Tonight’s WWE RAW on the USA Network will feature the go-home build for Sunday’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view.
WWE has announced two title matches for tonight’s show. WWE United States Champion Riddle will defend against Mustafa Ali, while RAW Tag Team Champions Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander will defend against The New Day.
WWE is also teasing that we will find out what’s next for WWE Champion Bobby Lashley now that The All Mighty Era has begun on RAW.
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will see the roads to Fastlane and WrestleMania 37 continue.
WWE officials are looking to have 45,000 fans at Raymond James Stadium for each night of WrestleMania 37.
A few months ago the hope was to put 30,000 fans inside Raymond James Stadium, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, but at a meeting held this past week a new goal of 45,000 fans each night was set.
The city of Tampa held a meeting on Wednesday, March 10 with representatives from local hotels and they were told that WWE is pushing to run Raymond James Stadium at 75% capacity on both nights of WrestleMania, Saturday, April 10 and Sunday, April 11. The capacity for a WrestleMania with the stage would have been 60,000, which is where the 45,000 figure comes from.
WWE usually exaggerates the announced attendance number for WrestleMania events, so it’s possible that they go with a number between 70,000 and 75,000, but it will depend on what is best for public relations. They may not exaggerate the number as high as they usually do because of the COVID-19 pandemic and how that would look.
WrestleMania 37 tickets will go on sale this coming Tuesday.
Fans will be limited to purchasing 8 tickets for WrestleMania 37 Night 1 and Night 2 when tickets go on sale next Tuesday at 10am ET via Ticketmaster.
The Ticketmaster website notes that there is an overall limit of 8 tickets for the individual Night 1 and Night 2 events, and the same limit goes for the combo tickets that include admission to both nights.
Ticketmaster has also revealed the start time for WrestleMania 37. The doors to Raymond James Stadium are scheduled to open at 4:30pm and the start time is listed as 6:30pm as of this writing.
The listed start time could be for the main card. The WrestleMania 36 Kickoff pre-show started at 6pm on both nights last year, while the main card began at 7pm. WWE will likely clarify the start times in a few weeks once the card is updated.
The combo and single tickets will range from $35 – $2,500, which is the same prices as last year. Fans can sign-up to be notified about the ticket pre-sale via this link.
WWE is now using “Back In Business” as a tagline for WrestleMania 37. It was noted that additional WrestleMania 37 Week events will be announced soon. WWE will also be announcing details on COVID-19 safety protocols in the coming weeks.
WrestleMania 37 takes place on Saturday, April 10 and Sunday, April 11, from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
You can see the WrestleMania 37 seating chart from Ticketmaster below, along with the promo for tickets going on sale next Tuesday:
Source: Wrestling Inc.
RAW Women’s Champion Asuka is still out of action because she’s reportedly dealing with a concussion.
Asuka lost a tooth in taking the stiff kick to the mouth from WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Shayna Baszler during the February 22 RAW show, but she also suffered a concussion during that spot, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
There’s no word on when Asuka might be medically cleared to compete, and there’s still enough time that she might be able to work WrestleMania 37, but that is not a given.
WWE has plans for Charlotte Flair to challenge for the RAW Women’s Title at WrestleMania, but that will depend on Asuka’s health. This is the second time that Flair’s WrestleMania 37 match has been put in jeopardy as they originally had her scheduled to feud with Lacey Evans, but Evans is now pregnant.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
The Walt Disney Company, which owns ESPN and ABC, announced a seven-year rights agreement with the NHL that is worth $400 million per year. This is double the price that NBC Universal has with the NHL.
The NHL is still negotiating with other companies for a second rights package as their deal with ESPN is mostly for streaming and only half of the NHL playoffs. NBC previously had exclusive rights to the NHL in a 10-year deal worth around $2 billion, which expires in October.
NHL games had been airing on Wednesday nights on the NBC Sports Network, which will be shutting down this year. With the network shutting down, it was expected that the Wednesday Night NHL games would likely move to the USA Network, which would result in the weekly WWE NXT show moving to Tuesdays.
NBC is still in negotiations with the NHL for the other half of the rights package. Fox Sports and CBS are also expected to put in bids. According to Sports Business Journal, negotiations between NBC and the NHL “had been strained over the past several weeks, especially as it pertains to price.”
If NBCU does secure the rights to the NHL, then NXT will likely move to Tuesdays. However if the rights go to FOX Sports or CBS, then it’s possible that NXT will remain on Wednesdays head-to-head with AEW Dynamite.
It is expected that once the NFL’s television rights are finalized in the next couple of weeks, it will be more clear where the three networks stand with the NHL package.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
The first-ever two-day WWE NXT Takeover special is now official for WrestleMania 37 Week.
NXT General Manager William Regal opened last night’s NXT broadcast on the USA Network and announced that NXT “TakeOver: Stand and Deliver” will air on Wednesday, April 7 and Thursday, April 8.
Night 1 will air as the weekly NXT episode on the USA Network at 8pm ET. Night 2 will air exclusively on the WWE Network on Peacock for fans in the United States, and on the WWE Network internationally.
There’s no word yet on matches planned for “TakeOver: Stand and Deliver” but stay tuned as we will keep you updated.
Regal also opened tonight’s NXT show by announcing the first-ever NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles.
Below is a clip from the promo in last night’s announcement by Regal, along with the TakeOver logo:
Dakota Kai and Raquel González made history when they became the first ever NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions … but their reign was short-lived!
The newly created championship was announced on the latest edition of NXT.
At the top of the show, NXT General Manager William Regal unveiled the belts. He awarded the titles to the winners of the Women’s Dusty Classic: Dakota Kai and Raquel González.
But Dakota and Raquel’s reign did not last long. The pair lost the titles later in the night in a rematch of the 2021 Dusty Classic final!
As you might recall, Kai and González defeated Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance to win the Dusty Classic, but Wednesday’s match had a different result.
A series of miscommunication between Dakota and Raquel allowed Ember and Shotzi got their win back and capture the brand new (although technically second-hand) titles in the process.
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will feature two major “game-changing” announcements from NXT General Manager William Regal.
WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan recently spoke with Joe Reedy of The Associated Press to promote the WWE Network move to Peacock in the United States. Khan revealed that WWE had discussions about the future of the Network long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
WWE realized over the past few years that trying to maintain the WWE Network infrastructure could come at the expense of programming. That led to the relationship with NBCUniversal’s Peacock platform.
“The big question internally was how much can you invest and keep pace with the technology? It would be a massive investment,” Khan said.
The WWE Network averages 1.5 million subscribers but will now see a huge jump in potential viewers as Comcast reported 33 million sign-ups to Peacock in their Q4 2020 reports. While all of these are not active viewers, Khan said the entire deal was a no-brainer.
“We can drop the price in half (WWE Network was $9.99 per month, while Peacock will be $4.99 per month) and add their technical support. Ultimately it became a no brainer, especially with their reach,” Khan said.
The WWE Network move to Peacock also gives WWE a financial boost during the pandemic as they will see an average of $200 million per year during the 5 year contract.
The Associated Press piece also mentioned how WWE does not expect live event touring to return until at least July due to the pandemic. The summer of 2021 has been a rumored return date for touring going back to last summer.
WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon was also interviewed by The AP. She commented on WrestleMania 38 taking place at AT&T Stadium near Dallas while WrestleMania 39 is scheduled for SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, the original area they had booked for this year’s WrestleMania 37 event. Stephanie noted that logistical challenges and building commitments are why the Los Angeles area must wait two years.
It was noted how WrestleMania 38 and 39 are scheduled to be one-night events like WrestleMania shows were in pre-pandemic years. Stephanie said the move to two nights for WrestleMania 36 proved popular, but trying to do two nights in the future might be more difficult due to the many events held during the week barring a pandemic.
“I suppose anything in life is possible, but this format is unique to the times,” McMahon said of the two-night WrestleMania events.
John Laurinaitis finds himself back in a familiar role. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Laurinaitis is back in the role of WWE’s Head of Talent Relations.
WWE has yet to officially announce Laurinaitis’ promotion. The former WCW and All Japan star first started as WWE’s Head of Talent relations in 2004 after Jim Ross stepped down.
Under Laurinaitis’ tenure WWE signed future stars like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk.
Laurinaitis resigned from the position in 2012, but he has remained in WWE since, working as a producer / road agent. He is also remembered for his run as an authority figure on WWE TV, where he largely lampooned his real life position.
Meltzer also states that WWE’s talent relations will now be split into talent management and talent branding. The latter department will focus on opportunities for talent outside of WWE. This would include movies, TV shows and other appearances.
There is no word on the status of Mark Carrano, who had previously served as Head of Talent Relations.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
