Tag: WWE

Ronda Rousey Says WWE Run Was Supposed To End Last Year, Why She Stayed Longer, Injury Update And Details On Her WWE Future

Former RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey posted the video below on her YouTube channel discussing her WWE future following WrestleMania.

As we previously reported, Rousey was injured during the WrestleMania 35 main event where she lost the RAW Women’s Championship to Becky Lynch in a triple threat match also involving Charlotte Flair. Rousey noted that she recently underwent surgery on her right pinky. She said that she had two pins inserted into her hand and that she will be wearing a cast for four weeks. After that, she will be going on a vacation with husband Travis Browne around the world. She said that they will be enjoying themselves until they “are with child.”

Rousey revealed that she suffered the injury during the WrestleMania 35 main event when she threw over the table and “came in a little hot.”

Rousey is not advertised for any WWE shows going forward, although she is signed to a multi-year deal with the company. Rousey revealed that she originally had only planned to stay with WWE until last November and then go off to start a family. She said that plans changed after it became a possibility that WrestleMania would be headlined by a women’s match.

“Originally we approached them, or I approached them, I thought I’d only be able to wrestle from WrestleMania until November because we already wanted to start a family,” Rousey said. “We came to the WWE as, ‘Hey, before we have a baby, I just want to come do this for a couple of months because it’s something I always wanted to do.’ It just kind of snowballed. Instead of being like a small detour in my life, it became my whole life for an entire year and I completely fell in love with it.

“As time went on, we were kind of playing it by ear, I loved it so much and I ended up getting the title. When it became a real possibility that women could be the main event of WrestleMania if I stuck around, I decided to stick around. We decided that after WrestleMania, me and my amazing husband would go off and start trying to start our family.”

Rousey is leaving her WWE future open. She said that she’s not sure if she will return or not once she has a child because she has no idea how she’ll feel until then.

“As for WWE plans in the future, we want to have a baby first,” Rousey said. “I don’t know what it’s like to have a baby. I could look down at this beautiful child and be like, ‘f–k everything, I don’t care about anything else other than this baby’ and you’ll never see me again. Or I could be like my mom, she trained while she was eight months pregnant and then won the US Open six weeks after giving birth, which was unbelievable. I don’t think I’m going to try and aspire to her level. But I’m just saying, you never know

“I don’t want to make any promises about the future when I don’t know how I’m gonna feel in the future. So thank you everyone for your support, I had the most amazing time this year! I am also looking forward to a little bit of a rest and some mommy – daddy time.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House

It was finally revealed on tonight’s RAW that is Bray Wyatt behind the bizarre vignettes that WWE was airing the past few week. An altogether different Bray Wyatt appeared in a new vignette and introduced his special friends Mercy The Buzzard and Penny The Witch at the “Firefly Fun House.”

Bray’s “Firefly Fun House” had a Pee Wee’s Playhouse feel to it.

Bray mentioned how he used to be a very bad man but he has been “barbarically punished for his wrongdoings” and the old part of him is dead now. He used a chainsaw to destroy a cardboard cutout of the original Bray Wyatt during the segment.

Another Name Change For WWE Tag Team

When the War Raiders (Hanson and Rowe) was called up from NXT to RAW last week during the WWE Superstar Shake-Up, they were renamed The Viking Experience (Ivar and Erik). Now after a lot of backlash on social media, they have been renamed yet again as The Viking Raiders.

Tonight on RAW they defeated The Lucha House Party.

 

WWE Tag Teams Splits Up, WWE Quietly Moves New RAW Superstars Back To SmackDown

WWE has apparently changed their minds on a few roster moves made during the 2019 Superstar Shakeup last week.

Andrade and Zelina Vega are now listed as SmackDown Superstars on the WWE website. They were moved to RAW in the Shakeup last Monday and Andrade picked up a non-title win over WWE Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor, who was sent to the blue brand the next night. Vega and Andrade had cut several promos on social media and video to warn the red brand that they were the new faces of the show.

It looks like Aleister Black could be going from RAW to SmackDown as well. Black, who is married to Vega, had been floating between shows since his call-up from WWE NXT, but he and partner Ricochet were confirmed for the red brand in the Shakeup last week. Black is now listed on the SmackDown roster on the official WWE website and his name has the SmackDown logo next to it. Ricochet is still listed for the RAW brand, so that tag team is apparently done.

Andrade and Charlotte Flair were one of the real-life WWE couples affected by the Superstar Shakeup, but that appears to have been rectified. Black and Vega were also kept together on the same brand, but the Black and Ricochet tag team appears to be done.

It will be interesting to see if the Andrade, Vega and Black roster changes are addressed on tonight’s RAW episode.

As we’ve noted, it’s believed that WWE United States Champion Samoa Joe will join the red brand on tonight’s show. Joe had been scheduled to bring the title to RAW on last week’s Shakeup edition of RAW but he was very sick, so sick that his segment was pulled from the show. WWE did not quietly announce Joe’s roster change as they did with other Superstars because they were saving it for tonight as they have an angle planned.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

UPDATE:

Cesaro has been moved to RAW. This means The Bar has split up as Sheamus appears to be staying on SmackDown Live

UPDATE: 4/23/19

It was revealed on 4/23/19 edition of SmackDown Live that, Jinder Mahal and the Singh Brothers has been moved to SmackDown Live.

WWE RAW Preview 4/22/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa with fallout from last week’s Superstar Shakeup roster changes.

* Shaken and stirred – Superstar Shakeup fallout

* Will a new Superstar emerge as Seth Rollins’ next challenger?

* What creepy force is infiltrating WWE?

* Lacey Evans calls for The Man

* Does The Miz have unfinished business with Shane McMahon?

WWE Reportedly Cancels Upcoming Backlash PPV

WWE has reportedly cancelled the upcoming WWE Backlash pay-per-view on June 16th in San Diego, CA, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

WWE is planning an event in Saudi Arabia on June 7th. According to The Observer, WWE felt that the two shows would be too close together so they will just run the event in Saudi Arabia. WWE had house shows scheduled in California that weekend, which will likely be cancelled.

The Undertaker is expected to wrestle Elias at the event in Saudi Arabia. Taker is also scheduled to appear for a signing appearance that Sunday, June 9th at the Niagara Falls Comic Con in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Dustin Rhodes Says Goodbye To Goldust And WWE

Saturday it was announced that Dustin Rhodes will be battling his brother Cody Rhodes at AEW’s Double Or Nothing and today Rhodes or Goldust, just shared his official WWE farewell statement on Instagram.

In the statement, he explained further that he asked for his release from WWE and that it was granted. He was going to take this time to explore some of those other opportunities that took a backseat.

Rhodes also went on that he would appreciate the fans continued support as he turns this page of his life.

He wrote that WWE has given him and his family such incredible years and experiences and has nothing but respect and warmth for everyone at WWE. Rhodes said that he loved WWE and every single of his co-workers and thanked them for loving and taking care of him for so long.

Rhodes ended the statement with: “Remember and never forget the name of… Goldust.”

Below is his full statement:

 

Dustin Rhodes also posted on Twitter a video of him packing away his gear for his WWE character of Goldust. Dustin writes: “Goodbye. #ThankYouGoldust #KeepSteppin”

https://twitter.com/dustinrhodes/status/1120054829341134849

 

Alexander Wolfe Going To NXT UK

It looks like WWE SmackDown Superstar Alexander Wolfe is going to make his new home on the WWE NXT UK brand. Wolfe was backstage for tonight’s NXT UK TV tapings in Glasgow, Scotland, but did not debut. It’s believed that he will debut for the brand at Saturday’s tapings.

As noted, the end of SAnitY came this week when leader Eric Young was sent to RAW in the 2019 WWE Superstar Shakeup. It was rumored that Wolfe could be headed to the NXT brand, but now we know it will be the UK version. There’s no word yet on what WWE has planned for Killian Dain. Both Dain and Wolfe are still listed as members of the blue brand by the WWE website as of this writing.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On The Undertaker’s WWE Status

The Undertaker’s working relationship with WWE is an interesting situation these days.

Things between the two sides changed greatly when Taker was announced for the upcoming Starrcast II convention, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The Observer also notes that people in WWE were at first saying there was no way Taker would appear at Starrcast, but he is making the appearance likely to due to contracts.

Taker reportedly thought his WWE career was over after the matches in late 2018 – the No DQ loss to Triple H at WWE Super Show-Down in October and the tag team match at WWE Crown Jewel in November, which saw Taker and Kane lose to WWE Hall of Famers Shawn Michaels and Triple H, and that’s when he started booking non-WWE paydays. Vince McMahon was upset when the Starrcast appearance was announced, but WWE reportedly made Taker an offer he couldn’t refuse, financially, once things calmed down between the two sides. Part of that new contract was an agreement that Taker could no longer work the outside dates, except for the ones he had already booked.

The Observer notes that Taker had no legal way to get out of the Starrcast deal, but for the UK deal with Inside The Ropes, they didn’t have the king of legal resources to fight WWE on it. Regarding those ITR appearances on April 29, April 30 and May 1, Taker was originally scheduled to meet fans for autographs and photos, plus a Q&A session. That was changed last week, and it was announced that WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley would be doing the Q&A part of the show, while Taker would be appearing for just the signings. This is because of the new WWE deal that Taker was signed as the company wanted to bring him back into the fold. Taker reportedly “pushed really hard” to keep the Inside The Ropes appearances, despite people in WWE not wanting him to go at all. The promoters would have had to refund all tickets and it could have really hurt them moving forward, and Taker did not want to do that. That’s when the compromise was made with Foley coming in to discuss his history with Taker each night. The Observer adds that Taker pushed to make sure he still came for at least the signings with fans.

There was a feeling that WWE believed Taker would never take bookings with people the company didn’t want him doing dates with, and WWE didn’t realize the large amount of money that some promoters would offer Taker for their events. It was reported in February that Taker was charging $25,000 per hour, and that he would have no trouble finding dates.

One source involved in booking non-WWE appearances noted to The Observer that the $150 per person price to get a photo and autograph with Taker was actually too low as WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin charged $316 for his VIP package at WrestleCon in New Orleans last year during WrestleMania 34 Week, and they had so many requests at that price that they were overwhelmed and had to cut sales off. There was a feeling that Taker could have had a similar demand at WrestleCon during WrestleMania 35 Week this year. Taker was approached by promoters for WrestleMania 35 Week appearances, including WrestleCon, but he had already agreed to do the post-WrestleMania RAW appearance.

It was also noted that it’s still not clear if Taker’s new WWE deal is to wrestle, but he’s expected to return to the ring at the next Saudi Arabia event, believed to be on Friday, June 7. A match with Elias has been rumored after their recent run-in on RAW, but that could have been changed now that Elias was moved to SmackDown in the Superstar Shakeup. Taker is also scheduled for a signing appearance that Sunday, June 9th at the Niagara Falls Comic Con in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Which WWE Roster Will Nikki Cross Be Working With?

There’s been speculation on which brand Nikki Cross will go to now that the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-Up is over, and now it looks like she will be working with the RAW brand.

The WWE website still lists Cross as having no official brand, but she revealed on Instagram that she will be working red brand live events in St. Louis, Springfield and Moline this weekend, which would put her at Monday’s RAW in Des Moines, Iowa.

Cross came to the main roster in December 2018, and had made some appearances on both shows since then. She was the only recent call-up to be left without a brand coming out of the Shake-Up.

Cross posted the following on working with the RAW brand this weekend:

Source: Wrestling Inc.