Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit as the Road to WrestleMania 34 continues.
* The Big Dog and the “entitled” Universal Champion meet face-to-face
* Can Bayley and Sasha Banks mend their fractured friendship?
* Braun Strowman is a Monster Among Men and a Maestro Among Monsters
* Will Ronda Rousey regret putting her hands on Stephanie McMahon?
* When will “The Ultimate Deletion” take place?
I’m sure there will be talk about what Asuka choosing to face SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair last night at the SmackDown exclusive Fastlane pay-per-view.
As noted, Jeff Hardy was arrested for Driving While Impaired on Saturday night in Concord, North Carolina after an accident on Concord Parkway. The accident happened at 8:11pm. Hardy was arrested at 10:39pm EST and released later that night. The police report notes that Hardy totaled his 2016 Cadillac CTS-V with an estimated $8,000 in damages. Hardy was not traveling over the speed limit but was going an estimated 50 mph at the time of impact. The report also indicates Hardy underwent some sort of test for alcohol but that the results were pending at the time of the arrest.
Update: TMZ reports that Hardy blew a BAC (blood alcohol level) of .25 on his Breathalyzer test, which is three times the legal limit. TMZ also notes that the DWI charge is a misdemeanor.
Officer Kelemecz wrote the following on the accident in the police report:
“Driver of Vehicle #1 ran off the roadway to the right, in turn striking about 105 feet of guardrail before the back end of the car spun out 90 degrees to the left, coming to rest in the middle of the right N bound lane of travel. The driver was arrested and charged with DWI.”
The police report lists an estimated $5,000 in damages to the 105 foot of guardrail, owned by the NC Department of Transportation, which could be a factor in any restitution that the court orders Hardy to pay. As is standard in NC following a DWI arrest, Hardy’s license have been suspended. His first court date is scheduled for Monday, April 16th in Cabarrus County.
In an update, WWE issued the following statement on the arrest:
“Jeff Hardy is responsible for his own personal actions. We are investigating the matter and awaiting information from local law enforcement officials.”
While Jeff has not commented on the arrest, it looks like brother Matt Hardy did reference the arrest in a late tweet on Sunday. Matt tweeted:
EVAH since the #7Deities have come to me, I do not put alcohol, drugs, or foreign substances into my VESSEL.
Jeff Hardy was arrested for Driving While Impaired on Saturday night in Cabarrus County, North Carolina after an accident on Concord Parkway in Concord, NC. The accident happened at 8:11pm where Concord Parkway South meets Bruton Smith Boulevard. Hardy was arrested at 10:39pm EST and released later that night.
The police report notes that Hardy totaled his 2016 Cadillac with an estimated $8,000 in damages. The VIN listed on the police report is registered to a 2016 Cadillac CTS-V. Hardy was not traveling over the speed limit but was going an estimated 50 mph at the time of impact. The area of the accident is about 2 hours from Hardy’s home in Cameron, NC. The report also indicates Hardy underwent some sort of test for alcohol but that the results were pending at the time of the arrest.
Update: TMZ reports that Hardy blew a BAC (blood alcohol level) of .25 on his Breathalyzer test, which is three times the legal limit. TMZ also notes that the DWI charge is a misdemeanor.
Officer Kelemecz wrote the following on the accident:
“Driver of Vehicle #1 ran off the roadway to the right, in turn striking about 105 feet of guardrail before the back end of the car spun out 90 degrees to the left, coming to rest in the middle of the right N bound lane of travel. The driver was arrested and charged with DWI.”
The police report lists an estimated $5,000 in damages to the 105 foot of guardrail, owned by the NC Department of Transportation. This could be a factor in any restitution that the court orders Hardy to pay.
Hardy has had his driver’s license suspended for 30 days, which is standard in North Carolina following a DWI arrest. Hardy’s first court date is scheduled for Monday, April 16th in Cabarrus County.
Hardy has two WWE Wellness policy violations which carried over with his return to the company last year. While a third policy violation would result in a termination, it should be noted that is only for positive tests for substances prohibited by the Wellness Policy “other than marijuana and alcohol.”
Hardy has been out of action since suffering a torn right rotator cuff in September and having surgery, but he was recently cleared to return and was scheduled to begin training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando this month.
(Kickoff) Breezango & Tye Dillinger vs. Shelton Benjamin, Chad Gable & Mojo Rawley – Winners: Breezango & Tye Dillinger
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev – Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
United States Championship: (C) Bobby Roode vs. Randy Orton – Winner and new United States Champion Randy Orton
After the match, Jinder Mahal came out and confronted Orton, kicks him in the gut and dropped him. Roode came in and hit Mahal with a Glorious DDT and then hit Orton with a DDT.
SmackDown Tag Team Championship: (C) The Usos vs. The New Day –
The Bludgeon Brothers came out and annihilated The Usos and The New Day –
No Contest
SmackDown Women’s Championship: (C) Charlotte Flair vs. Ruby Riott – Winner: Charlotte Flair
After the match, Asuka came out starred Charlotte down and pointed to the WrestleMania sign. It appears Asuka has made her decision.
WWE Championship – Six-Pack Challenge: (C) AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin vs. John Cena – Winner: AJ Styles
We’ve been promoting this huge interview with The Chosen One, Jeff Jarrett. Jeff and Ed Boston talk about numerous topics including the big announcement of Jeff being included in the class of 2018 WWE Hall of Fame, Jeff being a 3rd generation wrestler and how this announcement is a family recognition, and how his faith has helped sustain him during the ups and downs of life.
There are a couple of questions that our followers submitted and much more.
It was previously reported that Ric Flair has signed on to make his feature film acting debut. Flair will play the president of a pro wrestling promotion in a R-rated movie titled Uncle Steamroller & Champion Rabbit. Pwinsider reports that Flair also has a role in the upcoming film Easter, which will see release this December. The film stars Glenn Close, Carl Weathers, Joe Leland and Reginald VelJohnson. Flair will play himself in the film, which is described below…
“In an effort to save both his reputation and family, retired detective, Easter (Joe Leland), finds himself in a war pitted against the most formidable foe – hatred.”
As a surprise to many, former Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett was recently announced to be inducted into the 2018 WWE Hall of Fame. Jarrett, who was publicly fired by Vince McMahon during the final WCW Nitro telecast, teamed up with his father Jerry Jarrett to form the Total Nonstop Action (TNA) brand. TNA started off with weekly pay-per-views, before landing a television slot in 2004. During the infancy of TNA, names such as AJ Styles, Bobby Roode, Christopher Daniels, Jerry Lynn, James Storm, and Low Ki were all instrumental in building the brand to national recognition.
In addition, names such as Scott Hall, Rick Steiner, Gangrel, Buff Bagwell, Steve Corino, and Ken Shamrock were all a part of the inaugural show on June 19, 2002, and WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat was the special guest referee of the NWA Championship main event between Ken Shamrock and Malice, which Shamrock won.
In the description of the Hall of Fame resume of Jarrett, WWE mentioned his upbringing in the wrestling industry by his father Jerry.
“Double J’s road to the WWE Hall of Fame began at birth. The son of Tennessee wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett, Jeff grew up around the industry, eventually becoming a referee before competing between the ropes at the age of 18. While many promoters’ sons had entered the ring and flamed out, Jarrett was a prodigy inside the squared circle. It was easy to see that he would be a Superstar as he competed against and alongside the likes of WWE Hall of Famers Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, Nick Bockwinkel and countless others.”
Former WWE tag team star Paul Diamond was a recent guest on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show, and discussed Jarrett going into the Hall of Fame. Diamond, who tagged with and competed against Jeff in their days with the Continental Wrestling Association, felt that Jeff learned a lot by being groomed by his father, and turned out to be a good wrestler.
“Jeff turned out to be a real good talent,” said Diamond. “Jeff had just graduated from high school was 18 years old, and we briefly were tag team partners, but shortly after that is when I first tagged up with Pat Tanaka and actually worked against Jeff and Billy Travis. He was just getting started. Like I said, he was 18 years old, skinny as a rail, and just out of high school. So, he was learning his way, but he did very well. He was a good talent.”
While Diamond praised Jarrett for being a good talent, he has his reservations about Jeff having a stand-alone WWE Hall of Fame resume.
“But wrestling sometimes is not necessarily what we know but who we know,” said Diamond. “Not necessarily that he didn’t deserve the breaks that he got, he was a good talent and a good worker, but at the same time, his father Jerry Jarrett had owned the Tennessee territory there, the Tennessee company.” He added, “I’m just not sure that anybody else that had the same abilities would have got the breaks that he had, had his father not been a promoter.”
We here at Wrestling News Blog believe Jarrett worked his butt off and deserves and earned all the accolades that he has received and is worthy of the WWE Hall of Fame.
As noted, The Ultimate Deletion Match between Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy was filmed at The Hardy Compound in Cameron, NC on Thursday, according to PWInsider. It’s possible that the match will air on WWE TV as soon as Monday’s RAW. Referee Shawn Bennett was sent to be the official referee for the match but there’s no word yet on other WWE talents being brought in for filming. Jeremy Borash, who recently signed on with WWE to work developmental, was at the compound working on the production. Borash played a big part in the original “Broken” storyline in TNA and the matches that were filmed at the compound.
WWE released three NXT talents yesterday – Abbey Laith, Sage Beckett and Guangming Gu. F4Wonline.com confirmed the departures with WWE.
Laith, formerly known as Kimber Lee, signed with WWE in December 2016 and competed in The Mae Young Classic. She defeated Jazzy Gabert in the first round, Rachael Ellering in the second round and then lost to Mercedes Martinez in the quarterfinals.
Beckett, formerly known as Andrea and Rosie Lottalove, among other names, signed with WWE in January 2017 and also competed in The Mae Young Classic. She lost in the first round to Bianca Belair. Beckett also appeared at NXT live events as Lana’s bodyguard for a few months in 2017.
Gu is a former Chinese boxer that signed with WWE in September 2016. He used the name Ming in NXT.
