Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA with the fallout from WWE Fastlane.
* The Shield to deliver farewell address at the start of RAW
* What will happen when Triple H comes face-to-face with Batista?
* Will chaos reign now that Becky has been added to RAW Women’s Title Match at WrestleMania?
* Who will stop Nia Jax & Tamina on The Road to WrestleMania?
* Who will emerge victorious in Intercontinental Title showdown? Finn Balor (C) vs. Bobby Lashley
On last night’s episode of Total Bellas, Brie Bella made a huge announcement regarding her future in the ring. The former Divas Champion officially announced her retirement, while also stating her and Daniel Bryan will be moving back to Phoenix from San Diego. This decision comes after wanting to start another family with Bryan following the birth of Birdie.
“I know a couple months ago I told you I wasn’t ready for baby number two because I have a lot on my plate,” Brie stated to Bryan during the episode. “But I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I think the comeback really made me realize that I am actually ready. And I do want Birdie and our next baby to be close in age.”
After a brief hiatus, Brie returned to the ring in 2018 during the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match. She later teamed up with Bryan and won a match against The Miz and Maryse at the Hell in a Cell PPV. Brie’s last WWE appearance was at WWE Evolution back in October, where she accompanied her sister Nikki to the ring for her match against Ronda Rousey. Before that, she competed in several multi-woman tag matches against the Riott Squad.
On last night’s episode Brie announced, “I decided that after [WWE] Evolution, I’m gonna be fully retired,” Brie continued with a smile. “Fully done.”
While the future is unknown, Brie believes the move will be permanent. Besides committing to Total Bellas, Brie already has a future outside of WWE with Birdiebee, her wine label Belle Radici and Nicole + Brizee, a body and beauty line.
“I love WWE, but the one thing I learned is that I can’t do everything. I just can’t,” Brie continued. “I know deep down inside that I’m making the right decision, that the boots have to be hung, that I need to go back to Phoenix and just really put more concentration on the things that are in my future instead of what was in my past.”
Nikki was shocked to hear about the news. Her last appearance in a WWE ring was the loss to Rousey at Evolution.
“Talk about dropping two huge bombs,” Nikki stated. “I guess retirement I always thought would be something that Brie and I would talk about together. I just did not expect this big change after such an incredible comeback.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
(Kickoff) The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura – Winners: The New Day
SmackDown Tag Team Championship: (C) The Usos vs. Shane McMahon & The Miz – Winners: The Usos
After the match, Shane McMahon turned om The Miz and assaulted The Miz and even roughed up Miz’s father who was at ringside.
SmackDown Women’s Championship: (C) Asuka vs. Mandy Rose – Winner: Asuka
The New Day plead with Vince McMahon to give Kofi Kingston the WWE Title match he deserves. Vince McMahon made the WWE Championship a Triple Threat match. Vince Says Kofi Kingston’s match is next, Big E and Xavier Woods are banned from ringside
WWE Championship: (C) Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens vs. Kofi Kingston
It was announced that the WWE Championship will happen latter and Kofi will have a handicap match against The Bar
Kofi screwed by Vince again.
Handicap Match: Kofi vs. The Bar (Cesaro & Sheamus) – Winner: The Bar
WWE RAW Tag Team Championship: (C) The Revival vs. Bobby Roode & Chad Gable vs. Ricochet & Aleister Black – Winners: The Revival
WWE United States Championship: (C) Samoa Joe vs. R-Truth vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade – Winner: Samoa Joe
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: (C) Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Nia Jax & Tamina – Winners: Sasha Banks & Bayley
After the match, Tamina & Nia attacked Sasha & Bayley. Beth Phoenix confronted Tamina and then Nia & Tamina beat down Beth and Natalya came out to help her friend Beth.
WWE Championship: (C) Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens vs. Mustafi Ali – Winner: Daniel Bryan
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair (If Lynch wins, she’ll be added to Charlotte vs. Ronda Rousey for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 35) – Winner: Becky Lynch by DQ
Ronda Rousey ran down into the ring and punch Becky causing a disqualification giving Becky the Win.
Becky is in the RAW Women’s Championship Match at WrestleMania 35
Elias trashing Cleveland in a song. Lacey Evan come out as Elias was watching her, Randy Orton with a RKO out of nowhere, then AJ Styles hits Orton with a Phenomenal Elbow.
The Shield (Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose) vs. Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin & Bobby Lashley – Winners: The Shield
Yusuke “Wally” Yamaguchi passed away at the age of 60. Known to many fans as “Yamaguchi-san” in WWE, he was the manager of Kaientai in 1998.
It’s unclear the cause of death, but Yamaguchi had been dealing with health problems since suffering a stroke in 2017.
Today, WWE released a statement on his passing.
WWE is saddened to learn that Wally Yamaguchi, Japanese wrestling fixture and former Kaientai manager, has passed away at the age of 60.Although primarily known to the WWE Universe as the villainous Yamaguchi-San during the late 1990s, Yamaguchi was a key figure in Japanese sports-entertainment during the 1980s, editing “Gong” Magazine and working with various Japanese promotions as a referee and an agent.
In addition to appearing onscreen as Kaientai’s manager, Yamaguchi also worked with WWE as its Japanese liaison. His brother, Shun Yamaguchi, is a Japanese television announcer for WWE’s pay-per-view broadcasts.
WWE extends its condolences to Yamaguchi’s family, friends and fans.
Luke Harper made his official in-ring return at tonight’s WWE RAW live event in Rochester, NY after being out of action since November 2018. Harper defeated Mojo Rawley in his first match back with the company.
Despite working some NXT live events in the latter part of 2018, Harper has been absent from WWE TV since last August when his fellow “Bludgeon Brother”, Erick Rowan, suffered a torn bicep at SummerSlam 2018. The team was forced to drop the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship to The New Day after the injury occurred.
As has been well documented, Rowan recently returned to WWE TV and essentially became the bodyguard to WWE Champion Daniel Bryan. Meanwhile, Harper was seen regularly attending the WWE Performance Center in Orlando while sporting a cast on his left hand, indicating that he had surgery.
https://twitter.com/JoeyShoots/status/1104544774554615811
Source: Wrestling Inc.
During night one of the NJPW New Japan Cup it was teased Bullet Club would be adding a new member soon. Most of the vignette hid the individual, but there is a glimpse near the end and it’s Canadian wrestler, El Phantasmo.
Debuting back in 2005, El Phantasmo has been a big part of numerous promotions in Canada. Currently working on the UK indie scene, he typically works with RevPro Wrestling where he won last year’s British J-Cup tournament. RevPro is also a partner of NJPW.
The current Bullet Club roster is: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White (leader), Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Gedo, Hikuleo, Jado, Robbie Eagles, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori, IWGP Tag Team Champion Tama Tonga, IWGP Tag Team Champion Tagna Loa, and Yujiro Takahashi.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
On February 28, 2019, All Elite Wrestling, LLC applied for yet another trademark through the United States Patent & Trademark Office. This time, AEW is applying to trademark ‘All Elite Wrestling – AEW’.
According to the filing, “[t]he mark consists of the term ALL ELITE WRESTLING AEW surrounded by rectangular border, with the words ‘ALL ELITE’ in smaller font on top, the stylized wording AEW in bigger font in the middle, and the word ‘WRESTLING’ in smaller font at the bottom.”
Moreover, the design is to be associated with AEW music and ringtones, merchandise such as posters and trading cards, mugs and glassware, toys and Christmas ornaments, clothing, bags and backpacks, various forms of retail sales, as well as the live streaming of events, among other things.
This filing comes hot off the heels of news that AEW’s prior trademark applications (the original AEW design and wordmark, ‘All Elite Wrestling’, ‘AEW Double Or Nothing’, ‘AEW All Out’, ‘Tuesday Night Dynamite’, ‘Fight For The Fallen’ and ‘Change The Universe’) all faced initial refusal from the USPTO on a variety of technical grounds. AEW has six months from USPTO’s February 19, 2019 letter of initial refusal to rectify its rejected trademark applications.
What is unknown at this time is whether the new trademark application has any impact on AEW’s previous filings. The February 28, 2019 application could be used to replace the prior AEW design; however, given the distinctive appearance and description of this most recent filing, it is most likely merely a variant logo design.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Former Impact Wrestling X-Division Champion Trevor Lee made his WWE NXT in-ring debut tonight in Dade City, Florida when he suffered a loss to NXT UK’s Luke Menzies.
Along with being a three-time X-Division Champion, Lee was also an Impact World Tag Team Champion with partner, Brian Myers. He’s also held titles in AAW, PWG, and was the OMEGA Heavyweight Champion.
Below are some photos from tonight’s NXT live event:
https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1104206026734268417
https://twitter.com/FLWrestlingFan/status/1104187882913386497
https://twitter.com/Tarratastic/status/1104188211931373574
Source: Wrestling Inc.
There’s now speculation on Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson possibly leaving WWE later this year.
Gallows and Anderson have reportedly turned down multi-million dollar contracts from WWE, according to PWInsider. Word is that The Good Brothers are now planning on leaving WWE when their current contracts expire.
It was reported back in December that they deals will expire in late September 2019, but then it was believed that they would be re-signing instead of returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling. This was before AEW potentially entered the picture.
We’ve noted how WWE officials have been approaching talents about signing new contracts as of late. Gallows and Anderson had multiple meetings with officials but word came out over the last few days that they turned down new deals. They are looking to leave WWE because they aren’t satisfied with how they have been used in recent years, according to the report.
It was also noted that Gallows and Anderson are brought to TV, but they aren’t currently being booked for non-televised live events. One source claimed to PWI that they were removed from the live event tours after initial contract meetings that didn’t lead to a new agreement between the two sides.
The WWE futures of Gallows and Anderson were a hot topic backstage at this week’s SmackDown. While a lot can change between now and late September, word going around the wrestlers this week is that Gallows and Anderson are determined to continue their pro wrestling careers outside of WWE.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
In late 2017 there were rumblings that Vince McMahon was considering a revival of the XFL. In January of 2018, McMahon made it official and the league is entirely owned by Alpha Entertainment which is owned by McMahon and shares office space with WWE.
That marks a departure from the first version of XFL which was equally co-owned by WWE and by NBC. McMahon established Alpha to completely separate the XFL from the WWE this time around.
But that doesn’t mean that the two companies won’t work together and that is evident by recent SEC filings. They note just how much money is exchanging between WWE and Alpha/XFL and also detail the arrangement between the two”
“As previously announced, Vincent McMahon organized and owns a majority of Alpha Entertainment, LLC (“Alpha”), which owns and operates the professional football league XFL. Under arrangements made at the time of its organization, WWE received, among other things, an equity interest in Alpha without payment by, or other financial obligation on the part of, WWE; WWE sold certain intellectual property rights relating to XFL to Alpha for a payment in the amount of $1 million; and WWE entered into a support services agreement under which WWE provides Alpha certain administrative support services on a cost-plus margin basis. During the year ended December 31, 2018, Alpha was billed approximately $1,305,000 for services under the administrative support services agreement, of which $474,000 was due at year end and subsequently paid.”
In summary:
– WWE sold intellectual property rights to Alpha for $1 million
– Alpha was billed over $1.3 million for WWE providing administrative support
– Alpha paid WWE $474,000 for that administrative support
While the XFL does have its own Careers page on its website, WWE also has a job posting for an XFL position on its website. This could be part of the services agreement between WWE and Alpha/XFL as the latter gets up and running.
So, even though Alpha Entertainment was created to keep the XFL’s operations separate from WWE, the XFL is still leaning on its big brother named World Wrestling Entertainment.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
