The Dec. 17th post-TLC edition of WWE RAW drew an estimate of 2,547,000 viewers for the return of Vince McMahon, up a staggering 16.1% from last week’s show, which saw the lowest rating in the history of the show. It was the most watched episode since 10/22.
The first hour of WWE RAW actually kicked off with closer to 2.7 million viewers, which featured Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon and Triple H in a show-opening promo, admitting that they have failed to give the WWE Universe what they want, and promising major changes to the brand and to the roster in the coming weeks.
The second hour dropped to 2.59 million viewers, again the best number since the 10/22 show. The third and final hour, which was almost completely taken up by an 8-woman gauntlet match to crown a #1 contender to the RAW Women’s Championship, dropped again to 2.37 million, which is still higher than the most watched hour from last week’s show.
WWE Superstars Sarah Logan and Raymond Rowe of NXT officially got married this weekend, but the happy couple definitely didn’t stick to the traditional wedding ceremony. The two went full Viking Wedding, complete with beautiful Norse-inspired garb, and photos that look like they were taken inside of a Sigur Ros music video.
Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan reportedly attended the festivities to support their Riott Squad sister, as did Shayna Baszler, Tegan Nox, Jessamyn Duke and War Raider’s partner “War Beard” Hanson. Check out the photos below.
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There are no words to explain the magic that was last night. And I am confident everyone there can attest to that. #vikingwedding #Jomsborg #Rowe Photo by @speedy.photo
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Mr and Mrs Rowe. #VikingWedding #Rowe #Dec21st #bestdayofmylife
Former-WWE Champion The Miz sat down with Sporting News recently. During the interview, The Miz touched on what its like being not only the star of a reality show, but an executive producer as well. The Miz & Mrs. star also addressed finally being taken seriously by those within and without the ring.
“I think that everyone gets that I work very hard. I think I’m starting to get the respect that I fought for since day one and it took a long, long time. But not only do I feel like the locker room is seeing it but also I’m seeing it from the WWE Universe. I can’t actually believe it because I never thought they would actually respect me.”
Miz also coined the term “hybrid reality,” when discussing the nature of Miz & Mrs.
“With ‘Miz and Mrs.,’ now I’m not only the star but I’m also the executive producer and it’s one of those things where I look at our reality show and I call it a hybrid reality because you get an inside look of what it’s like to be first-time parents in the entertainment industry.”
Miz said that he has to “finagle” his way into a WWE Championship Match, saying no one wants to give him that opportunity.
“You know, I just roll with the punches. Listen, I want a WWE Championship opportunity. The problem is nobody wants to give me that opportunity. I’m not a Daniel Bryan or an AJ Styles or you know, all these other superstars that get opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. So I wait. I finagle. I figure out strategies in order to align myself to basically get to a WWE Championship and that’s exactly what I’m doing right now.”
With the 2019 Royal Rumble pay-per-view on the horizon, WWE has begun hyping up their annual Road to WrestleMania kickoff event with full matches on YouTube from past incarnations of the January classic.
The latest in this series is actually the complete 2012 Royal Rumble match, which you can check out in full in the video player above. The match featured surprise returns from the likes of “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Mick Foley, Road Dogg, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and even Kharma (aka Awesome Kong).
More:
Full 2008 Royal Rumble MatchCharlotte Flair vs. Natalya at Royal Rumble 2017
WWE has announced a major tag team match for this weeks WWE SmackDown Live with future title shot implications taking place.
On SmackDown the Tag Team Champions, The Bar will take on The Usos and WWE has added a stipulation that if The Usos win, they will receive a future championship opportunity.
It is unclear if that championship match would be at the WWE Royal Rumble or another time, but they will become number one contenders with a win.
WWE has already announced that Charlotte Flair will take on Carmella and Becky Lynch in a triple threat to determine Asuka’s challenger at the Royal Rumble, so this weeks show is looking to be a can’t miss episode.
The Usos will battle The Bar with a #SDLive #TagTeamChampionship opportunity on the line this Tuesday night! https://t.co/xa4dy1PDVN
In an interesting twist that may send reverberations throughout the entire wrestling industry in 2019, All Elite Wrestling may have been left out of the relationship between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring of Honor, according to a new report from Dave Meltzer via Wrestling Observer Radio.
As previously reported, parties from all three promotions were scheduled to meet in Japan this past weekend following Wrestle Kingdom 13 at the Tokyo Dome, to discuss a potential business alliance as well as lay out their plans going forward.
“New Japan has made the decision that they are going to work with Ring of Honor,” reports Meltzer, “which means right now — at least for now — they’re not working with All Elite.”
It was assumed that, at least for the foreseeable future, New Japan and ROH would continue their partnership through their major upcoming event at Madison Square Garden this April. It was also known that all the talent heading up AEW, including Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks, were interested in continuing to work dates for New Japan going forward, but had finished up with ROH and would not be returning.
There are obvious reasons why any promotion in the United States, which includes New Japan as they continue their western expansion with several major tours in 2019, would be hesitant to work too closely with the fledgling AEW, given the amount of money being put being the promotion and reports that major television networks were interested in doing business.
Immediately, the biggest question becomes the future of Kenny Omega. News broke on Sunday that the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion would be leaving New Japan in a move that shocked many, as the assumption was that he would be the catalyst that kept New Japan and AEW working together, as neither side wanted to lose him. There is also an alleged multi-million dollar offer from WWE on the table.
WWE has announced for the first two matches set for this Monday’s upcoming edition of WWE RAW, emanating live from the Fedex Forum in historic Memphis, TN.
First up, “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey will be in action when she teams up with her Royal Rumble opponent, “The Boss” Sasha Banks, to take on the imposing team of Nia Jax and Tamina Snuka. Just two weeks before the two are set to clash in Phoenix, how will the champ and her challenger get along on the same page?
Dean Ambrose will also be in action this Monday, as the “Lunatic Fringe” defends the Intercontinental Championship against both Seth Rollins and the “All Mighty” Bobby Lashley in a triple threat match. Will all roads leading to the Rumble, who will walk in with the gold?
ProWrestling.com will, as always, have complete and exclusive live coverage of WWE RAW this Monday evening kicking off at 8/7c.
Impact Wrestling had another round of television tapings in Mexico City this Saturday night, which will begin rolling out with the Friday, Feb. 8th episode on the Pursuit Channel and simulcast on Twitch. Make sure you check out our taping results from Friday evening as well.
— Rich Swann def. El Hijo del Vikingo in a non-title match
— oVe came out to confront Swann again and Sami Callihan talked about the history between them, once again offering him a spot in oVe but Swann once again rejected the offer.
This week’s episode of Smackdown Live saw a much-needed increase in viewership with just one more week to go before the annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
The show, which was headlined by an instant classic performance between Andrade (no longer Cien Almas) and Rey Mysterio, was watched by an estimated 2,143,000 people, up 5.5% week-over-week. It was the most-watched episode since before the pre-tapped 2018 Christmas Day and New Year’s Day episodes.
Sydal revealed that he will be out of action until at least the end of March or April and in the meantime, he will be teaching wrestling online to keep himself busy.
I’m having surgery next Thursday to repair torn cartilage in my knee. I should be able to return to the ring by March or April. I’ll be teaching wrestling online, and at the @WWNLive training center throughout. Reach out to [email protected] with questions. ✌🏼❤️👁