Tag: WWE

WWE SmackDown Preview 3/25/22

The Road to WrestleMania 38 will continue tonight with the final SmackDown on FOX episode before next week’s special go-home show. SmackDown will air live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City tonight.

WWE has not officially announced Ronda Rousey for a segment on tonight’s show but she is being advertised locally and by the WWE Events website.

Backstage News On How WWE May Present Cody Rhodes

Two high-profile people within WWE want Cody Rhodes to be presented in the exact same manner to his AEW character when he debuts with the company.

According to WrestleVotes, these two individuals have been adamant to Vince McMahon that this should happen, including his entire presentation.

This ranges from his ring gear, theme music, and pyro. They believe that the visual impact of having the ‘American Nightmare’ crossing the line from AEW to WWE is significant to this deal. Of course, while it has been reported that Cody Rhodes is returning to WWE, nothing has been made official yet.

https://twitter.com/WrestleVotes/status/1507339115674497028

Since Cody Rhodes’ AEW contract came to an end, he has not been seen inside a wrestling ring. The former three-time TNT Champion is believed to be facing Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 38 this year.

Rollins is currently without an opponent at WrestleMania and this turned into a major storyline on Raw over the past few weeks. Rollins has claimed in storyline that Raw will not start next week until he gets an opponent. It is unknown if this is when Cody will be turning up, or if his debut will be saved for WrestleMania.

During a recent episode of Talk Is Jericho, Chris Jericho seemed to confirm that Cody is heading back to WWE. During the introduction of his podcast episode, he claimed that he is now back with the company.

“I’m pulling back the curtain a little bit on the wrestling business,” Jericho said. “You’re gonna discover how I’ve been able to be Chris Jericho no matter what company I work for or where I wrestle. You’ll hear how Danhausen gets to keep his name and gimmick from promotion to promotion. How Cody got to reclaim Rhodes from WWE even though he’s back in WWE…”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Shad Gaspard To Receive Warrior Award At This Year’s WWE Hall Of Fame

With only a week to go until the ceremony takes place, only three inductees have been announced. The Undertaker, Vader, and Sharmell

WWE has now officially confirmed Shad Gaspard will receive the Warrior Award at next week’s Hall of Fame ceremony.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1507363868070273033

Gaspard passed away in May 2020 when he was caught in a riptide while swimming with his son of Venice Beach. One of Gaspard’s last acts before passing away was to direct rescuers towards his son before they rescued him. Sadly, after safely making sure Gaspard’s son made it to shore, his rescuers were too late to save the former WWE Superstar and his body was found days later.

Gaspard’s passing came years after he competed in WWE as one half of the tag team Cryme Tyme alongside JTG. While it would have been cool to see him eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame, it’s hard to argue that his time in WWE merits that. The Warrior Award, on the other hand, which is “presented to an individual who has exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance” is undoubtedly something Gaspard’s legacy deserves.

Source: TheSportster

WWE Makes Changes To The WrestleMania 38 Line-Up

WWE has made a few more changes to the card for WrestleMania 38.

We noted before how AJ Styles vs. WWE Hall of Famer Edge was originally announced for WrestleMania Sunday, but then pulled from that listing and was not assigned to any night for a week or so. WWE then added the match back to WrestleMania Sunday, but now it is listed for WrestleMania Saturday.

On a related note, the Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles is now listed for WrestleMania Sunday. The match was originally announced for WrestleMania Sunday, but then it was listed for Friday or Saturday. Now that Natalya and Shayna Baszler have been added to make it a Fatal 4 Way, WWE has confirmed the bout for Night Two of WrestleMania 38.

WrestleMania 38 will take place on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3 from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Below is the current announced card:

WRESTLEMANIA SATURDAY – APRIL 2:

SmackDown Women’s Title Match
Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair (c)

RAW Women’s Title Match
Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch (c)

SmackDown Tag Team Titles Match
Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs vs. The Usos (c)

WWE Hall of Famer Edge vs. AJ Styles

Logan Paul and The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio

Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Baron Corbin

Kevin Owens hosts The KO Show with special guest WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin

WRESTLEMANIA SUNDAY- APRIL 3:

Winner Takes All Title Unification Match
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns

Triple Threat for the RAW Tag Team Titles
The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. Randy Orton and Riddle (c)

Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles
Shayna Baszler and Natalya vs. Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley vs. Naomi and Sasha Banks vs. Carmella and Queen Zelina Vega (c)

Anything Goes Match
Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn

Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory

UNCONFIRMED, RUMORED OR EXPECTED MATCHES:

Seth Rollins vs. Cody Rhodes

WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal

Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods vs. Sheamus and Ridge Holland

WWE Intercontinental Title Match
TBA vs. Ricochet (c)

WWE United States Title Match
Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor (c)

Chris Jericho Confirms Cody Rhodes Has Signed With WWE

On his Talk is Jericho podcast earlier this week, Chris Jericho confirmed that Cody Rhodes is bound for WWE.

Jericho had ‘Gimmick Attorney’ Mike Dockins as a guest on the show, and they spoke in length about wrestlers’ trademark battles with WWE. While describing what Dockins does, Jericho confirmed that Rhodes will be returning to WWE TV soon.

“I’m pulling back the curtain a little bit on the wrestling business,” Jericho said. “You’re gonna discover how I’ve been able to be Chris Jericho no matter what company I work for or where I wrestle. You’ll hear how Danhausen gets to keep his name and gimmick from promotion to promotion. How Cody got to reclaim Rhodes from WWE even though he’s back in WWE…”

Cody Rhodes is rumored to wrestle Seth Rollins at the upcoming WrestleMania 38 premium live event. He is expected to be a part of the RAW brand, according to PWInsder. As per several other reports, Rhodes will also appear at the RAW after Mania on Monday, April 4.

This week’s RAW ended with a seething Seth Rollins threatening to hijack next week’s show unless he gets to be on the WrestleMania 38 card. The fans in attendance at the Allstate Arena chanted “Cody” in response, as Rollins continued to wreak havoc at ringside. Rhodes could potentially show up at the Mania go-home episode of RAW this Monday at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Big E Reveals Just How Serious His Neck Break Could Have Been

If things had been even a little different E could have been paralyzed, suffered a stroke, or even died.

A week and a half ago, Big E suffered an incredibly scary injury at the hands of Ridge Holland thanks to a belly-to-belly suplex gone wrong. The former WWE Champion was planted right on his head at ringside, resulting in a broken neck. More specifically fractures of his C1 and C6. E continues to shed more light on the injury as he finds out more about it himself, including how much more serious it could have been.

E shared what could have been after being told during his most recent doctor visit. “Learning I narrowly escaped a stroke, paralysis or death is very sobering,” E revealed. The New Day man explains that the C1 fracture could have caused any of those far more serious consequences.

E didn’t get away scot-free, of course, and while he didn’t lose his life or ability to walk, the extent of his injuries still remains unclear. E was up and walking around his neighborhood just one week after suffering the injury, which is pretty remarkable. As for whether E will ever be able to wrestle again, it will likely be a long time before he, fans, or even his doctors can be certain of that.

The outpouring of love and well wishes from fans and wrestlers alike just goes to show how popular a guy E is. The man himself revealed how overwhelmed he was with the support shortly after the injury, explaining that it assured him he was not alone in his recovery, one that will hopefully end with him returning to the ring. For now, E is focused on healing, and that appears to be going pretty well so far.

It’s assumed the entire reason for the match in which E injured his neck was to set up a match between New Day and Sheamus’s group (Ridge Holland and Butch, formally known as Pete Dunne) at WrestleMania. That match is obviously now off, and as of right now with the card filling up, none of the five Superstars who remain have anything to do over WrestleMania weekend. Well, they’ll be busy, of course, but not with matches on the WrestleMania card, for now. But there are reports that they could sill be involved in a normal 2-man tag team match.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 3/22/22

The Road to Stand & Deliver will continue during tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode on the USA Network.

WWE To Air WrestleMania Saturday Kickoff On USA Network, Current WrestleMania 38 Cards

The Kickoff pre-show for Night One of WrestleMania 38 is set to air on the USA Network.

WWE will air the entire two-hour Kickoff pre-show for WrestleMania Saturday on the USA Network from 6-8pm ET, according to PWInsider. It’s likely that the show will also air on Peacock, YouTube and other outlets.

There’s no confirmation on the WrestleMania Sunday Kickoff airing on the USA Network as well.

WWE has not yet announced which matches will be featured on the Kickoff pre-shows.

On a related note, AJ Styles vs. WWE Hall of Famer Edge has been added back to the line-up for WrestleMania Sunday. The only announced match not assigned to a night as of this writing is the Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles.

WrestleMania 38 will take place on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3 from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Below is the current announced card:

WRESTLEMANIA SATURDAY – APRIL 2:

SmackDown Women’s Title Match
Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair (c)

RAW Women’s Title Match
Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch (c)

SmackDown Tag Team Titles Match
Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs vs. The Usos (c)

Logan Paul and The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio

Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Baron Corbin

Kevin Owens hosts The KO Show with special guest WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin

WRESTLEMANIA SUNDAY- APRIL 3:

Winner Takes All Title Unification Match
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns

Triple Threat for the RAW Tag Team Titles
The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. Randy Orton and Riddle (c)

Anything Goes Match
Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn

Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory

WWE Hall of Famer Edge vs. AJ Styles

CONFIRMED MATCHES TO BE ASSIGNED A NIGHT:

Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles
Shayna Baszler and Natalya vs. Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley vs. Naomi and Sasha Banks vs. Carmella and Queen Zelina Vega (c)

UNCONFIRMED, RUMORED OR EXPECTED MATCHES:

Seth Rollins vs. Cody Rhodes

WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal

Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods vs. Sheamus and Ridge Holland

WWE Intercontinental Title Match
TBA vs. Ricochet (c)

WWE United States Title Match
Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor (c)

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 3/21/22

The Road to WrestleMania 38 will continue tonight as WWE RAW airs live from the Allstate Arena near Chicago, IL.

Gable Steveson Seemingly Spoils WWE Debut Date

It appears Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson will be making his WWE debut at WrestleMania 38.

Soon after becoming a two-time NCAA Wrestling Heavyweight Champion over the weekend, Steveson tweeted “Dear Wrestling, Thank you. ❤️” to essentially bid farewell to amateur wrestling.

Steveson then posted the following message:

Also, I will be at #WrestleMania.. It’s time!!

However, Steveson would quickly delete the tweet, presumably to keep his WrestleMania debut a surprise. You can see a screengrab of the deleted tweet below.

Steveson was assigned to the RAW brand during last October’s WWE Draft. He signed a multi-year deal with WWE last September as part of the first-ever exclusive NIL agreement. His contract officially begins once he graduates from the University of Minnesota in May.

Last October, The Wrestling Observer reported that WWE had a big WrestleMania 38 debut planned for Steveson. The report added that WWE had plans to set up a remote training facility for Steveson near the University of Minnesota campus, where the wrestler would work with WWE coaches to learn the WWE style of in-ring action. It’s unknown if Steveson had been training for his WWE debut during his final year in college.

Gable Steveson will end his amateur wrestling career with an 85-2 record.

https://twitter.com/TheBrassRing1/status/1505680027165544451
https://twitter.com/GableSteveson/status/1505380388830597120

Source: Wrestling Inc.