Baron Corbin posted the following tweet reacting to Kurt Angle’s comments:
To be fair, that’s one of the reasons I wish I had become world champ! It would paid honor to what Kurt did for me. I will forever appreciate it and wish I could have done more to make it worth it for him. https://t.co/9OVJkUsHNm
Now that Baron Corbin’s WWE career is over, Kurt Angle feels “a little disappointed” that the company didn’t do more with Corbin after WrestleMania 35.
Angle wrestled the final match of his career at that 2019 event, losing to Corbin on his way out. Angle thought that WWE would do more with Corbin and make him a top-tier guy, but they were never able to find an idea that really worked. Angle believes Corbin is underrated and could have thrived on his personality alone, not needing a more elaborate character.
“Baron, I think he’s underrated,” Angle told WrestleZone. “I think it kind of sucks that they — they started utilizing him the way they should have, you know, they had him beat me, which I was okay with. It was my last match, and obviously you’re going to lose with your last match when you retire. But Baron, after that, he ended up winning King of the Ring and then nothing else happened with him.
“It’s a little disappointing to know that he beat a legend at WrestleMania — the legend’s last match — and they didn’t really do much with him after that. For me, it makes me feel like I did that for nothing. So it’s not like, ‘Screw you Angle.’ But it kind of is [laughs], because I thought they were going to run with the kid. I thought they were going to make him one of the top-tier guys. And he was on his way. And I do believe they changed his character a couple times, I think he was Happy Corbin or something like that and then something else. But I don’t know if they just found anything that really stuck. And maybe that’s why they let him go, because they couldn’t find a character. But Baron has a great personality. He didn’t need a character. He could be him and he was entertaining as it is. So I was just a little disappointed that they didn’t do much with him and then they let him go.”
The 40-year-old Corbin departed WWE on November 1 when the company chose not to renew his contract. He was with WWE for more than a decade after starting out in developmental in 2012.
Before his departure, Corbin returned to NXT for a stint in 2023-2024 but did not do much on the main roster when he was brought back to SmackDown.
Becky Lynch’s WrestleMania 35 triumph isn’t her favorite WrestleMania moment of all time.
History was made in 2019 when Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair became the first women to ever headline WrestleMania. Lynch defeated Rousey and Charlotte in the WrestleMania 35 main event to win both the Raw and SmackDown Women’s titles.
But despite that being such a defining moment of her career, it’s not Lynch’s favorite WrestleMania. Lynch told Sports Illustrated that she actually enjoyed her WrestleMania 38 loss to Bianca Belair more:
I enjoyed WrestleMania 38 where I lost to Bianca more than I enjoyed WrestleMania 35. I think Daniel Bryan said something similar, as well, about enjoying his WrestleMania match against Kofi [at WrestleMania 35] than he did WrestleMania 30. It’s weird like that. Sometimes, what we enjoy in terms of our artistic expression aren’t always the stories that audiences revere the most.
Lynch explained that she had more creative freedom at WrestleMania 38 due to being a heel:
When you were a top babyface [in Vince McMahon’s WWE], you were micromanaged a little more. At WrestleMania 38, I had more freedom creatively. When you’re the villain, you’re making the crowd like someone else. There’s a lot of fun in putting the shine on someone else.
Belair is one of Lynch’s favorite opponents. She recently named Belair and Charlotte as her in-ring “soulmates.”
Lynch’s memoir, “Becky Lynch: The Man: Not Your Average Average Girl,” was released last week. In her interview with Sports Illustrated, Lynch said WrestleMania 35 was one of the hardest subjects to write about in the book:
That’s the girlhood-dream-come-true moment. Everyone asks me, ‘How did I feel?’ I felt everything, but I also felt nothing. It’s this weird juxtaposition. I made it, but had anything changed? There were fireworks, but my internal landscape wasn’t any different. I found it one of the harder things to write about in my book. That’s the thing people want to read about it. I understand that–it’s the culmination.
Then the next night I’m brought back to earth when I had to do a segment with Lacey Evans on one-hour sleep while Vince was yelling at me in Gorilla. On the flip side, there was the confidence and the cockiness I walked around with leading up to that match at WrestleMania 35.
Ultimately, it wasn’t my destination. It was another important stop on my journey.
At WrestleMania 40, Lynch will have another big moment as she challenges Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship. Lynch has said that she thinks her match against Ripley will be part of the card for night one of WrestleMania 40 this Saturday (April 6).
The Bryan & Shawn & Granny & Craig Show is back and it’s a PACKED show! The usual Granny segment including her new HISTORY LESSON, then the boys review WrestleMania 35’s top matches, which totally sucked with the exception of KOFIMANIA, an all-time great WrestleMania moment. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Ronda Rousey has commented on the finish to her WrestleMania 35 main event match versus Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.
Lynch pinned Rousey to win the match but Rousey’s shoulder appeared to come up off the mat during the count. According to comments she would make on the Kurt Angle Show recently, Rousey was trying to flatten out her shoulders during the pin attempt and this led to her shoulder briefly coming up.
“I didn’t think my shoulder was down. I was trying to flatten out to put my shoulder more down. So, that’s what was happening,” Rousey said. “I thought it was just the very tops of my shoulders so I was trying to shimmy down so the actual backs of my shoulders were down and I didn’t know that he already started counting or that my shoulder came up during the shimmy.”
“I was trying to help but then, you know what, it ended up being awesome because now I have a gripe to revisit.”
Rousey didn’t wrestle again for nearly three years after WrestleMania 35. She returned at the Royal Rumble in January and has since captured the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
Sunday afternoon’s WrestleMania 35 replay on ESPN, which also served as somewhat of a lead-in for the second day of this year’s show on the WWE Network and pay-per-view, averaged 421,000 viewers.
That’s down 41.5 percent from last week, but previous replays had aired in prime time. The WrestleMania 35 replay started at 3 p.m. Eastern time.
The show averaged a 0.14 rating in the 18-49 demo, dropping to 70th for the day on cable. That’s down 40 percent from last week, when they finished in 38th on cable.
The demo rating was also lower than what NXT did this week on USA Network, which was the lowest number for that show to date.
This was the last of three WrestleMania replays that were scheduled for ESPN. WrestleMania 30 and WrestleMania 32 had aired the two previous weeks.
Sunday’s WrestleMania pre-show, which aired on FS1 in addition to the WWE Network and WWE’s various social media platforms, averaged 112,000 viewers and a 0.04 rating in the 18-49 demo. That was 145th for the day on cable. That would be comparable to what a highly rated edition of WWE Backstage would do on the same network.
Ratings for Saturday’s pre-show on FS1 are not available as the show did not crack the top 150 in 18-49 for the day.
Note: The following contains spoilers for SmackDown and WrestleMania.
Because of Roman Reigns deciding to not wrestle during the WrestleMania tapings due to health concerns surrounding the coronavirus, WWE Universal Champion Bill Goldberg was left without an opponent for the company’s biggest show of the year.
WrestleMania was taped on Wednesday and Thursday at the Orlando, Florida, based Performance Center, due to the uncertainty regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, several future editions of both Raw and SmackDown were also recorded this week.
Meltzer said that Reigns was at the PC for the match but ultimately chose to withdraw due to a compromised immune system, a result of his past battles with leukemia. Meltzer said he was told that Reigns’ cousins, The Usos, weren’t happy that The Miz was sick which helped influence Reigns’ decision.
WWE issued their annual press release today touting the economic impact that WrestleMania had on its host region.
WWE and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced that — according to a study conducted by Enigma Research Corporation — WrestleMania 35 generated “$165.4 million in direct, indirect, and induced impact derived from spending by visitors to the New York/New Jersey region for WrestleMania 35.”
That number is up from the $101.2 million that WrestleMania 29 generated for New York/New Jersey in 2013 but down from the $175 million that WrestleMania 34 generated for the greater New Orleans region.
WrestleMania 35 took place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with WWE’s events surrounding the show being held in Brooklyn, New York.
“New Jersey is proud to have hosted WrestleMania 35 in April, the fourth time our state has been host to this great event,” Murphy said. “This data underscores what we already knew — bringing large-scale events that draw fans from all over the world brings significant economic benefits to our state and the region. I thank WWE for choosing New Jersey and hope to continue this partnership in the future.”
“We are thrilled that WrestleMania’s return to our ‘front yard’ generated a significant economic increase for our partners in New York and New Jersey,” WWE executive vice president of special events John P. Saboor said. “This success would not have been possible without the tireless support of Governor Murphy, Barclays Center, NYC & Company, Meadowlands Chamber, New York Jets, New York Giants and the rest of our public and private sector partners throughout the region. We now turn our attention to next year for what will be a historic WrestleMania debut in Tampa Bay.”
Enigma Research Corporation’s report found that 52 percent of those who attended WrestleMania 35 were from outside of the New York/New Jersey region and stayed for an average of 4.6 nights. For WrestleMania 34, 77 percent of attendees were from outside of the New Orleans region. They stayed for an average of 3.9 nights.
The report for WrestleMania 35 stated that “$23.9 million was spent on hotels and accommodations within the New York/New Jersey region,” while $6.6 million was spent by visitors at restaurants in the area. Those numbers were $22 million and $9.9 million for WrestleMania 34.
WWE also noted that WrestleMania 35 “generated approximately $27.1 million in federal, state, and local taxes.”
Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida will host WrestleMania 36 on Sunday, April 5, 2020.
Part one of Ronda Rousey’s professional wrestling career officially came to an end at WrestleMania.
Nearly three months after Dave Meltzer first reported that Rousey was likely finishing up with WWE at WrestleMania 35, Rousey made things official this week. She wrote on Instagram that she was going on an “impregnation vacation” with her husband Travis Browne. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, who Rousey is friendly with, then reported that Rousey is taking a hiatus from WWE to start a family.
Only Rousey and those close to her know what her long-term goals are — and even solid plans can be changed after important life events like having children. But if this ends up being the end of her full-time run in pro wrestling, Rousey would have accomplished more than anyone could have reasonably hoped for.
For as long as I’ve been a professional wrestling fan, attending WrestleMania has been a goal of mine.
WrestleMania has changed a lot since I was watching Steve Austin vs. The Rock and getting captivated by Axxess recap videos. What began as a standalone show has grown into a weeklong celebration of everything pro wrestling. Fans take over a city and promotions from all around the world compete for their time and money, with more events than one person could ever hope to attend.
It finally made sense for me to go this year — and when I unsuspectingly stumbled into a Ric Flair and Road Warrior Animal promo at the first show I went to, I knew this was the place for me.
This WrestleMania week was more historically significant than usual.
The biggest pro wrestling event of the year, WrestleMania 35, is now upon us.
A triple threat match for both the Raw and SmackDown women’s titles will headline this year’s show at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Raw champion Ronda Rousey, SmackDown champion Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch will battle it out, with the winner taking both belts.
The WWE and Universal titles are also on the line. After a number of twists and turns, Kofi Kingston finally has his opportunity for a singles match against Daniel Bryan for the WWE title. Seth Rollins, the winner of the 2019 Royal Rumble, will face Universal Champion Brock Lesnar.
More title matches, as well as grudge matches make up the undercard. The most notable matches include Shane McMahon taking on the Miz in a falls count anywhere match, AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton, Triple H vs. Batista in a match where Triple H will retire if he loses and the final match of Kurt Angle’s career, as he is set to take on Baron Corbin.
Join us for live coverage starting at 5 p.m. EST.
**********
They’ve announcing Paige will call the women’s tag team title match.
BUDDY MURPHY VS. TONY NESE FOR THE CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Nese won the title with the running knees to the corner. Good match. It was exactly what you’d expect from these two with a lot of cool moves. The crowd wasn’t too hot except for Nese doing a reverse rana and a Fosbury flop. Murphy had a cut over his left eye early but it wasn’t too bad. Murphy hit Murphy’s law but Nese got his leg on the ropes. Murphy kicked out of a 450. Lots of spots out of modern Japanese wrestling.
MANAMI TOYOTA MEMORIAL BATTLE ROYAL
Carmella won the Battle Royal by superkicking Sarah Logan out. It looked like the last three were Sonya Deville, Asuka and Logan when Carmella had disappeared from the ring. Asuka knocked Deville over the top and then Logan surprisingly eliminated Asuka which fans thought was the finish. Then Carmella jumped in the ring, worked a little with Logan before eliminating her. Battle Royal was fine, maybe better than expected. Lacey Evans wasn’t in the match nor was Alicia Fox but every other woman not on the main roster was in, plus Kairi Sane and Candice LeRae from NXT were in. Ember Moon returned from her injury and looked good working with Naomi. They did a story where The Riott Squad worked together to eliminate several people. Later Rose & Deville did the same.
THE REVIVAL VS. ZACK RYDER & CURT HAWKINS FOR RAW TAG TITLES
Ryder & Hawkins won the titles. It got a real good pop. Long match. The Revival carried it well, they were technically so solid. Most of the match was beating down Ryder. Good match overall. They were all outside the ring and Scott Dawson gave Hawkins a brainbuster on the floor. Dawson threw him into the ring and told the ref to stop the match because Hawkins was motionless. Then out of nowhere, Hawkins pinned Dawson with an inside cradle.
ANDRE THE GIANT BATTLE ROYAL
Braun Strowman won when he was left with Michael Che and Colin Jost. Then a guy in a suit called a therapist came in to calm Strowman in. Strowman ended up throwing him around and choke slammed him. He punched Che off the apron to eliminate him. Then they teased Jost throwing Strowman out. Strowman came back and threw Jost over the top. A bunch of wrestlers long since eliminated were hanging around ringside to catch him. Strowman also threw out both Hardys when it appeared they were the last ones left since Che and Jost hid under the ring all of the match. Strowman was put over as the monster and threw a ton of guys out. There was nothing special but Heavy Machinery and Andrade were given shots at shining. Luke Harper returned as well. He’s lost a lot of weight. The crowd was really hot when Strowman was left with Che and Jost.
Alexa Bliss is out to open the show. She said if she wants a WrestleMania moment all she has to do is snap her fingers. She snapped her fingers and Hulk Hogan came out. He said it’s great to be in the Silverdome on purpose to make fun of himself. He called the place the Met Life Center. He did a catch phrase and Hogan and Bliss posed together. Paul Heyman then stormed to the ring.
Heyman said if Lesnar isn’t on last he wants to go right now so his client can go to Las Vegas to go to a place where he’s ultimately appreciated.
BROCK LESNAR VS. SETH ROLLINS FOR UNIVERSAL TITLE
Rollins won the title. Lesnar destroyed him before the match started including an F-5 on the floor and throwing him over the German announcers table several times including nailing one of the announcers. When the bell rang, Lesnar gave him three German suplexes and went for the F-5. Rollins escaped and threw Lesnar into the ref. Rollins gave Lesnar a low blow and then a superkick and three curb stomps and got the pin in about 2:30. This tore down the house with the quick all big moves match like a Lesanr-Goldberrg style.
Three title changes in three title matches.
Jerry Lawler is out to announce this match.
A.J. STYLES VS. RANDY ORTON
Styles won clean with the phenomenal forearm. Slow deliberate match. Solid work to be sure. Some well thought up spots but it never reached a fever pitch. Styles kicked out of the RKO and escaped a few more attempts at it. Other highlights were Styles doing a 450 for a near fall and Orton doing a superplex. Not as good as you’d expect from these two.
Lacey Evans showed up. Then she left.
USOS VS. RUSEV & SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS. RICOCHET & ALEISTER BLACK VS. SHEAMUS & CESARO FOR SMACKDOWN TAG TITLES
Usos retained with a double splash off the top rope on Sheamus after a double superkick ahd I think Jimmy got the pin. Thst was really good. There was a crazy tower of doom spot where Ricochet took a double backwards superplex and nearly landed on his feet. Cesaro gave Ricochet a WWE record for the giant swing. I don’t know the number but it never ended. Everyone did their big moves before the ending. Probably could have been a classic if given more time.
They are doing the Hall of Fame thing now. They saved DX for last of course. Bret was out there with Nattie . When it was over everyone was supposed to show their new rings. This was good.
THE MIZ VS. SHANE MCMAHON FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE
Shane pinned him when Miz superplexed Shane off a camera platform and they both crashed into a crash pad. Shane fell on top and the ref counted three. This was a brawl all over the building. The brawling was for the most part really bad and thi match dragged. Se finishing stunt bump got over huge. Shane teased his elbow off the top rope to the table on the floor but George Mizanin, Miz’s father jumped and blocked him. This led to Shane in the ring with George and Shane attacked George, which brought Miz back from the dead. They tore up the foreign announcers platform with brawling. Shane’s punches were so awful in this match and early on he potatoed Miz with some blows. Later Miz hit him with some good ground and pound.
BAYLEY & SASHA BANKS VS. NIA JAX & TAMINA VS. NATALYA & BETH PHOENIX VS. BILLIE KAY &* PEYTON ROYCE FOR THE WOMEN’S TAG TEAM TITLES
The Iiconics won the titles when Phoenix used the glam slam on Bayley off the middle rope and Peyton Royce saved and Billie Kay jumped on top for the pin. Michael Cole immediately pushed it was celebration time down under. This match was bad. Much of it was like watching local indie guys as it just never clicked well together. Natalya & Phoenix dressed up like the old Hart Foundation and came out with Bret Hart. They did the Hart attack and Banks used a frog splash like Eddy Guerrero. At one point Jax was on the top rope like she was going to do a splash but Phoenix shoved her off the top and she took a big bump.
DANIEL BRYAN VS. KOFI KINGSTON FOR WWE TITLE
Kingston won the title with a ton of ground and pound after escaping the LeBell lock, a ton of stomps and finally hitting the trouble in paradise. It ended with them ditching the hemp belt and Kingston was given a regular WWE title belt. This was a great match that the crowd loved. Bryan controlled most of the match with matwork. They brought Kingston’s two young sons into the ring with him to celebrate. Loud “You deserve it” chants. They opened up presents with the new T-shrits with the belt on them. Those shirts were available on the site before this match started which gave away the finish. Bryan was all bruised up during the match. Kingston had kicked out of the running knee. When Kingston went for the kick before, Bryan caught the foot and turned it into a lion tamer like move. This blew away everything so far on this show.
Michael Che and Colin Jost and Alexa Bliss are backstage. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were backstage as doctors. Nash wanted to give them a prostate exam.
Booker T is on commentary for this next match.
SAMOA JOE VS. REY MYSTERIO FOR U.S. TITLE
I guess Mysterio must have been unable to actually do a match. Mysterio hit the 619 right away and then Joe put him in the choke and the ref stopped the match with Mysterio out in 59 seconds.
ROMAN REIGNS VS. DREW MCINTYRE
This wasn’t much. Reigns looked tons better at Fastlane. It was McIntyre controlling the match and Reigns came back with a Samoan drop on the floor, then in the ring hit a Superman punch and spear for the pin. The crowd was quiet most of the way. They were still suffering from the Kingston title win being so over. The upper deck did a wave during the match which took attention from the match. Reigns was very emotional when it was over hiding his face as it appeared he was crying in the corner.
Time for the Elias segment. They played a film of Babe Ruth and then John Cena came out with the Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick. The idea is that Cena is now supposed to be the Babe Ruth of wrestling. He was wearing a No. 3 Yankees jersey, which was Babe Ruth’s number. Cena got a big response doing his gimmick from 2003. Cena said he felt like he was watching his movies because this whole thing sucks. He called Elias a wasted wrestling experiment. He then said he’s not half a dog but a little piece of shitsu. This all got over big. He said your face looks like my nuts but you’ve got a hairier bush. Said no AA, but you’re going to get the FU. Cena hit him with the mic, he did the five knuckle shuffle and hit the AA and that was the segment.
HHH VS. BATISTA NO HOLDS BARRED WITH HHH’S CAREER AT STAKE
HHH got the pin with his second pedigree after Ric Flair handed HHH a second sledge hammer and he jumped off the steps that Batista put in the ring with the sledge hammer shot. Batista had HHH’s sledge hammer. This had a lot of stunts including backdrops on announcers table, HHH using pliers to rip out Batista’s nose ring which left Batista bloody, pliers to crush Batista’s hand and more. I think if this match was earlier in the show people would probably have really liked it. But going 25 minutes this late for a match with almost no reaction except when tables broke or when they kicked out of finishers made it drag badly. HHH kicked out both the spear, spinebuster and Batista bomb while Batista kicked out of the first pedigree. There should be a rule about shows not going longer than five hours and 30 minutes (we’re at six plus) let alone going this long when you’ve got three bouts left.
KURT ANGLE VS. BARON CORBIN
Corbin pinned him with the End of Days after Angle missed a moonsault. Corbin kicked out of the Angle slam and survived the ankle lock. Angle did deliver two sets of three German suplexes. Overall this match wasn’t much, but Angle did look better than he looked in his last few weeks. He really could have won but the usual protocol is you go out on your back.
Angle said for the past 20 years I’ve had the time of my life, in addition to tonight. He wanted to thank everyone. He asked fans to chant you suck at him for the last time. They did loudly.
BOBBY LASHLEY VS. DEMON FINN BALOR FOR IC TITLE
Balor survived a spear to the floor and a second spear, and came back to win in 4:00 with a power bomb and coup de gras. It was for the best they got this over quickly because the crowd is completely shot after 6 hours and 30 minutes.
They announced 82,265. They had to announce a bigger number than last time. Of course that’s nowhere close to the real number. Bliss said it was time for a break so R-Truth and Carmella came out to dance. .
RONDA ROUSEY VS. CHARLOTTE FLAIR VS. BECKY LYNCH FOR THE RAW AND SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S TITLES
Lynch won of course when Rousey went for Piper’s Pit and Lynch gave her a backslide for the pin. The finish wasn’t built up well but since everyone was waiting for the Lynch win. The way the finish was done made it appear that Rousey will be back for at least another show because Corey Graves was pointing out how this wasn’t the wy he’d want WrestleMania to end. They cut away really quickly after the pin. The match was good. The crowd very tired but they weren’t dead like they were for most of the last 90 minutes of the show. There were actually no super spectacular spots other than Charlotte doing a top rope Spanish fly on Lynch. Flair was bleeding from the right arm after Lynch legdropped her off the top rope as she had the figure eight on Rousey. They worked a very fast pace. There were a lot of pins and submissions broken up several days. At one point Charlotte yelled at Rousey for calling wrestling fake and slammed her head into a table set up in the corner a few times. Rousey and Lynch hip tossed Flair into a table in the corner to take her out. Rousey and Lynch started swinging wildly and Rousey went for Piper’s Pit, to lead to the backslide. There was controversy over whether Rousey got her shoulder up before the three which is why it looks like they’re building to another match.
It was announced today that WWE Watch Along will stream live on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter during WrestleMania 35 tomorrow. The WrestleMania main card starts at 7 p.m. Eastern time, which comes after a two-hour pre-show.
The Watch Along will again be hosted by sports media personality and former NFL punter Pat McAfee, who signed a multi-year deal with WWE earlier this year. Guests will join him throughout the night to discuss the show, with Watch Along serving as a second-screen experience.
Ric Flair, Big Show, Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, Maria Menounos, and the cast members of truTV’s “Impractical Jokers” are advertised as guests for the Watch Along.
Charlotte Flair is facing Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch in the main event of WrestleMania, with the winner getting both the Raw and SmackDown Women’s titles. Gargano won the NXT Championship by defeating Adam Cole in a two-out-of-three falls match at TakeOver: New York on Friday night.
WWE Watch Along debuted during last month’s Fastlane PPV.
The Samoa Joe vs. Rey Mysterio match, the only scheduled match at WrestleMania 35 that was in jeopardy this week regarding injuries, is a go.
Sources in WWE confirmed this morning that the match is scheduled to happen tomorrow. As noted previously by the website, Mysterio was walking around and not limping on Thursday night after suffering a right ankle injury on Monday in his Raw match with Baron Corbin.
Mysterio was supposed to face Andrade on SmackDown’s go-home show for WrestleMania, but Mysterio’s injury led to the match being canceled. Sunday’s match was in question as late as
Wednesday.
Joe vs. Mysterio is a United States title match that was made after some card rearranging that was done after Fastlane. WWE has set up that Mysterio’s son Dominic, who has trained to be a professional wrestler with Lance Storm, will be ringside for Joe vs. Mysterio.
Joe won the U.S. title in a fatal four-way match against R-Truth, Mysterio, and Andrade on the March 5 episode of SmackDown.
The Revival vs. Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins for the WWE Raw tag team titles has been added to Sunday’s WrestleMania 35.
The 33-year-old Ryder and the 33-year-old Hawkins issued a challenge in a video posted to WWE.com after Raw ended on Monday. The Revival answered the challenge via Twitter Thursday, and the match was officially announced on WWE.com.
The challengers are both New York natives, and previously held the WWE tag team titles together in 2008. Since reuniting as a team in January, the duo are winless in tag matches.
Hawkins is currently involved in a losing streak storyline which stands at 269 consecutive matches according to WWE.
The Revival won the Raw tag titles on the February 11, 2019, edition of Raw by defeating Bobby Roode and Chad Gable.
That brings the WrestleMania match total to sixteeen with nine title matches. The SmackDown version of the titles will be defended in a four way featuring the Usos (champions) vs. Aleister Black/Ricochet, The Bar, and Nakamura/Rusev.
PWInsider reported this morning that WWE have come to terms with the current SmackDown tag team champions on a new deal. The duo reportedly signed the new deal several weeks ago. Their current contracts are due to expire at the end of the month.
The news comes as several wrestlers have had contract negotiations in the last few months. AJ Styles announced last month that he had re-signed with the company. Dean Ambrose, however, was confirmed by WWE as leaving the company this month after he rejected efforts to re-sign with the company. Gallows and Anderson have also reportedly turned down new contracts in recent weeks. Their deals are not up until late September, however, so they may still re-sign.
The Usos will face Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev, The Bar and Ricochet & Aleister Black with a fatal four way match for the SmackDown tag team titles at WrestleMania this Sunday. AJ Styles will also be on the show, facing Randy Orton.
WWE has confirmed three matches for Sunday’s WrestleMania 35 pre-show.
On last night’s SmackDown, it was announced that both the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal will be part of the pre-show. It was also announced on 205 Live that Buddy Murphy’s Cruiserweight Championship defense against Tony Nese will be on the pre-show.
The kickoff show for WrestleMania 34 last year also featured the battle royals and a Cruiserweight title match.
Sunday’s two-hour pre-show will begin on the WWE Network at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The second hour will also air on the USA Network starting at 6 p.m. Eastern.
Here are the entrants that have been announced for the battle royals: