Tag: hbk

WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event notes: Audio issues, HBK superkicks Owens, other legends appear

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Notes from WWE’s Saturday Night’s Main Event.

The start of SNME in San Antonio didn’t go smoothly. On the NBC feed, the show kicked off with simultaneous audio both in English and Spanish. This continued for several minutes until just before the start of the opening match, where Rhea Ripley successfully defended the Women’s World Championship against Nia Jax.

Much like the previous episode of SNME the show focused on a retro theme. Former WWE stars Ted DiBiase, Mark Henry, Dory Funk Jr., Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, and Alundra Blayze were shown in the crowd.

WWE Hall of Famer and head of NXT Shawn Michaels appeared in his hometown to mediate the contract signing between Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes ahead of their ladder match at next weekend’s Royal Rumble premium live event. As Owens lamented about his struggles in WWE and with Cody Rhodes, Michaels said that he thought Owens was jealous. The situation eventually led to a confrontation that saw Owens strike Cody then attack HBK, setting him up for the package piledriver. Cody quickly broke things up as HBK quickly recovered and took out Owens with a superkick to end the segment.

New match, HBK appearance set for WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event

Posted on by Ethan Renner

A new match is on tap for WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on January 25, plus Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will appear.

In a new bout set for next Saturday’s NBC and Peacock special, Braun Strowman and Jacob Fatu will lock horns. The bout was set up with an angle on this week’s SmackDown where Strowman and LA Knight brawled with The Bloodline’s Fatu and Tama Tonga in the ring.

WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels has also been added to the lineup for next Saturday’s show, serving as a special enforcer for a contract addendum signing between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens.

SmackDown GM Nick Aldis confronted both Owens and Rhodes on Friday’s SmackDown in an attempt to get both to sign an addendum — likely to ban the package piledriver in their upcoming ladder match at the Royal Rumble.

After both Rhodes and Owens refused to sign, Aldis declared that at SNME, both competitors will relinquish their WWE titles to be suspended above the ring at Royal Rumble, and that HBK will enforce the contract addendum signing.

The updated WWE SNME lineup for Saturday, January 25 in San Antonio:

  • World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defends against Jey Uso
  • WWE Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker defends against Sheamus
  • Jacob Fatu vs. Braun Strowman
  • Contract signing for Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens — Shawn Michaels special enforcer

HBK explains NXT Battleground taking place on same day as AEW PPV

Posted on by Ian Carey

Shawn Michaels says booking NXT Battleground for Memorial Day weekend had nothing to do with AEW Double or Nothing. 

WWE announced yesterday that the next NXT premium live event following Stand & Deliver will take place May 28 in Lowell, MA. No start time was listed for the event. NXT Battleground will take place on the same day as AEW’s annual May pay-per-view and one day after the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments from Saudi Arabia. 

Michaels was asked by Ariel Helwani if the date was chosen to go up against AEW’s pay-per-view.

Michaels responded:

No, no, look, I’ll say this, from a holiday standpoint, that’s the thing. In the past, we’ve done well on the holidays. So, it’s my understanding that’s why we did that. It’s no different then, you know, we used to do stuff back in the day on Christmas and on Thanksgiving. Holidays were always big days, so, that’s what this is for us. 

It’s just that was the date that was available. Obviously, the holiday does really well for us.

Our own Dave Meltzer addressed the situation as well in Friday’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 

Meltzer wrote:

The key is that the show is probably going head-to-head with AEW’s Double or Nothing show in Las Vegas. One could say it was a coincidence, but if you follow history it indicates that wouldn’t be the case, that WWE arranged a Shawn Michaels press conference on 3/30 head-to-head at the exact same time as AEW’s press conference with Tony Khan.

He also commented on WWE not announcing a start time for the NXT event.

Meltzer continued:

Actually NXT could do an afternoon show or an evening show as when they sent out the press release, for the first time I can ever recall, they never listed a start time for the event, which sounds like head games. When asking WWE, they said they aren’t sure a start time has been locked in.

Figure Four Weekly: Recapping WWE Super Show-Down

Posted on by F4W Staff

For the PDF click here.

For the Epub click here.

Going into Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday, it wasn’t entirely clear whether it would be more of a major stadium show or a glorified live event.

There were elements of both on display at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Without even factoring in entrances or the post-match angle, Triple H vs. The Undertaker was nearly 30 minutes long. It was obvious that they were attempting to deliver on the epic “last-time ever” main event that had been promised. It was a bit of a mess at times. Undertaker isn’t capable of having that kind of match at this point in his career. And if Triple H is at all capable of it, The Undertaker isn’t the type of opponent he can show that against.

Despite that, the match was what the crowd came to see. A no disqualification stipulation was added right before the main event started, with the storyline being that Triple H was able to use his position of authority to gain an advantage.

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HBK officially coming out of retirement for Crown Jewel tag match

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Triple H and Shawn Michaels reunited as D-Generation X tonight and are set to face The Undertaker and Kane next month at Crown Jewel.

It started at this weekend’s Super Show-Down event when both Undertaker and Kane jumped Triple H and Shawn Michaels after Triple H defeated The Undertaker. Tonight on Raw, both Triple H and HBK came out looking for retribution. Michaels said that for the last eight years, he had been keeping a promise (his retirement) out of mutual respect between he and The Undertaker. But now he realizes that respect may have never existed.

Triple H then said he asked Michaels three words he never thought he would ask him again: are you ready? He then directed that question to Undertaker and Kane for Crown Jewel. Both men took off their shirts revealing new D-Generation X t-shirts as they posed for the crowd, their old music playing.

Crown Jewel will take place on November 2 at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Figure Four Weekly: Looking at Shawn Michaels potential return

Posted on by F4W Staff

For the PDF click here.

For the Epub click here.

While retirements in professional wrestling are almost always temporary, the direction that WWE went in on last Monday’s episode of Raw was still genuinely surprising.

What seemed like it would be a by-the-numbers segment with Shawn Michaels promoting Triple H and The Undertaker’s match at WWE Super Show-Down, which is being billed as the last time they’ll ever face each other, turned into a full-blown tease of Michaels coming out of retirement.

Michaels’ segment started as everyone would have expected, with him picking Triple H to defeat The Undertaker and saying Triple H has more left in the tank than Undertaker at this point in their careers.

Undertaker then interrupted him. Undertaker said him ending Michaels’ career was the reason that Michaels was picking Triple H.

Michaels asked if Undertaker thinks that’s what this is about and said he’s a man of his word and has stayed retired out of respect for the system, the fans, and The Undertaker.

Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

Shawn Michaels open to one more match

Posted on by Bryan Rose

For the first time since retiring eight years ago, Shawn Michaels has expressed interest in returning to the ring.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Michaels now says that he doesn’t dismiss the idea of returning to the ring for a one-off.

“It would have to be done the right way and just for one match rather than something that ran for longer” he told them. “It could be possible but people would have to accept they wouldn’t be getting the Showstopper, Mr WrestleMania, and that I’m 52 years old now.”

Michaels last wrestled at WrestleMania 26 back in 2010, losing to the Undertaker in a streak vs. career match. After giving a farewell speech the next night on Raw, he has sporadically appeared on WWE programing in a non-wrestling capacity. He currently helps train wrestlers at the WWE Performance Center.

In the article, Michaels mentioned Daniel Bryan, Johnny Gargano and AJ Styles as people he would like to face if he were the Shawn Michaels of ten years ago.