Below is a new WWE Now video with Cathy Kelley revealing that the finals of the WWE United States Title tournament will take place at the January 28th Royal Rumble pay-per-view in Philadelphia.
SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan announced the tournament on this week’s SmackDown after ruling that Dolph Ziggler had relinquished the title, just days after winning it at Clash of Champions.
Bobby Roode and Jinder Mahal won matches on this week’s SmackDown to advance to the second round. Other first round matches include Xavier Woods vs. Aiden English and Zack Ryder vs. Mojo Rawley. You can see the tournament brackets below:
First Round
Bobby Roode defeated Baron Corbin
Zack Ryder vs. Mojo Rawley
Jinder Mahal defeated Tye Dillinger
Xavier Woods vs. Aiden English
Second Round
Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley or Zack Ryder
Jinder Mahal vs. Xavier Woods or Aiden English
Finals
Bobby Roode or Zack Ryder or Mojo Rawley vs. Jinder Mahal or Xavier Woods or Aiden English
On the WWE Network’s Table For 3, The Hardy Boyz, Matt and Jeff, sat down for a meal with fellow WWE Superstar Finn Bálor. Among many other things, Finn and Jeff talked about the use of face paint in their presentations. Also, Finn discussed his future goals and Jeff discussed the possibility of facing off against ‘The Demon King’.
On the subject of face/body paint, Finn indicated that his demon persona helps him manage insecurities.
“It’s very hard to explain, but it’s almost like putting on a mask protects you from people’s judgments and lets you completely flow freely, like, with all your aggression and our animosity against anything. And I think everyone, deep down, has insecurities issues, especially in this business. And I find that maybe getting to hide behind the paint, so to speak, kind of protects you from those insecurities and helps me channel a different side of my personality that isn’t always available to me.”
Moreover, Finn noted that he did not know that the paint would change his body language and demeanor.
“I didn’t realize how much the paint was going to affect how I moved and how I walked. And it wasn’t something that consciously happened. It was because the first time I’d done it was a Tokyo Dome show, I want to say in 2013-14, and I walked out there and I was a completely different person. I hadn’t rehearsed anything, planned anything, but I remember walking to the ring almost in a limp and I was like, ‘why the hell am I limping?’ It was almost as though the paint took control and it changes the direction your mind moves in.”
Jeff agreed with Finn with respect to face paint, saying that it allows him to be free as a performer.
“Every time I paint my face, I’ve always thought of it as my alien skin, the reptilian inside me that makes me different. When I think of aliens, I think of the skin, like, the abstract piece I do on my face, it doesn’t matter. I’m just in such a free zone. I’m just so at peace with myself when I’m doing it. And then, when I do the deal when I close my eyes, and take a picture, I go, ‘tonight, that is my canvas. My face is my canvas.’ Then, I get that, man. You go out there and you’re just more somehow, like, because you’re not your normal self. And to me, it just feels artistically free to express yourself and don’t have a care in the world about what anybody else is thinking! And so, I would be, on purpose, I would be real messy, a lot of the time, with neon, glow-in-the-dark paint. Even after I’d paint my face, I’d go smear it all over my hands and give people confidence not to care at that point in time and just have faith and confidence in yourself and just roll with it.”
As for future goals Finn claimed that he would like to continue to evolve his character. The inaugural WWE Universal Champion stated that his main goal is to create another alter ego for himself.
“Obviously, seeing [the Hardys] continue to evolve the last 25 years, that inspires me to keep evolving my character. And I’m quite happy with how I’m doing at the moment, but I’m always trying to push myself to create something new and I think my main goal going forward over the next five, 10 years would be maybe create another alter ego like you guys have.”
Additionally, Jeff said that he hopes a match between ‘The Enigma’ and ‘The Demon King’ is “inevitable”.
“I’ve heard it a lot, man, and people are kind of waiting to see us, like, ‘I can’t wait to see ‘The Enigma’ and ‘The Demon’ in the ring at the same time’ with painted up faces. Hopefully, that’s inevitable, so we’ll see.”
Below is footage of Paige sustaining an injury at last night’s RAW live event at the Nassau Coliseum. Paige was teaming with Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville against Sasha Banks, Bayley & Mickie James.
The start of the video shows Paige taking a kick to the back from Banks. Paige struggled to get to her feet before falling to the mat, causing the referee to throw up the “X” injury signal and stop the match. A stretcher was brought out, however Paige was able to walk to the back with the help of the doctors.
F4WOnline reports that Paige has been pulled from the rest of this week’s RAW live events as a precaution. She was scheduled for an evaluation and X-rays yesterday. As noted, Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that it is believed that she had just suffered a mild stinger from the kick.
Impact Wrestling officials are currently planning the next live pay-per-view event to be held in late April or early May 2018, according to PWInsider. The first pay-per-view of 2018 will be the Lockdown event, which features all matches in a steel cage.
Lockdown had been a yearly pay-per-view, one of TNA’s biggest, until being re-branded as a special Impact episode in 2015. The last Lockdown Impact episode took place in January 2016 (televised on 2/23/16).
Impact is planning on running more live pay-per-views in 2018 but there’s no word yet on when those events might take place.
Stephanie McMahon used Twitter to offer model/TV host Chrissy Teigen an official invitation to WrestleMania 34.
Teigen tweeted earlier today saying she’s “never had more fun” than she had at WrestleMania XXIV, but for some reason she had to leave early and is still mad about it.
This prompted a response from Stephanie, who tweeted: “We’re sorry you had to leave early! Consider this your official invitation to #WrestleMania34 in #NOLA this year! @TripleH said to let him know if anyone tries to make you leave early this time! They’ll have a whole locker room to deal with!”
I have never had more fun than I had at wrestlemania years ago. And I *really* did not want to go. I had to be pried from my seat to leave early. Still mad about it. https://t.co/19sCNADHZg
.@ChrissyTeigen We’re sorry you had to leave early! Consider this your official invitation to #WrestleMania34 in #NOLA this year! @TripleH said to let him know if anyone tries to make you leave early this time! They’ll have a whole locker room to deal with! https://t.co/9A7Eewoliy
Chrissy responded saying, “This is THE greatest gift I have ever received!!” She then asked when the event was so she can figure out how pregnant she’ll be.
This is THE greatest gift I have ever received!! When is it (aka how pregnant will I be) https://t.co/lgH44z9e3M
A fan on Twitter asked “Woken” Matt Hardy if his wife Reby Hardy would be joining him on WWE TV, and Matt responded saying that he believed that she would:
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY believe MY Queen Rebecca will perform for my #WOKENWisdom on the 88 keys of Blanco & Negro on the plane identified as @WWE.
It was recently revealed that the main event for the SmackDown-branded WWE Fastlane pay-per-view in March will be AJ Styles defending the WWE Championship in a five-way match against Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. While it’s not a lock, that would suggest that Orton, Nakamura, Owens and Zayn aren’t winning The Royal Rumble match in January, since it wouldn’t make sense for them to challenge for the title at Fastlane and then again at WrestleMania.
There had been speculation that Styles would be defending his WWE Championship against John Cena at WrestleMania 34, with the storyline being that Cena would be trying to break Ric Flair’s recognized record of 16 World title reigns. According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter , Cena will not be facing Styles at the event as Cena “is in a much bigger match than Styles.” He added that while he doesn’t know exactly who Cena will be facing, he was told that the match will be clear within a few weeks.
Meltzer noted that the only names he could come up with to be facing Cena were The Undertaker, Batista, Goldberg or Hulk Hogan, however it would be a surprise with Hogan given his controversy with his leaked racist rant, as well as his issues with his back. It is expected that some angles for the top WrestleMania matches will be shot at the 25th anniversary of RAW on Monday, January 22, 2018. The special will emanate from both the Barclays Center and the Manhattan Center in New York City, and will feature appearances by The Undertaker, Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels, among others.
Paige suffered what appeared to be a rib, shoulder or head injury during last night’s WWE live event on Long Island. The injury came from either a missed dropkick or a hard kick to the back from Sasha Banks. Apparently, Paige wasn’t ready for the move and it stunned her. The match was immediately stopped and a stretcher was brought out but Paige did walk out on her own.
Paige is apparently alright today as she was seen at the hotel bar after the show and was feeling better, according to theWrestling Observer Newsletter . The early belief is that she just suffered a mild stinger.
It was reported back in early December that Laurel Van Ness had requested her release film Impact Wrestling. Van Ness didn’t let Impact Wrestling management know about her plans until well after they booked her to win the Knockouts Championship on those tapings. Van Ness, who signed with the company last year, is looking to leave Impact wrestling as soon as her current deal with the organization runs out. During an interview with The Orlando Sentinel, it was revealed that she’s under contract with Impact through June 2018.