Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas as the road to TLC continues.
* Corbin closes in on General Manager position
* Inoculated Ambrose promises he’ll be at Raw
* The Goddess’ new gig
* Rousey teams with The Queen of Harts to face Nia Jax and Tamina
WWE has announced that their first-ever tryouts in India will take place in March 2019 from Mumbai.
Below is the full announcement:
MUMBAI, INDIA and STAMFORD, Conn. — WWE today announced that it will visit India in search of the next generation of WWE Superstars by holding the first-ever talent tryout in Mumbai in March 2019. The four-day tryout will give up to 40 athletes from India the opportunity to showcase their abilities with the goal of being selected to begin training at the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, U.S. The talent pool will comprise of elite performers with a diverse background in sports and athletics including kushti, kabaddi, wrestling, American Football, basketball, combat sports, cricket and bodybuilding.
“India has an extremely large and passionate fanbase and remains a top priority for WWE as we continue to localize content globally,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative. “I am confident this latest talent tryout will result in a world-class pool of athletes ready to pursue their dream of becoming the next WWE Superstar from India.”
Beginning today, the official WWE recruitment website at www.wweperformancecenter.com is available in Hindi. Tailored to athletes who are interested in pursuing a career in sports-entertainment, the website features information about the WWE recruitment process and provides a detailed look at what day-to-day life is like for NXT Superstars and members of the WWE Performance Center roster.
The online hub includes step-by-step instructions on how to apply for a tryout, as well as access to the official application form; an overview of the many resources available to WWE Performance Center recruits, from professional development and life-skills services, to in-ring training and on-site medical care; photos of the entire Performance Center roster, including current NXT Superstars and champions; biographies of the WWE PC’s industry-leading coaching staff; testimonials from Monday Night Raw and SmackDown LIVE Superstars; and videos from past tryouts, both those held at the Performance Center and internationally.
A major success story from WWE’s global talent recruiting efforts is Kavita Devi of Haryana, India, who was discovered at WWE’s first open tryout in Dubai in April 2017. Devi made WWE history becoming the first woman from India to compete in a WWE ring when she made her debut in the inaugural Mae Young Classic. She has also competed on WWE’s biggest stage during the Women’s Battle Royal at WrestleMania in New Orleans. In January, Devi was one of the 112 women to be honored as “First Ladies,” a distinction given to high-achieving female pioneers, by The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind.
Also recruited from the Dubai tryout alongside Devi was Indian TV star Saurav Gurjar, from Madhya Pradesh, India, and Rinku Singh, from Uttar Pradesh, India. Singh achieved worldwide fame in 2008 after winning reality TV show “The Million Dollar Arm” and joining MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates as a pitcher. Both Gurjar and Singh began training fulltime at the WWE Performance Center in January this year.
The tryout in India is the latest example of WWE’s global talent recruiting efforts. In recent years, WWE has scouted rugby and soccer players from Europe, kabaddi and kushti athletes from India, and martial artists and boxers from China. WWE has held similar tryouts in Shanghai, Dubai, Jeddah, Cologne and Santiago.
WrestleMania 35 weekend next year has undergone a minor shakeup, as WWE confirmed NXT TakeOver will now take place on Friday night instead of Saturday.
A rep for WWE confirmed to Pro Wrestling Sheet, “WWE will be going back to its previous WrestleMania Week schedule with NXT TakeOver on Friday, April 5 and the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, April 6. We believe this better serves our fans.”
Fans who purchased travel packages were first alerted of the change this morning via email.
This means TakeOver will NOT run against the ROH/NJPW show at Madison Square Garden.
As we’ve noted, restrictions were recently placed on several of the contracted WWE NXT UK Superstars that will decide which indie promotions they can work for beginning in 2019. Talents will be barred from working for most indie companies in Europe, except for WWE partners ICW, PROGRESS Wrestling and wXw (Germany).
Regarding WWE’s working agreements with some of these promotions in the UK, The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that part of the agreements originally offered & accepted included rights for WWE to purchase the companies if they want to.
WWE would reportedly have the rights, for the next several years if they choose, to purchase the indie promotions for an agreed upon price, which was in the high six-figures in at least some cases. WWE would then be able to shut the promotion down so they would no longer be “competing with themselves” with the idea that the transaction would take place when WWE was up to running full-time schedules in those same markets.
There’s no word on other terms of these agreements or what the reactions were to these purchase rights but it could make for an interesting story down the line.
Source: WrestlingINC
WrestlingINC reports that FOX wants to have Ronda Rousey on the SmackDown roster when SmackDown Live! moves to the network. FOX feels that Rousey’s MMA background, popularity and credibility as an athlete will be a major selling point to promote the show.
FOX reportedly wants SmackDown to have more of a sports direction and feature less comedy to fit in with their other sports programming. The addition of Rousey to SmackDown Live is expected to make her a main player in their efforts to do cross-promotional campaigns between WWE and FOX’s other programs.
As noted, UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier was recently invited for a tryout to WWE as a commentator. According to reports, FOX likes Cormier and wants WWE to sign him as a commentator. Cormier had to postpone the tryout because of his title defense against Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 earlier this month, but recently told Busted Open Radio that he still plans to audition.
Rousey is the current RAW Women’s Champion. While WWE usually executes brand trades shortly after WrestleMania, it will be interesting to see if they hold off until SmackDown moves to FOX in October of 2019.
Source: WrestlingINC
Former Ring of Honor wrestler Punishment Martinez made his NXT TV debut on Wednesday in a match against someone he’s got history with.
Martinez ,whose signing was confirmed last month, wrestled Matt Riddle at the TV tapings in a losing effort. According to those in attendance, he lost via submission.
In case you’re unaware, Martinez was one of Riddle’s trainers when he got into the business.
After the match was over … Kassius Ohno attempted to get some revenge for his quick loss at NXT TakeOver: War Games and attacked Riddle on the ramp.
Check out some of the photos below.
https://twitter.com/MrJacobCohen/status/1067925669764583427
https://twitter.com/Tarratastic/status/1067926193230487552
https://twitter.com/MrJacobCohen/status/1067926948272312326
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota as the road to TLC continues.
* AJ Styles responds to Daniel Bryan’s shocking actions tonight on SmackDown LIVE
* SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch returns
* Jeff Hardy celebrates his 20th anniversary in WWE
Tonight’s WWE Mixed Match Challenge will take place from the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The MMC season two continues this evening on Facebook Watch at 10pm EST., immediately following WWE SmackDown Live on the USA Network.
Tonight’s MMC episode will feature the beginning of the MMC Playoffs.
* Curt Hawkins and Ember Moon vs. Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox
* Finn Balor and Bayley vs. Bobby Lashley and Mickie James
At last night’s Raw, a familiar face was in the crowd. No, it wasn’t Enzo Amore. In fact, it was the last real man.
According to PWInsider, Silas Young was at Raw in Milwaukee. He was sitting incognito in the crowd.
This appearance is coming after revealing to wrestlinginc.com exclusively on their recent WINCLY podcast that his contract with Ring of Honor is coming up at the end of the year. There are rumors going around that he will be signing with WWE once his contract expires.
Young is a former two-time ROH World Television Champion and has been a consistent member of the roster since 2012.
While an opponent has not been determined yet, Young is scheduled to fight at ROH’s Final Battle inside the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on December 14.
Source: WrestlingINC
WWE NXT star Kairi Sane revealed on her Twitter account that she is suffering from Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. This is something that children normally get, which confused Kairi when she made the announcement on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/KairiSaneWWE/status/1067283282738507787
Translating the tweet from Japanese resulted in this posting:
“The fever has gone down, but now my hands, feet and mouth have a mysterious eczema… Ouch you go to the hospital with it? ????(even in the United States, hand, Foot and Mouth Disease) It is a disease that infants under 5 years old have been examined, ??????? why did the virus enter my body by mistake? ?? lol”
There is no known cure but getting some rest usually helps, depending on the severity of it. If anything, Kairi should be back on her feet in no time.
Source: WrestlingINC
