Vince McMahon’s XFL Revival Faces Early Competition From New Football League

Image result for Alliance of American Football, a new pro football league, plans to debut in 2019

WWE’s chairman and chief executive Vince McMahon already has an opponent in drawing away NFL’s football fans, and it comes from a surprising name: Charlie Ebersol. Not only did Charlie’s father, and longtime NBC executive, Dick help Vince launch the original XFL 17 years ago, but the younger Ebersol directed the recent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the original failed launch of the XFL. Today, Ebersol announced the formation of the Alliance of American Football.

 After political protests by NFL players and concussion injuries gained recent attention, ratings for the league fell by 17 percent. Perhaps seizing on this environment, McMahon announced this past January that he’d revive the XFL (backed by $100 million in stock he sold). He emphasized a more family-friendly stance than the previous XFL, downplaying the sexy cheerleaders and violence of the original league and adhering more to the current PG-era of the WWE. He also stressed nonpolitical actions during games and employing players without criminal backgrounds.

Ebersol’s announcement of his Alliance for American Football league also might mean McMahon’s plan will come too late. Whereas Vince wants to revamp the XFL in in early 2020, his rival scheduled his launch for February 9, 2019 on CBS, soon after the next Super Bowl.

Ebersol’s father and Vince’s former partner Dick will serve on a board of directors that will also feature former NFL stars Hines Ward, Justin Tuck, and Jared Allen. The stated goals are similar to McMahon’s reboot of the XFL, such as shorter games and utilizing top-level talent from college football who don’t make it into the NFL. In addition, Ebersol wants games to be affordable, with good seats available at $35.

“I wanted to build a team of people who were significantly more accomplished and smarter than I was and let them build what they thought the future of the sport was going to be,” Ebersol said in press announcement.

Ebersol emphasized the AAF is in it for the long haul.

“We’re not looking for out-of-box, rocket-ship success,” he said. “The XFL, USFL as a live event were successful businesses, but expectations were so high. We want to manage expectations, because we’re built for a long-term model.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Daniel Bryan Gets Physical On SmackDown Live Following WWE Clearance (Video)

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Daniel Bryan didn’t waste anytime getting physical in the ring after finally being medically cleared.

Daniel called Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn out to the ring. Daniel fired them for their attack of Shane McMahon last week. Owens & Zayn then assaulted Daniel.

BREAKING: WWE Clears Daniel Bryan To Wrestle

 

WWE announced today that it has cleared Daniel Bryan to return to in-ring action. We will have continuing coverage of this developing story.

SmackDown Live Preview 3/20/18

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texasas the road to WrestleMania continues.

* Will Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn face any repercussions from Daniel Bryan for their attack on Shane McMahon?

* Is Jinder Mahal winning the United States Title a foregone conclusion?

* How will the SmackDown Women’s Division change after the arrival of Asuka?

* Will The Bludgeon Brothers’ punishment continue?

* Will AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura have to watch each other’s back ahead of WrestleMania?

WWE Mixed Match Challenge & 205 Live Preview 3/20/18

Tonight’s WWE Mixed Match Challenge and WWE 205 Live will take place from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

WWE Mixed Match Challenge:

* The Miz & Asuka vs. Braun Strowman & Alexa Bliss

 

WWE 205 Live:

* Who will face Cedric Alexander at WrestleMania?

* Drew Gulak vs. Mustafa Ali

Daniel Bryan Getting Closer To A WWE Ring Return?

It will be interesting to see if WrestleMania 34 plans for SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan are announced on tonight’s show.

The blue brand currently has Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn announced for WrestleMania but there’s speculation on Shane McMahon being added to the match to make it a Handicap Match or a Triple Threat. There’s also speculation on Bryan being added to the match as a special referee, but there’s also speculation that Bryan will be able to finally make his return to the ring in New Orleans.

Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that there has been movement in the last month or so as Bryan has worked very hard to get cleared. Bryan has seen more doctors and even though it’s hard to get cleared, more doctors have cleared him to return.

Bryan has been undergoing hyperbaric treatments for just under a year now and he was told when he began the treatment that he would start feeling a lot better after 50 treatments. These treatments are still experimental but other athletes have done them. There appears to be something to the treatments as Bryan is said to be doing a lot better in his tests. Meltzer noted that if Bryan’s condition was really bad then doctors wouldn’t be clearing him, but getting cleared for a WWE ring return comes down to WWE doctors clearing him and they are also out to protect the company.

Bryan suggested over the weekend that competing at WrestleMania 34 was a possibility. He spoke with The National while in the Middle East this past week and commented on possibly teaming with Shane at WrestleMania to face Sami and Owens.

“I don’t know and I don’t think they know. I think it all depends on whether or not I get cleared. As of this moment, as of today, I am not cleared by WWE. I have done everything in my power. Everything they have asked me to and I have gone above and beyond as far as ‘Okay, what doctors do you need me to see. Send me to any doctor you want, any doctor that you want and lets get their feedback on what is going on with me.’ So far every doctor has cleared me that they have sent me too and so there is a chance. I used to think that the percentage of the WWE ever clearing me was low. I think with the stuff that I have done it has gone a little higher but I don’t know how much higher. With how everything is there is one day to go if I don’t get cleared [storyline wise] and then there is another way to go if I am cleared. I am hoping to be cleared but I don’t know which way it goes.”

Bryan has stated in the past that he would wrestle elsewhere when his contract expires in September if he were healthy and WWE would not clear him.

Source: WrestlingINC

Backstage Big Cass Update

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Injured WWE RAW Superstar Big Cass was backstage at Monday’s show in Dallas, according to PWInsider. We noted back in mid-February that Cass had been spotted at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando and was said to be looking good, moving around without any assistance. Word going around at RAW was that Cass is in the final stages of being cleared and could return to the storylines on RAW soon.

Cass has been out of action since August 2017 after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL. It was said then that Cass would be out of action until around May, forcing him to miss WrestleMania 34 while WWE had a singles push planned for him. It sounds like Cass may be back before May based on talk at RAW this week.

Source: WrestlingINC

Ronda Rousey Made An Appearance After Raw And Suplexed Dana Brooke (VIDEO)

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Ronda Rousey didn’t appear on WWE RAW but did appear after RAW in a segment with Dana Brooke.

Ronda entered the ring and was interrupted by Dana, who called Rousey a nobody that still had to start “at the back of the line.”

Brooke went on to say she couldn’t wait for Stephanie McMahon to make Ronda her property at WrestleMania 34 and told Ronda to get out of the ring.

However, Dana’s threat didn’t work and she was suplexed for her troubles (seen in video below).

As we previously reported, Ronda will appear at all Raw events leading up to WrestleMania — despite last week’s mishap — but it’s possible some appearances will be dark segments.

Matt Hardy Deletes Bray Wyatt

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Last night on WWE RAW we saw the much hyped match at the Hardy Compound, ‘The Ultimate Deletion’ – “Woken” Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt.

This bizarre match ended with Matt Hardy shoving Bray Wyatt into the Lake of Reincarnation after Hardy defeated Wyatt. Matt told Senor Benjamin to retrieve Wyatt’s carcass from the lake, but Wyatt is not there. Matt declares that The Great War is over and that Bray Wyatt has been deleted. Matt chants “delete!”

Jeff Hardy made an appearance for a few seconds, singing He’s got the whole wide world in His hands.

AJPW Launching Subscription Streaming Service in March

AJPW All Japan Pro Wrestling

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) has officially announced that the promotion will launch its own subscription streaming video service, All Japan Pro Wrestling TV, similar to NJPW’s own NJPW World. The service is set to launch on March 7 and will be priced at 900 yen a month. That comes out to be about $8.17 USD.

Source: 411Mania