The Empire State Building in New York City will light up with red colors later today to celebrate 25 years of WWE RAW. As seen below, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and WWE Ambassador Dana Warrior were with Make-A-Wish President David Williams and Wish Kid Abel at the Empire State Building earlier today:
Source: WrestlingINC
WWE Champion AJ Styles, WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns, RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair were at the New York Stock Exchange for the opening bell this morning.
Charlotte posted the photos below on Twitter saying “Kicking off RAW 25th Anniversary at the NYSE ringing the bell with champs!”
WWE Hall of Famer Koko B. Ware joined Cerrito Live on Saturday, which you can listen to here. Despite being a part of the first-ever Monday Night RAW match (losing to the late Yokozuna), he said that he wasn’t invited to RAW 25 this Monday. He added that he hasn’t heard from WWE since his 2009 HOF induction.
Source: WrestlingINC
Jim Ross says a vehicular homicide charge against the 17-year-old driver responsible for his wife’s death has been dropped, despite an objection from the state.
Ross tweeted, “This morning norman judge Steven Stice felt compelled to dismiss vehicular homicide charge against the 17 year old in my wife Jan’s death. The state objected to no avail.”
“The driver never even lost his drivers license,” he added. “Sad world in which we live, folks.”
Case details seem to be unavailable due to a minor being involved, but we’re told the charges were dropped because the judge believed the driver had fulfilled his sentence — which was apparently counseling and undisclosed community service.
As we previously reported, Jan was driving to the gym without a helmet last year when her Vespa was struck from behind. She was thrown from the vehicle as it caught fire and sadly passed away days later. Jan Ross was 55-years-old.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
WWE has announced MVP, Harvey Wippleman, WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel, NXT General Manager William Regal, Lilian Garcia and Jonathan Coachman for Monday’s RAW 25th Anniversary show in New York City.
WWE announced today that several SmackDown Superstars are now confirmed to appear at Monday’s RAW 25th Anniversary show in New York City – SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon, WWE Champion AJ Styles, SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos and The New Day. Other blue brand Superstars advertised for Monday include Randy Orton, Jinder Mahal and Natalya.
Below is the updated line-up of names:
* MVP
* William Regal
* Harvey Wippleman
* WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel
* Lilian Garcia
* Jonathan Coachman
* Daniel Bryan
* Shane McMahon
* AJ Styles
* Charlotte Flair
* The Usos
* The New Day
* Randy Orton
* Jinder Mahal
* Natalya
* Mark Henry
* Christian
* The Hardys
* WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus
* Chris Jericho
* The Brooklyn Brawler
* WWE Hall of Famer Jackie Moore
* Terri Runnels
* Torrie Wilson
* Maria Kanellis
* Michelle McCool
* Kelly Kelly
* WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund
* Eric Bischoff
* WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long
* WWE Hall of Famer The Godfather
* Brother Love
* The Boogeyman
* WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter
* John Laurinaitis
* Sean “X-Pac” Waltman
* WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase
* Free agent John Cena
* WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar
* The Undertaker
* WWE Hall of Famers Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
* WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall
* WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair
* The Bella Twins
* JBL and WWE Hall of Famer Ron Simmons
* The Dudley Boyz
* WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin
* DX: WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, Triple H and The New Age Outlaws
WWE Hall of Famers Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler have been announced for a special one-hour RAW 25th Anniversary pre-show this coming Monday night. They will join Renee Young, Sam Roberts, Peter Rosenberg and David Otunga on the panel. Later Lawler & JR will call matches on the RAW 25th Anniversary broadcast from the Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom.
The RAW 25th Anniversary pre-show will air at 7pm EST on the WWE Network, the WWE website, the WWE App and WWE’s social media platforms.
Below is the full announcement on the pre-show:
Raw Pre-Show to kick off monumental 25th anniversary specialGet ready for the biggest Raw in history with a live Pre-Show starting at 7 p.m. ET this Monday, Jan. 22, on WWE Network, WWE.com, the WWE App, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Join hosts Renee Young, Peter Rosenberg, David Otunga and Sam Roberts as they bring you everything you need to know to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the longest-running weekly episodic show in television history. Plus, WWE Hall of Famers Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler join the celebration from the original home of Monday Night Raw, The Manhattan Center.
Daniel Bryan’s odds of winning the men’s Royal Rumble match have been skyrocketing over the past few weeks.
Bryan went from not being in the top 10 of the most favored participants in late December to being tied as the sixth biggest favorite in the match earlier this week. The latest odds from PaddyPower now have Bryan tied with Dolph Ziggler as the third biggest favorite at 4/1. Shinsuke Nakamura remains the biggest favorite for the match at 6/4, followed by Roman Reigns at 5/2.
It should be noted that the smart money is clearly not in right now. Before last year’s Rumble, eventual winner Randy Orton was the fourth biggest favorite days before the show, while The Undertaker, Goldberg and Braun Strowman were the top three, in that order. Once the smart money came in before the show, Orton became an overwhelming favorite.
Here are the current top 10 favored wrestlers for this year’s men’s Royal Royal match:
1) Shinsuke Nakamura (6/4)
2) Roman Reigns (5/2)
3) Daniel Bryan & Dolph Ziggler (4/1)
5) John Cena (9/2)
6) Braun Strowman (11/2)
7) Finn Balor (7/1)
8) Randy Orton & Baron Corbin (10/1)
10) Seth Rollins (16/1)
Source: WrestlingINC
Jimmy and The New Day square off against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H in a WWE tag team-style lip sync-off to Boyz II Men’s “Motownphilly,” and “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s Moana. Jimmy agreed to appear at RAW 25th Anniversary if he and New Day lost to Triple H and Stephanie.
Jeff Hardy is expected to be at next Monday’s RAW 25th Anniversary special in New York City but obviously won’t be wrestling. Hardy is now being advertised for the event by WWE. Hardy has been out of action since September after undergoing surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. On a related note, WWE has confirmed Christian’s appearance as he is now being advertised as well. We noted before that WWE Hall of Famer Edge won’t be appearing because he will be out of the country that day.
Mark Henry has been confirmed for the RAW 25th Anniversary show next Monday.
Below is the updated list of names scheduled for next Monday:
* Jeff Hardy
* Christian
* Mark Henry
* WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus
* Chris Jericho
* The Brooklyn Brawler
* WWE Hall of Famer Jackie Moore
* Terri Runnels
* Torrie Wilson
* Maria Kanellis
* Michelle McCool
* Kelly Kelly
* WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund
* Eric Bischoff
* WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long
* WWE Hall of Famer The Godfather
* Brother Love
* The Boogeyman
* WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter
* John Laurinaitis
* Sean “X-Pac” Waltman
* WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase
* Free agent John Cena
* WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar
* The Undertaker
* WWE Hall of Famers Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler
* WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall
* WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair
* The Bella Twins
* JBL and WWE Hall of Famer Ron Simmons
* The Dudley Boyz
* WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin
* DX: WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, Triple H and The New Age Outlaws
It’s now confirmed that Ethan Carter III (Michael Hutter) will be returning to WWE soon, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter . It’s possible that EC3 will use the same name in WWE as he does own the rights to it. He previously used the Derrick Bateman name in WWE.
Regarding a possible WWE return for Bobby Lashley, it’s still believed that he will be returning to the company as some have expected it to happen for months but there’s been no confirmation like there has with EC3.
A Royal Rumble appearance for EC3 is possible as he’s now able to sign with any promotion he wants following the Impact Wrestling departure. As Raj noted before, EC3 was recently pulled from a Renegade Wrestling Revolution indie event in Houston, TX on the day of the Rumble. The promotion noted on Facebook that EC3 pulled out of the show due to a private family matter. They wrote, “Unfortunately it is a private family matter. He is ok just has to be with family. But don’t be discouraged there isn’t shortage of talent on this card”
Lashley could appear at the Rumble as well but it would take Impact officials giving approval to WWE.
Source: WrestlingINC
UPDATE:
EC3 was seen at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando this week, according to PWInsider.
