’s been given – for not receiving training – range from the outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant to the lack of a building to train in. This specific student came to a conclusion about six months ago that the situation seemed “super sketchy based on the lack of communication.” They also noted their communication with Anderson himself to be very minimal, citing brief conversations via text messages.
The student issued the following statement via BodySlam:
In no way am I making any claims on Ken’s personal character as I’ve had minimal contact with the man, but I believe his business practices and professionalism speaks for themselves. I’m personally not out to ruin anyone’s career but simply trying to hold others accountable for their actions as well as preventing others from making the same mistakes I did.
The money I’m out may not seem like a lot to some but it was my entire savings as well as my dreams, and at the end of the day, that’s all I really want back. My dream is crushed but hopefully I can get my money back.
Mr. Kennedy’s wrestling school has trained talents such as Dante & Darius Martin of AEW, and once had trainers such as Molly Holly, Shawn Daivari and Arik Cannon.
Anderson has yet to respond to the allegations. As seen in the screengrabs below, the school has reached out to the students at regular intervals, but hasn’t provided any training in two years.
Anderson was last seen in a match at the NWA Powerrr tapings in December 2019. He was scheduled to compete at the NWA Hard Times pay-per-view in January 2020, but was pulled from match versus Tim Storm due to an injury.
UPDATE: Through their Facebook page, Anderson’s wrestling school reached out to their students on December 18, 2021. As seen in the screengrabs below, the school also previously expected to reopen on November 1.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE Royal Rumble Results 1/29/2022, Ronda Rousey Returns
WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP (SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos was banned from ringside)
Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns (c) by DQ
Seth Rollins came to the ring to The Shield’s music wearing his old Shield gear.
Reigns was disqualified when he refused to let go of a guillotine submission hold with Rollins in the ropes.
After the match, Reigns viciously beat Rollins with repeated chair shots
30-WOMAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
- Sasha Banks
- Melina
- Tamina
- Kelly Kelly
- Aliyah
- Liv Morgan
- Queen Zelina
- Bianca Belair
- Dana Brooke
- Michelle McCool
- Sonya Deville
- Natalya
- Cameron
- Naomi
- Carmilla
- Rhea Ripley
- SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair
- Ivory
- Brie Bella
- Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James
- Alicia Fox
- Nikki A.S.H.
- Summer Rae
- Nikki Bella
- Sarah Logan
- Lita
- Mighty Molly Holly
- Ronda Rousey – Winner
- Shotzi
- Shayna Baszler
RAW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH
Becky Lynch (c) defeated Doudrop
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP
Bobby Lashley defeated Brock Lesnar (c) to become the new WWE Champion
Roman Reigns interfered. Paul Heyman handed the title belt to Reigns and he hit Lesnar with it and Lashley made the pin cover for the win. Heyman walked out with Reigns.
MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH
WWE Hall of Famers Edge and Beth Phoenix defeated The Miz and Maryse
30-MAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
- AJ Styles
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Austin Theory
- Robert Roode
- Ridge Holland
- Montez Ford
- Damien Priest
- Sami Zayn
- Johnny Knoxville
- Angelo Dawkins
- Omos
- Ricochet
- Chad Gable
- Dominik Mysterio
- Happy Corbin
- Dolph Ziggler
- Sheamus
- Rick Boogs
- Madcap Moss
- Riddle
- Drew McIntyre
- Kevin Owens
- Rey Mysterio
- Kofi Kingston
- Otis
- Big E
- Bad Bunny
- Shane McMahon
- Randy Orton
- Brock Lesnar – Winner
AEW Rampage Beach Break Championship Friday Preview
Tonight’s AEW Rampage episode on TNT will be the special Championship Friday Beach Break edition, taped earlier this week from the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, OH.
* Jon Moxley vs. Anthony Bowens
* AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR vs. Brock Anderson and Lee Johnson
* AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill defends against Julia Hart
* AEW World Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express defend against Private Party
WWE SmackDown Preview 1/28/22
The WWE Royal Rumble go-home edition of SmackDown on FOX will air live tonight from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
WWE Royal Rumble 1/29/2022
DATE: January 29, 2022 8:00 pm
LOCATION: The Dome at America’s Center, St. Louis, Missouri
AVAILABLE ON: Peacock, WWE Network (outside of the U.S.)
30-MAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
Johnny Knoxville, Austin Theory, AJ Styles, Rey Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio, Montez Ford, Angelo Dawkins, Sheamus, WWE United States Champion Damian Priest, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Sami Zayn, Madcap Moss, Happy Baron Corbin, Kevin Owens, Omos, Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Randy Orton, Riddle, RAW Tag Team Champion Otis, RAW Tag Team Champion Chad Gable, 8 Superstars TBA
30-WOMAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James, Rhea Ripley, Nikki A.S.H., WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella, WWE Hall of Famer Brie Bella, Shotzi, Natalya, Michelle McCool, WWE 24/7 Champion Dana Brooke, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Carmella, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Queen Zelina Vega, Tamina Snuka, Kelly Kelly, Aliyah, Summer Rae, Naomi, Shayna Baszler, WWE Hall of Famer Lita, Liv Morgan, Bianca Belair, 9 participants TBA
WWE TITLE MATCH
Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar (c)
WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE MATCH
Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns (c)
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos are banned from ringside.
RAW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH
Doudrop vs. Becky Lynch (c)
MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH
WWE Hall of Famers Edge and Beth Phoenix vs. The Miz and Maryse
