Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk MECHA NEWS, I am Luke Owen. You know Oli has been
saying that weird things are going on at the moment, and I’ve been getting a lot of tweets
about Fakidor not being trustworthy. But everything just makes sense at the moment. Anyway, give
us a subscribe and hit the thumbs up button to support WrestleTalk. And leave a comment
down below to answer our question of the day: Do you want to see The Undertaker have a match
at WrestleMania and if you do, who would it be against? Because on today’s news we’ve
got an update on Undertaker at Mania, Dean Ambrose possibly staying with WWE, and even
more possible NXT call-ups happening soon. But first!
Roman Reigns returning to Raw gave a big boost to their ratings this week - pulling in their
best number since August last year. Sadly the same could not be said for Smackdown Live.
Despite advertising a contract signing for Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston at Fastlane,
Johnny Gargano vs. Cesaro and the team of Aleister Black and Ricochet taking on Rusev
and Shinsuke Nakamura, Smackdown was down 6% from their rating from last week - pulling
in 2.1 million viewers. The show did have strong competition however, going up against
a basketball match between the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics, which I’m sure was filled
with touchdowns and home runs and such and such.
But what did you think of the show? I thought it was SmackTastic, and a whopping 67% agreed
with me with just 17% agreeing with Oli that it was Smack Bang in the Middle.
The big story coming off this week’s Smackdown was Vince McMahon pulling Kofi Kingston from
his WWE Fastlane Baby match against WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, replacing him with the returning
and brand jumping Kevin Owens. Interestingly reports from various places like the Wrestling
Observer and WrestleVotes was that Bryan vs. Owens was set to be the WWE Championship match
for WrestleMania - with Owens returning as the everyman babyface as was teased in his
cell phone promos where he goes bowling and to the cinema with his kid. But with Kofi
gaining an incredible amount of momentum following replacing Mustafa Ali in the 2019 Elimination
Chamber, it’s now being reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Vince McMahon
made the decision last week to switch the two matches - having Owens vs. Bryan at Fastlane
Baby and Kofi vs. Bryan at WrestleMania.
You may have noticed when I was talking about the promoted matches for Smackdown Live this
week there was supposed to a match between Johnny Gargano and Cesaro, with NXT Champion
Tommaso Ciampa and Sheamus in their respective corners. That match didn’t take place in
the end, with The Bar instead facing the reuniting Hardy Boyz. Although Cesaro tweeted after
the show that the card is always subject to change, it’s being reported by Dave Meltzer
that Tommaso Ciampa is actually currently injured and that’s why he wasn’t on Raw
and Smackdown this week in ring, and why he’s not listed for NXT house shows this coming
weekend. Meltzer writes that he doesn’t know the severity of the injury but the plan
was for him to take care of it after NXT TakeOver: New York.
PWInsider have corroborated this story, saying that the original plan for Raw was a four-team
tag match between DIY, Black & Ricochet, Curt Hawkins & Zack and possibly Bobby Roode & Chad
Gable with The Revival at ringside, but that was changed when it was revealed that Ciampa
had a neck injury that kept him from being cleared for in-ring work. PWInsider add that
WWE will need to be creative to work around this injury, and that “We are told all options
are on the table, depending on what the final determination is regarding his injury” especially
in regards to him work Fastlane, WrestleMania and NXT TakeOver: New York.
And Ciampa’s fellow NXT call-ups Gargano, Ricochet and Aleister Black might not be the
only ones joining the main roster soon.
Following the signings of Shayna Baszler and Ronda Rousey, WWE also snapped up their MMA
Horsewomen cohorts Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir - who have since debuted on NXT TV
in the corner of NXT Women’s Champion Baszler. Since all four signed to the company - and
given the teases shot during the first Mae Young Classic in 2017 - it has been speculated
that WWE want to do a Horsewomen vs. Horsewomen match - pitting Rousey, Shafir, Duke and Baszler
against Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. And although many fans figured
that Duke, Shafir and Baszler would come up as a group, tweets from two of those three
might suggest otherwise.
This past Wednesday saw Baszler take on Mia Yim in the main event of NXT where she was
not flanked by Duke and Shafir - leading to the pair of them tweet that they couldn’t
be in her corner as they had another horsewoman they have to help. Shafir tweeted: “As much
as I’d love to see that “gangsta” @MiaYim get put to sleep by @QoSBaszler, I would much
rather hang with my best friend! See you soon @RondaRousey!” while Duke posted: “Believe
me, I’d love to be in Shayna’s corner tomorrow for her match with @MiaYim... but
another friend is in need and @QoSBaszler has assured me that tomorrow is gonna be light
work. I’ll see you soon @RondaRousey and @NatbyNature!!”
And while this might not mean anything as there are plenty of backstage segments that
could air, Duke and Shafir were not out in front of the crowd for the last set of NXT
tapings going by fan reports - which could mean a main roster call-up is coming soon.
But if WWE did have plans to do a Horsewomen eight woman tag at some point soon, they might
be missing a rather key component of the match.
Earlier this year Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Ronda
Rousey would be taking time off from WWE following WrestleMania, Although Ronda is still signed
to WWE until 2021, it was reported that she was looking to take time off from the wrestling
world so she could start a family - something she’s been very open about in interviews.
While it is expected for Ronda to come back to WWE at some point - especially with Smackdown
moving to Fox in October - PWInsider have noted that Rousey is not advertised for WWE
live events or TV tapings following the Raw After Mania show in Brooklyn - adding credence
to the original report that she is going to take some time off from wrestling.
But before she can do that, Ronda has the small matter of defending her Raw Women’s
Championship at WrestleMania. The always trusty Laurie Blake talked yesterday on his news
episode about a Twitter spat between Rousey and Lynch - beginning with Becky tweeting
about Ronda getting her belt back on Raw so she could beat her for it at Mania - which
Ronda responded to by saying that’s what she’s trying to do dumbass
But here’s where things get slightly more heated with fruitier language - with Becky
comparing Ronda to The Room’s Tommy Wiseau and telling her to keep the F word out of
her mouth, Rousey responding by saying the only thing fake is Becky’s armbar saying
it “just looks like you’re holding the dick you wish you had” and Becky replying
by Photoshopping Ronda’s husband’s face into the picture and saying, “it *does*
look exactly like one now that you mention it.” And how did Ronda responda? “Rebecca
Quin, I don’t care what the script says, I’m beating the living s*** out of you the
next time I see you.” Are we sure WWE didn’t re-hire Vince Russo and not Bruce Prichard?
This has led many fans to believe that there is real-life heat between Ronda and Becky,
but Dave Meltzer has reported via Twitter that despite the salty language, this is all
by design and likely the work of Paul Heyman - who wants the feud to feel real and drum
up interest in the match. Interestingly though WrestleVotes have added that some of the language
was not signed off on saying, “The “word for word” language was not approved by WWE.
Don’t be naïve & think it was. Sure, WWE wants to drum up attention to the storyline
via social media fued, but they certainly aren’t thrilled w/ some of the wording used.”
With that said, at least it’s one of the few WrestleMania matches that appears to be
set in stone, which can be said for the rest of the card.
According to the Wrestling Observer, despite being five weeks away the WrestleMania card
has still not yet been finalised. While we know that Seth Rollins will take on Brock
Lesnar, Triple H and Batista are going to clash, and there will likely be a triple threat
for the Raw Women’s Championship between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair,
many other factors are still up in the air. Dave Meltzer is reporting that John Cena and
Kurt Angle’s matches have yet to be decided - with Cena’s feuds with Lars Sullivan and
Drew McIntyre being dropped, and no decision being made on if they’re still going to
do Angle’s retirement storyline. Meltzer adds that as of posting this week, there is
still no match for The Undertaker and it’s looking likely he won’t be part of the show.
And one of the reasons Taker reportedly won’t be part of Mania this year is because he’s
agreed to be part of Starrcast II on the same day as All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing
in Las Vegas. And it’s been reported that this hurt Vince McMahon personally and he
actually tried to get Undertaker pulled from the show. In an interesting twist to the tale,
on February 14th, Starrcast LLC applied for the trademark of “Dead Man Talking”, which
was figured to be for a panel show at this and future Starrcast events - but it was also
speculated by some fans that this could be the launch of a new podcast series. For what
it’s worth, Dave Meltzer did reach out and ask the question to the relevant people if
Undertaker was launching a podcast and “did not get a direct answer.”
Taker’s WrestleMania 33 opponent Roman Reigns made his triumphant return to WWE this past
Monday, announcing that he was in remission from his leukemia and that he was now back
full-time on Raw - leading to WrestleVotes reporting that WWE were now making plans for
Reigns to have a match at WrestleMania. But before we get to that, there are reports that
Roman might team with his Shield brothers Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose to take on Baron
Corbin and his merry band of midcarders with no direction.
It’s also a new interesting twist in the Dean Ambrose leaving WWE saga, which currently
is still set for the end of April. Unless this is all just a big Brian Pillman-esque
work, of course. What’s interesting is that a recent autograph signing, a fan asked Roman
Reigns about his thoughts on Ambrose leaving the company, to which the Big Dog barked back,
“that he would take care of that.”
And he may already have had some success in that area, as WWE.com is listing Ambrose for
live events in May on their European tour. Though they’re also advertising Dolph Ziggler,
so I guess card subject to change?
Thank you for watching and a special thank you to our awesome Pledge Hammers on Patreon
scrolling into my stomach and giving me all the power of IDDQD. Oli Davis has a news over
there about more stars signed by WWE which you should totally check out. And click the
link down there to get your name in these credits. I’ve been Luke Owen and that was
wrestling.