According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, NJPW has a preliminary hold on a date for a show on July 7th at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. They run March 25th in Long Beach, which sold out 5,000 seats in under 20-minutes. There is also talk of the July return being in a major arena in either Long Beach or Las Vegas. The show would be on the same night as UFC’s show in Las Vegas for International Fight Week.
Source: 411Mania
Jeff Hardy’s wife Beth noted on Twitter yesterday morning that she dropped Jeff off at his final physical therapy appointment. As noted, Jeff was scheduled to begin training at the WWE Performance Center later this month as he gets ready to return from a torn labrum & torn rotator cuff but there’s no word yet on if his weekend DWI arrest has changed those plans.
Hardy has not commented on the arrest but he did post the following yesterday after his final visit with Pinehurst Surgical in Pinehurst, NC:
ThankYou @PSurgical1946 physical therapy dept! . . !My shoulder is no longer O B S O L E T E!:)!
Source: WrestlingINC
Ronda Rousey is once again scheduled to appear on every RAW through WrestleMania.
WWE announced last week that Rousey would be appearing on every RAW until WrestleMania, only for her to not appear on last Monday’s show. Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Rousey was actually not supposed to be on Monday’s show because she was taking her medicals in Pittsburgh, and that the WWE announcement was a mistake. WWE has since deleted their original article about Rousey’s RAW appearances, which now forwards to her profile page.
Rousey will make her WWE debut at WrestleMania 34 on Sunday, April 8th in New Orleans. She will team up with Kurt Angle to face Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
Source: WrestlingINC
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN with the fallout from Fastlane as the Road to WrestleMania 34 heats up.
* Shane McMahon to make a WrestleMania announcement
* Asuka to make her first SmackDown LIVE appearance after challenging Charlotte Flair
* AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura’s Road to WrestleMania begins
* How will Randy Orton deal with the target on his back?
* How have The Bludgeon Brothers changed the SmackDown Tag Team division?
Tonight’s WWE Mixed Match Challenge and WWE 205 Live will take place from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN.
WWE Mixed Match Challenge:
* Bobby Roode & Charlotte Flair vs. Rusev & Lana
WWE 205 Live:
* Who will advance to WrestleMania?
* Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander.
A WWE Corporate filing from earlier this month revealed the following corporate salaries:
* WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon was paid $1,400,000 in 2017. He was paid $1,325,000 in 2016 and will be paid $1,400,000 in 2018
* WWE Co-President George Barrios was paid $783,510 in 2017. He was paid $764,400 in 2016 and will be paid $870,000 in 2018
* WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson was paid $791,044 in 2017. She was paid $771,750 in 2016 and will be paid $870,000 in 2018
* WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul Levesque (Triple H) was paid $650,000 in 2017. He was paid $606,375 in 2016 and will be paid $684,125 in 2018
* WWE Executive Producer & Chief Global Television Production Kevin Dunn was paid $909,560 in 2017. He was paid $909,560 in 2016 and will be paid $925,000 in 2018
Another part of the filing revealed the following salaries paid to Triple H, Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon for their work as talents, due to their relationship to Vince:
* Shane McMahon was paid performance fees and royalties of approximately $1.3 million for his work as a performer and SmackDown Commissioner in 2017
* Stephanie McMahon was paid $2.2 million in 2017 for her role as RAW Commissioner on TV and her role as Chief Brand Ambassador
* Triple H was paid $1.5 million in 2017 for his role as a performer, in addition to the corporate salary mentioned above
Below is the overall compensation, which includes salaries, stock awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation and other compensation:
* WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon received $3,087,537 in 2017 and $3,071,600 in 2016
* WWE Co-President George Barrios received $1,943,808 in 2017. He received $4,311,056 in 2016
* WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson received $1,962,637 in 2017. She received $4,317,617 in 2016
* WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul Levesque (Triple H) received $3,223,716 in 2017. He received $3,993,417 in 2016
* WWE Executive Producer & Chief Global Television Production Kevin Dunn received $2,306,369 in 2017. He received $4,637,652 in 2016
Source: WrestlingINC
It looks like there will be some RAW and SmackDown roster changes after WrestleMania 34. Sheamus & Cesaro mentioned on last night’s RAW that there have been rumors of another Superstar Shake-up taking place after the big event in New Orleans next month.
WWE announced last week that Ronda Rousey would appear on every episode of Raw prior to WrestleMania 34 — but the article has been deleted after that didn’t happen.
As we previously reported, the announcement claimed she’d make an appearance tonight at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. However, she was nowhere to be found on the show.
The article that appeared on WWE.com now re-directs to Ronda’s Superstar page. It also appears as though the company deleted the announcement posts on social media.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
UFC fighter/former WWE star CM Punk has confirmed he’ll be stepping into the octagon once again for a fight set to take place in Chicago.
Punk made the announcement while responding to a rude person on Twitter who asked, “So when are we gonna see you cry again in the Octagon?”
“June nine, after I win and lock eyes with my beautiful wife, embrace my coaches and shout out my entire team,” the ex-wrestler replied.
For those unaware, UFC 225 will take place at the United Center in Chicago.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
WWE announced the first-ever Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal for WrestleMania 34.
The Superstars of Raw, SmackDown and WWE NXT’s Women’s divisions will have the chance to make history yet again when they compete in the inaugural Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34.
As first announced on Raw, this ground-breaking battle royal will pay tribute to the first-ever WWE Women’s Champion, The Fabulous Moolah, who not only paved the way for female competitors through the years, but also played a pivotal role in the first several WrestleMania events.
In the highly-anticipated free-for-all, members of the Women’s divisions from Raw, SmackDown LIVE and WWE NXT will compete to be the last Superstar standing in the over-the-top-rope melee.
Who will go on to make history and carve out their WrestleMania Moment by winning the inaugural match on The Grandest Stage of Them All?
Find out at WrestleMania, Sunday, April 8 at a special start time of 7 ET/4 PT, streaming live on the award-winning WWE Network.
