Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona
WWE has announced a battle of WWE NXT Superstars for tonight’s 205 Live episode with Joaquin Wilde taking on Raul Mendoza.
205 Live will also feature a No DQ match with The Brian Kendrick and Ariya Daivari vs. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch of NXT.
WWE is reportedly having talks with ESPN.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the talks would be in regards to WWE content airing on the ESPN+ service. The deal that WWE is likely trying to broker would be similar to the deal UFC has with ESPN, where WWE would sell their rights to air pay-per-views, which would pay more money for the content than WWE could make on its own by selling the content directly to viewers with the WWE Network. The ESPN+ model with UFC is reportedly what opened WWE’s eyes to the idea.
The ESPN+ deal could potentially bring more mainstream exposure to WWE’s big events and their biggest Superstars. ESPN has proved that when they own rights to a product, they use their various shows to heavily market that product. There’s no word yet on how far the talks with ESPN are, but The Observer noted that it looks like the deal has not been agreed on as of this week.
Wrestling Inc. earlier this month at this link, there was no truth to the rumors on WWE possibly talking to Amazon about selling content rights to them. While Amazon might not be interested in WWE, the company has been talking with other potential partners, which would include DAZN, and NBC’s Peacock service. ESPN+ was also included in the original report on potential content partners.
The belief was that NBC’s Peacock service, which is set to launch later this year, would be the best bet for WWE. TV industry sources recently reported to The Observer that Peacock would look at WWE to be its key initial programming to draw subscribers from the launch moving forward, which would be very similar to how ESPN+ did with UFC. With such a deal with one of these larger streaming services, WWE would be able to get significantly guaranteed money for their big money events, instead of being forced to rely on declining subscription money from the WWE Network. You can read Wrestling Inc.’s original report on the possible content changes by clicking here.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
It looks like 9 year old Quaden Bayles could be going to WrestleMania 36.
The story of the 9 year old from Australia surfaced this week after his mother posted an emotional video about how he is bullied because he has Dwarfism. In response, several celebrities and brands have sent tweets and other messages in support of the boy and his mother.
Comedian Brad Williams, who also has Dwarfism, launched a GoFundMe campaign to help send Quaden and his mother from Australia to Disney in the United States. The campaign is currently trending and has raised $288,839 of a $10,000 goal, with more than 13,000 donors. The numbers are climbing as the story continues to go viral this morning.
Several WWE Superstars and other wrestlers, as seen in the tweets below, are also supporting Quaden. The MMA community has also reached out and the Bayles family has accepted an offer from ONE MMA CEO Chatri Sityodtong for free MMA lessons.
Williams, who kicked off the campaign of support for the boy, noted in one tweet that “multiple WWE Superstars” want to bring Quaden to WrestleMania 36 in Tampa this April.
“We are now over 35k. Multiple @WWE superstars want to bring him to WrestleMania. I’m one man trying to organize this. Can someone who works for a charity help me organize this? @WWE people? @Disneyland people? @TheEllenShow people?,” he wrote yesterday in one of many tweets trying to organize more gifts for Quaden.
Paige tweeted support for the boy and WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry responded with an offer to help. Paige has offered to pay for flights to Tampa and other WWE Superstars such as Natalya have offered to spoil the boy while he’s in town for a vacation. Below are related tweets from Henry, Paige, Natalya, The Bella Twins, Nia Jax, Kayla Braxton, Naomi, Matt Hardy, Big Show, Alexa Bliss, Naomi, and Dana Brooke.
Below are some of the tweets:
https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1230616750246359040
https://twitter.com/NiaJaxWWE/status/1230592325015003136
https://twitter.com/KaylaBraxtonWWE/status/1230595150147182610
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE is expected to launch their Japan Performance Center soon.
The announcement of the new WWE Performance Center in Japan is expected to come in the next few months, possibly around the summer time if everything goes as expected, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. WWE returns to Osaka and Yokohama in July for three live events, so it’s possible the announcement coincides with that tour.
WWE has reportedly reached out to WWE Hall of Famer Antonio Inoki and Hiroshi Hase about the political situation surrounding the new PC in Japan. Hase, a semi-retired pro wrestler who once held the WCW International World Heavyweight Title, was named the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2015.
It was believed that WWE would be working with Pro Wrestling NOAH for the new expansion in Japan, but NOAH was sold to the CyberAgent media company earlier this year.
The new report did not mention if there will be a WWE NXT Japan brand to go with the new Japan Performance Center, but that has been rumored for some time now.
The WWE Japan Performance Center will be the third PC for the company. The main Performance Center in Orlando, Florida was launched in July 2013 and the UK Performance Center in London, England was launched in January 2019.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
AEW pay-per-view events will soon replace WWE pay-per-view events on Sky Germany.
Sky Deutschland announced this week that they are parting ways with WWE, and that this was a WWE decision. The current contract between the two sides expires at the end of March. Sky told customers that while WWE will no longer be offered, they will begin offering another wrestling league to fans beginning in April – AEW.
AEW Dynamite runs weekly on Sky each Friday at 9:50pm on TNT. Sky will begin offering AEW pay-per-view events “shortly” via the Sky Select service.
ProSieben Maxx continues to air RAW and SmackDown on free TV in Germany.
WWE and Sky Germany originally announced their multi-year deal to air WWE pay-per-views back beginning with Survivor Series 2016 back on November 16, 2016, and to start airing RAW and SmackDown on Sky Sports the following April.
You can see the announcement below:
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Vickie Guerrero claims her recent appearance on AEW Dark has made it so WWE stars can no longer be interviewed on her podcast.
Guerrero explained during last week’s episode of her show that she had asked to interview a few WWE Superstars, but when the company found out about her AEW appearances they stopped answering.
“They didn’t call me for two years,” she added. “What did they expect me to do? Just to sit here and wait for them to call so I could do some work? I love wrestling. I love to work in the ring. And if someone is giving me an opportunity to go and show up and have some fun, then I should be able to because I’m not obligated to anybody.”
In case you missed it, Vickie did guest commentary on the December 11 edition of Dark in Texas.
“To be part of a promotion, or anyone, you should encourage the people that are in the other promotions because it’s about everyone showing their talent and their craft,” the former WWE star continued. “I think there’s enough jobs out there, and promotions, to let everybody work and to let everyone contribute to what they want to do in the industry. So when someone told me I couldn’t interview the Superstars because I went to AEW, I was just like, ‘Wow. They’re gonna be like that.” So you just quietly move on and you see how they are and you just have to take care of your own business.”
CLICK HERE for the full podcast episode or listen to her comments about WWE below.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that Samoa Joe is not cleared to wrestle after suffering an injury while filming a commercial.
According to sources, the injury took place at a WWE commercial shoot last week when Joe hit his head during a bad table break as they were filming a stunt. While it’s unconfirmed at this point, sources say Joe could be out of action for a considerable amount of time.
As you’ll recall, Joe returned from a broken thumb at the end of last year. Upon his return, he joined Kevin Owens and the Viking Raiders in their feud against Seth Rollins and his disciples, but suffered a concussion last month which briefly took him out of action. He then wrestled last week on Raw, but was once again absent on Monday.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Tonight’s WWE NXT on the USA Network will feature the fallout from Sunday’s “Takeover: Portland” event.
WWE has confirmed MMA legend Tito Ortiz trained at the Performance Center last week.
WWE confirmed the news to ESPN on Thursday after Tito’s training session was first reported by the Wrestling Observer.
No additional details have been made public at this time, but this would not be Tito’s first time getting involved in professional wrestling. He was most famously part of the #August1Warning angle at Impact Wrestling which ultimately led to him joining Aces and Eights.
Tito’s 2013 TNA stint did not last long, however, as he was pulled by Bellator due to a scheduled fight.
Ortiz’s last MMA fight in December was a win over former WWE star Alberto El Patron with his old WWE title belt on the line.
Tito’s team had no comment when asked about the training session by ESPN.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
JBL is reportedly scheduled to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania 36 week, Wrestling Inc. has exclusively learned. It’s not known when the induction will be announced.
JBL is a former WWE Champion, a title he held for 280 days. He has also held the WWE Intercontinental Championship, as well as the WWF Tag Team Championship on three occasions with Ron Simmons.
After retiring from in-ring competition following WrestleMania XXV in 2009, JBL made occasional appearances for the company before becoming a commentator. He worked on-and-off as a commentator until he announced in September of 2017 that he was stepping away from WWE to dedicate more time on humanitarian work for at-risk youth and communities in Bermuda.
JBL last appeared for WWE at the 2018 WWE Tribute to the Troops event, where he worked on commentary.
WWE has so far confirmed Batista and the nWo (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman) for the 2020 Hall of Fame. As previously reported, The British Bulldog, The Bella Twins and Jushin Thunder Liger are also expected to be inducted into the 2020 Class.
The 2020 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place on Thursday, April 2nd from the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Wrestling News Blog 