RAW Preview 2/12/18

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the SAP Center in San Jose, California as the road to Elimination Chamber continues.

* Final Superstar in the Men’s Elimination Chamber Match to be determined

* Braun Strowman stands tall, even in defeat

* Have Alexa Bliss and Mickie James forged an alliance?

* What’s next for Seth Rollins?

* Is Nia Jax primed to end Asuka’s undefeated streak?

RAW General Manager Kurt Angle has announced Sasha Banks vs. Bayley for tonight’s RAW from San Jose, Bayley’s hometown. Angle tweeted:

Former WWE Women’s Champion Ivory Confirmed For 2018 WWE Hall Of Fame

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WWE has announced that former women’s champion Ivory will be going into the WWE Hall of Fame this year in New Orleans during WrestleMania 34 weekend. She joins Bill Goldberg and The Dudley Boyz as confirmed names.

Below is WWE’s announcement on Ivory’s induction:

Ivory to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018Ivory, a true pioneer in women’s wrestling, will take her place in the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday, April 6, during WrestleMania 34 Week in New Orleans, as a member of the Class of 2018. The news was first reported by espnW.

She broke into the wrestling business as a competitor on Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, the 80s wrestling program that inspired the hit Netflix show “GLOW.” Competing under the name Tina Ferrari, Ivory captured GLOW’s championship before leaving the sports-entertainment industry in the early 1990s.

After nearly a decade away from the squared circle, Ivory returned to the ring in 1999, showing up in WWE in the corner of Mark Henry and D’Lo Brown. She wasted no time getting physical, helping Henry & Brown even the odds against Jeff Jarrett, Owen Hart & Debra. Not long after her arrival, Ivory defeated Debra to capture her first WWE Women’s Championship. Though she was later dethroned by The Fabulous Moolah, Ivory quickly rebounded and recaptured the title from the WWE Hall of Famer.

During the over-the-top Attitude Era of WWE, Ivory eventually aligned herself with the buttoned-up Right to Censor, trading in her tights for a crisp white dress shirt and a full-length skirt. The unusual ring attire did not hinder her from competing at the highest level, as she defeated three fellow WWE Hall of Famers — Lita, Trish Stratus and Jacqueline — to capture her third Women’s Title in 2000.

Ivory continued to compete in WWE through 2005 but also began to take on other roles in the company, including serving as a trainer on season 3 of WWE Tough Enough, announcing and hosting several WWE television programs before departing in 2009.

Now, Ivory will have one more title to add to her resume: WWE Hall of Famer.

Kenny Omega Is Staying With NJPW This Year, Could Jump To WWE Next Year

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In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer said that Kenny Omega is likely to stay in NJPW this year but could move to WWE in 2019. Omega has already made the decision to remain with New Japan through the end of 2018.

Meltzer said that everyone’s different. While some can earn millions of dollars in WWe, others are helped by a career on the independent scene. He said that while Omega does great in the independents, his style may not be a match for WWE and it’s possible he might not succeed there.

Source: 411Mania

Impact Wrestling Licenses ‘Broken’ Content To WWE

According to PWInsider, Impact Wrestling has licensed content from Matt and Jeff Hardy’s “Broken Universe” to the WWE. The amount given and the purpose are not known at this time, but according to the report WWE is looking to devote a WWE 24 episode to the Hardys and eventually release a DVD featuring the tag team. WWE has done similar deals with ROH for CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. As we reported earlier this month, Matt Hardy reached a deal with Anthem Sports and now officially owns the rights to his “Broken Universe.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Triple H Expected To Have More Control In WWE, Vince McMahon On His WWE Role After XFL Relaunch

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On today’s WWE earnings call, WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon addressed the relaunch of the XFL. He once again noted that his near-$100 million stock sale will not be enough to fund the league, and that the venture will require more investment capital. He also reiterated that the league will not affect his role in WWE, and that there will be a separate management team for it.

Despite Vince’s comments, Dave Meltzer reported in The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the feeling is that Triple H will be given a lot more control in the company, simply because of the realistic demands in running both a pro wrestling company and a football league. Triple H has been putting his own team together, which includes Jeremy Borash, who left recently Impact Wrestling to come on board. Meltzer added that there have been others talked about recently to join his team to eventually fill key roles when he is in charge.

As noted, PWInsider reported this week that Vince recently stepped aside to put Triple H in charge of running 205 Live, which explains the different feel of the show the past couple of weeks. That change, however, was done more to reboot the brand as opposed to a workload issue with Vince. While the original Cruiserweight Classic concept, under Triple H, did very well on the WWE Network, 205 Live usually struggles to make the top 10 episodes of the week on the streaming service. Vince had been trying to make the show more character-driven, while Triple H is now bringing back some of the original aspects of the Cruiserweight Classic, including more of a focus on the in-ring work and the original presentation of the talent.

Source: WrestlingINC

Vince McMahon Steps Aside And Puts Triple H In Charge Of ‘WWE 205 Live’

There are major behind-the-scenes changes going on with the WWE 205 Live brand as Vince McMahon has stepped aside and is no longer personally producing the show, according to PWInsider. The changes began with last week’s episode, which featured new 205 Live General Manager Drake Maverick and kicked off the 16-man tournament that will end at WrestleMania 34 with the crowning of a new WWE Cruiserweight Champion.

Triple H is now overseeing 205 Live and he has brought back some of the aspects of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic tournament, including the style and presentation of the wrestlers. Vince had personally worked with the 205 Live Superstars to bring out their personalities to present them in a certain way but there has been more focus on the in-ring work under Triple H.

There has been a lot of internal talk over the past few months about why 205 Live wasn’t succeeding like they had hoped. Vince reportedly believed that a character-driven show was the best way to get the brand over, which is why former WWE Superstar Enzo Amore was brought over to be the top star of the brand. Enzo’s arrival helped with viewership and buzz for the show but there were still people in the company that wanted to present the show like the Cruiserweight Classic was presented. Their feeling was that having smaller talents that were just echoing the Superstars from RAW and SmackDown was not going to showcase what made the cruiserweight talents unique, and it wasn’t going to help 205 Live grow into its own brand, more than just a weekly WWE Network TV show.

The product we’ve seen over the last few weeks is said to be very much in line with the original plans for 205 Live before Vince became personally involved with the direction of the show and the development of the cruiserweight talents.

While WWE is still considering non-televised 205 Live live event shows in the future, there are currently no plans to run more cruiserweight-exclusive events as the plan is to focus on re-building the brand by presenting strong athletic characters with strong in-ring competition.

Vince finally made the decision to let Triple H run the show back in mid-January as a way to reboot the brand, or fix it. Triple H is running the show, making all decisions, while Jonathan Baeckstrom is the current lead writer. Baeckstrom has worked on the WWE creative team since August 2013 and has been a lead writer since November 2016. Former WWE Performance Center Coach Adam Pearce is still working as the lead producer for the brand.

Regarding roster changes, there may be more additions in the coming weeks. WWE NXT Superstar Roderick Strong was brought up to help freshen the roster and the show. As noted, Strong defeated Hideo Itami last night to advance in the 16-man tournament.

Source: WrestlingINC

WWE Mixed Match Challenge and 205 Live Preview 2/6/18

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Tonight’s WWE Mixed Match Challenge and WWE 205 Live will take place from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

WWE is allowing fans to vote for the special referee in tonight’s Mixed Match Challenge match – SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan or RAW General Manager Kurt Angle. Voting opens at noon today, as explained by Renee Young in this video.

WWE Mixed Match Challenge:

* Goldust and Mandy Rose take on Naomi and SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso.

 

WWE 205 Live:

* What does Drake Maverick have in store for WWE 205 Live?

* Who will advance in the WWE Cruiserweight Championship tournament? – Roderick Strong vs. Hideo Itami – Kalisto vs. Lince Dorado

SmackDown Live Preview 2/6/18

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri as the road to WrestleMania continues.

* Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to battle for a WWE Title opportunity at WWE Fastlane tonight on SmackDown LIVE

* Bobby Roode defends the United States Championship against Rusev tonight on SmackDown LIVE

* Daniel Bryan to reveal the first-ever SmackDown LIVE Top 10 Superstars List

* Charlotte Flair looks for payback against Riott Squad’s Liv Morgan

RAW Preview 2/5/18

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa as the Road to WrestleMania 34 continues.

* Reigns battles Wyatt in Elimination Chamber Qualifying Match

* Which Superstars will compete in the first-ever Women’s Elimination Chamber Match?

* What’s next for The Miz?

* The Bar is raised

* “Top Guys” finally live up to their nickname

Vickie Guerrero Shares Emotional Moment With Sasha Banks at the Royal Rumble

We’re one week removed from a very historic Royal Rumble and the emotions are still very high. The WWE’s official YouTube channel has been posting backstage candid interviews with the participants of the very first women’s royal rumble And one in particular definitely pulled on our Heartstrings.

The video features the boss Sasha Banks and Vickie Guerrero as they reflect on how the late great Eddie Guerrero still affects them even after all these years.

From the start, the boss is seen to be very emotional and same goes for Vickie Sasha tells the story of how from the moment she saw Eddie Guerrero wrestle she knew this is what she wanted to do. Then Vickie goes on to talk about how appreciative she and her family is of Sasha for keeping Eddie’s memory alive. It really is a full circle moment and we recommended anyone who hasn’t seen it please watch, and make sure you have a box of tissues because you’ll need it.