If it wasn’t for Ronda Rousey, Stephanie McMahon probably never would have wrestled at WWE WrestleMania.
The only time McMahon actually competed in the ring at WrestleMania was when she and Triple H teamed up against Rousey & Kurt Angle in 2018. Ahead of her upcoming WWE Hall of Fame induction, McMahon discussed her career on “What’s Your Story?” and looked back at that match.
McMahon noted that she’s always been a Rousey fan, seeing how strong she is while still having “broken pieces” from all she’s gone through in life. It was Rousey who requested the WrestleMania 34 match as a way to follow up on the confrontation they had at WrestleMania 31 three years prior.
“I was a big fan of Ronda, always have been. I used to love to watch her fight,” McMahon said. “I read her book and it made a big impact on me, what she’s lived through. You know, her dad committed suicide when she was young. She didn’t speak her first words until she was like four…
“My heart just always is with her because she’s so strong in many, many ways, you know, mentally and physically. And then also, I think she has broken pieces too, as we all do, right? So I’m a big fan of hers, and she was the one who requested the match. It was like a couple of years later, originally she was going to come in sooner, but then there was a movie or I don’t know, something happened. And then you sign her and Ronda was the one who said, ‘We need to finish the story with Steph.’ So she’s the reason I ever had a WrestleMania match.”
McMahon said Dakota Kai, Lacey Evans, and NXT coach Sara Amato were among the people who helped prepare them for the bout. It ended up being “safe but stiff” with Rousey & Angle getting the win.
This match was Rousey’s pro wrestling debut. She went on to have two separate stints with WWE before finishing up with the company in August 2023.
It appears that WWE has officially taken the first steps towards Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair all being involved in the main event of WrestleMania 35.
An angle where Vince McMahon suspended Lynch for 60 days and announced that Charlotte would be taking her place at WrestleMania closed last Monday’s episode of Raw. Charlotte aligned with Vince and fully turned heel, with Vince calling her someone with charisma, someone with charm, and someone who knows their lane and stays in it.
The show didn’t sell out, even in one of WWE’s best markets. The show had more good than bad, with the highlight being the main event, the men’s Chamber match where Daniel Bryan retained and the crowd got so strong behind Kofi Kingston in the Mustafa Ali slot that Vince McMahon changed plans for Fast Lane to put Bryan vs. Kingston on top.
The show was the brainchild of Motoko Baba, to run a big Baba celebration show in 2019, 20 years after his early 1999 death. With her passing away last year, it was her nieces and nephews who put the show together.
All but one count of Mark Hunt’s lawsuit against the UFC, Dana White and Brock Lesnar on the grounds they conspired against him to allow a juiced up Lesnar to fight him at UFC 200 was thrown out of court.
The 2020 Royal Rumble will take place on 1/26 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Most likely that would also mean Takeover on 1/25 at the Toyota Center, Raw on 1/27 and Smackdown on 1/28.
FOX this weekend started advertising 10/4 as the debut of the new Friday Night Smackdown show.
“Fighting with My Family,” the Dwayne Johnson Seven Bucks Entertainment movie about Growing Up as Paige, which has its big national release on 2/22, has gotten great word-of-mouth so far.
Chris Jericho noted that while he and Gedo are on the same page, that New Japan management hasn’t talked with him about a new deal.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
by Bryan Rose and Dave Meltzer
WWE
Raw tonight will be at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Roman Reigns will give an update on his battle against leukemia, while Ric Flair will have a 70th birthday celebration. Reigns will kick off the show.
A new Roman Reigns shirt has also been seen in the merch stands prior to Raw. The shirt says “We Fight. We Overcome. We Believe.”
According to PWInsider, Bruce Prichard is backstage tonight, his first night back with WWE creative. Also backstage are Sting, Shawn Michaels, Becky Lynch and Charlotte.
Atsushi Onita underwent surgery for three hours on 2/21 to replace both knees. He will still be coming to the US on 4/5, but only for pictures and autographs. He’s been announced for Joey Janela’s Spring Break events WrestleMania weekend.
PWInsider is reporting that Tammy Sytch was arrested for a DWI on 2/23. She is currently incarcarated at the Monmouth County Correctional Facility in Freehold, New Jersey.
Tae Honma, the ace of the J@st women’s promotion in Japan is looking to do independent shows around 4/14 and 4/15. The promotion is flying her to the U.S. J@st is a break off from Reina that runs at Shinkiba first ring. Honma is coming for a tour of Mexico that starts on 4/17 with CMLL so they are looking for U.S. dates prior to the tour. Officials of the promotion would attend the shows with her and would scout U.S.,. women’s talent on those shows. They would also have Japanese media cover the shows so the promotion will get coverage in Japan, They are also looking at sending her to the U.S.,. and Mexico around June or July. For more info, contact [email protected]
USA Championship Wrestling is doing an Eddie Gilbert Tribute show on 3/9 in Jackson, TN at the Oman Arena headlined by Jerry Lawler & Doug Gilbert vs. Tommy Rich & Matt Riviera in a fall count anywhere in Madison County match, plus Jimmy Valiant and Tom Prichard will wrestle on the show and Phil Hickerson will make an appearance. The show is being taped for Pivotshare.
AAW from Saturday night in Chicago before a sellout 575 fans: Ace Perry b Sheldon Jean, Savannah Stone b Judy Threat, Gringo Loco won four-way over Jake Landers, Logan James and Aaron Orion. The first three bouts were preshow matches for their You Tube channel. Main card for Art of War: Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel b Ace Romero & Paco & Rich Swann, Sammy Guevara b Darby Allin (Guevara before the match vowed to win with a side headlock takedown, and got the pin after a low blow and a side headlock takedown), Mance Warner b Jimmy Jacobs, DJZ b Australian Suicide in a heritage title match, David Starr & Eddie Kingston & Jake Something & Curt Stallion b Mat Fitchett & Sami Callihan & Jessicka Havok, MJF b Kimber Lee, Jacob Fatu b Stephen Wolf (Fatu’s debut), Kylie Rae b Su Yung to keep women’s title, LAX won three-way elimination match over Penta 0M & Rey Fenix and champions AR Fox & Myron Reed to win the tag titles in 13:54. Fox & Reed were eliminated first. This was where the Young Bucks interfered and took out the Lucha Bros that allowed LAX to win and take the title. Next show is 3/16 in Chicago at the Logan Square Arena with Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera.
ICW from Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland before 1,000 fans: Kings of Catch b Rampage Brown & Ashton Smith to keep the tag titles, Kay Lee Ray NC Toni Storm in a women’s title match, Joe Coffey b Ilja Dragunov to keep the Zero G title, Lionheart b Angelico to keep the ICW title, Lightning won Square Go (a rumble match where the winner earns a title shot on a day they choose for up to one year throwing out Joe Hendry. Jeff Jarrett was in the Rumble. (thanks to Jordan Clark)
Progress from Sunday in London before a sellout 700 fans: Mark Haskins b Trivet & Chuck Mambo-DQ in a handicap match, Millie McKenzie b Bea Priestley, Nina Samuels b Jinny (both earn shots in a four-way later for the women’s title), Jordan Devlin b Travis Banks-DQ, Will Ospreay & Paul Robinson b Aussie Open to keep the tag titles, Trent Seven b Timothy Thatcher to keep the Atlas title, Walter b Chris Ridgeway to retain the Progress title. Seven challenged Walter to a title vs. title match in May. Next Electric Ballroom show is 3/31 with Ospreay & Robinson vs. Aussie Open in a TLC Match for the titles plus LAX vs. Jonathan Gresham & Chris Brookes. (thanks to Paul Sosnowski)
Northeast Wrestling from Saturday night in Bethany CT: Keith Youngblood & Zane Bernardo & RJ Rude b Cam Zagami & Tommy Grayson & PJ Grayson, Chuck O’Neil (the MMA fighter) b Hammer Tunia, Brian Anthony b Chris Battle, Wrecking Ball Legursky b Brian Milonas, Anthony Battle & Daniel Evans b Mike Gamble & Dexter Loux, JT Dunn b Josh Briggs, Jake Manning b Christian Casanova, Brad Hollister b Bandido to keep the heavyweight title (thanks Nick Mahmood)
Femme Fatales from Friday night in Ottawa before 350 fans: Alexia Nicole & Willow Nightingale b Veda Scott & KC Spinelli, Samantha Heights b Neveah, Jessicka Havok b Penelope Ford, Mary Lee Rose b Angie Skye, Nicole Savoy b Nicole Matthews, Kris Statlander won three-way over Mercedes Martinez and Allysin Kay. Next shows are 5/4 in Quebec City and 8/10 in Toronto, the day before SummerSlam.
Pro Wrestling Phoenix on Thursday in Omaha at the Waiting Room Lounge.
ESPN also has a look at Woodley and Askren’s friendship dating back to their time at the University of Missouri.
Paul Felder has been discharged from the hospital after suffering a collapsed lung during a fight two weeks ago. He’ll fly home Wednesday He talked to Luke Thomas about his injury struggles.
Luke Rockhold called out Thiago Santos on Twitter after his main event win in Prague.
Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Events (more to be added):
Sunday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
Luxury Bus to MetLife Stadium for Wrestlemania: We will depart from the Hilton Midtown (site of Wrestlecon) located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Departure time is 4:00 pm and will return from MetLife approximately 30 mins after the event. Times are subject to change, and cost $67.00 per person for the round trip. Purchase tickets here~!
As they do annually, WWE is touting the economic impact that WrestleMania had on its host city.
WWE and the governor of Louisiana (John Bel Edwards) have announced the findings of a report conducted by Enigma Research Corporation, which claims that WrestleMania 34 generated $175 million in “direct, indirect and induced” economic impact for the greater New Orleans region derived from spending by those visiting for the event.
Last year’s report claimed an economic impact number of $181.5 million for WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, Florida. The number for WrestleMania 30 in New Orleans was $142 million.
WWE also noted that WrestleMania 34 generated “approximately $23.7 million in federal, state and local taxes.”
Enigma Research Corporation’s report states that 77 percent of those who attended WrestleMania 34 were from outside the New Orleans region and stayed for an average of 3.9 nights. It also notes that $22 million was spent on hotels and accommodations in New Orleans and that $9.9 million was spent by visitors at restaurants in the area.
For 2017, 79 percent of those who attended WrestleMania 33 were from outside the Orlando region and stayed for an average of 5.6 nights.
With him facing Kenny Omega at the Tokyo Dome, participating in WWE’s Greatest Royal Rumble, and returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling to continue his feud with Tetsuya Naito, Chris Jericho has had an eventful 2018.
And on today’s episode of Talk is Jericho with Daniel Bryan, Jericho revealed that he was also the backup plan to team with Bryan against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn if Shane McMahon wasn’t cleared in time for WrestleMania 34.
“A few weeks before WrestleMania, maybe three or four weeks, I get a call from Vince,” Jericho said. “And he’s talking about Shane and his appendix, not his appendix, his diverticulitis, and he had an infection in his hand and he had, there was one other thing as well…staph infection…hernia, that was it. And he goes, ‘Listen, we don’t know if he can do ‘Mania.'”
Jericho said Vince asked him what he thought about coming to New Orleans and filling in for Shane if he couldn’t wrestle. There was the problem of Jericho having a Fozzy concert in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire on the day of the show and a WrestleMania watch party event scheduled, but Jericho said they looked at their options and he would have been able to get to the Superdome in just enough time with the help of a police escort.
While he was ultimately able to make the show, Shane’s status for WrestleMania was put into doubt when he was hospitalized with acute diverticulitis and an umbilical hernia. WWE.com posted the news less than two weeks before WrestleMania, but Bryan & Shane vs. Owens & Zayn was announced as planned the next day.
Bryan said WWE is in a stage where they don’t tell the wrestlers anything because the company is afraid they’ll reveal information to the “dirt sheets,” but he was told they had a good backup plan that he assumed was Jericho because of Jericho’s history with Owens.
The tag match was Bryan’s return to the ring after being cleared to compete by WWE. Prior to the Greatest Royal Rumble, Jericho’s most recent match for the company was against Owens and AJ Styles last July.
With a card that was still strong on in-ring action, Sunday’s WrestleMania 34 ended up being one of the weirdest events that WWE has ever produced.
The show seemed destined to become one of the best in WrestleMania history, starting off with two very good matches and peaking with Ronda Rousey & Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon & Triple H blowing away all expectations. The Undertaker answered John Cena’s challenge shortly after that, squashing him in under three minutes. And Daniel Bryan returned to the Superdome and made his in-ring return in what was a great moment.
But AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura falling flat and the crowd refusing to accept either Brock Lesnar or Roman Reigns in the main event at least altered the perception coming out of what was otherwise a great weekend for WWE.
Reporting by Dave Meltzer. Additional notes by Joseph Currier.
While details are still sparse, Brock Lesnar and Vince McMahon exchanged words after last night’s WrestleMania 34 main event.
Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Lesnar was livid when he returned backstage after his match against Roman Reigns and went off on McMahon. Their report noted that the situation was brief and ended with Lesnar throwing the Universal title belt either at McMahon or at the wall.
The belt throw did happen, but whether they were working everyone or not is always a question when you have McMahon, Lesnar, and Paul Heyman in the mix. The belief is that they weren’t.
Almost nobody knew about Lesnar winning the match, but as you probably can figure, he did not go off script. The change was made to the finish, as far as why, it’s probably because it was part of Lesnar’s new deal. It was a fairly late change but not a last minute one, but like everything with McMahon and Lesnar, they keep things secret.
WWE announced earlier today that Lesnar had re-signed and would be defending his Universal Championship against Reigns in a steel cage match at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia on April 27th. The length of Lesnar’s new deal wasn’t disclosed.
The WWE’s promotion of WrestleMania for free led to a total of 2,124,000 subscribers worldwide for the Network for its biggest show of the year.
The paid total was 1,808,000, up nine percent from the 1,661,000 paid for last year’s WrestleMania. It should be noted that the past several months had a $9.99 price for three months instead of one month which was going to lead to an increase in the total number.
WWE also touted that there were 25.2 million hours viewed in total among the subscribers over this past week, beating last year’s number of 22.5 million. This would mean that the average time a viewer spent on the Network in total over the past week was up and the average number of paid subscribers for the first three months of the year was 1.56 million, up from the expected total of 1.53 million. Keep in mind a lot of that was discounted offers.
The key to the discounted offers is the hope that those subscribers stay and pay the full $9.99 going forward, and it really won’t be until the August numbers come in that you can fairly compare the two years.
However, WWE also noted that its anticipated OIBDA for the first three months of 2018 would be about $30 million, above its projections from a few months ago where the first quarter OIBDA would be $23 million to $27 million.
Management predicts total OIBDA in 2018 to hit $145 million, up from its $140 million projection. It’s fairly certain at this point that 2018 will be the most profitable year in company history.
Everyone thought it was Roman Reigns’ night…until it wasn’t.
Brock Lesnar retained the Universal championship tonight in the main event of WrestleMania 34. They had a action-packed match where Lesnar repeatedly laid out Reigns with his signature move, the F5. Reigns kicked out every time, resilient despite Lesnar’s dominance. At one point, Lesnar drilled Reigns with enough elbows that he bled. Reigns hit two spears, but Lesnar fired back with one more F5 and pinned Reigns to retain the title.
It remains unclear what the status of Brock Lesnar is following this match. Dana White has said recently that Lesnar would be coming back to the UFC, though he didn’t say when. Lesnar would need to sit out the rest of his USADA suspension after failing a drug test at UFC 200 back in July of 2016. His suspension has been frozen since announcing his retirement last February and has not re-entered the testing pool since then.
Part of the build to John Cena vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania 34 was that Cena said he didn’t have a spot at the biggest show of the year and was just going to be a fan instead.
Had he stayed in the crowd Sunday, he could have been selected at Braun Strowman’s tag team partner against WWE Raw tag team champions The Bar as that’s how the selection process worked.
Before the match, Strowman told the crowd that his partner was going to be one of them. He scanned the crowd and then took a walk through the crowd for a few minutes to find one. Eventually, he settled on a young boy around 11 to 12 years old named Nicholas to be his partner.
Yes, this actually happened.
Strowman dominaed for most of the match, but as Cesaro and Sheamus got the advantage, he did reach for a tag to Nicholas who slowly got in the ring and quickly tagged out after a few seconds.
Strowman got back in, cleaned house, powerslammed Cesaro, and got the pin, meaning he and a middle schooler are your new WWE Raw tag team champions.
Weeks of John Cena calling out The Undertaker led to them having an official match at WrestleMania 34.
And while it was an official match, it didn’t last very long. It went for under three minutes — with Undertaker on offense for nearly the entire time. He sat up when Cena went for the five knuckle shuffle, then pinned him after hitting a chokeslam and Tombstone piledriver.
Cena began the night by sitting in the audience. Following Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka, he ran to the back when a referee came out to talk to him. Cena made his entrance before the Undertaker match, but Elias came out instead. Cena laid him out with an Attitude Adjustment and was heading to the back until the lights went out and Undertaker’s coat and hat appeared in the ring.
Cena vs. Undertaker wasn’t officially announced until the bell rang.
Undertaker’s gear appearing was a callback to him seemingly retiring at WrestleMania 33. No indication on whether this was his last match was given this year.
Asuka suffered her first loss tonight at WrestleMania 34, where Charlotte was able to submit her with the figure eight leg lock submission in a long, hard fought back and forth match. Following the bout, Asuka told Charlotte that she was, in fact, ready for her. The two hugged as Charlotte celebrated her win.
Signing with WWE in 2015, Asuka had been undefeated both in WWE and NXT since her debut, winning the NXT women’s championship and holding it for 510 days until August of 2017, where she vacated the title as she was due to be called up to the main roster. Later that year, she joined the Raw roster and had been undefeated up until tonight.
During her undefeated streak, Asuka picked up several accolades on the main roster, including winning the first ever women’s Royal Rumble and just this past week won the Mixed Match Challenge alongside the Miz.
Six wrestlers from NXT appeared in tonight’s WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.
Peyton Royce, Kairi Sane, Taynara Conti, Kavita Devi, Bianca Belair, and Dakota Kai were the six who took part in the match. The latter five were also in the Mae Young Classic last summer, where Sane defeated Shayna Baszler in the finals.
Devi, who is from India and reported to the Performance Center earlier this year, lost to Kai in the first round of the Mae Young Classic. WWE’s clip of their tournament match currently has 21 million views on YouTube. Conti represented Brazil in the MYC and came out with the country’s flag tonight.
Despite Royce’s inclusion, her Iconic Duo partner Billie Kay wasn’t in the WrestleMania 34 battle royal.
The NXT representatives worked together, with Belair hitting a 450 splash and Sane doing her Insane Elbow. But it came down to Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Naomi. Bayley and Banks teamed up near the end and went to slap hands when they thought they were the only two left, but Bayley threw Banks out of the ring. Naomi then reappeared, hit the Rear View, and eliminated Bayley to win the match.
Nine title matches, Daniel Bryan’s return to the ring, and Ronda Rousey’s debut highlight the card for WrestleMania’s return to New Orleans.
In what could be the last match of Brock Lesnar’s current WWE run, he’ll defend his Universal Championship against Roman Reigns tonight. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura will be facing off in their second-ever singles bout as they bring their dream match stateside.
Bryan and Rousey are involved in separate tag matches. Bryan is teaming with Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, with the stipulation being that Owens and Zayn will get their jobs back if they win. Rousey & Kurt Angle are taking on Stephanie McMahon & Triple H.
We’ll also see what form John Cena vs. The Undertaker takes after their meeting was never officially announced before WrestleMania.
Charlotte Flair’s SmackDown Women’s Championship and Asuka’s undefeated streak will be on the line as they face off. On the Raw side, Alexa Bliss is defending her title against Nia Jax. The Intercontinental, United States, and Raw and SmackDown Tag Team titles will also be up for grabs on the main card.
The 2018 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal, and Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali in the Cruiserweight Championship tournament finals will air on the two-hour pre-show. Our live coverage begins at 5 p.m. Eastern time before the main card kicks off at 7 p.m.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, as well as last night’s UFC 223, ROH Supercard of Honor and NXT Takeover shows, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]
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By Dave Meltzer
John Cena is being shown in the crowd hanging out with the fans.
MEN’S ANDRE THE GIANT BATTLE ROYAL
Basically everyone not on the card was in the match including the returning R-Truth, wearing a T-shirt, and guys like Primoi and Mike Kanellis who haven’t been on TV mch of late. It came down to Kane, Matt Hardy, Doph Ziggler, Baron Corbin and Mojo Rawley. Kane therw out Ziggler who tried the zig zag. Coribn threw out Kane. Bray Wyatt showed up. Hardy threw out Rawley, Corbin then hit Wyatt with the end of days. Matt Hardy threw out Corbin to win. The announcers thought it came down to Matt and Wyatt, but the bell rang and it was ruled Wyatt was never in the match. Then Matt and Wyatt hugged when it was over. The match was okay, but the finish was flat because nobody knew what was happening.
CEDRIC ALEXANDER VS. MUSTAFA ALI FOR CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE
Good match but nothing compared to most of the recent 205 Live main events. They played it up like they were best friends. Ali hit the 054 but Alexander got his foot on the ropes. Ali tried it again but missed. Alexander came back and hit three spinning back elbows and the lumbar check to beat him. Alexander before beating him old him to stay down with the idea that he didn’t want to keep hurting him.
WOMEN’S BATTLE ROYAL
They are making a much bigger deal of this one then the men, who just started with everyone in the ring, They are getting intros and they called it the first ever women’s Battle Royal in WrestleMania. I guess that one that Santina won in 2009 never happened.
All the women on the roster were there plus Peyton Royce, Dakota Kai, Davita Kavi, Taynara Conti, Kairi Sane and Bianca Belair were the NXT reps in the match. They were all eliminated pretty early,. This was rushed through. Naomi disappeared at some point in the match. It looked like it came down to Bayley, Sasha Banks, Sarah Logan, Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott. Bayley and Banks worked together to throw out Mogan, Riott and then Logan. Bayley and Banks acted like they were best friends left together. The crowd popped big for them and then Bayley jumped Banks and threw her over the top, and everyone thought she won. Noami then jumped back in the ring, hit the rear view and threw out Bayley to win.
THE MIZ VS. SETH ROLLINS VS. FINN BALOR FOR THE IC TITLE
Rollins won the title in a good match. Balor took over on Miz with the sling blade, Woo dropkick and coup de grace. Rollins then broke it up with the curb stomp on Balor and then hit the curb stomp on Miz and pinned Miz to win the title. Miz told Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel that he wanted to do it on his own and didn’t work as a heel as all in the match. It felt like three babyfaces. It was all action. Miz hit the skull crushing finale on Rollins during the match and Rollins kicked out.
CHARLOTTE FLAIR VS. ASUKA FOR THE WOMEN’S TITLE
The streak is over as Charlotte won clean with the figure eight. This was a great match. Charlotte was breaking down and crying in the latter stages of the match, which may have to do with the timing of the anniversary of Reid’s death. Charlotte used some new moves like a top rope Spanish fly while Asuka did a suplex off the apron. Hard hitting and pretty emotional stuff. Charlotte was bleeding pretty badly from the left elbow..
Asuka said “Charlotte was ready for Asuka. Congraulations.” Then they hugged.
Rudy Charles told John Cena that Undertaker was here, or at least that’s what I think he said. Cena ran from ringside to the back. Weird to do that on top of Charlotte’s celebration.
RANDY ORTON VS. RUSEV VS. JINDER MAHAL VS. BOBBY ROODE FOR THE U.S. TITLE
Crowd was really hot for Aiden English’s entrance for Rusev.
The match was all action with big moves and ended with Rusev using the side kick on Samil Singh when Mahal moved and then Mahal used the Khallas and pinned Rusev. Rusev had previously laid out Orton and Roode with the kicks. There was another spot where Orton gave everyone RKO’s but Roode saved when Orton went to pin Mahal. It was good but on the short side.
There was a skit with Tyler Breeze and Fandango with Mick Foley. It was a Snickers commercial.
KURT ANGLE & RONDA ROUSEY VS. HHH & STEPHANIE MCMAHON
There was a big motorcyle ring entrace by HHH & Stephanie. HHH physically looked as cut as he’s probably ever been. Rousey out in a Piper leather jacket and a kilt.
This match was excellent and Rousey at no point looked out of her element, she was crisp in just about everything. Rousey did great strikes on both Stepahnie and HHH, and even gave HHH a huracananra. She kept getitng armbars on Srtepahnie but they’d be broken up and even got the arnmbar on HHH at one point which would have made a great finish. I think they are going to do a deal where she broke Stephanie’s arm based on Stephanie selling and getting medical attention at the end. The crowd was as hot for this as many Mania match in a few years, maybe since Daniel Bryan’s Mania a few years ago. They went more than 20:00 with the crowd on fire most of the way. Rousey’s selling was good enough. Angle and HHH were both on target with everything they did including doing their finishes with the women breaking up the pin. The match story was strong. They teased Rousey’s first time in for six minutes and the crowd exploded when she finally got in. This was one of the better pro wrestling debuts I’ve ever seen. They showd Dana White at ringside and identified him giving Rousey a standing ovation when it was over. The only negative is that it was silly that Stephanie was able to block the armbar several times during the match. This couldn’t have gone better.
USOS VS. NEW DAY VS. BLUDGEON BROTHERS FOR TAG TITLES
Short match. They were put in the buffer position so the crowd wasn’t much into this but they all worked hard. The Bludgeon Brothers won a short match with Harper doing an assisted power bomb off the top rope on Kofi Kingston (who teamed with Big E) for the pin. The Usus did a double dive to Rowan but he snatched them by the throat and then both Usos suplexed Rowan on the floor.
John Cena came out for a match with Undertaker. Instead Elias came out. Elias sang for a whlie. Cena went to leave and go back in the stands. Elias sang a song about how Cena sucked and Cena came in, did his trademark spots like the five knuckle shuffle and got rid of Elias with an AA.
Undertaker’s coat and hat showed up. Lightning struck and his music started to play. He then came to the ring with his usual outfit.
JOHN CENA VS. UNDERTAKER
The reason they did the Elias thing was to cover for this. Undertaker came out fast, pretty much dominated and used a big boot that missed that Cena sold, a legdrop and went for the choke slam. Cena got out, did a back suplex. Undertaker sat up, Cena freaked out and Undertaker hit the choke slam and tombstone piledirver and got the pin in less than 3:00.
It’s the Hall of Fame video package. Jarrius Robertson, who has super charisma got a bigger reaction than almost everyone. They built up the big pop for Goldberg with his sparklers entrance and the fans chanting his name.
DANIEL BRYAN & SHANE MCMAHON VS. KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN
They did a video package for Bryan’s return that is really the type of stuff they should have done four years ago,
Bryan was ridiculously over although the Yes banners all over ringisde were handed out to the fans at ringside. But there were loud Daniel Bryan chants.
Owens gave Bryan a power bomb on the apron before the match and he was laid out.
The first part of the match was mostly beating on Shane’s stomach. Shane came back and did a coast to coast dropkick and went for the pin on Zayn but Owens used a senton on him. Owens hit a frog splash on Shane but Bryan saved. Then Bryan made the hot tag and did most of his regular spots. Bryan kicked out of both the helluva kick by Zayn and power bomb by Owens. Bryan did a big comeback with the yes kicks, the running knee and finally the Yes lock and Zayn submitted. Bryan looked very good when he was in there. He had a big bruise on his right biceps when it was over.
Bryan went to ringside and celebrated with Brie and Shane celebrated with his kids.
Announced 78,133. Obviously that number isn’t even close to real although it may be August before the real number is out Theyannounced from 50 states and 67 counhties and biggest gate for an entertainment event which means it was less than the biggest sports events obviously like Super Bowls and such.
ALEXA BLISS VS. NIA JAX FOR THE RAW WOMEN’S TITLE
Jax won the title with a Samoan drop off the middle rope. Jax first destroyed Mickie James before the match started with a Samoan drop on the floor. The match was fine., They tried to push the idea that being big was good. Bliss said I’m sorry and hit a DDT but Jax kicked out. Bliss also did a twisted bliss off the top rope to the floor. Bliss kept attacking the eyes, but even with her selling the eyes Jax finally hit an Alabama slam and then the Samoan drop off the middle rope to win the title. Jax celebrated with Ata (Dwayne Johnson’s mother) and daughter Simone after the match.
A.J. STYLES VS. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA FOR WWE TITLE
Nakamura had a great elaborate entrance with a great guitarist from Alice Cooper’s band and a ton of violinists.
Styles retained the title when Nakamura went for the Kinshasa but Styles reversed into a Styles clash and got the pin. After the match, Nakamura got on his knees and handed Styles the belt and then went heel and gave him a low blow and kicked him out of the ring. There was a mixed reaction but a ton of people cheered seeing the angle at first with a “yes” chant and others were booing the turn. In the end after putting more kicks to Styles after the match there were more boos but then they cheered when Nakamura gave him the Kinshasa on the floor. The match was good but not a classic, not close to the prior match or really at the level of most Styles PPV bouts. Not sure if this was worldwide but we had a ton of technical glitches with buffering and the sound going off frequently on the stream. Styles was on point with everything he did. Nakamura did kick out of the phenomenal forearm and Styles did a springboard 450 and Nakamura got his knees up.
SHEAMUS & CESARO VS. BRAUN STROWMAN & NICHOLAS FOR THE RAW TAG TITLES
Nicholas was a kid out of the crowd who looked about ten years old. They won the titles when Cesaro came off the ropes for a springboard move and Strowman caught him and powerslammed him for the pin. Strowman worked the entire match but he did tag Nicholas in, but Nicohlas just stood there for a few seconds and tagged out. They did a celebration afterwards.
BROCK LESNAR VS. ROMAN REIGNS FOR THE UNIVERSAL TITLE
Lesnar retained the titel after about a million F-5s. This was weired to say the least. The crowd wanted to hate the match. The crowd seemed to react more to beach balls in the crowd and were chanting “this is awful” and CM Punk and tons of other things. And the match was physical as hell, It was the usual Paul Heyman big match style Lesnar booking where they just do their big moves. Lesnar did tons of suplexes and tons of F-5s and Reigns kept kicking out. People didn’t even pop for his kick outs. Earlier Reigns did Superman punch after Superman punch and two spears and Lesnar kicked out. He did another spear into a knee by Lesnar., Lesnar also elbowed the hell out of Reigns and Reigns was bleeding like crazy. Reigns took some bad falls from suplexes including nearly on his head on the floor from an overhead suplex. Lesnar did five F-5s, four for near falls and one onto a table. Reigns came back with a another set of two spears and Lesnar kicked out again and Lesnar hit his final F-5 and got the pin., The whoel thing was done for sympathy for Reigns when it was over to make him a babyface as they concentrated on showing him all beaten up and bloodied and limping to the back with the idea he was hurt, and he took a ton of punishment. Really interesting where this is headed tomorrow.
Ten more wrestlers have been confirmed for Sunday’s Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Elias, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, R-Truth, Sin Cara, Titus O’Neil, Apollo, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, and Mike Kanellis were announced for the WrestleMania 34 match this afternoon. With that, there are now 29 participants official for the battle royal.
Elias’ inclusion would appear to make it less likely that he’ll be Braun Strowman’s partner against Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus at WrestleMania. This will be R-Truth’s return to action after undergoing shoulder surgery last December.
Mike & Maria Kanellis became parents earlier this week when Maria gave birth to their first child, Fredrica “Freddie” Moon Bennett.
The 2018 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal, and Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali in the Cruiserweight Championship tournament finals will air on tomorrow’s two-hour pre-show. Dana Brooke was the most recent name announced for the women’s match.
As has become an annual tradition, WWE posted a video tonight revealing the set design for WrestleMania.
The women’s division were chosen to do this year’s reveal, with SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, Carmella, Naomi, Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, Sasha Banks, and Asuka taking part. With this year’s version featuring a Mardi Gras theme, the set at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome incorporates its host city more than the last time WrestleMania was in New Orleans four years ago
Charlotte defending her title against Asuka and Nia Jax challenging for Alexa Bliss’ championship are set for Sunday. Carmella, Naomi, and Banks will be in the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.
That battle royal will be one of the matches on the two-hour WrestleMania 34 pre-show, which starts at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The main card is listed as running until midnight on the WWE Network schedule.
