Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana as the road to WrestleMania continues.
* Kofi Kingston must win a Gauntlet Match to earn WWE Title Match at WrestleMania
* The Miz to respond to Shane McMahon
* Sasha Banks & Bayley pay a visit to Team Blue
* What’s next for Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair?
Sin Cara has reportedly signed a new deal with WWE, according to PWInsider. The new deal is for three years.
Sin Cara inked the new deal several weeks back as he had been working under the terms of an extension from his previous contract.
The masked Superstar is expected to return to the SmackDown brand soon. He has been off TV since undergoing knee surgery in August 2018. He was backstage at last week’s SmackDown and he’s been training in the ring at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando as of late. He told fans on Twitter in mid-February that he was ready to make his comeback.
The former Hunico signed a WWE developmental deal shortly after his tryout match in December 2009. He first took over the role of Sin Cara in August 2011.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Former WWE Champion AJ Styles has announced he signed a new contract.
Styles shared a photo on social media of his family’s new dog and wrote: “This is the newest member of my family. Also, I’ve signed a new contract with the WWE. What a cute little guy.”
AJ’s contractual status has been up in the air for weeks, with AEW reportedly expressing interest at one point. No official details on the length of his contract.
The 41-year-old wrestler signed with WWE in 2016 and won his first world title in the company SummerSlam that same year.
AJ Styles is set to face Randy Orton at WrestleMania 35.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Beth Phoenix is coming out of retirement at WrestleMania 35 to challenge for gold.
Phoenix announced she’s coming out retirement on RAW last night and challenged to Sasha Banks & Bayley for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania with Natalya as her partner.
While the actual match and all of the opponents involved were not confirmed as of yet, the WWE Hall of Famer’s partner Natalya had a one-one-on match with Sasha which was interrupted by Nia Jax on the microphone.
Nia claimed she was prettier, stronger version of “The Glamazon,” then her partner Tamina interfered in the match causing it to end in a no contest.
There is talk that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match will be a multi-team match. Sasha & Bayley announced that will be on SmackDown live tonight and they are not ducking a challenge from The IIconics.
WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle announced on tonight’s RAW from Chicago that Baron Corbin will be his final opponent. Angle vs. Corbin will take places as the Farewell Match at WrestleMania 35.
At one point it was thought Angle would face John Cena in his farewell match at WrestleMania 35 and over the weekend it was thought his opponent would be Shelton Benjamin after Benjamin issued the challenge to Angle on social media and Angle replied back that he accepts.
https://twitter.com/RealKurtAngle/status/1107328258926960647
It was also announced on RAW that Elias will be the “featured musical act” at WrestleMania 35.
WrestleMania 35 takes place on April 7 from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are currently at a standstill in their contract negotiations with WWE, according to PWInsider.
The issue has led to The Good Brothers being pulled from all upcoming scheduled WWE live events. Gallows and Anderson are still scheduled to be at TV tapings and pay-per-view events, but they have been pulled from live events indefinitely.
As we’ve noted, there’s talk that Gallows and Anderson will leave WWE when their current contracts expire this September. They reportedly turned down multi-million dollar deals as they are not happy with how they’ve been used in recent years. WWE officials had been meeting with Gallows and Anderson to discuss a new deal, as they have with many talents as of late. It was noted earlier this month that they already missed out on some live event dates because of how the initial contract meetings didn’t lead to a new agreement between the two sides.
Gallows and Anderson won the March 12 pre-SmackDown dark match over SAnitY but their last TV appearance came on the February 5 SmackDown episode, a loss to Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura. It looks like their last non-televised live event bookings came in late February as they were defeating SAnitY at weekend shows.
Gallows and Anderson remain in talks with WWE about a new deal. It was noted earlier this month that The Good Brothers are determined to continue their pro wrestling careers outside of WWE. A lot can happen between now and September, but there continues to be a feeling that they will be leaving.
As noted last week, Anderson took to social media and apparently denied the reports by posting a video of his 7 year old son Cylus.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL as the Road to WrestleMania 35 continues.
* The Beast returns before WrestleMania
* Kurt Angle to announce his WrestleMania opponent
* Seth Rollins seeks retribution against Drew McIntyre
* Dana Brooke gets her title opportunity against Ronda Rousey
* Who will partner with Finn Bálor against Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush?
* Is Beth Phoenix pondering an in-ring return?
* No. Holds. Barred. – Batista and Triple H at WrestleMania 35 – Has Batista sealed his own fate?
WWE has reportedly signed former Impact Wrestling X Division Champion DJZ, according to PWInsider.
DJZ will be coming in to work the WWE NXT brand. WWE reportedly made their offer to him during the last week of February.
DJZ revealed back on December 31 that he was a free agent after parting ways with Impact. His contract had expired there. He debuted for Impact in 2011 and worked there off & on, becoming a two-time X Division Champion and a one-time Tag Team Champion with Andrew Everett.
There’s no word yet on when the 32 year old will report to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, but it’s believed he will work a few more dates on the indies to finish up there.
As noted, WWE recently signed DJZ’s former “BroMans” partner Robbie E (Robert Strauss) to a deal as well. He’s currently at the Performance Center training.
DJZ was praised for Friday’s match with Sammy Guevara at the Warrior Wrestling IV indie event in Chicago. Below are a few shots from that match, and a few shots from DJZ’s weekend debut for the International Wrestling Cartel (IWC) promotion in Elizabeth, PA:
https://twitter.com/sammyguevara/status/1106790393398607873
Source: Wrestling Inc.
It looks like AJ Styles will be re-signing with WWE when his current contract expires next month, if he hasn’t agreed to terms of a new deal already.
Some people within WWE believe the deal has already been signed, according to PWInsider, but word is that the two sides had agreed on all the major points of the new deal.
Styles is also being advertised for the annual post-WrestleMania tour of Europe now. He is scheduled to face WWE United States Champion Samoa Joe.
There had been obvious interest from AEW, if Styles would have let his WWE deal expire, but all signs point to The Phenomenal One staying with WWE.
Styles will face Randy Orton at WrestleMania 35 next month.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin had reached out via Instagram to express his personal interest in becoming Kurt Angle’s opponent for his retirement match at WrestleMania 35.
Although their relationship has seen many up and downs since it’s inception, Benjamin and Angle first appeared on WWE TV together in the latter part of 2002, when Shelton joined “The World’s Greatest Tag Team” alongside Charlie Haas and their mentor at the time, Kurt. Under Angle’s tutelage, Benjamin & Haas won their first tag team championships just a month after their debut and they would go on to be two-time champions before the team went their separate ways.
Angle has now responded to Benjamin’s challenge with a simple but enthusiastic, “I’m game!”
We will keep you updated in to tomorrow night’s WWE RAW to see if this is the actual direction that WWE creative will take Angle’s retirement storyline.
https://twitter.com/RealKurtAngle/status/1107328258926960647
Source: Wrestling Inc.
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