WWE kicked off WrestleMania week in New Orleans today with a nearly hour-long tour of Axxess with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
The tour streamed live on “WWE Now” with Cathy Kelley and featured stops at Axxess’ women’s evolution and Hall of Fame exhibits. Memorabilia from Sherri Martel, Madusa, Bull Nakano, Trish Stratus, Beth Phoenix, The Bellas, Charlotte Flair, Asuka, Ember Moon, and members of this year’s Hall of Fame class were highlighted on the broadcast.
Axxess is opening at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center tonight and will feature invitational tournaments for shots at the United Kingdom, North American, and NXT Women’s and Tag Team Championships over the next four days, as well as title matches from WWN and PROGRESS.
WWE Now is airing live on WWE’s YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook accounts at noon and 6 p.m. Eastern time through Saturday, with another noon stream on Sunday. There will be appearances by Braun Strowman, The New Day, The Dudley Boyz & Mark Henry, Carmella, Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae, and Seth Rollins.
Watch Triple H and Stephanie’s tour of WrestleMania Axxess below:
One of the biggest WrestleManias in history is the feature of perhaps the craziest week of pro wrestling action that has ever taken place in a single city.
WWE and NXT have their biggest shows of the year. ROH has the biggest show in its history. Several independent groups will do more revenue this week than they’ll do in several months. A larger percentage of the top tars from all over the world will converge on New Orleans this week as compared to any other WrestleMania week in history.
This year’s Mania show is one of the deepest, listed for 13 matches, with two unanswered question marks.
The first is what exactly will happen with John Cena and The Undertaker. The final television shows were shot this week and the idea is that Undertaker never answered the challenge, and that Cena will just go to WrestleMania as a fan.
Though there will always be some complications when putting a big show together, things have pretty much fallen perfectly into place for WWE heading into WrestleMania 34 on Sunday.
The 14-match card was scheduled to be finalized heading into this week’s television, with John Cena vs. The Undertaker left as the last thing to be confirmed. In a different era, it would have been insane to not announce such a big match before the go-home episode of Raw. But selling WWE Network subscriptions is a bit different than pay-per-views, and the match almost feels unnecessary on such a loaded event.
The show is scheduled to be at least seven hours long, with a two-hour pre-show and a five-hour main card.
Nearly half of the matches on WrestleMania 34 could headline any other PPV. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Ronda Rousey & Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon & Triple H, Cena vs. Undertaker, Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, and Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka are all main-event level matches.
WWE has confirmed which three matches will be airing on Sunday’s WrestleMania 34 pre-show.
Both the 2018 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal will be on the pre-show, along with Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali in the Cruiserweight Championship tournament finals. The two-hour kickoff show begins at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, with the second hour airing live on the USA Network in addition to its other platforms. The main card will begin at 7 p.m. and is listed as running until midnight.
Scott Dawson, Dash Wilder, Baron Corbin, Tye Dillinger, Mojo Rawley, Matt Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Tyler Breeze, Fandango, and Goldust have been announced for the Andre battle royal.
Sasha Banks, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, Natalya, Becky Lynch, Naomi, Bayley, Lana, Mickie James, Mandy Rose, and Sonya Deville have been confirmed for the women’s battle royal. It will also feature wrestlers from the NXT women’s division.
In Orlando last year, the Andre battle royal and Cruiserweight title match, which was Neville vs. Austin Aries, also took place before the WrestleMania main card. Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin for the Intercontinental Championship was the other pre-show match.
This year’s WrestleMania Axxess will again include some big names from WWE-friendly promotions.
WWE announced the match schedule for Axxess today, with Kassius Ohno vs. WALTER and a WWN Championship match between Keith Lee and Ohno listed. There will also be another WWN Championship match, an EVOLVE Tag Team title match, and three PROGRESS Wrestling titles will be on the line.
The Axxess sessions are built around four invitational tournaments that will decide challengers for the WWE United Kingdom and NXT North American, Tag Team, and Women’s titles. Three of the title matches are set for day four of Axxess, but the NXT Women’s Championship isn’t currently included.
Jason Kincaid from WWN will be facing Fabian Aichner in the first round of the North American invitational, and Zack Gibson will be in the UK invitational. Dave Meltzer reported last month that Gibson had signed to be part of WWE’s UK division.
Here’s the schedule for Axxess:
Day one (Thursday, 6 p.m. CT) —
Lio Rush vs. Buddy Murphy and Drew Gulak vs. Dan Matha in the first round of the UK invitational
Fabian Aichner vs. Jason Kincaid and Akira Tozawa vs. Kona Reeves in the first round of the NXT North American Invitational
Tyler Bate & Trent Seven vs. Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss and The Street Profits vs. Cezar Bononi & Adrian Jaoude in the first round of the NXT Tag Team invitational
Nikki Cross vs. Aliyah and Kairi Sane vs. Bianca Belair in the first round of the NXT Women’s invitational
WWN Champion Keith Lee defending against Kassius Ohno
TJP, Kalisto, Jack Gallagher, Mae Young Classic competitors, and more
Day two (Friday, 5 p.m. CT) —
Lince Dorado vs. Raul Mendoza and Mark Andrews vs. Zack Gibson in the first round of the UK invitational
Chris Dijak vs. Ariya Daivari and Hideo Itami vs. Wolfgang in the first round of the NXT North American invitational
SAnitY vs. The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler) and TM61 vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch in the first round of the NXT Tag Team invitational
Dakota Kai vs. Lacey Evans and Candice LeRae vs. Peyton Royce in the first round of the NXT Women’s invitational
Wrestlers from NXT, the Mae Young Classic, PROGRESS, and more
Day three, session one (Saturday, 8 a.m. CT) —
Semifinal matches in the UK, North American, Tag Team, and Women’s invitationals
Wrestlers from NXT, the UK division, the Mae Young Classic, and more
Day three, session two (Saturday, 1 p.m. CT) —
The North American invitational finals
UK invitational semifinals
An EVOLVE Tag Team title match
Wrestlers from 205 Live, NXT, the Mae Young Classic, and more
Day three, session three (Saturday, 6 p.m. CT) —
The UK, Tag Team, and Women’s invitational finals
Kassius Ohno vs. WALTER
TJP, Kalisto, Gran Metalik, wrestlers from NXT and the Mae Young Classic, and more
Day four (Sunday, 8 a.m. CT) —
WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne, the NXT North American Champion, and the NXT Tag Team Champions defending against their respective invitational winners
A WWN Championship match, PROGRESS Championship, PROGRESS Women’s title, and PROGRESS Tag Team title matches, and more
A special that looks at the greatest moments in WrestleMania history will air on Thursday, April 5th at 8 p.m. Eastern time, a one-hour version of the 2018 Hall of Fame ceremony will be shown at 10 p.m. on April 7th, and the second hour of the WrestleMania pre-show will be live on the USA Network, which is in addition to its other platforms.
WWE has yet to announce which matches are scheduled for the pre-show. The first hour will begin at 5 p.m. Eastern on April 8th before the main card starts at 7 p.m.
This year’s Hall of Fame ceremony takes place on the Friday of WrestleMania week, with the full version airing live on the WWE Network. Goldberg, The Dudley Boyz, Ivory, Jeff Jarrett, Hillbilly Jim, Mark Henry, celebrity inductee Kid Rock, and Warrior Award recipient Jarrius “JJ” Robertson will be honored during it.
For a match at WrestleMania 34, Lilian Garcia will be returning to ring announcing for WWE.
WWE announced today that Garcia will be the guest ring announcer for the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal on April 8th. Garcia tweeted about the news: “Words can’t describe how honored & excited I am to be announcing the 1st ever Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal! To be back w/ the VERY talented @WWE female Superstars & all of you the @WWEUniverse is priceless! Can’t wait to see you all!”
Garcia departed WWE in 2016 to be with her father, who passed away later that year, as he was battling cancer. She has made appearances for the company since leaving her full-time position and hosts a show on PodcastOne that usually features interviews with WWE wrestlers.
The battle royal will include entrants from Raw, SmackDown, and NXT, and Sasha Banks, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, Natalya, Naomi, and Becky Lynch have already been confirmed for it. The match was originally going to be named after the Fabulous Moolah, but the name was changed after fan backlash and a response from the parent company of Snickers (the presenting sponsor of WrestleMania 34).
WWE’s Cruiserweight title tournament will conclude with either Cedric Alexander or Mustafa Ali being crowned as the new champion at WrestleMania 34 on April 8th.
After Alexander defeated Roderick Strong in a semifinal match last Tuesday, Ali beat Drew Gulak on 205 Live this week to move on to the finals. Alexander won matches against Gran Metalik, TJP, and Strong to get to WrestleMania, while Ali defeated Jack Gallagher, Buddy Murphy, and Gulak.
Alexander cut a promo about wanting to become a champion for his daughter after he advanced to the finals. In Ali’s post-match promo, he said his mission for his entire life has been to prove that it’s not about what your name is, where you’re from, or the color of your skin — it’s about what’s in your heart.
Whether Alexander vs. Ali will be on the pre-show or main card will be officially decided as we get closer to the show. It will be a matchup of two babyfaces, and it was listed to be the final when the idea of the champion being decided at WrestleMania was first put together.
Here’s the updated WrestleMania 34 lineup:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Roman Reigns
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Shinsuke Nakamura
Ronda Rousey & Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon & Triple H
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair defending against Asuka
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defending against Nia Jax
Intercontinental Champion The Miz defending against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor in a triple threat match
United States Champion Randy Orton defending against Bobby Roode and Jinder Mahal in a triple threat match
Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus defending against Braun Strowman & a partner
Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali in the Cruiserweight Championship tournament finals
Two matches that had been expected to be added to the WrestleMania 34 card were made official on tonight’s episode of Raw.
First, it was confirmed that Nia Jax will be challenging for Alexa Bliss’ Raw Women’s Championship in New Orleans on April 8th. Their program has progressed over the last few weeks, with Bliss making fun of Jax and admitting to using her last Monday in a segment that was “accidentally” shown on the video screen. On tonight’s show, Bliss walked out of her match against Asuka and then ran away from Jax.
The 2018 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was also announced tonight. The Revival defeated Titus O’Neil & Apollo and then declared themselves as the first entrants in the match. They mentioned Braun Strowman challenging for the the Raw tag titles at WrestleMania, saying that they’ll become the first tag team to win the battle royal.
Mojo Rawley, Baron Corbin, Big Show, and Cesaro are the four wrestlers who have won the battle royal since it was created in 2014.
Here’s the updated card for WrestleMania 34:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Roman Reigns
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Shinsuke Nakamura
Ronda Rousey & Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon & Triple H
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair defending against Asuka
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defending against Nia Jax
Intercontinental Champion The Miz defending against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor in a triple threat match
Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus defending against Braun Strowman & a partner
Cedric Alexander vs. either Mustafa Ali or Drew Gulak in the Cruiserweight Championship tournament finals
While doing media in Abu Dhabi this weekend, Bryan Danielson was asked the direct question about whether he would team with Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn at WrestleMania, and he gave a very interesting answer.
“As of this moment, as of today (this interview was conducted several hours ago), I am not cleared by WWE. I have done everything in my power, everything they have asked me to do, and I have gone above and beyond as far as, `Okay, what doctors do you need me to see. Send me to any doctor you want, any doctor that you want and lets get their feedback on what is going on with me.’ So far, every doctor has cleared me that they have sent me to and there is a chance. I used to think that the percentage of the WWE even clearing me was low. I think with the stuff that I have done it has gone a little higher but I don’t know how much higher. With how everything is, there is one way to go if I don’t get cleared and there is another way to go if I am cleared. I am hoping to be cleared, but I don’t know which way it goes.”
The angle that was shot and the change in the original WrestleMania plans of late involving McMahon, Owens, and Zayn, reflects that something has changed.
This is a situation we’ve been monitoring closely for a long time. There has been movement over the past month and protocols that have taken place. There are new doctors who have cleared him in recent months after his belief that his brain has responded favorably to hyperbaric chamber treatment, a treatment that football legend Joe Namath has been doing and has claimed great results from. Danielson first found out about this treatment about one year ago. My feeling is that at this point, if he does get cleared, they would do an immediate storyline and make an announcement of the tag team match.
A few weeks ago we had received certain information about strong moves by him to attempt to get cleared and last week, as noted by the tease in the Observer this week, the specifics that if he is cleared he would be in the tag team match was noted.
In another story regarding top talent, AJ Styles missed last night’s house show in Odessa, Texas, and it was announced he was injured in Madison Square Garden. He didn’t wrestle in MSG but the way it was laid out made it appear to be an angle shot at the start of his match to take him out and protect him from doing the match. At this time it is not confirmed the severity of the injury.
There will be a women’s battle royal on the WrestleMania 34 card, but it’s not going to be named after the Fabulous Moolah.
WWE issued a statement this afternoon announcing that they’ve dropped the “Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal” name from the match: “After further consideration, we believe it’s best to proceed with the name ‘WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.’ What remains most important is that this historic match is part of WWE’s unwavering commitment to the Women’s Division.”
The battle royal was first announced in a video that aired on Monday’s episode of Raw, with it portraying Moolah (real name Lillian Ellison) as a pioneer for women’s athletics, someone who challenged gender norms, and a trailblazer for women’s equality. But the announcement was immediately met with backlash due to Moolah’s history of mistreating her trainees.
Jeannine Mjoseth, who trained with Moolah and went by Mad Maxine and Lady Maxine in pro wrestling, described that mistreatment when asked for comment by Pro Wrestling Sheet: “A lot of women paid to train at her school and then went out on the road. They risked life and limb in their matches and she repaid them with the worst kinds of abuses. She skimmed their money, she ignored women who were badly hurt, she pimped women out to creepy men and on and on. She was not a mother figure. She was more like Kali, the Indian Goddess of Destruction. I met her in my early 20s and I had never met such a monstrous person.”
Though the backlash online was instant, WWE re-aired the announcement video on Tuesday’s SmackDown before reversing course and announcing the name change today.
Before the change, the parent company of Snickers (the presenting sponsor of WrestleMania 34) released a statement calling the name of the battle royal “unacceptable”: “We were recently made aware of the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc’s (WWE) decision to honor a former wrestler during the upcoming WrestleMania 34 event. As a principle-based business that has long championed creating inclusive environments that encourage and empower everyone to reach their full potential, this is unacceptable. We are engaging with the WWE to express our disappointment.”
The battle royal will feature women’s wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. WWE has yet to confirm how many participants will be in it.
While there are a few more pieces that still need to fall into place, the card for WrestleMania 34 came closer to being finalized at Sunday night’s Fastlane pay-per-view.
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura was made official after Styles retained his WWE Championship in a six-pack challenge against Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, and Baron Corbin. The SmackDown Women’s Championship match was also announced, with Asuka coming out after Charlotte Flair’s win over Ruby Riott and challenging her for WrestleMania.
Those two matches join Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey & Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon & Triple H, Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor, and the finals of the Cruiserweight title tournament as matches that have already been confirmed for WrestleMania.
John Cena vs. The Undertaker, Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss vs.
Women’s wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown, and NXT will be taking part in a battle royal at WrestleMania next month.
A video aired on Raw tonight paying tribute to the Fabulous Moolah and portraying her as a pioneer of women’s wrestling. It announced that the first-ever Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal will be taking place at WrestleMania on April 8th, with the Raw, SmackDown, and NXT women’s divisions all represented.
WWE hasn’t announced how many participants will be in the match or confirmed anyone for it, but Shayna Baszler, Ruby Riott, Natalya, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay, Lana, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, Kairi Sane, Becky Lynch, Ember Moon, Naomi, and Bayley were shown in the video. The winner of the battle royal will receive a Fabulous Moolah-themed trophy.
With the announcement of the battle royal, there will be at least three women’s matches at WrestleMania. Asuka will challenge for Charlotte Flair’s SmackDown Women’s Championship and Alexa Bliss will defend her Raw Women’s title.
Naming the match after Moolah will bring WWE plenty of criticism given her history. David Bixenspan detailed some of that in an article for Paste last year, writing that “It’s long been wrestling lore that her Girl Wrestling Enterprises booking agency was, if not outright a scheme to pressure trainees into prostitution, then dangerously close to one.”
After weeks of speculation, the WWE title match for WrestleMania 34 has been confirmed.
AJ Styles defeated Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and John Cena to retain the WWE title tonight at the final SmackDown only pay-per-view, Fastlane. With Nakamura’s win at the Royal Rumble, this makes it AJ Styles defending the WWE title against Shinsuke Nakamura in one of the top WrestleMania matches for the SmackDown brand.
It has been teased ever since the Royal Rumble that this would be the direction, but Styles needed to pick up the win here tonight to cement it. He pinned Kevin Owens after hitting the phenomenal forearm after Owens had just planted Cena with the pop up powerbomb.
This will be the first time Styles and Nakamura have wrestled one another in a WWE ring. They did, however, face off at WrestleKingdom 10 in a singles match, where Nakamura defeated Styles to retain the IWGP Intercontinental title.
WWE’s WrestleMania plans for the Raw and SmackDown women’s divisions started to become official at Fastlane tonight.
After Charlotte Flair retained her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Ruby Riott, Asuka came out and made it clear that she’ll be challenging Charlotte in New Orleans on April 8th. She got into the ring, went face-to-face with Charlotte, and pointed at the WrestleMania sign.
Though Asuka had been a member of the Raw roster, the storyline for both the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble winners was that they could choose which champion to challenge. Shinsuke Nakamura said that he wanted to face AJ Styles immediately following his win, but Asuka’s decision was left until after Charlotte’s last title defense before WrestleMania.
Asuka facing Charlotte frees things up for Nia Jax to be involved in the Raw Women’s title match against Alexa Bliss in New Orleans. Sasha Banks and Bayley have also been feuding in the Raw women’s division.
Here’s the updated card for WrestleMania 34:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Roman Reigns
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Shinsuke Nakamura
Ronda Rousey & Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon & Triple H
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair defending against Asuka
Intercontinental Champion The Miz defending against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor in a triple threat match
The finals of the Cruiserweight Championship tournament
