The Usos’ first match since late July will take place tomorrow night.
WWE has announced that The Usos will face Baron Corbin & Dolph Ziggler on this week’s SmackDown. The match comes after The Usos returned to WWE television last Friday and helped Roman Reigns against Corbin and Ziggler.
Reigns & Daniel Bryan faced Corbin & Ziggler in last week’s main event, but the match ended when Bryan was attacked by The Fiend. Corbin and Ziggler handcuffed Reigns to the bottom rope and were going to pour dog food on him again. That led to The Usos making the save and laying out both Corbin and Ziggler.
Jimmy Uso was found not guilty last month after being arrested for DUI on July 25.
The Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana is hosting tomorrow’s SmackDown. Sasha Banks vs. Lacey Evans is also set for the show, and there will be a segment where John Morrison appears on Miz TV.
The Vikings have won eight-consecutive duals on the season
FAYETTE, Iowa — A couple of last-second wins fueled the Augustana wrestling teams most impressive win of the season, so far, as it defeated the No. 10 ranked Peacocks of Upper Iowa 19-12 Sunday afternoon in Fayette, Iowa. With the win, Augustana has now won eight-consecutive duals, moves to 8-2 overall (4-0 in the NSIC) and has beaten four ranked opponents on the season.
“I’m proud of this team,” head coach Jason Reitmeier said. “There wasn’t one match that we couldn’t have won. These men understand who they are and what they are capable of doing! They don’t ever worry about who they are wrestling.”
Junior Ethan Cota got the Vikings off to a strong start in the 125 pound bout. Tied 4-4 in the third period, Cota took two reversal points and rode his opponent for the remainder of the match to win 7-4 and give Augustana a 3-0 lead.
Redshirt freshman and No. 9 ranked Jack Huffman followed Cota’s performance with an electrifying win at 133 pounds. Huffman was trailing 5-3 entering the third period, before taking his opponent down with just under a minute left. Once Upper Iowa’s Donny Schmidt escaped to take a 6-5 lead, Huffman turned up the intensity, taking shot after shot, looking for a takedown. With less than a second to go, Huffman gained control and took his opponent down to get the 7-6 win while flipping the script of the entire match.
Leading 6-0 in the dual, redshirt freshman Hunter Burnett dominated the 141 pound bout. Burnett logged two takedowns and two near fall points in the third period to take the lone major decision on the day, giving Augustana a 10-0 lead.
After dropping the 149 pound match, redshirt freshman Jacob Tvinnereim took the Viking’s next victory in the 157 pound bout with a last-second win of his own. Tied 3-3 with under 15 seconds to go, Tvinnereim tallied an escape for the 4-3 win and 13-3 Augustana lead.
Senior Bailey Neises followed Tvinnereim with a 6-3 win at 165 pounds that featured two takedowns for Neises. Junior and No. 8 ranked Ben Kelvington took home the Viking’s last victory of the day at 174 pounds with a 6-2 decision. Kelvington tallied two takedowns in the match as well and stays undefeated against Division II opponents this season.
Overall, Augustana won six of the 10 bouts against Upper Iowa to bring the final score to 19-12. The first-place Vikings remain unbeaten in the NSIC, along with the defending national champion St. Cloud State Huskies.
Augustana 19 Upper Iowa 12 125: Ethan Cota (AUG) over Jared Hensley (UIU) (Dec 7-4) 133: No. 9 Jack Huffman (AUG) over Donny Schmit (UIU) (Dec 7-6) 141: Hunter Burnett (AUG) over Tate Murty (UIU) (MD 12-3) 149: No. 7 Chase Luensman (UIU) over Jebben Keyes (AUG) (Dec 5-3) 157: Jacob Tvinnereim (AUG) over Mac Spotts (UIU) (Dec 4-3) 165: Bailey Neises (AUG) over Brock Benitz (UIU) (Dec 6-3) 174: No. 8 Ben Kelvington (AUG) over Jamie Gehling (UIU) (Dec 6-2) 184: Dalton Hahn (UIU) over Kolby Kost (AUG) (Dec 5-4) 197: No. 2 Nick Baumler (UIU) over Daniel Bishop (AUG) (Dec 2-1) 285: Triston Westerlund (UIU) over Steven Hajas (AUG) (Dec 5-3)
Up Next The Vikings are back in action next weekend when they take on the UMary Marauders Friday at 7 p.m. and the Minot State Beavers Saturday at 2 p.m. Both matches will take place inside the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls and Saturday’s match serves as Augustana’s senior day.
Check out Vikings Wrestling at goaugie.com and on Twitter and Facebook.
The Argentine middleblocker decided to leave the activity because of personal problems and got his team in trouble. UPCN has until Jan. 18 to strengthen the squad.
The 29-year-old took the decision after absence from training and matches for several days, since it did not feel right to continue. The rumor became news and his coach Fabian Armoa lamented: “I get very bad but when we found out there was not much to do.”
In 2003, Porporatto suffered the loss of his younger brother and his mother in a car accident and since that has never recovered completely. In the following years took two breaks and played in France and his country. Although he returned to the National Team, he failed to regain the level that was before the incident in his family.
Due to the low of 1.99 m. player, who played the 2004 Olympics and 2006 World Championships, UPCN must find a replacement until 18th January deadline imposed by ACLAV. Jose Villa, president of the franchise, regretted that Porporatto´s decision was true days after Alejandro Spajic signed by Sarmiento Santana Textiles and evaluates the possibility of requesting a special permit to incorporate a fourth foreigner because it has Moreno (Colombia), Baranek (Czech Republic) and Junior (Brazil).
UPCN is one of the unbeaten teams in the tournament and earn 9 points and no set against in Argentina A1 League.
NJPW star Jay White is returning to ROH over WrestleMania weekend.
ROH announced today that White will be in action at Supercard of Honor XIV. The show is taking place at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 4.
White was part of the main event at the ROH and NJPW co-promoted G1 Supercard event at Madison Square Garden during WrestleMania weekend last year. Kazuchika Okada defeated White at the show to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Tickets for Supercard of Honor XIV will go on sale to HonorClub members this Wednesday at 10 a.m. Eastern time and to the general public at 10 a.m. Eastern this Friday.
Villain Enterprises (ROH World Champion PCO, Marty Scurll, Brody King & Flip Gordon), La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush, ROH Television Champion Dragon Lee, Kenny King & Amy Rose), Slex, and Session Moth Martina are the other names that have been advertised for Supercard of Honor XIV thus far.
WWE has NXT TakeOver taking place at the Amalie Arena in Tampa on April 4.
The Bullet Club’s Bullet Club Beach Party is also being held at Whiskey Joe’s in Tampa that Saturday.
After the second weekend, in Italy leads the team of Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia. This week they claimed a straight-set victory over Casa Modena.
Last week the players of Vibo Valentia surprised everybody with a win over Itas Diatec Trentino, considered the front runner in Serie A1. In the second round the team confirmed the success from last weekend and in less then an hour and a half beat the team coached by Angelo Lorenzetti. “I’m very satisfied, it was not easy” – said after the match Gianlorenzo Blengini, Vibo Valentia head coach. “Today’s duel was more complicated than the one we played on Sunday. I am very happy that we were able to play well in attack and keep up playing this way till the end of the match”.
As in the last week, the best player from Vibo Valentia was Niels Klapwijk who scored 18 points with 57% in attack and 2 personal aces. However, his excellent performance depended on good game of the setter, Manuel Coscione, chosen the MVP of the match. From the other side of the net, the best scorer was Dick Kooy who scored 12 points with 48% in attack.
As a teamTonno Callipo Vibo Valentia played a little bit better in block, having scored 7 points by comparison with 6 points gained by Casa Modena. The hosts made 3 personal aces (13 errors), 5 scored by Modena (17 errors). The guests were less efficient on the net – only 38%, Vibo Valentia attacked with 56%-efficiency. In reception dominated Vibo Valentia with 66% of positive reception, Modena received with 53%-efficiency.
In other matches Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo won over CMC Ravenna in straight sets. MVP of the match was chosen Tsvetan Sokolov. Also in Macerata the hosts won in 3 sets over BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte. The best performer was Dragan Travica. Copra Elior Piacenza claimed a victory over San Giustino 3-1. MVP: Luca Vettori. After a long, 2 hours and a half, match Andreoli Latina beat Marmi Lanza Verona in tie-break. Good performance of Rak from Verona (18 points scored), on the other side dominated Jarosz who made 23 points. MVP of the match: Verhees.
Standings after the second weekend: Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 6 Copra Elior Piacenza 6 Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 6 Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 6 Andreoli Latina 5 Casa Modena 3 Marmi Lanza Verona 1 Itas Diatec Trentino 0* Altotevere San Giustino 0 BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 0 Sir Safety Perugia 0* CMC Ravenna 0.
*Itas Diatec Trentino and Sir Safety Perugia have played one match less.
PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.
(Search “wade keller” to subscribe in podcast app or CLICK HERE to subscribe in Apple Podcasts.)
Monday’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw (2/18) on USA Network drew a 1.96 rating, the highest rating for Raw since Aug. 27, 2018 before NFL season. It was up from the 1.74 rating last week and well above the 1.78 average for 2019 headed into this week. One year ago this week Raw drew a 2.21 rating and Raw averaged a 2.24 rating through this date in 2018. Two years ago this week, Raw drew a 2.20 rating and averaged a 2.20 through this week in 2017.
This week’s rating beats the post-Royal Rumble episode of Raw, which drew a 1.92.
On the down side, though, Raw experienced one of its biggest drop-offs between the first and third hour in recent history. The first hour drew 3.046 million viewers, the second hour 2.840 million viewers, and the third hour 2.427 million viewers. That drop-off from the first to the third hour of 619,000 was the second biggest decline during Raw in the last year. Only the Jan. 21 episode of Raw this year had a bigger drop-off from the first to the third hour (697,000 viewers).
Both of the biggest drop-offs this past year came during shows where Ronda Rousey was the main event of the third hour of the program. This week it was Rousey vs. Ruby Riott. On Jan. 21 it was Rousey & Natalya vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks. The previous time Raw lost more than 600,000 viewers came on Nov. 12, 2018, and that episode headlined with Bayley vs. Sasha Banks in the third hour.
When Raw starts with a stronger-than-average first hour viewership, there is more room to drop, but it’s not inevitable. Back on Aug. 20, Raw opened with 3.110 million first hour viewers and dropped in the third hour to 2.936 million, a mere 174,000 drop-off. The next week, though, it also opened with more than 3 million viewers in the first hour and it dropped 446,000 for the third hour.
Back on Apr. 16, 2018 Raw drew 3.634 million viewers in the first hour and lost only 155,000 viewers for the third hour. In fact, on June 19, 2017, Raw opened with 3.075 million viewers and closed with 3.029 million viewers for a drop of only 46,000 viewers. More often than not, though, when Raw opens with over 3 million viewers in the first hour, the drop-off by the third hour is well above average. There are exceptions and it is not inevitable. WWE just has a tougher time holding onto “infrequent” viewers beyond the first hour, so even if they tune in because it’s the day after a PPV or there’s a social media buzz, they end up dropping down to usual levels by the end.
This week the first hour viewership was 500,000 above the first hour average dating back to the start of November, and the third hour viewership was just 234,000 above the third hour average for the same time period. So they kept about half of the viewers who don’t normally watch the first hour but lost half of them by the end.
Raw’s three hours topped cable’s rankings for Monday night in the coveted 18-49 demographic, finishing with 1.1, 1.0, and 0.8 ratings. The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC drew the largest total viewership for the night, though, with 3.229 million viewers.
RELATED: Smackdown Rating: How did WWE compare to ESPN’s Duke-Louisville game and NBA’s Celtics-76ers game, trends compared to past two years
The second Chris Jericho cruise has barely begun, but a third cruise has already been announced.
Chris Jericho today announced that there will be a third cruise that will take place next year. Titled Rock N’ Rager at Sea: Triple Whammy, the next cruise will take place February 1st through 5th, 2021. Like this year’s cruise, next year’s will start in Miami and will travel to the Bahamas.
This year’s cruise will have a major AEW influence, as much of the roster is on board. This week’s episode of AEW Dynamite will feature matches that will take place on the boat. Matches announced for the show include Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. SCU for the AEW Tag Team titles, Joey Janela vs. Fenix and Chris Jericho, Santana & Ortiz vs. Jurassic Express in a six-man tag team match.
PAC and Jon Moxley will also face each other this week. The winner of that match will become the number one contender for Chris Jericho’s AEW World title.
Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Rager at Sea Part Deux: Second Wave starts today and will run through Friday.
Here is an open letter to all St. Cloud State wrestling fans from head coach Steve Costanzo from March 17, 2020.
Dear Huskies Wrestling Parents, Fans and Supporters:
I would like to take this time to say thank-you. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement for our student-athletes. Thank you for all of your passion and interest throughout the year. Thank you for holding Huskies wrestling to a higher standard. Finally, thank you for making Huskies wrestling one of the premier programs in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and NCAA DII. When it all matters and we are competing, we all know that you have our backs when we take it to the mats.
In a time of uncertainties, we can truly understand all of your frustrations and concerns. This is a scary time, but as wrestlers and fans of wrestling, we all understand adversities. Therefore, I can promise you, upon our return, we will give you an incredible effort in all areas of Huskies wrestling. We will continue to seek dominance and excellence. We will continue to develop our student-athletes and enhance their overall collegiate experience. With your continued help and support, we will work on another top tier schedule for 2020-21 and making Huskies wrestling one of the most entertaining collegiate wrestling programs in the country.
On behalf of my staff, thank you for being a Huskies wrestling fan and supporter! Please keep your family safe during these challenging times. We’re all in this together!
Sincerely, Steve Costanzo SCSU Head Wrestling Coach
PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.
(Search “wade keller” to subscribe in podcast app or CLICK HERE to subscribe in Apple Podcasts.)
WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER
MARCH 5, 2019
WILKES-BARRE, PA. AT THE MOHEGAN SUN ARENA AT CASEY PLAZA
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00PM EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST
Announcers: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton
In Memoriam: King Kong Bundy
We were saddened today to learn the news of the passing of Christopher Pallies, better known to us wrestling fans as King Kong Bundy. He was 61 years of age and the cause of death is unknown at this point.
He famously main evented WrestleMania 2, challenging Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship (as it was then known) in a steel cage match. That feud is very near to my heart. It is the first I got into as a kid when I started watching WWF in 1986. Who could forget Bundy’s attack on Hogan on Saturday Night’s Main Event a few months prior in a match with Magnificent Muraco that lead to the WrestleMania encounter.
Bundy not only tangled with Hogan through the years but with the late WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant and was even an opponent of the Undertaker at WrestleMania in 1995 in the embryotic stages of ‘Taker’s streak. Bundy was a member of Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Corporation at the time. He frequently teamed with Big John Studd while a member the Heenan family. They were the opponents of Hulk Hogan and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff on an episode of WWF Superstars when Orndorff betrayed Hogan after the match in one of more infamous heel turns. He defeated S.D. (Special Delivery) Jones at the inaugural WrestleMania in nine seconds. At that time, he was managed by “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart. He was famous for demanding a “five count” from referees after hitting his signature Avalanche splash finisher
Here are a few tweets showing support for Bundy:
Saddened to hear of King Kong Bundy's passing. A WrestleMania attraction, a true big man and a fan-favorite of the @WWE Universe. My thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/w8NGxRL9lk
— Triple H (@TripleH) March 5, 2019
Overwhelmed by King Kong Bundy’s passing, only great memories,R.I.P. big man until we meet again. HH
GOODBYE BIG MAN. I LOVE YOU pic.twitter.com/U752kS5oj2
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) March 5, 2019
In my opinion he’s one of the more underappreciated and forgotten heels in the history of wrestling at least from the 1980s and on. Rest in peace sir, and your fans send you family and friends our deepest condolences
Arena and Items Advertised by WWE
WWE returns to the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza for Smackdown after the show appeared in July of 2018. The arena opened for business in 1999 and has hosted WWE events as far back as 2002, including now-defunct shows such as Velocity and Heat and some of the original incarnations of NXT.
Here’s what is advertised by WWE.com for tonight.
R-Truth to issue another U.S. Championship open challenge
The Miz to face Jey Uso
Is Kevin Owens looking to gain more momentum heading into WWE Fastlane
Will the Hardy Boyz continue their quest to become the greatest tag team?
R-Truth U.S. Championship Open Challenge
Last week, U.S. Champion R-Truth issued an open challenge for his title alongside Carmella…and gave us a seven-second dance break. He cited John Cena as his hero going back to when he was a “little tyke,” when he was doing the U.S. Championship open challenge. I’m not sure if Truth realizes he’s five years older than John. Never mind.
Both Andrade and Rey Mysterio answered the challenge, and thus we had a triple threat match. Mysterio and Andrade have been involved in a feud going back towards the end of last year. Their last encounter was a two-out-of-three falls match that ended due to outside interference. Truth initially hesitated but agreed to do it because he wanted to make John Cena proud. Truth would win via pin fall as he rolled up Mysterio.
Tonight, he issues another open challenge.
Frank’s Analysis: It would be interesting to see what people like Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat, Ric Flair, Barry Windham, etc. would think of the mockery they’ve made of this title. R-Truth in no way should be beating top stars such as Mysterio and Andrade. It does the title no favors and defines both of those men down. R-Truth is not the worst wrestler in the world, but this is not the role he should be playing. As far as who should answer tonight how about Samoa Joe come out and steamroll through him in two minutes, and that way we can get to real U.S. Championship matches.
The Miz vs. Jey Uso
This coming Sunday at Fastlane, Smackdown Tag Team Champions the Usos (Jimmy & Jey) will defend their titles against former champions and the men from whom they took the title in McMiz (Shane McMahon & The Miz). Miz’s father will be at ringside. Here’s a YouTube clip from a few weeks ago when Miz apologized to Shane and convinced him to make a rematch with the Usos:
In the run-up to that match, Miz takes on Jey Uso tonight.
Frank’s Analysis: I was Greg Parks’ guest co-host on Wrestling Night in America this past Sunday and we discussed this topic. All options are on the table as far as how this ends up, which likely leads to Shane McMahon vs. the Miz as WrestleMania. Logically, Miz turns on Shane and plays the heel. For me, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Shane turns citing frustration with Miz but doesn’t necessarily “turn heel.” They can just have a match to get out their frustrations with each other, and both remain babyface after the match. It’s also not crazy that they don’t break up and have another match together at ‘Mania and break up for a storyline in the following months. That’s the least likely scenario, but one that should not be taken off the table.
Kevin Owens and Momentum Heading into Fastlane
In an unexpected turn of events last week, WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon interrupted the contract signing for the WWE Championship match at Fastlane between champion Daniel Bryan and challenger Kofi Kingston of New Day. He said it was his responsibility to make the best matches possible and offer the best “box office” possible. He replaced Kofi with a returning Kevin Owens. We had been hearing about Kevin’s return through vignettes of him and his family going bowling, going to the movies, etc. He was previously a member of the Raw roster, but apparently is on Smackdown now due to his being absent for an extended period. Here’s a YouTube clip of the segment:
Kofi expressed sadness in his being pulled, and his New Day partners Xavier Woods & New Day expressed frustrations. Later on, in the broadcast, Corey Graves said that Kofi screwed Kofi (ya know, have to call back to Bret screwed Bret), and Byron Saxton acknowledged how Kevin headbutted Vince on TV not too long ago.
Both Shane and Stephanie McMahon questioned how long Kevin knew about this. He said it didn’t matter and expressed his desire to team with Kofi against Bryan and his sidekick Rowan later in the evening. He acknowledged Kofi deserved the title match as much as him. They said they would take his idea under advisement.
Later on, they would have the match. Kevin and Kofi worked well together and would win the match when Kevin hit Bryan with a Stone-Cold Stunner. After the match Kofi and Kevin were talking, and while it was hard to understand what they may have been saying to one another it looked like Kevin was saying something along the lines of making things right.
Last night on Raw, Becky Lynch’s suspension was overturned, and she was put in a match at Fastlane against Charlotte Flair. If she wins, she gets added to the Raw Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania between champion Ronda Rousey and Charlotte. Who knows tonight if another one of Vince’s heavy-handed decisions gets changed.
Frank’s Analysis: I don’t like how this was done and not because Kofi Kingston was pulled from the match. It’s the McMahons getting involved in the storyline and getting away from what got Kofi over that is incredibly frustrating. It also does Kevin Owens no favors especially if they want him to be a babyface. The story is certainly intriguing, which isn’t necessarily a good thing, but one we need to see play out. It’s different from any other story that has been told before. Ultimately you hope they go to Kofi vs. Bryan at WrestleMania as that is the match people want. I’m fearful they go to a triple threat involving Kevin, which isn’t the end of the world but still not what fans are looking for.
Hardy Boyz are Back Together
Last week there was a match scheduled between Johnny Gargano and Cesaro of the Bar. The Bar came out together and instead the Hardy Boyz music played, and out came both Matt and Jeff Hardy.
It had been quite some time since we’ve seen them together as a tag team. We all recall their surprising return at WrestleMania 33 in 2017 where they captured the Raw Tag Team Championship. Later on, in that year with Jeff on the injured list, Matt would revisit his “Broken” character from his time at Impact Wrestling and it would be rebranded “Woken.” He would feud with Bray Wyatt but eventually team with him and have a run as Raw Tag Team Champions. Their run ended around the summertime of 2018.
In the meantime, Jeff returned to Smackdown in the Superstar Shakeup last year. He had a run with the U.S. Championship and had feuds with Randy Orton and Samoa Joe. Last week, he and Matt reunited and defeated the Bar. Here they are in a WWE.com exclusive after the match:
Frank’s Analysis: With the Usos expected to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Championship, a match between them and the Hardys would certainly be appealing for WrestleMania. It’s a smart use of both men. They can share the workload and not take as many bumps and add much needed life to the tag team division on Smackdown. You can only have so many Usos vs. Bar, Bar vs. New Day, Usos vs. New Day matches. Since they haven’t built up any other teams and considering your #1 contenders are Miz and Shane McMahon, putting the Hardys back together is certainly a wise choice.
Items to Anticipate Tonight:
They will no doubt acknowledge the latest WWE Hall of Fame inductee, Torrie Wilson. If anyone can offer me a logical reason as to why she belongs in the Hall, my Twitter account and e-mail are listed below. I mean no disrespect to Torrie Wilson, who is likely a fine human being. She had FAR from a Hall of Fame career, nor did she offer anything significant to the product. They induct Chyna as part of DX but induct Torrie on her own. Next thing you know, Candice Michelle and Stacy Kiebler are going to get the call.
Addressing what was next for Smackdown Women’s Champion Asuka was advertised for the show last week, but WWE did not do anything on TV in this regard. There was a WWE.com exclusive the night of the show, in which Mandy Rose said she was challenging Asuka for the title at Fastlane. Here’s the YouTube clip:
At a recent house show in White Plains, N.Y., Mandy appeared to have accidently injured Asuka in a match that ended up being ruled a no-contest. According to Asuka’s Twitter account, she is fine:
Look for WWE to address what took place on Raw last night involving the no-longer suspended Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, who is set to challenge Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania for the Raw Women’s Championship. If Becky defeats Charlotte at Fastlane, she is added to the match and it becomes a triple threat. Bear in mind, Becky won the women’s Royal Rumble but has been suspended by both Stephanie McMahon for not seeing a doctor and Vince McMahon for having a “bad attitude.” Last week, Charlotte cut a promo expecting to go to Raw and be handed the Raw Women’s Championship.
Look for more from Aleister Black and Ricochet. Last week they defeated Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev. Last night on Raw, they challenged Raw Tag Team Champions the Revival for the titles and won via DQ but not the titles when Bobby Roode & Chad Gable interfered.
Mustafa Ali returned at a recent house show. He’s another candidate to answer the U.S. Championship open challenge even though it’s babyface vs. babyface.
Start Time & Matches Advertised on the Arena Website
The Spectrum Center’s website is advertising a start time of 7:45 p.m. local time, but don’t specify when doors will be opening. They advertise a “double main event” which doesn’t seem likely to happen:
A.J. Styles vs. Daniel Bryan
Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair
They also show Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, The New Day, Shinsuke Nakamura, The Miz, Naomi, Samoa Joe, Rusev, The Bar and “many more!”
205Live will follow the main show.
Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani or e-mail me at [email protected]. Questions and discussion are welcome. Thank you for reading!
RECOMMENDED: 2/26 WWE Smackdown Results: Keller’s report on Daniel Bryan-Kofi Kingston contract signing with Shane & Stephanie, Rusev & Nakamura vs. Ricochet & Black
A wrestler who was with Ring of Honor during its inception will be appearing for the promotion again over WrestleMania weekend.
ROH announced this morning that Amazing Red will be wrestling at Supercard of Honor XIV. The show is taking place at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, April 4.
After announcing his retirement last April, Red has been wrestling since returning to the ring against Will Ospreay in NJPW’s Super J-Cup in August. Red tweeted earlier this month that he was going away for a small surgery but would be back in February.
Red also wrestled for ROH at their 10th Anniversary pay-per-view in 2012.
Jay White, El Phantasmo, KENTA, Taiji Ishimori, Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero, Villain Enterprises (PCO, Marty Scurll, Brody King & Flip Gordon), La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush, Dragon Lee, Kenny King & Amy Rose), Slex, Session Moth Martina, Jeff Cobb, Jay Lethal, Mark Haskins, and PJ Black have also been confirmed for Supercard of Honor XIV.
Supercard of Honor XIV is going against NXT TakeOver: Tampa on April 4.