Tonight’s WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Performance Center on the USA Network.
A series of cryptic symbols and a QR code leading to hidden messages, and ultimately, a mysterious video appeared on “WWE Raw” as The New Day made their entrance for the Triple Threat number one contenders’ tag team match. It’s hard not to be reminded of 2022’s “white rabbit” teases that led to Bray Wyatt’s eventual return with the uptick in these types of Easter eggs of late, especially amid speculation that the Uncle Howdy character could soon make a return.
As Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods made their way down the ramp, the screen glitched before showing what appeared to be the glyph representing Pluto, followed by an image of a raven, followed by the QR code, which led to a puzzle of its own at the WWE-hosted URL wwe.com/qrisme. Laying those two images over each other revealed another URL, wwe.com/UEDNJ51A, where another image is found depicting the raven held by a hand in front of a flame, and behind a man, who appears to be looking toward the shadowed projection of the bird in front of him. There is also a video below the image, in the style of an old VCR tape, broadcasting the messages, “Time to wake up,” “Take my hand,” and “Things will be better,” before ending with “Trust me,” and repeating the glyph and the bird images.
Wyatt’s real life brother Taylor Rotunda, FKA Bo Dallas, has been rumored to make an eventual return as the Uncle Howdy character who ran alongside Wyatt in his final WWE run and the conjecture has only heated up since the release of the Wyatt documentary “Becoming Immortal” on Peacock, which ended with a tease of its own. Soon after on another episode of “Raw,” hidden messages and social media takeovers furthered speculation even more and it continued again tonight.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Sometimes it’s best to get the bad news out of the way first. Such was the case for the Rhea Ripley tonight, as the WWE Women’s World Champion kicked off “WWE Raw” by confirming rumors that swirled all day saying she was dealing with a serious injury and may need to vacate her title. That indeed turned out to be the case, with Ripley blaming the backstage attack from Liv Morgan last week as the reason for her now having to miss “quite a few months” and being forced to relinquish the title she has held since
Ripley entered with her right arm in a sling and though she raised her title to show the crowd, her entrance was otherwise devoid of its usual flair. Her face told the story even further, carrying a scowl all the way down the ramp. And when she took the ring, immediately, she addressed the issue at hand. “So, obviously, you guys know what’s going on right now, yeah?” she asked. “I’m angry right now. I’m pissed off. You know why? Because I’ve been told that I need to vacate the one thing that means the most to me: my Women’s World Championship.”
With the crowd chanting “bulls***,” Ripley concurred, saying, “Yeah, it is,” before laying down her belt and calling out Morgan, saying this was all because of her “stupid revenge tour.” Morgan took the stage, surrounded by security, and Ripley was soon flanked as well, with officials doing enough to keep the two apart, despite Ripley headbutting one guard and staring off another. In a backstage segment to follow, Ripley was embraced by the rest of The Judgment Day and she told them to keep the group on top before parting with a “Te amo” toward her stablemates.
PWInsider reports that Ripley was injured last week during a backstage segment between her and Liv Morgan, where Morgan attacked Ripley with a chair. No details were provided on the type of injury Ripley suffered, but it is believed to be severe enough that it could lead to Ripley being forced to vacate the Women’s World Championship on tonight’s episode of “Raw.” It’s unclear what direction WWE would take should Ripley be forced to vacate.
Though Ripley’s focus had largely been on Lynch over the past several months, the Judgment Day star has had issues with Morgan throughout 2024, since Morgan returned during the Women’s Royal Rumble match back in January. Morgan had missed six months of action before returning due to a shoulder injury, and was written off of TV after being brutally attacked by Ripley with a chair prior to a scheduled match between them on “SmackDown.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE Monday Night Raw live on the USA Network from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The dust around WWE WrestleMania 40 has finally settled, and the company is now set to turn its attention to freshening up the roster with the annual WWE Draft. Beginning on April 26 on “WWE Smackdown” and concluding on April 29 on “WWE Raw,” it seems as if all three of WWE’s brands will be getting some shake-up in this year’s draft, with a reported renewed focus on “WWE NXT” in particular.
Sources close to “NXT’s” creative process told Fightful Select that there is a push to make it more of a third main roster brand, similar to how things were before the COVID-19 pandemic when “NXT” was also included in the brand warfare storyline at Survivor Series 2019. This means that there is a strong chance that main roster talent can be drafted to “NXT” in the upcoming draft, with Fightful reporting that appearances from Ivar and The Final Testament are examples of how stars from “Raw” and “Smackdown” are likely to make Tuesday nights their new home.
“NXT” names that have been thrown around as those who will be leaving the brand include Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes, who are reportedly seen as locks for a main roster call-up. Roxanne Perez, Baron Corbin, and Tony D’Angleo’s Family have also been discussed as potential draftees. However, Shawn Michaels has apparently told several talents he doesn’t know who will be called up. “NXT” will reportedly have a draft-heavy focus on the upcoming “Spring Breakin'” episodes of the show on April 23 and 30, with the roster being more or less finalized by Battleground, which takes place on June 9.
This year’s draft will take place on April 26 and 29, as WWE is looking to capitalize on the 2024 NFL Draft, which will take place between April 25 and 27. Fightful Select confirmed this, and the outlet also noted that this year’s draft could potentially have input from WWE’s upcoming media partners, Netflix and The CW.
“Smackdown” will move from FOX to the USA Network, and “NXT” will move from USA to The CW in October 2024, while “Raw” will begin its new era on Netflix at the beginning of 2025. While USA will also be able to have some input on who appears on “Smackdown,” the CW and Netflix have the chance to try and secure some big stars for their launch dates if they choose to. However, Fightful was told by one WWE source that “Raw’s” debut on Netflix is closer to the 2025 draft than the 2024 one, meaning that they won’t be worrying about what the rosters look like for a little while.
“Smackdown” and “NXT” will both be moving to Netflix in 2025 for fans in the United Kingdom, Latin America, Canada, and various other markets at the same time as “Raw’s” move. Still, there has been no word on whether that will impact any of the movement in this year’s draft or whether the rules may become relaxed at the turn of the new year.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Piper and Chelsea Green were destroyed by Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill on this week’s show. The bigger news here is that there was another screen glitch with a message.
As the short match progressed, the screen glitched and the message “You forgot about us” appeared. A similar screen glitch took place on Monday’s episode of WWE RAW with the message reading “Hello.” This appears to be something related to Bray Wyatt – likely his brother Bo Dallas with the Uncle Howdy persona. There are also some rumors that Alexa Bliss and at least one other name will be involved in this.
Source: eWn
Post-WrestleMania, the winds of change tend to blow in WWE. Last night on “WWE SmackDown,” Solo Sikoa took charge and seemingly ushered in a new era, booting Jimmy Uso from The Bloodline with the help of a debuting Tama Tonga, all to “The Wiseman” Paul Heyman’s apparent surprise.
Heyman, Sikoa, and Uso took the ring with newly-crowned WWE-Hall-of-Famer stating that they were there on the orders of “The Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns, who ordered that they give no excuses for coming up short against the new Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. After giving Rhodes his due and singling out his focus, Heyman was interrupted by Sikoa, who asked if winning and losing matters, if there are consequences to losing, and if consequences mean change. Answering in the affirmative to all, Heyman looked beyond concerned as Sikoa pushed him aside, hugged his brother Jimmy, telling him he loved him, all just to set him up for an attack from behind by an invading hooded figure, soon revealed to be Tonga. After Sikoa hit a series of Samoan Spikes, Tonga held up “the one,” and was joined by Sikoa first, and then a hesitant Heyman, who then told his iPhone to “call Roman Reigns.” Sikoa then ripped the phone away and smashed it before finishing Jimmy with a Hip Attack while Uso had a chair draped around his head.
Tonga, technically, is not family to The Samoan Dynasty but it has long been recognized that the Anoa’i-Maivia-Fatu bloodline considers him as much, as they do his father Haku and brothers Hikuleo and Tanga Loa of New Japan Pro-Wrestling Fame. With Loa, Tonga is a seven-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and a Ring of Honor Tag Team Champion, a four-time NEVER Openweight Champion, and a four-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion with Loa and various other partners.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
According to a report from Fightful Select, WWE has been interested in Tonga for a long time now. This dates all the way back to 2016 when they first signed AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows and Shinsuke Nakamura. While WWE was interested, Tonga chose to stay in NJPW at the time in order to work with his brothers, Hikuleo and Tonga Loa.
WWE had interest in Hikuleo and Tama last year as well, but a hiring freeze occurred when Vince McMahon worked his way back into the company and prevented any new signings from taking place. As of this writing, there isn’t any word on whether Tonga had any talks with AEW. Additionally, it was added that it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that he was WWE-bound due to the positive relationship the two sides have.
It remains to be seen whether WWE is still interested in bringing in Hikuleo or Tonga Loa. Jacob Fatu has signed with WWE and was backstage at WrestleMania 40, so he’ll likely be added to the mix in the near future. One idea was discussed regarding Fatu and Tonga teaming up much like their fathers Tonga Kid and Haku did, but there’s no word on if that’s still the working plan.
Following the exciting events of WrestleMania 40, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque proclaimed that the company had officially entered into a new era. A pair of top stars can’t say the same, however, as they are reportedly expected to have a delayed entry in this new era.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins will be taking time off the road following his back-to-back performances at WrestleMania 40. The exact duration of Rollins’ hiatus is not yet known, although the hope, as of Monday, was that it would only last about four weeks (h/t Wrestling Observer Daily Update). Rollins last competed on night two of WrestleMania 40 as he unsuccessfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against “The Scottish Warrior” Drew McIntyre. Rollins later appeared in the night’s closing contest, making good on his promise of being Cody Rhodes’ “shield” in his pursuit of capturing the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
Rollins’ real-life counterpart Becky Lynch is also believed to be taking some off of WWE television. Lynch last wrestled in the opening contest of WrestleMania 40 night one. Much like Rollins, though, Lynch’s efforts proved to be unsuccessful as she suffered a loss to WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. There is no word on how long Lynch may be away from television.
While there appears to be some answers regarding their imminent future in WWE, the long-term future of Rollins and Lynch still remains uncertain, as both their contracts are set to expire in June 2024.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown will air live on FOX from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
New Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes to appear.
New WWE Women’s Champion Bayley to appear
Strange things were afoot ahead of Monday’s episode of “WWE Raw.” Prior to the show, a fan posted a video to social media of lights flickering, along with a quick musical tease. Later, during the broadcast itself, 2024 Andre the Giant Battle Royale winner Bronson Reed was cutting a promo backstage when the bottom of the screen scrambled in a familiar static pattern. In the lower right corner of the screen, the word “hello” appeared.
Fightful Select has confirmed that these teases are meant to herald the on-screen return of WWE star Bo Dallas, who portrayed the Uncle Howdy character as part of his late brother Bray Wyatt’s storyline after both made their way back to WWE in late 2022. Dallas — who has remained under WWE contract despite Uncle Howdy being removed from WWE programming due to Wyatt’s illness, which ultimately resulted in his tragic death — was recently featured in a WWE-produced Peacock documentary on Wyatt. In the documentary, Dallas talked about needing to create something to make his brother proud, and an Uncle Howdy tease was shown at the end of the film. Following the documentary’s release, Fightful Select reported that a comeback for Dallas was planned, though they aren’t certain whether he will return as Bo Dallas, Uncle Howdy, Taylor Rotunda (his real name), or some other character.
Dallas was first signed to a developmental deal in 2008, working in Florida Championship Wrestling before that promotion transitioned into “WWE NXT.” He enjoyed a lengthy reign as “NXT” Champion in 2013 and 2014, losing the title on the very first premium live event to be broadcast via the WWE Network, but his subsequent main roster run faltered and he was released in 2021, eventually returning alongside Wyatt the following year.
A few hours after the teases on “Raw,” Dallas, as Uncle Howdy, took to Twitter to pour some gasoline into the simmering fire. While Howdy wasn’t a chatterbox in his response, he got people’s attention by posting the emoji of a rabbit, a callback to when Wyatt and Dallas returned to the WWE in the fall of 2020, as part of the viral “White Rabbit” campaign.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
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