This post was updated at 8:15 AM Eastern Thursday.
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that the WrestleMania 36 card is undergoing changes due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, one of the major players in this year’s card is off the show.
Citing sources with knowledge of the situation, Pro Wrestling Sheet’s Ryan Satin first reported Thursday night that Roman Reigns will not wrestle WWE Universal Champion Bill Goldberg due to health concerns regarding his immune system being compromised from his bouts with leukemia.
On Friday’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer said he was told Reigns was in attendance in Orlando, but after the Usos weren’t happy that Miz was there sick, the title challenger made the decision to not go through with the match. He didn’t have other details after that.
In Reigns’ place will be Braun Strowman in an angle Meltzer said he expected to play out on Friday’s SmackDown show on Fox.
The 34-year-old took an indefinite hiatus in October 2018 after his form of leukemia returned after 11 years and returned to WWE in late-February of 2019.
From Meltzer: “The WrestleMania card has also changed. Names are being kept confidential because so few know, but it’s been confirmed that multiple people on the card either said they were sick, which meant instantly being pulled off all shows this week, there were others who did not feel sick but had fevers above 100.4, which was the WWE’s cut-off point of not allowing people to work, and others who, on their own, said they didn’t feel comfortable flying in. Both AEW and WWE had told people that if they don’t want to come, they don’t have to come and that the decisions made now won’t be held against them when it comes to future booking.”
WrestleMania was filmed Wednesday and Thursday at the Orlando, FL-based Performance Center for air on Saturday, April 4th and Sunday, April 5th due to the ongoing uncertainty due to the worldwide pandemic.
The first-ever “boneyard match” will be part of the WrestleMania 36 card.
WWE has added the boneyard match stipulation to The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles at WrestleMania. The stipulation hasn’t been explained further, but WrestleMania is being taped at multiple locations in addition to the Performance Center. All of the locations will be closed sets with only essential personnel in attendance.
Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson appeared on tonight’s Raw, with Styles cutting a promo mocking The Undertaker and Michelle McCool. Styles said he was going to bring back the Deadman and then challenged Undertaker to the boneyard match.
Styles brought up that he said he was going to bury The Undertaker. Styles said he had the perfect plot picked out for Undertaker — and it’s the same one McCool picked out when she buried his career.
The boneyard match stipulation was then officially announced later on tonight’s show.
WrestleMania 36 is airing on the WWE Network across two nights on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5.
Two new matches have been made official for WrestleMania 36.
WWE announced today that The Street Profits will defend their Raw Tag Team titles against Andrade & Angel Garza at WrestleMania. Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley has also been confirmed for the show.
The Street Profits have been Raw Tag Team Champions since winning the titles from Seth Rollins & Murphy on the March 2 episode of Raw. They also retained against Rollins & Murphy in a rematch at Elimination Chamber.
In addition to challenging for the Raw Tag Team titles at WrestleMania, Andrade is the current United States Champion. He lost a non-title match to Rey Mysterio on Raw last week.
WrestleMania 36 is airing on the WWE Network across two nights on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 and will be hosted by Rob Gronkowski. The show is expected to be taped this week. It will “not only take place at WWE’s training facility but will include multiple locations over two nights.”
In one of the most bizarre periods of time for both professional wrestling and the world in general, this year’s WWE WrestleMania will not be live and will instead be filmed this Wednesday and Thursday at the Performance Center in Orlando, FL.
The specifics were first reported by PWInsider’s Mike Johnson and confirmed by both Dave Meltzer and POST Wrestling’s John Pollock. This year’s two night event will also feature segments and matches from other non-disclosed locations, but it’s unclear when those will be taped.
Johnson confirmed this week’s taping schedule which was first reported by Pollock Friday and confirmed by Meltzer. The next two SmackDowns were set to be filmed today (Saturday) while NXT content is on deck for Sunday. On Monday, the next two Monday Night Raws will be filmed with WrestleMania coming the two days after that.
What happens after the two nights of WrestleMania, scheduled for Saturday, April 4th, and Sunday, April 5th, is still unclear as the world struggles with the coronavirus pandemic. As many states enact ‘shelter in place’ mandates in an effort to curb the spread of the virus, Florida has yet to do so. However, that may be taken out of their hands if the United States decides to take a more aggressive step in that direction.
WrestleMania was scheduled for a one day event in Tampa, FL, before WWE announced the decision to run the show in their Performance Center in front of no fans instead. There will be no Hall of Fame or TakeOver as part of the lead-up as in years past.
There will be multiple challengers for Bayley’s SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36.
On tonight’s SmackDown, it was confirmed that Bayley will defend her title in a six-pack challenge elimination match at WrestleMania. Lacey Evans, Dana Brooke, Tamina, Naomi, and Sasha Banks will be Bayley’s challengers.
Paige appeared via Skype on SmackDown tonight and announced the match. Paige confronting Bayley had been set for last week’s SmackDown, but it was noted that Paige couldn’t make that show due to travel issues.
Banks was the last of Bayley’s opponents to be revealed by Paige. The story appeared to be that Banks initially wasn’t happy about Bayley having to defend her title in the match but then looked pleased to be one of her challengers.
Carmella isn’t one of the challengers in the six-pack elimination match.
WrestleMania 36 is a two-night event airing on the WWE Network on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5. WWE hasn’t announced which matches will be airing on which night. The show “will not only take place at WWE’s training facility but will include multiple locations over two nights.”
The U.S. Center for Disease Control suggested canceling all events for the next eight weeks that more than 50 people would attend. That would seem to include even things nobody would think of like birthday parties, and for wrestling fans, WrestleMania parties seem to be out, even more likely in a few days when quarantine measures that started in the San Francisco Bay Area spread to other parts of the country.
Just in my life, one family funeral and another funeral of a family member of one of my high school friends were both canceled this past week. Everything has changed. Where I live, we are in a six county quarantine. I’m no longer allowed to visit my nearly 91-year-old mother because, for good reason, her care center allows nobody but necessary employees to take care of the people who live there in.
But we can’t afford a woe-is-me attitude. In this situation, we have to rally together, while staying apart, as best as we can. This will pass, hopefully soon.
WrestleMania 36 will not only take place at the WWE Performance Center but will include multiple locations over two nights. The locations will be closed sets with only essential personnel in attendance.
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For the first time ever, WrestleMania will be a two-night event.
WWE announced today that WrestleMania 36 will take place across two nights. The show will now take place on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5.
Former NFL star Rob Gronkowski has also been announced as the host of WrestleMania 36. He sent out a tweet today announcing the news: “It’s official! I’m hosting @WrestleMania this year…and it’s gonna be too big for just one night. For the 1st time, #WrestleMania will be a 2-NIGHT event: Saturday, April 4 AND Sunday, April 5 on @WWENetwork! Tell you more this Friday night on #SmackDown at 8 ET on @FOXTV”
WrestleMania was originally scheduled to take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on April 5.
NXT TakeOver: Tampa had been set to take place at the Amalie Arena on April 4 before being canceled.
Here are the matches that have been officially announced for WrestleMania thus far:
Universal Champion Goldberg defending against Roman Reigns
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Drew McIntyre
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Shayna Baszler
NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defending against Charlotte Flair
John Cena vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
Edge vs. Randy Orton is also all but official, with Orton set to appear on next Monday’s Raw and respond to Edge’s challenge for a last man standing match at WrestleMania.
Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins is on for WrestleMania.
Charly Caruso interviewed Kevin Owens on tonight’s episode of Raw. Owens took the microphone and accepted Rollins’ challenge, saying that he wanted the match to happen at the Performance Center, as he would have the home field advantage.
Owens said he started his career at the Performance Center, and will make new memories here when he beats Rollins in the same building where he earned his place in the WWE.
The feud between Owens and Rollins has been going on for the last several months, a turning point taking place when Rollins turned on Owens and attacked him backstage, laying him out with the help of AOP and eventually Murphy. Rollins has since formed a stable with the trio, who have since focused on Owens.
WWE announced today that WrestleMania 36 will go forward on April 5. It will now be held at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles has now been officially announced for WrestleMania 36.
WWE had advertised that Undertaker and Styles would take part in a contract signing for their WrestleMania match on tonight’s Raw, but the contract wasn’t there when Undertaker came out and Styles didn’t come down to the ring. Instead, Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson appeared on the video screen from backstage.
Styles had the contract in his hand and cut a promo on The Undertaker, calling him over the hill and blaming Michelle McCool for Undertaker still wrestling. Styles said he would pay for Undertaker’s assisted living costs after their match.
Styles signed the contract and made Gallows and Anderson bring it to the ring. Gallows and Anderson placed it into the ring and went to back away, but the lights went out and Undertaker appeared behind them when they came back on. He attacked them, signed the contract, and shoved the piece of paper into Anderson’s mouth.
Undertaker then stared down Styles on the video screen as he headed to the back.
“In coordination with local partners and government officials, WrestleMania and all related events in Tampa Bay will not take place,” WWE announced. “However, WrestleMania will still stream live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view. Only essential personnel will be on the closed set at WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Florida to produce WrestleMania.”
The stipulation looks to be set for Edge and Randy Orton’s match at WrestleMania 36.
During a promo on tonight’s Raw from the WWE Performance Center, Edge challenged Orton to a last man standing match at WrestleMania. Orton will appear on Raw next week to respond to the challenge.
This will be Edge’s first singles match since being forced to retire in 2011. He returned to the ring in the men’s Royal Rumble match in January. On Raw the next night, Orton attacked Edge and laid him out with a con-chair-to.
Edge and Orton’s storyline was furthered when Orton gave Beth Phoenix an RKO on Raw two weeks ago.
Phoenix tweeted that Edge drove 17 hours to get to tonight’s Raw: “FYI…@EdgeRatedR had to drive 17 hours total to deliver his words on #RAW after travel problems. #Grit #LastManStanding #RAW”
WWE issued a statement today confirming that WrestleMania is being moved from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida to the Performance Center in Orlando. It’s still taking place on Sunday, April 5.
“In coordination with local partners and government officials, WrestleMania and all related events in Tampa Bay will not take place,” WWE’s statement said. “However, WrestleMania will still stream live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view. Only essential personnel will be on the closed set at WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Florida to produce WrestleMania.”
WWE issued a statement today announcing that WrestleMania 36 and its related events for that week will no longer take place in Tampa, Florida. WrestleMania will instead air live from the Performance Center on its originally scheduled date of Sunday, April 5. Only essential personnel will be in attendance on the closed set.
“In coordination with local partners and government officials, WrestleMania and all related events in Tampa Bay will not take place,” WWE’s statement said. “However, WrestleMania will still stream live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view. Only essential personnel will be on the closed set at WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Florida to produce WrestleMania.”
WrestleMania 36 was supposed to be held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, but it had become clear over the last several days that — due to the coronavirus pandemic — the show wouldn’t be able to go on in its originally planned form.
“I’m hoping that Vince McMahon and WrestleMania and WWE make the call themselves but a week from now, if they’ve not done that and we’re still in the situation we’re in, we’ll probably have to pull the plug on that,” Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller had said last Thursday.
WWE put out a statement last week saying they were committed to holding WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium on April 5 but were putting contingency plans in place in the event that the show was canceled by government officials, civil authorities, and/or local venues.
Last Friday’s SmackDown, tonight’s Raw, and this Wednesday’s NXT have all also officially been moved to the Performance Center.
Are you interested in attending our annual F4W/WON convention? We will hold it during AEW Double or Nothing weekend. For more information, check this post for activities and prices.
A story on the Corona Virus and pro wrestling and MMA shows around the world is the lead story in a double-issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week.
We go through:
Where everything stood at press time for large and small promotions all over the world, as well as other sports.
Which companies can survive this period the best and how this threatens the future of many companies and wrestlers, a well as WWE and other name indie talent that likely can’t be coming to the U.S. because of travel bans.
This is one of the biggest stories to have faced the world in our lifetime, and it affects every business, but sports and entertainment businesses, like all, will take an unforeseen shock.
The issue also covers:
Rob Gronkowski and WWE, what is believed to be the extent of the deal, who is Gronkowski, his prior experience in WWE, what he had said about doing pro wrestling in the past and what kind of impact his being in WWE could have.
The series of copycat lawsuits filed by a number of legal firms against WWE, the claims in the cases and a response by Jerry McDevitt to the cases.
The situation with David Starr being pressured out of wXw and Progress, the attempt to unionize wrestlers in the U.K. and companies that have jumped on board.
Full coverage of the Elimination Chamber show with notes on the show, updated plans for WrestleMania, business notes and match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
Update WWE PPV talks, Davey Boy Smith in Hall of Fame, salary of WWE’s top executives, the change in Paul Levesque’s backstage role, how talent contracts have changed, who owns the most WWE stock, XFL ratings and how this week changed the narrative, Cena movie delayed by a year of release due to Corona Virus, Rousey in WWE offices, change that was made in Friday tapings, Canadian ratings, UFC star talks about doing WWE, injury updates, more on a new athlete that just started, plus he most-watched shows on the WWE Network and details of all NXT & WWE arena events over the past week.
An extensive feature on Wayne Bridges, one of the biggest names in European pro wrestling during the 70s and 80s. We look at his sports background before pro wrestling, how he could into pro wrestling, his unique role in some major movies, his Japanese tours and his time in North America, the history of the world heavyweight title as recognized in the U.K., plus his biggest run as world heavyweight champion, appearing on the big Wembley and Royal Albert Hall shows, tragedies in his life and much more. This is a great history piece about an era of pro wrestling that a lot of U.S. fans aren’t aware of.
Complete coverage of UFC 248, including the show, what happens next, the judging, who the media thought won the key fights, and business notes.
Oregon wrestling in the 80s and its top heel, Rip “The Crippler” Oliver, who passed away last week. We look at the atmosphere when he first arrived, his life and career before Oregon, his attempts to leave and why he always ended up back, his records set, biggest feuds, extensive title history, the 1982 tag team tournament at the Omni in Atlanta,Billy Jack Haynes, Roddy Piper, Buddy Rose and the death of the Don Owen territory.
Update the situation with Scott Steiner.
End of an era, as after 41 years, Stu Sacks leaves Pro Wrestling Illustrated and a career in wrestling journalism that goes back 50 years to his childhood.
Regarding the Wednesday numbers, we’ve got full details, demos that each side won, how every segment did and what match ended up as the difference maker.
All the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
We send our best to everyone during this very trying time. I guess the only thing we can do now is be patient and wait things out. For those of us in Northern California where they don’t want anyone out of their home after midnight tonight, through April 7, good luck.
WWE just sent this out regarding WrestleMania: “In coordination with local partners and government officials, WrestleMania and all related events in Tampa Bay will not take place. However, WrestleMania will still stream live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 pm ET on WWE Network and be available on pay-per-view. Only essential personnel will be on the closed set at WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Florida to produce WrestleMania.”
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking the news, covering Raw, and everything else. If you’ve got questions for the show you can send to [email protected]
I want to say a big thank you to Dr. Alex Patel once again, who has been helping our readers endlessly through this ordeal.
The front page has a story on the UFC having to throw in the towel on their next three events scheduled for 3/21, 3/28 and 4/11. They were going to run the shows on an Indian Reservation in Oklahoma which had okayed it, but then when the CDC didn’t want gatherings of more than ten people at a time, at that point Dana White recognized it would be impossible to do an event. Based on that, it’s going to be very difficult for WWE & AEW as well. At this point WWE is still planning on running at the Performance Center every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and AEW in Jacksonville every Wednesday.
White was on SportsCenter noting the three cancellations but being insistent that the 4/18 show with Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson will go on, although likely in a foreign country. Nurmagomedov trains here and everything is supposed to be shut down. The idea of him fighting when gyms are supposed to be shut during his most important weeks of training for the toughest fight of his careers sounds like a bad idea. We can’t and shouldn’t rush anything no matter what timing some of these people had for events.
I want to send our best to longtime friend Jeff Bowdren who is currently hospitalized battling lymphoma. He will explain everything in a podcast tomorrow from his hospital room. For readers of the Observer in the 90s, this is the same Bowdren of “Bowdren the Booker” fame. He’s been a fan forever and a great guy.
WWE
WWE wasn’t hit as bad as other companies in today’s market crash. The market itself was down 13 percent but WWE was down 5.4% to $30.44 per share. Because of being cash rich and having most of its revenue guaranteed in TV deals, WWE is far better equipped than most companies to handle this situation.
Raw tonight will be interesting for three hours. Steve Austin and Edge were to appear. Undertaker and A.J. Styles were to do a contract signing for a WrestleMania that needs to be postponed and still hasn’t been. At last word they were only filming one show which given the events of the past week, I can’t really understand. There is at least talk of multiple filming later.
The Steve Austin “Broken Skull Sessions” interview with Bret Hart debuts tonight on the WWE network.
www.BetOnline.ag is taking odds on how many stunners Steve Austin delivers as well as who will take the first stunner, with Buddy Murphy and Seth Rollins both +200 and Randy Orton +300.
MISCELLANEOUS
WrestleTalk and Will Ospreay put together a show this afternoon on YouTube which was to raise money for wrestlers who aren’t getting a paycheck since all the shows were canceled. They were doing crowd funding and any ad revenue to split up pay: The show was an empty arena show in London: Paul Robinson b The OJMO, Chuck Cyrus won over Adam Maxted, Carlos Romo, Malik and Paul Sayres, Gisele Shaw b Mercedes Blaze, David Starr b Callum Newman, Lucas Steel & Nathan Cruz b Robbie X & Scotty Davis, Kyle Fletcher b Connor Mills, Will Ospreay b Bea Priestley. People were raving about this match. They tried to push it as New Japan vs. AEW and boyfriend vs girlfriend.
USA Wrestling is postponing all national events through 4/20, which includes the last chance Olympic trials and the Olympic team trials, which were set for 4/4 and 4/5.
A correction regarding the PCW show on Saturday night in Melbourne and drawing 1,500 fans. While there is a recommendation on events drawing more than 500 fans in Australia to be canceled, it actually went into effect today. (thanks to Dan Lennard)
In a soundbite recorded Thursday after an emergency meeting of the county’s Emergency Policy Group, Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller said if WWE doesn’t make the call to postpone WrestleMania due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they likely will.
“I’m hoping that Vince McMahon and WrestleMania and WWE make the call themselves but a week from now, if they’ve not done that and we’re still in the situation we’re in, we’ll probably have to pull the plug on that,” he said.
In that aforementioned meeting, the committee agreed to wait a week for WWE to make a decision but weren’t as definitive as Miller’s statement after the fact.
In what has best been described as a high stakes game of chicken, WWE released a statement they are making contingency plans if the county doesn’t allow the show to go on as planned:
“While we remain committed to hosting WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, April 5, we are putting contingency plans in place in the event that it is canceled by government officials, civil authorities and/or local venues.”
WWE has already had to make changes in their schedule, moving last night’s SmackDown and Monday’s Raw to their Orlando, FL, based Performance Center and canceling their weekend house shows.
WWE has issued a statement on the current status of WrestleMania 36.
“While we remain committed to hosting WrestleMania at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, April 5, we are putting contingency plans in place in the event that it is cancelled by government officials, civil authorities and/or local venues,” WWE said. “The health and safety of our fans, performers and employees are our top priorities and we are monitoring the situation closely with our partners and government officials in Tampa Bay.”
The statement comes after WrestleMania was a subject of discussion at the Hillsborough County (Florida) Emergency Policy Group’s meeting today. With the show still a few weeks away, officials opted not to make a decision as of now. It was said that — if WWE doesn’t take action on their own — officials would reconvene to discuss updates and what actions to take next.
WWE has also confirmed that this Friday’s episode of SmackDown — which had been scheduled for the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan — is being moved to the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Only essential personnel will be in attendance at the episode.
A contract signing between AJ Styles and The Undertaker will take place next week on Raw.
The signing comes following tonight’s Raw, when AJ Styles officially challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania. The two have been at odds since Super Showdown, when the Undertaker appeared and chokeslammed Styles to win the Tuwaiq Trophy.
At Elimination Chamber last night, The Undertaker appeared once again, attacking Styles and laying him out during a match against Aleister Black after Styles’ cohorts, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, got involved. The Undertaker laid out everyone, including Styles, which allowed Black to pick up the win.
Styles tonight referred to Undertaker under his real name, Mark Calaway. He said that The Undertaker should have retired ten years ago, and is only coming back because Undertaker’s wife Michelle McCool is “playing him like a fiddle” and is “driving him into the ground”.
Stone Cold Steve Austin will also appear on next week’s show to celebrate 3/16 day.
Raw will be at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
