Tonight’s AEW Dynamite will air live from the H.E.B. Center in Austin, Texas.
* AEW Women’s World Championship: Riho (c) vs. Nyla Rose
* AEW World Tag Team Championship: Hangman Page and Kenny Omega (c) vs. SCU
* Santana vs. Jon Moxley in an “Eye for an Eye” match
* MJF vs. Jungle Boy
* Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara
Tonight’s WWE NXT on the USA Network will air from the NXT Arena at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL with the final hype for Sunday’s “Takeover: Portland” event.
WWE announced that Simone Johnson – the daughter of WWE great Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – has begun training at the WWE Performance. If she makes it to the main roster, she will become the first 4th generation wrestler in history as her grandfather Rocky Johnson and her great-grandfather “High Chief” Peter Maivia also competed for WWE. Rocky Johnson and Maivia are both WWE Hall of Famers.
“It means the world to me,” Johnson said. “To know that my family has such a personal connection to wrestling is really special to me and I feel grateful to have the opportunity, not only to wrestle, but to carry on that legacy.”
“Simone Johnson’s unbridled passion and incredible drive has earned her a coveted spot training with the elite athletes from around the world at the WWE Performance Center,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative. “Not only does Simone now have an opportunity to cultivate and display her passion for WWE within the Performance Center, but she’ll carry on the tradition of her incredible family lineage while creating her own impact as WWE’s first fourth generation Superstar.”
Johnson will join the diverse group of Superstars in training at the Performance Center, learning from a coaching staff that includes legends of the squared circle, led by Head Coach Matt Bloom and Assistant Head Coach Sara Amato.
“Simone knows she has a lot to learn,” said Bloom. “She’s hungry to learn and picks the coaches’ minds, and the veteran Superstars’, as well. She’s not going to rest on her laurels. It’s been a short time, but she’s been crushing it.”
“Simone is a wonderful girl,” Amato added. “She’s like a sponge, it’s pretty amazing. She knows what it takes to succeed and all the hard work and sacrifice that goes into it. I wouldn’t have expected anything less.”
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1226931688573415426
On this week’s WWE Backstage it was announced John Cena will be appearing on the February 28 episode of SmackDown in Boston, Massachusetts.
Cena’s last WWE TV appearance was back in July on the RAW Reunion where he had a rap battle with The Usos.
As noted, Cena reportedly wants to have a more significant role on this year’s WrestleMania.
“Those spots are very coveted. There are performers who work all year, 250 shows a year, they earn those spots,” Cena said. “I would love to earn one, at least. And the way you do that is by Vince McMahon, the head of creative, calling you up and being like, ‘Hey pal, I’d like you to do this.’ And then I say yes sir, and then I kind of put my own spin on it.”
Last WrestleMania he showed up as his Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick in a segment with Elias.
The opening weekend of the revamped XFL is now history, and the ratings for the four games are in.
The first game airing on ABC on Saturday featuring the D.C. Defenders defeating the Seattle Dragons averaged 3.3 million viewers and scored a 2.07 rating. The attendance for the game was 17,163 fans.
FOX aired the second game on Saturday between L.A. Wildcats and the Houston Roughnecks, which averaged 3.29 million viewers and a 1.91 rating and drew 17,815 fans.
The first game on Sunday taht aired on FOX drew the biggest audience of the weekend with 3.385 million viewers and a 2.10 rating, and drew 17,634 fans.
The final game of the weekend was the Dallas Renegades facing the St. Louis BattleHawks on ESPN on Sunday, which scored the lowest audience of the weekend with 2.495 million viewers and a 1.43 rating with 17,026 fans at the stadium.
Between the four games, the XFL averaged 3.12 million viewers and a 1.0 rating in the 18-49 demo.
The now-defunct AAF drew similar ratings on its opening weekend in February of 2019, averaging 3.25 million viewers and a 0.9 in the 18-49 demo between two games on CBS. However, Darren Rovell of the Action Network reported that even before the first game started, the XFL had already topped the revenue from ticket sales for the entire season of the AAF.
AAF ratings dropped sharply in the second week, and the league folded before it could complete one season after it lost financial backing.
The Washington Times noted that while the XFL debut numbers are nowhere near the 16.5 million viewers that the NFL averaged per game during the 2019 regular season, is does top the 1.99 million viewers per game that the NBA averaged last year during the regular season.
Week two of the XFL kicks off this Saturday with the NY Guardians facing the DC Defenders. The game will air on ABC at 2 pm ET.
Tonight on Impact at 8/7c on AXS TV
* Impact Knockouts Championship: (c) Taya Valkyrie vs. Jordynne Grace
* Joey Ryan vs. RVD
* Best of 5 Series (Match 2): Michael Elgin vs. Eddie Edwards
* Madman Fulton vs. Daga
* Fallah Bahh vs. Ethan Page
* Willie Mack vs. Shera
The following was taped for tonight’s AEW Dark episode on YouTube at 7pm ET:
* AEW Women’s World Champion Riho vs. Shoko Nakajima
* Jimmy Havoc vs. Sonny Kiss
* Cassandra Golden vs. Hikaru Shida
* Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt) vs. The Dark Order (Evil Uno and Grayson)
Looks like AJ Styles’ recent injury at the Royal Rumble won’t keep him out of action for long, as WWE has announced he’ll compete in the Tuwaiq Trophy Gauntlet Match at Super ShowDown.
The gauntlet match match was announced during Raw and additional competitors include Andrade, Bobby Lashley, Erick Rowan, Rusev and R-Truth.
As we previously reported, Styles suffered a separated shoulder while taking a spear from Edge during the Men’s Royal Rumble Match.
This will also be Andrade’s first match since being suspended for violating WWE’s Wellness Policy.
WWE Super ShowDown takes place February 27.
WWE did an injury angle on this week’s RAW that saw Randy Orton take out Matt Hardy after Matt confronted Orton over the recent attack on WWE Hall of Famer Edge. They had words and Matt blocked the first RKO attempt, but Orton ended up connecting and dropping him. Orton then smashed Matt’s head between two steel chairs, just like he did with Edge a few weeks ago. It was speculated that WWE did this angle to write Matt off TV as his contract reportedly expires on Sunday, March 1.
Matt tweeted a goodbye message to his fans after RAW and linked them to the latest “Free The Delete” episode on YouTube, which includes a possible teaser on him being “The Exalted One” for The Dark Order in AEW.
https://twitter.com/MATTHARDYBRAND/status/1227076312864415744
There has been no word on a possible last minute deal between WWE and Matt, but it’s been reported that creative differences are a “major hurdle” in the contract negotiations, not pay.
Below is video from the abgle on RAW and video of Hardy receiving medical attention and making his exit during the commercial.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Jeff Hardy could be returning to action soon as he’s scheduled to be at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando next week.
Hardy is set to visit the Performance Center to have his progress towards an in-ring return checked on, according to PWInsider. Jeff has been out of action with a leg injury since shortly after WrestleMania 35 in April 2019. It was originally reported that he would be out of action for 6-9 months.
Regarding Jeff’s WWE contract, it was scheduled to expire on Sunday, March 1 but WWE would add extra time to the contract to make up for the time he’s been out with the injury.
Matt’s WWE contract is still scheduled to expire on March 1. PWInsider reports that the talks between Matt and WWE continue, but his status has not changed beyond that. As we’ve noted, the “major hurdle” between the two sides on a new deal is not money, but how Matt would be used creatively moving forward.
As noted before, Jeff is scheduled to be back in court on Monday, April 6, the day after WrestleMania 36, for the charges related to his DWI arrest from October 3, 2019 in Moore County, NC. Jeff was also arrested in Myrtle Beach, SC on July 13, 2019 for public intoxication, but there’s no update on that court case as of this writing.
It was reported back in early January that WWE officials have pushed Jeff to address his personal health in the wake of those arrests, and that he has been working hard at doing that.
Stay tuned for updates on The Hardys.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
