While appearing on the “Tamron Hall” talk show this week, Nikki & Brie Bella explained why they were critical of the women’s representation on Raw’s 30th anniversary episode.
The Bellas did an Instagram live video on Monday night calling out WWE for not showcasing the women’s evolution on Raw’s anniversary show. They mentioned Mercedes Mone (Sasha Banks) and Saraya (Paige) as people who WWE didn’t want to feature.
Nikki & Brie were originally announced for the anniversary show but were pulled from advertising prior to the episode taking place. Madusa was the only women’s legend who appeared.
Hall asked the Bellas what made them want to speak out about the lack of representation.
Nikki: I think what anyone does when you have love and passion for something and you put your heart and your soul in it, you want to be appreciated. And I think that’s in any industry. For us female wrestlers, it was Raw 30, the 30th anniversary. And throughout those 30 years, women have done a whole lot to make Raw what it is. So when you have a three-hour show, and it’s male-dominated and women aren’t being honored, pretty much at all, you just sit back and you’re like, ‘Why aren’t we being appreciated? Like, why don’t you even have a video package showcasing what all these incredible women have done?’
Nikki: I’m someone who they’ve always called ‘No Filter Nikki.’ And I know sometimes my team is like back there like, ‘Oh my gosh, if we could just take her phone.’ But — it made me upset for all the women, because I know that feeling of walking out to the ring. and it happens to some of the men, but where you walk out and you put your body on the line, you give it your all just to entertain the fans and the TV viewers, and you just come back and you want to feel appreciated for that. Some of us have had career-ending injuries. And we shouldn’t go away. And even if I feel that if a wrestler even leaves the company or they’re no longer there, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be remembered.
Brie: 100 percent.
Nikki: I wished and I hoped, and maybe that will be more in the future, we still have a way to go, but that women will finally be appreciated for what they do.
Brie: I think the biggest thing is that what the women are doing today at WWE is amazing. Like, the present-day women wrestlers are doing incredible things. But it took so many women from the past to pave that road. And it’s okay to say ‘thank you’ and recognize that. And I think when Nikki and I speak, it always makes headlines. But the thing that we love is that we come from passion for women, not from ourselves. The Bella Twins don’t have to be at Raw 30, it’s all the other women that — we can give you a whole long list — that should have been there.
Raw 30 also drew criticism for failing to deliver on a Becky Lynch vs. Bayley steel cage match that was supposed to take place on the show. There was instead an angle where Damage CTRL attacked Lynch and prevented the match from happening. The decision to nix the steel cage match was made after The Bloodline’s Trial of Sami Zayn segment went long.
Last night’s Raw drew the largest audience for the show in almost three years with 2.34 million viewers and a 0.70 rating in 18-49.
The 30th anniversary show was expected to do huge numbers because whenever WWE brings back big stars from the past, and this included Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Undertaker, and DX, the numbers always go up with younger viewers.
Because of going commercial free, the first hour averaged 2.64 million viewers and drew a 0.80 in 18-49. It was actually among the biggest first-to-third hour drops in the history of the show, which sounds terrible, but given how big the numbers were, it’s expected. It shouldn’t be viewed negatively when you have a three-hour show and the first hour is commercial free that there is a big drop. And the third hour was still above two million viewers.
In particular, by hour three, most of the key people advertised that would have led to the huge increase in numbers had already appeared on the show, whether it was Hogan, Flair, Undertaker, or the Bloodline trial of Sami Zayn.
Raw was the number one show on television in 18-49, even beating The Bachelor on ABC and The Neighborhood on CBS in the demo. The number two show on cable, the Kansas vs. Baylor college basketball game on ESPN that went head-to-head, did 1,22 million/0.36, so Raw nearly doubled it.
Raw won every key demo by a huge margin on cable except women 18-49. It won that one, but Below Deck did a very strong number for second place.
In total viewers, Raw was sixth for the night, its best showing in a long time. It trailed only five shows on Fox News.
Coming off last week’s episode which went against a football game that did 30 plus million viewers, Raw was up 60 percent in viewers, up 67 percent in 18-49, and up 63 percent in 18-34.
From one year ago, the first show of last year after football ended, Raw was up 33 percent in viewers, up 51 percent in 18-49, and up 69 percent in 18-34.
It was the most viewers for an episode of Raw since February 17, 2020, at a time when Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre were doing big segment numbers on the show.
During an Instagram live video on Monday night, Nikki & Brie Bella criticized WWE for its lack of women’s evolution representation on Raw’s 30th anniversary episode.
The Bellas were initially among the legends announced for the anniversary show, but they didn’t end up appearing. They were pulled from advertising for the show late last week, with The Bellas tweeting that they wished they could have made it but weren’t available for that date. The Bellas noted that WWE promoted them for the episode before confirming.
Lol no that wasn’t it at all. Wish so bad we could have made it! We couldn’t make that date. They promoted us before confirming that’s all 🙂 Doing an IG Live for the Bella Army about it tomorrow 💋#hatersgonnahatebrllasgonnaball#bellaarmy
Madusa was the only women’s legend who appeared on Raw last night.
While speaking about the lack of women’s evolution representation on Raw 30, The Bellas mentioned Mercedes Mone (Sasha Banks) and Saraya (Paige) as people who WWE doesn’t want to show. “There’s a bunch of us they don’t want to show,” Brie said. “That’s fine.“
Nikki: Another good memory on Raw. How didn’t they showcase anything from the women’s evolution?
Brie: But also the way we did our matches on there.
Nikki: Because Sasha Banks in it and they’re like, ‘We can’t…
Brie: The Bellas, there’s a bunch of us.
Nikki: Mercedes is too over, and we can’t say her name.
Brie: There’s a couple other girls, and [Saraya], there’s a bunch of us they don’t want to show. That’s fine.
Nikki: That’s fine. When you do what they don’t want to do…
Brie: It’s not what you don’t do. It’s what you do do.
The Bella Twins do have a point tho…Not even a Trish Stratus or Lita or Jazz or Victoria…No mention of Sable or AJ Lee…Vickie Guerrero…list goes on…Alundra Blayze you put in a backstage poker game when she has the #WWE women’s championship?! pic.twitter.com/D406DDCJLH#RawXXX
A steel cage match between Becky Lynch and Bayley was supposed to take place on Raw last night, but it turned into an angle where Damage CTRL attacked Lynch and the match never got started. The match was cut for time due to The Bloodline’s Trial of Sami Zayn segment going long.
Nikki & Brie Bella were mentioned by Charlotte Flair last night during a promo where she named some of the opponents who she’s faced during her career.
WWE sent out a tweet today promoting E!’s “Nikki Bella Says I Do” series, which premieres this Thursday. The four-part series chronicles Nikki’s wedding to Artem Chigvintsev.
Monday night’s 30th anniversary edition of Raw set a financial milestone for the show.
WWE has announced that, among episodes that have taken place in the United States, last night’s Raw generated the most money from ticket sales in Raw’s 30-year history. The show was held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“The @WWEUniverse in Philadelphia showed up and showed out last night,” WWE wrote. “#RAWXXX at @WellsFargoCtr had the highest domestic gate in the 30-year history of #WWERaw!”
The @WWEUniverse in Philadelphia showed up and showed out last night 👏#RAWXXX at @WellsFargoCtr had the highest domestic gate in the 30-year history of #WWERaw!
The Undertaker, D-Generation X, Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Madusa, Teddy Long, Ron Simmons, Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Hart, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Ted DiBiase, and IRS were the legends who appeared on last night’s anniversary show.
Last night’s Raw was also the go-home show for the Royal Rumble, which is taking place at Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas this Saturday.
Some of the biggest legends in WWE history were on hand to help Raw celebrate its 30th anniversary last night.
The Undertaker, D-Generation X, Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan, and more all played roles in last night’s Raw. The episode was also the go-home show for the Royal Rumble.
Brock Lesnar made his return to WWE ahead of Saturday’s pay-per-view. Lesnar attacked Bobby Lashley during last night’s no disqualification main event, costing him a chance to win the United States Championship. Lesnar gave Austin Theory an F5 onto Lashley and the referee counted the pin for Theory to retain his title.
Sami Zayn was put on trial by The Bloodline and was declared not guilty (for now) after Jey Uso came to his defense. A steel cage match between Becky Lynch and Bayley never got started after Lynch was attacked by Damage CTRL. And one last video hyping Cody Rhodes’ return aired before the Royal Rumble.
Date: January 23, 2023 Location: Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA
The Big Takeaway —
The Bloodline highlighted the show in the first hour, WWE legends were used as expected, the advertised Bayley-Becky Lynch cage match didn’t happen, the crowd became quiet as the show dragged on, and Brock Lesnar interfered in the main event.
Show Recap —
Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart entered to start the show. Hogan spoke about the success of Raw (glossing over the part where he was very much with the competition) and he did his catchphrase.
Hogan’s microphone cut in and out as he spoke which drew some boos from the Philadelphia crowd. In fact, a stagehand literally ran out in the middle of his promo and handed him a new mic. Hogan plowed through it and put over the Philadelphia Eagles which got a big pop.
There was a long Raw intro featuring moments from the show’s history. (It included big moments from guys who are not currently with the company like Chris Jericho and Bryan Danielson.)
********
Tribal Court of Sami Zayn
Roman Reigns’ music hit which got a huge pop and the Bloodline was showered with “Sami” chants once they hit the ring. Zayn looked rather morose.
Paul Heyman received “ECW” chants which he acknowledged. However, he told Reigns, “ECW is dead — and I wish the same for Sami Zayn.” The crowd booed and chanted for Sami.
Heyman called Zayn a Judas and a betrayer who has conspired with Kevin Owens since day one. Zayn has been leading them on to feel like the fans of the Eagles who were about to get conquered by Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers. (He said Brock Purdy’s name like he was Brock Lesnar, which was great.)
Heyman presented several clips as evidence against Zayn: August 12 when Zayn bailed after the Usos got attacked by Drew McIntyre; August 29 when Zayn didn’t help Jey Uso during his match against Owens, which Owens won; November 26 when Zayn celebrated alone atop the cage at War Games (instead of celebrating with the Bloodline); and December 23 when Zayn accidentally hit Reigns in the shoulder.
Heyman wondered if Zayn was planning an assassination of Reigns so he could become head of the table. Heyman said the court should find Zayn guilty.
Zayn said he had a whole defence lined up but he admitted it hurt hearing Heyman say all of those things after everything they’ve been through. Zayn was offended that he would be put on trial to defend himself. He emphasized how much it hurt and said, “my defence is I have no defence.” He tossed the mic and sat down.
Reigns was infuriated that Zayn had so much ego he wouldn’t even defend himself after letting him into his family. Reigns called upon Solo Sikoa.
Sikoa stood behind Zayn and was about to give him the Samoan Spike (and Zayn was not defending himself) but Jey Uso stopped him.
Jey presented his own clips as evidence going back to August of Zayn helping the Bloodline and sacrificing himself many times. Zayn appeared emotional seeing the footage and the crowd cheered.
Jey said Zayn has taken so many bullets for the Bloodline that he might as well be bulletproof and Zayn never gave up on him because that’s what family did. Jey asked everyone to put their ‘ones’ in the sky if they wanted Sami to stay in the Bloodline. The fans all put their fingers up and Jimmy Uso did as well. (Sikoa didn’t.)
Reigns determined that Zayn was not guilty — for now. Reigns wanted Zayn to thank Jey for buying him time. Reigns suggested that Zayn make them proud tonight and he didn’t want to see him again until the Royal Rumble on Sunday where he would face his final test to determine whether he was with the Bloodline or not.
Sami hugged Jimmy and Jey as the others left the ring.
(It was 8:30 pm when this segment ended.)
********
The Usos defeated Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio (w/Rhea Ripley & Finn Bálor) to retain the Rag Tag Team Championships (14:06)
Zayn replaced an injured Jimmy during the match and won it with Jey.
Priest wiped out both Usos with a flip dive and hit Jimmy with a lariat for a two count. Dominik tagged in and they did a Doomsday Device for two. Jey tagged and the Usos handed out superkicks which led to a two count on Priest. Bálor dropped Jey on the top turnbuckle so the referee tossed him.
Priest countered a splash into a cradle for a nearfall. Jey superkicked Priest and Jimmy followed with a splash for a very close nearfall.
Jimmy hit a suicide dive but he came up injured. The ref held up the “X” and officials ran down to assist. Adam Pearce said if Jimmy can’t continue, they must forfeit the match and the titles to Judgment Day. (Priest was already asking for the belts.)
Zayn stepped in and said he would take Jey’s place. Pearce agreed because he did the same for Judgment Day in the gauntlet match. The crowd cheered as the match continued.
Zayn took out Judgment Day with a dive but was distracted by Priest allowing Dom to apply a schoolboy with his feet on the rope for a nearfall.
Ripley distracted the ref allowing Priest to chokeslam Zayn and Dom made the cover for an extremely close nearfall.
Jey popped back in and handed out superkicks but stopped short of superkicking Ripley. The distraction allowed Dom to shove Jey and hit a 619. Dom followed with a frog splash but Zayn broke up the cover.
Zayn made a blind tag before Jey superkicked Dom. Jey and Zayn gave Dom the 1D and Zayn made the cover for the pinfall win. The Usos are still the tag champs.
This was really well done and the crowd was super into Zayn.
— In the back, a serious Reigns was glad Zayn did the right thing but he still didn’t want to see him until Saturday.
********
JBL and Baron Corbin ran into the Godfather backstage. Godfather was happy to see JBL but he didn’t know who his stooge Barry Corbin was. JBL wanted into their establishment — APA Protection — but Godfather had to check with the owner, Ron Simmons. Simmons agreed to let them in after Corbin handed him wads of cash. They walked through a door that wasn’t connected to anything (which was a funny sight gag) and entered the poker game.
They showed pictures from Raw through the years.
********
Undertaker appearance
LA Knight was in the ring and he called Bray Wyatt a grown man incel who played with puppets. Knight said Wyatt was living off his past just like the legends in the back and he called out any of them to get a piece of him.
The lights went down and Undertaker’s music hit. The music cut to his Kid Rock American Badass theme and Taker entered on a motorcycle.
Knight, who left the ring, said he heard Taker on Joe Rogan’s podcast calling the locker room soft. Knight agreed with Taker but informed him that he was not one of those guys. Knight threatened to take Undertaker to the Undertaker but decided to let him off the hook.
Knight was about to leave but the lights went down again. Wyatt appeared and Knight backed into the ring. Taker grabbed him for a chokeslam but instead shoved him into Wyatt who hit Sister Abigail.
Taker and Wyatt faced off as the crowd chanted “holy shit.” Taker whispered something to Wyatt before leaving on his bike.
********
DDP won a poker hand at a table with Alundra Blayze, Corbin, Chad Gable and Otis.
[SECOND HOUR]
The first hour was commercial-free. Bayley entered with Damage CTRL after 9:00 pm and they went to break for the first time. They came back with…
Steel Cage Match: Becky Lynch vs. Bayley (w/Tag Team Champions Dakota Kai & IYO SKY)
The match didn’t happen. Damage CTRL attacked Lynch outside the ring before she could enter the cage. They chucked Lynch into the ring, locked the cage and beat her up until Pearce ran down with officials. Pearce eventually cut the lock but the damage was done. Bayley and her buddies posed on top of the cage before leaving.
********
D-Generation X/Kurt Angle segment
Triple H, Shawn Michaels, X-Pac and Road Dogg entered to the DX theme. Kurt Angle entered with them.
Road Dogg was about to do their usual spiel but when it came time to introduce “the badass Billy Gunn” he instead pointed to Kurt Angle. They acted surprised to see him. Angle said he always wanted to be in DX and the crowd laughed. Angle removed his shirt to reveal a DX shirt.
Triple H took over the promo but was interrupted by Imperium. Intercontinental Champion Gunther entered with Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci.
Kaiser said, “shame on all of you for all that filth and nonsense.” Gunther called them degenerates for insulting their precious sport. Gunther wanted them out of their ring unless one of them wanted to do something about it.
Triple H got in Gunther’s face but quickly backed down and said, “I’m retired, dude.” They looked to Michaels who backed down because he was too old. X-Pac and Road Dogg also backed down quickly. DX huddled up and came to the conclusion that Angle would fight them but Angle instantly shot that down.
Seth Rollins entered. X-Pac noted that Rollins was alone so that brought out the Street Profits.
They all looked at Triple H to make a match but he wasn’t sure what to do and said, “this booking stuff isn’t easy.” That brought out Teddy Long who got a nice reaction. Long made a six-man tag team match.
DX huddled again because they wanted to determine who should be the special referee. Angle interrupted them. Angle had a third shirt on under his DX shirt — a referee shirt. Michaels made it official.
This went long but the crowd seemed to enjoy it.
********
Jerry Lawler joined commentary wearing the same jacket he wore on the first Raw. He pretended not to know who Kevin Patrick was and made fun of his accent.
Six-man tag team match: Seth Rollins & The Street Profits defeated Intercontinental Champion Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci [Special Referee: Kurt Angle] (13:03)
Montez Ford made a hot tag following a break and chopped the hell out of Vinci. Ford and Angelo Dawkins put Vinci and Kaiser in ankle locks to the delight of Angle. Gunther booted them and got in Angle’s face so Angle shoved him.
Dawkins and Ford hit dives but Gunter cut off Rollins before he could do the same and hit a powerbomb for two. Rollins came back with strikes and an Angle Slam. Rollins worked together with the Street Profits who gave Kaiser a big double-team blockbuster. Rollins also gave Gunther a Pedigree.
Dawkins gave Vinci a spinebuster, Ford hit a frog splash and Rollins hit a curb stomp for the pinfall win.
The good guys celebrated with Angle.
********
Corbin won a huge pot over Ted DiBiase with four aces. IRS showed up and told him to pay his taxes. IRS took all but $100 and DiBiase laughed. Ron Simmons said Damn.
********
Cathy Kelley asked Bobby Lashley why tonight’s match was now no-DQ. Lashley said there would be no excuses. Austin Theory can’t escape and Lashley can’t be blamed for what he does. The only reason he wasn’t still the champion was because of Brock Lesnar. He planned on tearing Theory apart.
MVP jumped in and said he had no doubt Lashley would win and they could go out and celebrate. Lashley said he didn’t need help from MVP or Omos last week and wanted to handle business on his own.
********
[THIRD HOUR]
Charlotte Flair/Bianca Belair segment
Ric Flair entered. Ric said WWE has given him so much — including allowing him to see his daughter exceed all of his accomplishments. Ric introduced the greatest women’s champion in WWE history: Charlotte Flair.
Charlotte entered. She said Raw was where the women’s revolution began and turned her from a diva to the 14-time women’s champion. Charlotte mentioned beating the likes of Ronda Rousey, Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, Asuka and Rhea Ripley — all of whom helped her become who she was today. She might be on Smackdown now but Raw would always be her home.
Bianca Belair entered. Belair said Raw was her home and she did everything she could to make it the greatest show on television.
Sonya Deville interrupted. She asked Charlotte if it was necessary to fly daddy all the way there just to introduce her on a show that people don’t even want her on. She also wondered if Belair actually thought people watched the show for her. Deville wanted credit for being Raw GM for over a year.
Charlotte had enough of Deville and said Belair was free to handle her. Belair challenged her to a match.
This went through a break. The crowd was silent despite Belair doing what she could to get the crowd into it. She abruptly hit the KOD a minute or two after the break for the pinfall win.
— After the match, Belair said she would beat Alexa Bliss at the Rumble and didn’t care if Bliss brought Uncle Howdy, Bray Wyatt or the funhouse playhouse.
Bliss appeared on the screen. Bliss warned Belair that she was the only thing Belair should be worried about. Bliss said she would leave Belair with her eyes at least so she could watch her walk out as champion.
********
There was a new Cody Rhodes video and it was very good. He was carrying everything into the ring at the Rumble, not just his most recent setback.
“Being in the ring is like oxygen and I really need to breathe again.”
********
The Miz was in the ring ahead of the main event. He was pissed he didn’t get a Miz TV segment or a title match. He ranted until Kevin Owens appeared through the crowd and dropped him with a stunner.
Owens said Reigns has held the WWE title hostage for over two years. Owens gave his word that he would do everything he could to change that and give everyone a champion they could be proud of. Owens would keep fighting until he had nothing left or he would die trying.
Owens gave Miz another stunner.
*******
They ran down the Royal Rumble card.
30-Man Royal Rumble match
30-Woman Royal Rumble match
Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens – WWE Championship
Bianca Belair vs. Alexa Bliss – Raw Women’s Championship
Pitch Black match: Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight
********
(I didn’t mention it earlier but Alicia Taylor did the ring announcing tonight.)
No DQ match: Austin Theory defeated Bobby Lashley to retain the United States Championship (14:20)
Even though the only thing that’s happened since the last break was Lashley’s entrance, they went to break 69 seconds into the match.
Lashley was in control before the break but Theory raked Lashley’s eye during a delayed vertical suplex attempt to take over.
The crowd was quiet and only barely cheered when Theory grabbed a table.
Lashley drove Theory into a steel chair that was wedged between the ropes, which sounded great, but Theory regained the edge by spraying Lashley in the face with a fire extinguisher ahead of another break with six minutes left in the show.
They came back with just about two minutes left as Lashley gave Theory a superplex.
Lashley hit a modified Dominator but Theory gave him a low blow as he set up for a Hurt Lock. Lashley slammed him through a table anyway.
With both men down, Brock Lesnar entered (in jeans and a cowboy hat) to wake up the crowd.
Lesnar gave Lashley an F5. He also gave Theory an F5 right on top of Lashley. Of course, that meant Theory was covering Lashley and the ref made the three count. Theory pinned Lashley to retain.
The crowd seemed to fall silent and the show ended.
*Performer and match of the week *Details of the settlement of the Rita Chatterton case *McMahon suing Chatterton 20 ears ago and details behind that *What role Vince McMahon has played since returning and what was originally said that has been accurate and things that have already changed, including new office people back and old ones being gone *The latest lawsuit against WWE for bringing back Vince *Analysts look at the different sale possibilities *More on Stephanie leaving *Nick Khan talks the company and hat he said that does and doesn’t make sense *Where Dwayne Johnson stands *Tony Khan talks about his interest in buying WWE *Dwayne Johnson talks the sale of WWE *A look at how UFC’s talks with Francis Ngannou fell through and where Ngannou could go next and whether he can return *Royal Rumble update, who is in, how tickets are moving *Details on the new MLW TV title with Reelz *Impact Hard to Kill coverage including PPV numbers *Saturday’s UFC coverage *AAA announces big show schedule or 2023 and return of Alberto with Konnan explaining why and we talk about it *Cage match and Wrestling Observer’s list of the best in-ring wrestles of 2022 based on matches *What wrestlers were in the most great matches and to 50 of modern times as well as what cities have had the best wrestling. *Dana White’s Power Slap debut and how it was received *The most detailed look at te ratings for all the national shows and segment by segment Numbers *What promotions drew the most fans in Japan n 2022 *Update on another date for Mercedes Mone in New Japan and the Sakura Genesis highlights *New Japan and Stardom quarterly business numbers *More on death of Black Warrior *Ric Flair new endorsement deal *One of the biggest feuds of the 70s comes alive through each man’s son this past week *Lots of WrestleMania week news *How AEW got Kushida *Danielson talks Takeshita *More on CM Punk and Colt Cabana in AEW *AEW gets international TV upgrade *New documentary on former AEW star *Streaming numbers *Dana White talks punishment *Mike Swick talks cancer battle *PPV numbers for the shows over the weekend *Cena WrestleMania note *News no three major WWE cuts *What independent promotion has not yet been dropped by WWE for Peacock *International TV rights
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Monday Update
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking the latest pro wrestling and MMA news, Steve Austin at WrestleMania, Raw, and much more. You can send questions to the show but please limit them to current topics to [email protected]
Raw is tonight from Philadelphia. They are doing a commercial free first hour. Usually these commercial free hours are because of fear of low ratings and that is not the case here. My gut is they are looking for a bragging point of a giant number of viewers whether it be for the sale, the next investment call, or something else. But with all the stars from the past and the bounce back of being the first show with no football opposition, the show should be one of its biggest if not its biggest number of the year. Also on the show is Austin Theory vs. Bobby Lashley for the U.S. title in a no DQ match, Becky Lynch vs .Bayley in a cage match, Usos vs. Damien Priest & Dominik Mysterio for the tag titles and The Bloodline Tribal court with Sami Zayn. The show was sold out with just under 14,000 fans as of this morning.
The big draw is the legends with Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, HHH, Undertaker, The Bellas, Jerry Lawler, Sean Waltman, Ron Simmons, Teddy Long, Kurt Angle, Road Dogg, Jimmy Hart, Madusa, IRS, Ted DiBiase, DDP and Godfather announced. Lita was reported as being there as well. Nobody had seen Vince McMahon at the show.
We’re looking for reports from the show with anything not on the TV show such as Main Event bouts, dark matches, etc., to [email protected] We’re also looking for reports on last night’s WWE show in Binghamton, NY and Saturday’s show in Erie, PA as well.
We are doing polls for this weekend on: Wrestle Kingdom from Saturday in Yokohama UFC 283 from Saturday Great Muta Bye Bye from Sunday in Yokohama We’re looking for a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]
Benny Galant, who was a star in Europe in the 50s and became a huge star in Mexico from 1962-68, passed away this past week at the age of 93. He was also featured in a number of movies and was a major rival of El Santo during that period, both at live shows around the country and in the movies.
Luke Rockhold was on the MMA Hour earlier today and said that he is coming out of retirement, has gotten his release from the UFC, and will fight again within the next four months.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced an exhibition boxing match against former Bellator fighter and reality show star Aaron Chalmers on 2/25 at the O2 Arena in London.
This was a big weekend for great matches. Ones to go out of your way to see are Volador Jr. vs. Rocky Romero from Friday’s CMLL show (yesterday’s update has more and how to watch it), Shingo Takagi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima from Saturday’s Wrestle Kingdom show and the All Japan tag title change from yesterday with Yuma Aoyagi & Naoya Nomura over Kento Miyahara & Takuya Nomura were said to be the best matches. I saw the former two and they were great. The biggest spectacle was the Great Muta retirement show from yesterday, although the ring entrances and post-match were the best part of that presentation.
Ric Flair was announced as one of the people featured at the Gasparilla Pirate Fest on 1/28 in Tampa. The Gasparilla festival has been a big thing in the city since forever, as they used to have one of the biggest shows of the week on the Tuesday of the festival. Flair is the Grand Marshal at 2 pm.
AEW will be taping Dark on Saturday and much of the tapings goes head-to-head with the Royal Rumble. The tapings are 2-5 p.m. Eastern (before Rumble) and 7-10 p.m. Eastern (during Rumble)
Other Notes
Sage Northcutt, once thought of as the future star of UFC, will have his first fight in four years for ONE on 5/5 in Broomfield, CO in the first ONE show ever in the U.S., airing on Prime Video. He faced Ahmed Mujtaba (10-2).
Defy results from Friday night in Tacoma, WA: Judas Icarus & Travis Williams b Voros Twins, Danika Die Hard (formerly Dannika Della Rogue) b Amira, Evil Uno & Alex Reynolds b Sebastian Wolfe & Miles Deville, Marina Shafir b Cat Power, Guillermo Rosas b Levi Cooker (Tucker in WWE) in a hair vs. hair match, Artemis Spencer b Davey Richards. Next show is 2/11 in Seattle at Washington Hall with Jon Moxley & Schaff vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Davey Richards plus Swerve Strickland and Eddie Kingston appear. Top Flight will appear on 3/11 in Seattle at Washington Hall.
UFC did end up with 500,000 searches on Sunday putting it No. 2 for the day behind the Cincinnati Bengals, which is actually very impressive given it was an NFL playoff Sunday. That is still very low for a UFC PPV show.
WGN TV news brought up it being the 39th anniversary of Hulk Hogan beat Iron Sheik for the WWF title and talked about crazy wrestling names mentioning Spanky, Bastion Booger and Beaver Cleavage (thanks to Matt Schreiner)
Rich Swann vs. Moose vs. Rhino vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Sami Callihan vs. Chris Sabin in an elimination match to determine the top contender for the Impact title will air on Thursday’s Impact show. 73-year-old Mike Jackson will also face Trey Miguel for the X title.
Bellator announced a 3/31 show in Temecula, CA at the Pechanga Resort and Casino with Marcelo Golm (10-3) vs. Daniel James (14-6-1), Cat Zingano (13-4) vs. Leah McCourt (7-2),. John Salter (18-6) vs. Aaron Jeffrey (13-3) and Jaleel Willis (16-4) vs. Rustam Khabilov (24-4) as the main card.
There are auditions for the play “Master of Puppets. The play will run 5/25 to 6/11 at the Legacy Theater in Connecticut. For more info go to LegacyTheaterCT.org
WWE has made a couple of announcements for tonight’s 30th anniversary edition of Raw.
Ahead of tonight’s Raw, WWE uploaded a video with Byron Saxton announcing that the first hour of the show will air commercial-free. It was also announced that a no disqualification stipulation has been added to Austin Theory and Bobby Lashley’s United States Championship match tonight.
EXCLUSIVE: @ByronSaxton is joined by a couple of legendary friends with some huge news ahead of #RawisXXX tonight!
The first hour will be COMMERCIAL-FREE and the #USTitle encounter between @_Theory1 & @fightbobby will now be a No Disqualification Match!
Tonight’s anniversary show is taking place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and will include appearances by several WWE legends. The Undertaker, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, Madusa, Teddy Long, Ron Simmons, Road Dogg, X-Pac, Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Hart, Jerry “The King” Lawler, The Godfather, Ted DiBiase, and IRS have been announced for the episode.
Here’s the updated lineup for Raw:
No DQ match: United States Champion Austin Theory defends against Bobby Lashley
Raw Tag Team Champions The Usos defend against The Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
Steel cage match: Becky Lynch vs. Bayley
The Bloodline will hold Tribal Court for Sami Zayn
Diamond Dallas Page, and five more returning stars have been added to the lineup for Monday’s WWE Raw 30th anniversary episode.
In a graphic on Friday’s SmackDown show, WWE announced that DDP, Ted DiBiase, Mike “Irwin R. Schyster” Rotunda, Alundra Blayze, The Godfather, and Jimmy Hart will appear on Monday’s Raw is XXX 30th Anniversary show.
Earlier on Friday, the company confirmed that Hulk Hogan would return to WWE television for the first time since WrestleMania 37 on Monday’s show, and also advertised Paul “Triple H” Levesque for the episode.
Former stars Rikishi and Samu are also set for the show as part of the Bloodline acknowledgment ceremony.
WWE Hall of Famers The Bella Twins are no longer shown on the graphic advertising the legends appearances.
Here’s the updated lineup for the show:
WWE United States Champion Austin Theory defends against Bobby Lashley
Raw Tag Team Champions The Usos defend against The Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
Steel cage match: Becky Lynch vs. Bayley
Bloodline Acknowledgement Ceremony with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
Hulk Hogan is making his return to WWE television this coming Monday.
WWE.com now lists that Hogan will be appearing at Raw’s 30th anniversary episode, which is taking place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Monday (January 23). It will be Hogan’s first appearance on WWE TV since co-hosting WrestleMania 37 in 2021.
“The historic Raw 30 celebration will feature a slew of WWE Legends including The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg, X-Pac, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, Teddy Long, Ron Simmons, and Kurt Angle,” WWE wrote. “Be a part of history on Raw 30, next Monday at 8/7 C on USA.”
Paul “Triple H” Levesque is also now included on WWE.com’s graphic for Monday’s anniversary edition of Raw.
In addition to celebrating Raw’s 30th anniversary, Monday’s episode is also the go-home show for the Royal Rumble.
WWE Raw 30th anniversary episode (Monday, January 23) —
United States Champion Austin Theory defends against Bobby Lashley
Raw Tag Team Champions The Usos defend against The Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
Steel cage match: Becky Lynch vs. Bayley
Bloodline Acknowledgement Ceremony with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
Two members of the Samoan Dynasty have been confirmed for Raw’s 30th anniversary episode.
An article published by The Daily Item in Sunbury, Pennsylvania on Tuesday revealed that Samu Anoa’i and his cousin Rikishi will both be at Raw’s 30th anniversary episode next Monday. There will be an “Acknowledgement Ceremony” for Roman Reigns on the show. The segment will feature every generation of The Bloodline.
“I want to thank the WWE for everything they have done for myself and my family,” Samu told The Daily Item. “I look forward to next week when I can see a lot of familiar faces and be reunited with a lot of my family members.”
“I have not been around the WWE much since I left years ago, but to be able to return is something I wanted for my children and grandchildren,” Samu added. “I am thankful for the support of all my fans especially those that have become family in Sunbury and the Valley.”
Samu & Rikishi were formerly WWF Tag Team Champions as The Headshrinkers.
Rikishi’s sons, Jimmy & Jey Uso, are defending their Raw Tag Team titles against The Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio) on the 30th anniversary episode of Raw.
The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, The Bellas, Road Dogg, X-Pac, Ron Simmons, Teddy Long, and Jerry “The King” Lawler are among the legends who will be appearing on the anniversary episode. Tatanka previously announced that he would be on the show but noted on his Facebook page today that he won’t be there because his son’s wrestling team is going to the state championship.
Here’s the updated lineup for the episode:
WWE United States Champion Austin Theory defends against Bobby Lashley
Raw Tag Team Champions The Usos defend against The Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
Steel cage match: Becky Lynch vs. Bayley
Bloodline Acknowledgement Ceremony with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
Two title bouts, a steel cage match, WWE legends appearing, and a Bloodline acknowledgment ceremony are set for Raw is XXX on Monday, January 23.
Bobby Lashley won a six-way elimination match on Monday’s Raw to determine a number one contender to Austin Theory’s United States Championship, and will challenge Theory for the title next week at Raw is XXX.
The Raw Tag Team titles will also be on the line in Philadelphia, as The Usos will defend against Dominik Mysterio and Damian Priest of The Judgment Day. Mysterio and Priest won a gauntlet match on last week’s Raw to become top contenders to the titles. After months of defending the Raw and SmackDown titles as a unified Tag Team Championship, The Usos will defend each title separately going forward.
In another match set for Raw is XXX, Becky Lynch will face Bayley inside a steel cage. Lynch issued a challenge to Bayley for the bout on Monday’s Raw, and Bayley accepted.
A Bloodline acknowledgement ceremony has also been announced for next week, with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns appearing on the show.
Appearances from WWE legends including The Undertaker, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg, X-Pac, Ron Simmons, Kurt Angle, The Bella Twins, Jerry Lawler, and Theodore Long are also set for Raw is XXX.
The announced lineup for Raw’s 30th anniversary show:
WWE Raw is XXX, Monday, January 23 —
WWE United States Championship: Austin Theory (c) vs. Bobby Lashley
Raw Tag Team Championship: The Usos (c) vs. Dominik Mysterio & Damian Priest
Steel cage match: Becky Lynch vs. Bayley
Bloodline acknowledgement ceremony with Roman Reigns
WWE legends appearing: The Undertaker, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, Jerry Lawler, The Bella Twins, Road Dogg, X-Pac, Theodore Long, Ron Simmons
