The longest WrestleMania of all time was even longer for fans trapped outside the MetLife Stadium. An estimated 33,000 fans were stuck, in the rain, waiting for trains and buses, and facing severe delays. New Jersey Transit issued a statement on Monday, blaming WWE and the late-running event for the delays.
“The primary factor contributing to the post-event delays was the WWE’s decision to extend the event to 12:30 a.m., which had significant operational impacts on the evening,” NJ Transit said in an emailed statement. “NJ TRANSIT was not informed of this decision until late last night.”
The estimate of 33,000 comes via The Associated Press, who said that the crowd was double what organizers and travel experts estimated would be traveling through the NJ Transit system during the Apr. 7th event.
Geez @NJTRANSIT @MetLifeStadium @WrestleMania @WWE you had thousands of people waiting in the rain for 3 hours for trains that were ridiculously delayed. Uber also impossible.
We’re your fans, some traveled far to be here. Please do better next time. @Deadspin @cagesideseats pic.twitter.com/H89wRNv8kp
New Japan Pro-Wrestling star Hiroshi Tanahashi suffered an injury during his match against Zack Sabre Jr. last Saturday night at the G1 Supercard event at Madison Square Garden.
While the New Japan “Ace” did not want to take any time away from the ring, reports the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, but was unfortunately pulled from the upcoming Road to Wrestling Dontaku tour that kicks off this Saturday, leading to two big shows on May 3-4th.
Another WWE Chronicle is set for the WWE Network this evening as the second part of the Roman Reigns return journey takes place.
A WWE Chronicle has already taken place for Roman Reigns and this will be the second part which takes a look at Reigns’ return at WrestleMania, following his journey.
The most talked-about piece of news coming out of the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up wasn’t Roman Reigns’ shocking move to Smackdown Live, or the call-ups of various NXT and 205 Live names. No, instead the whole wrestling world was buzzing about the arrival of… The Viking Experience.
The artists formerly known as The War Raiders, who competed in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling as War Machine, made the jump to Monday Night Raw this week with brand new names. Hanson and Rowe are no more. Behold, the mighty Viking Experience.
However, according to PWInsider.com, the ridiculous rebranding wasn’t actually the first name WWE came up with for the former (wait…current) NXT Tag Team Champions. The name pitched that they were reportedly going to run with was “The Berserkers”, until someone nixed it and decided on the Viking Experience as the final decision.
Former NXT Women’s champion Kairi Sane made her WWE main roster debut on the April 16 edition of SmackDown Live. The Pirate Princess was announced as one-half of a new tag team with former SmackDown Women’s champion Asuka.
The duo will be managed by fan favorite Paige, who had promised the WWE Universe that she was bringing a new tag team to the blue brand. Sane and Asuka are expected to make a run at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, currently held by The IIconics.
WWE has now released a video of Sane’s last night in NXT. The video is a very emotional farewell for her, and the same was true for various Superstars that were happy for her, but sorry to see her go. One of those Superstars was Io Shirai, Sane’s tag team partner. Shirai now has heat with NXT Women’s champion Shayna Baszler so it’s likely that the two will square off for the title at some point.
Xia Li is also seen in the video congratulating Kairi on her main roster move. But Li took the move very hard indeed, as she and Sane have become best friends. Li came to NXT in 2017 and Sane was already there, having joined the brand in 2016. Li is the first Chinese woman to ever compete in WWE.
WWE has announced that next week’s episode of Monday Night Raw will feature a special edition of the Moment of Bliss talk show segment, where Alexa Bliss will be revealing all the competitors in the upcoming men’s and women’s Money in the Bank ladder matches.
WWE Money in the Bank goes down Sunday, May 19th at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. It will be their first time running a pay-per-view event at the venue since the 2004 Vengeance event, headlined by Chris Benoit retaining the “big gold belt” against Triple H. It has been used annually for Raw and Smackdown television tapings, however.
Winner Earns an EVOLVE Contract – Anthony Gutierrez def. Karam
– Shotzi Blackheart def. Cameron Bra’Nae
– Adrian Alanis def. Brandon Taggart
– Arturo Ruas def. Stephen Wolf
– Anthony Greene def. Curt Stallion via disqualification
– KUSHIDA def. J.D. Drake
– Michigan’s own Alex Shelley made a surprise appearance and reunited with KUSHIDA in the ring. The two hugged and did the Time Splitters poses for everyone.
– WWE Universal Champion and Raw Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins posts a photo of his new fiance while on vacation in Maui. The two were engaged over the weekend, as a part of the romantic whirlwind that also saw Peyton Royce and Shawn Spears get married, as well as Finn Balor and his fiance.
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What a view…for the rest of my life. _____ ✌🏼Maui. Forever in our hearts.
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– Mandy Rose shows off more photos while touring in Latin America with WWE:
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Can’t wait to be home 🌴🌞 🙌🏼 Hoodie – @vqfitwomen @vqfit (discount code in bio)
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Another great tour ! Thank you Bogota 🇨🇴, Peru 🇵🇪 & Panama 🇵🇦 #KissTheRose #Grateful #firendesire #GodsGreatestcreation 📸 @richfreedaphoto
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– WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus is also on vacation this week, with her family, although it’s probably unrelated to everyone else taking their vacation days at the same time.
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Disney was magical✨ . Special thanks to #disneyviptours for making it that much more special!❤️
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– Baron Corbin promotes his King of the Ring first round tournament match tonight on WWE Raw. We really just needed you to see him wearing this hat:
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Round 1 tonight should be a walk in the park. I know It’s only a matter of time till KingCorbin @wwe @liarsclub @rolex @goorinbros #wwe #rolex #goorinbros #raw #kingofthering
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– Lacey Evans takes over a radio interview:
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Never invite a Lady as a guest and expect her to be questioned from the back of the room. 💅👒🎙 . #YaNasties #RadioInterview @djslab1 #RAW #NoMoreNasties #neworleans
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– WWE has posted a collection of Superstars with their pets, in celebration of International Dog Day.
Ring of Honor’s year-end pay-per-view event Final Battle airs this Friday night, live from the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, MD.
Ten matches have been confirmed for the show, which will also be streamed online via FITE TV. Ring of Honor will also be holding a television taping at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Sunday for Honor Club subscribers.
ROH Final Battle Baltimore, MD December 13, 2019
ROH World Championship Match — Rush (c) vs. PCO
ROH World Tag Team Championship Match — The Briscoes (c) vs. Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham
Baltimore Street Fight — Mark Haskins vs. Bully Ray
While the report did emphasise the fact that the injury wasn’t confirmed, it did state he possibly got injured while performing The Great Sasuke Special dive on Hiromu Takahashi.
Ospreay was eventually defeated in the match, which was for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
We will have further updates on the possible injury if/when more information is provided.