Tonight’s WWE RAW Live on USA Network from the Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, AR.
During Friday’s NXT live event in Dade City, FL, WWE had to halt Cora Jade’s main event match due to an injury she suffered.
Jade was challenging Lyra Valkyria for the Women’s Title when she unfortunately injured her knee, causing the match to be stopped. The referee and medical attended to her before assisting her backstage.
Source: eWn
WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on FOX from the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.
While she may not be competing in the ring right now, Mickie James continues to be involved in some non-wrestling work. In addition to her ongoing duties as a co-host on “Busted Open Radio,” James has now reportedly secured a position behind the scenes at a popular independent wrestling promotion — Ohio Valley Wrestling.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful (via X), the former WWE Women’s Champion has come aboard as Creative Director and Head of Female Talent for OVW. James has also reportedly taken on a responsibility as Executive Producer for all of OVW’s wrestling shows.
News of James joining OVW comes on the heels of her recent return at the promotion’s 2024 Nightmare Rumble event on January 6. There, James made a special guest appearance behind the commentary desk to call the Women’s Nightmare Rumble Match alongside Bryan Kennison and current OVW Women’s Champion Freya The Slaya. Following her brief stint on OVW commentary, James noted, on X, that she was immensely impressed by all the competitors involved, and foresaw big things for OVW this year.
James is no stranger to Ohio Valley Wrestling, as she spent much of her early WWE days there, back when it was WWE’s primary developmental territory. After two years of training in OVW, James was then called up to WWE’s main roster in late 2005, where the path was laid for her memorable feud with WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus. In the present day, OVW operates under the ownership of Matt Jones, Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg, and former WWE Tag Team Champion Al Snow.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Gable Steveson, the Olympic gold medalist, beat Cedric Alexander in an untelevised match prior to the January 5th, 2024 episode of WWE Smackdown.
According to PWInsider.com, Steveson is set to work more dark matches at future Smackdown events, although he is currently not part of the creative plans for the 2024 men’s Royal Rumble match.
In a video shared on the University of Minnesota Gophers’ Twitter/X account, Coach Brandon Eggum provided an update on Steveson, stating that he will not be competing for the university this year as his primary focus is on his pro wrestling career.
Source: eWn
AEW President Tony Khan has often said that he is a wrestling fan first and foremost, and that he approaches wrestling from a fan’s perspective. Khan’s focus on win-loss records apparently isn’t limited to All Elite Wrestling, as Khan has been keeping tabs on the wins and losses of WWE stars as well — including that of former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, who will wrestle Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship on next week’s “WWE Raw.”
“A double standard,” an impassioned Khan wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “[Hook] 28-1 career record, on winning streak calls out the champ, a logical challenge sparks online outrage. Jinder has literally lost every single match he’s in for the past year, immediately gets title shot, where is the rage?”
Not satisfied with just one outburst, Khan then took his war against Mahal to USA Network directly.
“A moral victory for USA is one win more than their World Title challenger Jinder Mahal has in the past 364 days… because it’s been literally a full year since he won a match,” Khan wrote, quote-tweeting a post from the night before in which the USA Network’s official account made a joke about Cagematch, Khan’s oft-cited source for the quality of his programming. “You really put AEW in our place getting Jinder Mahal in a big match on your tv show. Do it more often.”
Khan’s tweets didn’t go unnoticed. WWE broadcaster Corey Graves was quick to tweet in support of Jinder, much to the delight of WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray. Former AEW World Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood seemingly fired back to Graves’s tweet by sending a similar message, but in support of Hook. Meanwhile, Mahal himself took to Twitter to ask simply, “Who tf is Hook?”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
UPDATE:
AEW President adding Eric Bischoff to the list of his victims.
The Khan/Bischoff feud started when “Eazy E” took to his Twitter account to call Tony Khan a “clown” for his tweet comparing HOOK and Mahal’s recent attempts to get their respective companies’ World Title shots. Khan wound up posting a GIF that reads, “Get out of my sight, you miserable has-been!”
Tonight on WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Performance Center on the USA Network:
Rumors continue to swirl regarding Andrade El Idolo potentially returning to WWE, and they will intensify with the news he has now been pulled from this Friday’s GCW event. GCW released a statement on X to confirm it, stating, “Due to circumstances out of control, ANDRADE and MAKI ITOH will be unable to compete on Friday’s event in Chicago.” GCW revealed they have replacements for both wrestlers, with Masha Slamovich and Lio Rush set to step in, however, the news will certainly get people talking about the future of the former AEW star. El Idolo’s final match for AEW took place at Worlds End 2023, which saw him lose to Miro, and both he and Tony Khan confirmed that they would be parting ways after that point.
Ever since, there has been speculation that the former “WWE NXT” Champion is going to be returning to his former company, WWE — where his wife, Charlotte Flair also works. Of course, nothing is official regarding El Idolo and WWE, but people within the company are expecting him back at some stage. Wrestlers being pulled from independent dates has been a sign in the past that a wrestler is heading to WWE because, unlike AEW, the company doesn’t tend to allow its roster members to work for other promotions.
El Idolo is not under a non-compete clause, which means he is technically free to appear on WWE television at any point, should he sign with the company. He last worked for WWE in 2021 after spending seven years with them, and he does have a positive history working under the creative leadership of Triple H, who of course is now in charge of that department for WWE’s main roster.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.
Kofi Kingston vs. Ludwig Kaiser
Becky Lynch’s autobiography, ‘The Man: Not Your Average Average Girl,” will be released on March 24, and the former “WWE Raw” Women’s Champion has admitted that she has written a truthful account of her story. However, while that’s a positive for the reader, Lynch admitted it might be a negative for her.
“I’ve written very truthfully, maybe sometimes at my own detriment… I think people will appreciate the candidness of it, and I think it’s pretty funny,” she told “The Casual Podcast.” “I think it’s a pretty funny, hilarious read –- this is just me thinking I am hilarious, but I hope people enjoy it.”
Lynch has been open and honest within the book, to the point where she’s admitted to realizing she was the a**hole at times when recounting past stories. However, even though it has been an eye-opening experience at points, Lynch has also found the writing process to be one of the most rewarding periods of her entire life. She has become the latest professional wrestler to jump into the autobiographical world, taking after one of her idols, Mick Foley. Like him, she didn’t use a ghostwriter to tell her story, opting to do it herself, but she let Foley see an early manuscript.
“Actually, I had him to bounce things off; he was one of the first people to read it and give me feedback,” she revealed about Foley. “Then I implemented that and kind of almost changed it completely since he probably read it. Not completely, but really improved it to the point where now I am so proud of what I have.”
Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to “The Casual Podcast”
