Bobby Lashley took a fall out of the ring at Thursday’s WWE house show in Newcastle after the top rope broke during his match.
Lashley was facing Drew McIntyre in the main event of the live event when he hit the ropes. McIntyre hit the ropes on the opposite side of the ring almost simultaneously, and the top rope snapped. Lashley went tumbling to the floor where he was immediately checked on by Sami Zayn and ringside personnel.
Lashley was apparently okay after taking the fall, as he finished the match. McIntyre won the bout.
WWE’s European tour kicked off Thursday in Newcastle, and continues Friday with a show in London. The tour hits Paris, France on Saturday, then wraps up in Leipzig, Germany on Sunday. Raw on Monday will be held in Greensboro, North Carolina.
A fan in Newcastle shot video of the accident, which can be seen below.
Omos has issued a challenge to Bobby Lashley for a rematch at WrestleMania Backlash next month.
During tonight’s Raw, MVP told Lashley that the arm wrestling match tonight wasn’t about brawn, but brain, and Lashley being laid out proved tonight that Lashley was nothing without MVP. Omos then issued a challenge for WrestleMania Backlash on May 8.
The two previously met at WrestleMania 38, with Lashley defeating Omos. The following night on Raw, MVP turned against longtime associate Lashley and aligned himself with Omos.
Earlier in the show, Lashley and Omos competed in an arm wrestling challenge. Lashley won the contest, but a distraction by MVP allowed Omos to attack Lashley with the table, leaving he and MVP standing tall.
Here is the card so far for WrestleMania Backlash, which will take place at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island:
Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey in an I Quit match for the SmackDown Women’s title
Omos vs. Bobby Lashley
Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins
RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) vs. The Usos for the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team titles
A Women’s Championship match and an arm wrestling challenge have been announced for next week’s WWE Raw.
In her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bianca Belair will defend the Raw Women’s Championship against Sonya Deville.
In her storyline role as a WWE official, Deville announced herself as Belair’s next challenger on last week’s Raw. On this week’s episode, Belair said that she wanted the match right away. Instead, Deville said that she would take the title from Belair in her hometown on next week’s show. Belair was fined $1 in storyline by Adam Pearce for putting her hands on Deville after threatening to hit her with the KOD finisher on Raw.
Also announced for next week, Bobby Lashley will face Omos in an arm wrestling challenge.
Lashley defeated Omos at WrestleMania 38. On the Raw after WrestleMania, Omos aligned with Lashley’s former manager MVP.
Here is the announced lineup for next week:
WWE Raw, Monday, April 25 —
Raw Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair (c) vs. Sonya Deville
MVP turned on longtime associate Bobby Lashley tonight on Raw, aligning himself with Omos.
On tonight’s Raw, Bobby Lashley was in the ring talking about how hard it was to defeat Omos, saying at one point in the match he had nearly given up. Omos came out and demanded a rematch. As the two stared down one another, MVP jumped Lashley from behind, with the two beating down Lashley. The segment ended after Omos threw Lashley down with a tree slam.
Lashley and Omos faced off at WrestleMania 38 after Lashley made his return from injury earlier that week on Raw, challenging Omos. Lashley was able to score the victory after hitting a spear to the back, then to the front of Omos.
The relationship between MVP and Lashley dates back to 2020, when Lashley chose MVP over his (in storyline) wife Lana, blaming her for a loss. His association with MVP eventually led to Lashley winning the WWE Championship on two occasions.
A match between Bobby Lashley and Omos was made official tonight on Raw.
After defeating the Viking Raiders by countout, Omos was asked by an interviewer who would be able to challenge him. Omos said no one. This brought out a returning Bobby Lashley, and the two had a confrontation. Omos initially had the upper hand over Lashley, but a shoulder block by Lashley took Omos down to the mat. Omos bailed out of the ring and headed to the back as the segment ended.
It was later confirmed that the match would take place on WrestleMania Sunday, April 3.
Lashley had been out of action since the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view last month when he was written out of storylines after Seth Rollins powerbombed Austin Theory through a Elimination Chamber pod and into Lashley. He was taken out of the match, with WWE later saying that he was under concussion protocol. In actuality, it was reported that Lashley had suffered a shoulder injury in his match against Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view back in January.
Here is the full card for both nights of WWE WrestleMania 38, which takes place this Saturday and Sunday:
Night one (Saturday, April 2) —
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair defends against Ronda Rousey
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defends against Bianca Belair
The KO Show with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Seth Rollins vs. an opponent of Vince McMahon’s choosing
Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz & Logan Paul
Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defend against Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs
Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs. Sheamus & Ridge Holland
Night two (Sunday, April 3) —
Winner-take-all championship unification match: WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns
Edge vs. AJ Styles
Bobby Lashley vs. Omos
Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory
Anything goes match: Sami Zayn vs. Johnny Knoxville
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Queen Zelina & Carmella defend against Sasha Banks & Naomi, Rhea Ripley & Liv Morgan, and Natalya & Shayna Baszler in a fatal four-way match
Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro defend against The Street Profits and Alpha Academy in a triple threat match
Bobby Lashley will reportedly be on Raw this coming Monday.
PWInsider reported this afternoon that Lashley is expected to return to TV this coming Monday on Raw in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Fightful additionally reported that Lashley will be in Pittsburgh on Monday, though they have not confirmed whether or not he will be on the show.
Lashley has not been on WWE television since the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view last month. He was written out of the Elimination Chamber match early after Seth Rollins powerbombed Austin Theory into Lashley’s pod, taking out Lashley in the process. Commentators later noted that Lashley was put under concussion protocol.
It was later confirmed that Lashley had suffered a shoulder injury dating back to his Royal Rumble match against Brock Lesnar in January. It was reported at the time that he would be out of action for several months.
It was reported earlier this week by Fightful that Lashley was Omos’ planned opponent for WrestleMania 38. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the match would depend on Lashley being cleared in time.
Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa are back with another edition of Wrestling Weekly.
The guys take a look at how an injury is holding up a potential match for this year’s WWE WrestleMania and discuss some keys to making a match work when someone is at less than 100%.
We’ll also talk about this week’s editions of NXT 2.0 and Dynamite.
Bobby Lashley vs. Omos is expected to take place at WWE WrestleMania 38.
Fightful Select reported on Monday that Lashley was Omos’ planned opponent for the show with Dave Meltzer noting on Wrestling Observer Radio that it will depend on if Lashley is cleared in time.
“Omos is doing the thing where he’s asking for a singles match. He’s going to have a singles match against somebody, but right now the guy is Lashley on the list. It could end up being somebody else if Lashley is not cleared. Apparently, that would say that Lashley is not undergoing shoulder surgery because if he was undergoing shoulder surgery or had surgery he wouldn’t be at WrestleMania,” Meltzer said.
Lashley suffered a shoulder injury when facing Brock Lesnar at January’s Royal Rumble. An injury angle three weeks later at the Elimination Chamber saw him removed from the match before officially entering due to “concussion protocols.”
Omos has picked up victories on four straight episodes of WWE Raw. He defeated Commander Azeez and Apollo Crews in a handicap match on Monday’s show.
The current lineups for WrestleMania 38 is as follows:
Night one (Saturday, April 2) —
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair defends against Ronda Rousey
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defends against Bianca Belair
The KO Show with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz & Logan Paul
Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defend against Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs
Night two (Sunday, April 3) —
Winner-take-all championship unification match: WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns
Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory
Sami Zayn vs. Johnny Knoxville
AJ Styles vs. Edge
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Queen Zelina & Carmella defend against Sasha Banks & Naomi, Rhea Ripley & Liv Morgan, and Natalya & Shayna Baszler in a fatal four-way match
Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro defend against The Street Profits and Alpha Academy in a triple threat match
Bobby Lashley is no longer being advertised for WWE’s upcoming Madison Square Garden event.
WWE Live: Road to WrestleMania is set for Madison Square Garden on Saturday, March 5, a show that was originally advertised as being headlined by Brock Lesnar defending the WWE Championship against Lashley. The advertising has been changed to simply state that Lesnar will defend the WWE title on the show, with all references to Lashley removed.
Lashley, 45, suffered a shoulder injury in his Royal Rumble match against Lesnar on January 29. His only match since was at Elimination Chamber on February 19, where an angle was shot to quickly take him out of the match. In storyline, it was explained as “concussion protocol.”
Dave Meltzer reported on Monday that Lashley was visiting Birmingham, Alabama to have the shoulder injury examined, likely at the world-renowned Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Center. If the injury required surgery, Lashley would be expected to miss months of action.
The Road to WrestleMania show at MSG is a dual-branded house show. The current advertised lineup:
Brock Lesnar will defend the WWE Championship
Roman Reigns will defend the WWE Universal Championship
Raw Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley
Ronda Rousey & Naomi vs. Charlotte Flair & Sonya Deville
SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The Usos (c) vs. Big E & Kofi Kingston
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Monday News Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, New Japan, AEW and the rest of the latest news with Wrestling Observer Radio. You can also send questions to the show to [email protected]
With today being President’s Day, it’s a holiday weekend so ratings will be delayed. The Friday ratings will be out tomorrow. Raw ratings will be out Wednesday. Everything should be caught up on Thursday.
WWE
Little is announced for Raw tonight in Columbia, SC with the first show where the main goal is the promotion of WrestleMania. Brock Lesnar was advertised for tonight’s show. It returns to the USA Network and coming off the PPV is expected to do one of the bigger numbers of the year as historically the post-February PPV show does well. The only announced match is Riddle & Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins & Kevin Owens. If Rollins & Owens win, then next week’s tag title match will be a three-way with Chad Gable & Otis vs. Rollins & Owens vs. Riddle & Orton.
Bobby Lashley is currently in Birmingham, AL getting his shoulder checked out. He’s been injured since the match with Brock Lesnar which is why they did the Chamber match the way they did, with full knowledge he couldn’t wrestle.
Madcap Moss woke up okay after that terrible bump from the reverse Alabama slam in the Drew McIntyre match, but was still going to be checked out.
Raw will be taped 4/18 in Buffalo, NY.
New Day & Drew McIntyre vs. Roman Reigns & The Usos, Becky Lynch vs. Liv Morgan vs. Doudrop vs. Bianca Belair, Charlotte Flair vs. Naomi, plus Ronda Rousey appearing are scheduled for the weekend house shows on Saturday in Youngstown, OH and Sunday in Rochester, NY. McIntyre must be doing a lot better because originally he wasn’t going to wrestle on house shows until April, only at TV’s.
America’s Got Talent Extreme, where Nikki Bella will be a judge, debuts tonight head-to-head with Raw at 8 p.m. on NBC. The show will replay after NXT tomorrow night on the USA Network.
AEW
Dark Elevation tonight:
The Bunny vs. Kaitland Alexis
2.0 & Daniel Garcia & Austin & Colten Gunn vs. Dean Alexander & Chico Adams & Ariel Levy & Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku
AQA & Skye Blue & Kiera Hogan vs. Emi Sakura & Nyla Rose & Leyla Hirsch
Lance Archer vs. Joey O’Reilly
Tay Conti & Anna Jay & Red Velvet vs. Freya & Arie Alexander & Angelica Risk
Andrade & Private Party & Butcher & Blade vs. Chandler Hopkins & Carlie Bravo & Baron Black & Jameson Ryan & Shawn Dean
Ruby Soho vs. Haley J
Jay Lethal & Lee Johnson & Frankie Kazarian & Matt Sydal & Brock Anderson vs Peter Avalon & JD Drake & Cezar Bononi & Luther & Serpentico
Among the teams in the tag team Battle Royal for a PPV title shot (it will be a three-way with a Battle Royal this week and a Casino Battle Royal next week, both winners challenging Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) are Young Bucks, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, Santana & Ortiz, FTR, 2.0, John Silver & Alex Reynolds, Private Party, Colten & Austin Gunn, Butcher & Blade and Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta.
Other Wrestling
Katsuhiko Nakajima defends the GHC title against Kazuyuki Fujita on Wednesday in Nagoya. They did an angle where Nakajima poured a beer over the head of Fujita at a press conference earlier today. Fujita basically no sold it.
All Japan runs Korakuen Hall on Wednesday with Kento Miyahara defending the Triple Crown against Big Japan’s Abdullah Kobayashi plus Suwama & Shotaro Ashino defend the tag titles against Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi.
Prestige Wrestling from last night in Portland, OR before a sellout of 1,000 fans: Ethan HD b Nicki Wayne, Cody Chhun & Guillermo Rosas won tag team invitational over Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl, Malcolm Flex & Levi Cooper and Jaiden & Alex Zayne to become the first tag team champions, Funnybone b Warhorse, Alex Shelley won three-way over champion Tom Lawlor and Dalton Castle to win the Prestige title, Drexl b Taya Valkyrie in an unsanctioned anything goes match when when a masked woman (Athena) interfered, Sonico won four-way over Jaiden, Titus Alexander and Calvin Tankman, Dark Sheik & MV Young b Allie Katch & Effy, Malakai Black b Davey Richards. After the match the lights went out and when they came on, Brody King was in the ring and gave Richards a piledriver. They return 4/15 with Athena vs Valkyrie, Black returning plus Charlie Haas.
Sanctuary Fight Club from Saturday night in Hamtramck, MI: Dickie Brunson b James Alexander, Mysterious Movado won four-way over Krimson, Kyler Coleman and Joe Demaro, Jody Threat b Sam Beale, Ren Jones DDQ Jason Hotch, Karam b Silas Young to become Trash Zone champion (thanks to Leonard Brand).
Nick Wayne vs. Shane Strickland headlines for Defy on Saturday night at Washington Hall, plus Jonah vs. Schaff, Christopher Daniels defends the interim title against Clark Connors and the Bollywood Boyz defend the tag titles.
Laredo Kid vs. Dragon Lee will be part of Expo Lucha in June at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
Northeast Wrestling on 3/27 in Waterbury, CT features the Hardy vs. Nzo & Cass (W. Morrissey) at Crosby High School. Juice Robinson is also on the show. The Hardys also have dates on 4/23 in Danbury, CT and 4/30 in Belle Vernon, PA for NEW.
West Coast indie wrestlers Ruby Raze and Bad Dude Tito will compete on the show Wipeout, that airs tomorrow night on TBS. John Cena is one of the hosts of the show.
UFC
Tyson Fury today said that he will face Francis Ngannou in a boxing match next February or March and also claimed the UFC champion vs. boxing champion billing would break all PPV records. Ngannou would be stripped of the title by that point because to do it he’d have to leave UFC. It’s an easy payday for Fury either way unless he got hit early.
Sam Hughes vs. Istela Nunes is confirmed for the 4/16 show.
Nick Maximov vs.Andre Petroski was added to the 5/14 show.
Bellator
MMA Fighting has reported Paul Daley’s retirement fight on the 5/13 Bellator show at SSE Wembley in London will be against Andrey Koreshkov. Koreschkov finished Chance Rencountre on Saturday in 38 seconds with a spin kick that broke five of Rencountre’s ribs and punctured his lung.
The reason for former WWE Champion Bobby Lashley’s quick exit from Saturday’s Elimination Chamber was reportedly due to a shoulder injury that might require surgery.
Lashley never got into the men’s Chamber match as he was taken out quickly after Seth Rollins buckle bombed Austin Theory into Lashley’s pod. In storyline, it was explained as “concussion protocol.”
Brock Lesnar won the match to reclaim the WWE title, setting up a title vs. title match against Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38.
Former WWE writer and Ringer podcaster Kazeem Famuyide reported the injury Saturday, saying Lashley was hurt in his Royal Rumble match against Lesnar that saw him win the title. Lashley hadn’t wrestled since that match.
PWInsider confirmed the report and added that Lashley is due to visit famed sports doctor Dr. James Andrews this week.
Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez did not confirm the injury on Wrestling Observer Radio, but did speculate that the amount of landing Lashley did on his shoulder in the Lesnar match in addition to his absence added up.
Depending on the severity of the injury and whether surgery is required, Lashley could be out of action for several months. That would take him out of next month’s WrestleMania and longer.
New WWE Champion Bobby Lashley’s first title defense will take place inside of the Elimination Chamber.
An Elimination Chamber match with Lashley defending his WWE Championship has been made official for WWE’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, February 19. WWE has yet to confirm any of Lashley’s five challengers for the match.
Lashley became WWE Champion by defeating Brock Lesnar at Saturday’s Royal Rumble. Lashley defeated Lesnar after interference by Roman Reigns.
When there was a referee bump during the Lesnar vs. Lashley match, Reigns ran into the ring and speared Lesnar. Paul Heyman then betrayed Lesnar by giving Reigns the WWE Championship belt to use as a weapon. After Reigns laid out Lesnar with the title belt, Lashley pinned him to win the championship.
This is the second WWE Championship reign of Lashley’s career. He previously held the title from March 2021 to September 2021.
The Elimination Chamber PPV will begin at noon Eastern time on February 19. It’s the final WWE PPV before WrestleMania 38.
The build to Elimination Chamber will kick off on tonight’s Royal Rumble fallout edition of Raw. Lesnar, who won the men’s Royal Rumble match on Saturday, will be on the show to reveal which title he’s going to challenge for at WrestleMania. Lesnar is expected to face Reigns for the Universal Championship.
At the Royal Rumble tonight, Lashley pinned Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship. The finish of the match involved interference by Universal Champion Roman Reigns — with an assist from Paul Heyman.
There was a spot during the Lesnar vs. Lashley match where Lesnar went to give Lashley an F-5 but threw him into the referee. With the referee down, Reigns rushed into the ring and speared Lesnar. Reigns asked Heyman to give him the WWE Championship belt, and Heyman betrayed Lesnar by handing it over. Reigns then laid out Lesnar with a belt shot. Lashley capitalized on that by pinning Lesnar to get the win.
Heyman left with Reigns after Reigns hit Lesnar with the title belt.
Reigns and Heyman had been split up since an angle where Reigns fired Heyman as his special counsel in December.
Earlier tonight, Reigns put his Universal Championship on the line against Seth Rollins. The match ended with Rollins winning by disqualification but Reigns retaining the Universal title. Reigns refused to let go of a guillotine when Rollins reached the ropes. Reigns then attacked Rollins with a chair after the match.
A match between Reigns and Lesnar is in the plans for WrestleMania 38 this April.
Lashley is now a two-time WWE Champion. His previous reign with the title lasted from March to September of last year.
Raw’s final build to the Royal Rumble took place last night.
In advance of their WWE Championship match on Saturday, Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley met for a weigh-in. Lesnar continued to disrespect Lashley and not take him seriously, showing up to the weigh-in in jeans, a flannel jacket, and a cowboy hat. When it was time for him to step on the scale, the cowboy hat was the only thing that Lesnar would take off.
Lashley weighed in at 273 pounds, while Lesnar weighed in at 286.
Lashley said the reason Lesnar was acting like a fool was that he knew he was going to lose on Saturday. Lashley vowed to make this the shortest title reign of Lesnar’s career.
Lesnar responded by again disrespecting Lashley, joking that the new champion would be “Bobby who?” if he won.
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and her Royal Rumble challenger Doudrop took part in a side-by-side interview last night. It ended in a brawl when Doudrop cut off the interview to go attack Lynch.
Plus, Maryse’s birthday celebration was crashed by Edge and Beth Phoenix.
A weigh-in between Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar will take place on next week’s Raw.
In addition to the weigh-in, The Miz will host a birthday celebration. Another segment will have Alpha Academy face off against former Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro in what is being billed as an academic challenge.
The weigh-in between Lashley and Lesnar will take place prior to their match for Lesnar’s WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble on January 29. A video package aired on tonight’s Raw highlighting both men’s careers in WWE and mixed martial arts.
The Miz will throw a birthday celebration for Maryse following the events on tonight’s Raw. What was supposed to be a discussion between Beth Phoenix and Maryse turned violent when The Miz arrived and distracted Phoenix long enough for Maryse to attack Phoenix with her purse, which was later revealed to have a brick inside.
Alpha Academy challenged RK-Bro to an academic challenge on tonight’s show, with the rules not immediately being clear. The team defeated RK-Bro on last week’s Raw to win the Raw Tag Team titles and held a graduation ceremony on tonight’s show until Riddle crashed the celebration. His distraction led to Orton sneaking up to Gable, laying him out with an RKO.
