Category: WWE

Samoa Joe Suspended For Violation Of WWE Wellness Policy

WWE has announced Samoa Joe has been suspended for violating the WWE Wellness Policy.

WWE released a statement through their website which says:

WWE has suspended Nuufolau Seanoa (Samoa Joe) for 30 days effective Monday, February 24, for his first violation of the company’s talent wellness policy.

As we previously reported, Joe has been out of action as of late after suffering a head injury which took place during a commercial shoot this month. He also suffered a concussion on Raw a few weeks ago which forced him to sit on the sidelines.

Joe is the latest wrestler to be suspended for violating the company Wellness Policy after Andrade was suspended last month and Bobby Roode before that.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE Super ShowDown 2/27/20

February 27, 2020 – Mohammed Abdu Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Available on WWE Network – 12pm ET

Universal Championship: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Goldberg

WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Ricochet

SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Naomi

RAW Tag Team Championship: Seth Rollins and Murphy (c) vs. The Street Profits

SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The New Day (c) vs. John Morrison and The Miz

Steel Cage Match: King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns

Tuwaiq Trophy Gauntlet Match: Andrade vs. AJ Styles vs. R-Truth vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Erick Rowan vs. Rey Mysterio

WWE RAW Preview 2/24/20

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with the final red brand hype for WWE Super ShowDown.

  • Who will Randy Orton target next?
  • WWE Champion Brock Lesnar to appear live on Raw
  • Will Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler come to blows in the same building?

Matt Hardy Says “New And Omnipotent” Version Of His Character Is Days Away

Just days after a beatdown from Randy Orton on Raw, Matt Hardy has released a video thanking the WWE star for helping to complete his transformation. (The video was posted on YouTube on February 21.)

The video begins with Matt, as himself, talking about his attempt to confront Orton on Monday going wrong and how he had to go to a medical facility afterward.

“Now I’m home. And I’m speaking. And breathing. And I’m recuperating. But I am alive. I am truly un-killable,” he adds before something in him shifts and Hardy is briefly overtaken by the evil entity known as Abomination from his “Free the Delete”‘ series.

It’s worth noting the effect on Matt’s voice here is similar to what’s been used for AEW’s Exalted One.

As we previously reported, Hardy’s WWE contract expires on March 1.

In the video … Broken Matt resumes control of his vessel from Abomination and talks about how his transformation back would not have been complete without Randy’s violent “assassination” this week.

“We had to witness the burial of the Hardy Boyz version of Matt Hardy,” he explained. “But as I sit here, in my beloved chair of wheels, on the magical Hardy compound, YESSSS, we are now only a matter of days away from the rebirth, the reincarnation, the resurrection, YESSSS, of my essence. YESSSSSS! We are only a few days away from the second coming of the new and OMNIPOTENT version of Matt Hardy.”

Watch the full video below.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE SmackDown Preview 2/21/20

Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown will take place from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona with the final blue brand build for WWE Super ShowDown.

The Bella Twins are teasing a big announcement for tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX episode.

  • Goldberg returns to SmackDown ahead of Universal Title Match
  • The Bella Twins return this Friday night for “A Moment of Bliss”
  • Naomi and Carmella collide for the right to challenge Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Title at WWE Super ShowDown
  • The New Day & The Usos set to collide with The Miz, John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode in Eight-Man Tag Team Action
  • Lacey Evans to sit down with Renee Young for exclusive interview this Friday night on SmackDown

WWE 205 Live Preview 2/21/20

Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona

WWE has announced a battle of WWE NXT Superstars for tonight’s 205 Live episode with Joaquin Wilde taking on Raul Mendoza.

205 Live will also feature a No DQ match with The Brian Kendrick and Ariya Daivari vs. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch of NXT.

WWE Reportedly Negotiating With ESPN For Content Streaming On ESPN+

WWE is reportedly having talks with ESPN.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the talks would be in regards to WWE content airing on the ESPN+ service. The deal that WWE is likely trying to broker would be similar to the deal UFC has with ESPN, where WWE would sell their rights to air pay-per-views, which would pay more money for the content than WWE could make on its own by selling the content directly to viewers with the WWE Network. The ESPN+ model with UFC is reportedly what opened WWE’s eyes to the idea.

The ESPN+ deal could potentially bring more mainstream exposure to WWE’s big events and their biggest Superstars. ESPN has proved that when they own rights to a product, they use their various shows to heavily market that product. There’s no word yet on how far the talks with ESPN are, but The Observer noted that it looks like the deal has not been agreed on as of this week.

Wrestling Inc. earlier this month at this link, there was no truth to the rumors on WWE possibly talking to Amazon about selling content rights to them. While Amazon might not be interested in WWE, the company has been talking with other potential partners, which would include DAZN, and NBC’s Peacock service. ESPN+ was also included in the original report on potential content partners.

The belief was that NBC’s Peacock service, which is set to launch later this year, would be the best bet for WWE. TV industry sources recently reported to The Observer that Peacock would look at WWE to be its key initial programming to draw subscribers from the launch moving forward, which would be very similar to how ESPN+ did with UFC. With such a deal with one of these larger streaming services, WWE would be able to get significantly guaranteed money for their big money events, instead of being forced to rely on declining subscription money from the WWE Network. You can read Wrestling Inc.’s original report on the possible content changes by clicking here.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Superstars Offer Support To Boy Who Was Bullied For Dwarfism, Possible Trip To WrestleMania 36

It looks like 9 year old Quaden Bayles could be going to WrestleMania 36.

The story of the 9 year old from Australia surfaced this week after his mother posted an emotional video about how he is bullied because he has Dwarfism. In response, several celebrities and brands have sent tweets and other messages in support of the boy and his mother.

Comedian Brad Williams, who also has Dwarfism, launched a GoFundMe campaign to help send Quaden and his mother from Australia to Disney in the United States. The campaign is currently trending and has raised $288,839 of a $10,000 goal, with more than 13,000 donors. The numbers are climbing as the story continues to go viral this morning.

Several WWE Superstars and other wrestlers, as seen in the tweets below, are also supporting Quaden. The MMA community has also reached out and the Bayles family has accepted an offer from ONE MMA CEO Chatri Sityodtong for free MMA lessons.

Williams, who kicked off the campaign of support for the boy, noted in one tweet that “multiple WWE Superstars” want to bring Quaden to WrestleMania 36 in Tampa this April.

“We are now over 35k. Multiple @WWE superstars want to bring him to WrestleMania. I’m one man trying to organize this. Can someone who works for a charity help me organize this? @WWE people? @Disneyland people? @TheEllenShow people?,” he wrote yesterday in one of many tweets trying to organize more gifts for Quaden.

Paige tweeted support for the boy and WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry responded with an offer to help. Paige has offered to pay for flights to Tampa and other WWE Superstars such as Natalya have offered to spoil the boy while he’s in town for a vacation. Below are related tweets from Henry, Paige, Natalya, The Bella Twins, Nia Jax, Kayla Braxton, Naomi, Matt Hardy, Big Show, Alexa Bliss, Naomi, and Dana Brooke.

Below are some of the tweets:

https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1230616750246359040

https://twitter.com/NiaJaxWWE/status/1230592325015003136

https://twitter.com/KaylaBraxtonWWE/status/1230595150147182610

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE To Launch A Performance Center In Japan Soon

WWE is expected to launch their Japan Performance Center soon.

The announcement of the new WWE Performance Center in Japan is expected to come in the next few months, possibly around the summer time if everything goes as expected, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. WWE returns to Osaka and Yokohama in July for three live events, so it’s possible the announcement coincides with that tour.

WWE has reportedly reached out to WWE Hall of Famer Antonio Inoki and Hiroshi Hase about the political situation surrounding the new PC in Japan. Hase, a semi-retired pro wrestler who once held the WCW International World Heavyweight Title, was named the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2015.

It was believed that WWE would be working with Pro Wrestling NOAH for the new expansion in Japan, but NOAH was sold to the CyberAgent media company earlier this year.

The new report did not mention if there will be a WWE NXT Japan brand to go with the new Japan Performance Center, but that has been rumored for some time now.

The WWE Japan Performance Center will be the third PC for the company. The main Performance Center in Orlando, Florida was launched in July 2013 and the UK Performance Center in London, England was launched in January 2019.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW PPV Events To Replace WWE PPVs In Germany

AEW pay-per-view events will soon replace WWE pay-per-view events on Sky Germany.

Sky Deutschland announced this week that they are parting ways with WWE, and that this was a WWE decision. The current contract between the two sides expires at the end of March. Sky told customers that while WWE will no longer be offered, they will begin offering another wrestling league to fans beginning in April – AEW.

AEW Dynamite runs weekly on Sky each Friday at 9:50pm on TNT. Sky will begin offering AEW pay-per-view events “shortly” via the Sky Select service.

ProSieben Maxx continues to air RAW and SmackDown on free TV in Germany.

WWE and Sky Germany originally announced their multi-year deal to air WWE pay-per-views back beginning with Survivor Series 2016 back on November 16, 2016, and to start airing RAW and SmackDown on Sky Sports the following April.

You can see the announcement below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.