Here is your news for March 14, 2020
We’re starting off today with news from SmackDown, and as promised, this
week’s show took place at the Performance Center, with commentary provided by
Michael Cole and Triple H.
In the opening match, Sasha Banks and Bayley took on Nikki Cross and Alexa
with a surprise appearance by RAW Superstar and Women’s Tag Team Champion Asuka.
After this, Cole conducted an in-ring interview with Roman Reigns, and there were
also some backstage segments, including an interview with Jeff Hardy.
In order to fill the two hours, the company showed the Tag Team Elimination
Chamber match from last Sunday, and the Game even referenced his recent
demotion backstage.
If you weren’t aware, the 14- time World Champion’s role backstage was changed,
as he is now the Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy and
Development, instead of his previous role as Executive VP of Talent, Live events and Creative.
At the commentary desk, the Game joked about the change, saying he’s the only
man who could be demoted and get busier, and the pairing of Triple H and Cole
worked well together, despite the lack of an audience.
Needless to say, this week’s edition of SmackDown was much different to
anything we’ve seen before, and that also includes how the Superstars acted in the ring.
Whilst wrestlers will continue competing during the break during a regular show
when there’s a live crowd there to see them, that wasn’t the case this time, as the
Superstars stopped wrestling as soon as they went to break.
Unfortunately for WWE, an International feed of Smack Down caught what was
happening during the commercial break, as fans over seas could see Bayley, Sasha
Banks, Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss, just waiting around for the show to come back
from the ads.
Whilst it makes sense that the Superstars don’t want to risk taking bumps when
there’s nobody around to see it, this was still a pretty embarrassing moment for
the company, and one that they’ll hopefully be able to avoid in the future.
Speaking of talented women, one person who knows all about the ups and downs
of WWE is Paige, who had to retire in 2018 due to injuries.
Since then though, the former Divas Champion has made it clear she hopes to
wrestle again, with the return of Daniel Bryan giving her hope that she’ll one day
compete in the squared circle.
Recently, Inside the Ropes spoke to the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion, and
Paige didn’t rule out an in- ring return, saying:
“I think it is always a possibility one day, you can never say never. It’s not
going to be any time soon. That’s mostly all I can say about it, it’s really
hard because I just had a neck surgery in August. My neck is just getting
h*****ier quicker the second time around which is crazy, I feel absolutely
fantastic. So, we’ll see where it goes.”
Though Paige says her neck Is feeling great, it’s ultimately WWE’s decision
whether they want her to compete again, though with the return of Daniel Bryan
and other stars who have come back from career- ending injuries, things certainly
look promising for the original Anti-Diva.
More Paige news now, as the former Divas Champion was supposed to appear on
this week’s SmackDown, but that didn’t occur.
On Twitter, Paige explained that she wasn’t able to make it to the Performance
Center because of travel, and daid that getting around is very hard with the global
m******c****** that is going on.
In that same tweet, Paige also commented that “at least Bayley is keeping you
entertained”, and added on Instagram that maybe we can try again next week.
It’s certainly interesting that Paige continues to call out the reigning SmackDown
Women’s Champion, and this has led many to speculate that it’ll be Paige herself,
who challenges for the title at WrestleMania 36, If the show goes ahead.
Whilst Paige is hoping to finally confront Bayley on next week’s SmackDown, her
return isn’t the only big thing announced for the show.
On next week’s show, WWE Universal Champion Goldberg will be returning to the
blue brand, as he will have a contract signing to make his WrestleMania match
official, against Roman Reigns.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see what Goldberg has to say, and next week’s show
will feature another huge appearance, in addition to Paige and the Universal Champion.
As confirmed by WWE, Rob Gronkowski will appear on the blue brand next week,
and this was revealed on Smack Down, by Gronk’s real-life good friend Mojo Rawley.
As a two-time Superbowl Champion, the New England Patriot star had plenty of
success on the field before retiring, and is now looking to bring his skills to the ring.
It’ll be interesting to see what Gronk, Paige and Goldberg have to say next week,
especially if the show has no live audience again, as this year’s road to
WrestleMania has been bumpy to say the least.
Speaking of Gronk, fans may remember him appearing at the WrestleMania 33
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and the former NFL star will also have an
appearance this year.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the plan for Gronkowksi won’t
see him competing in a match, as they said:
“At press time we were told that he is not at this point in a match at
WrestleMania, but whether he is on the show and in what form is still being decided.
It was previously reported that WWE wanted the former NFL star’s debut to be a
surprise, but given his star- power, using Gronk’s name to hype up the show
certainly makes a lot of sense.
Time will tell just when exactly will Grinkowski have his first official match, but one
thing we’re confident on, is that it won’t be happening at WrestleMania 36.
We’re looking ahead to next week’s edition of Monday Night RAW, as for the first
time ever, the show will also have no live audience.
Instead, next week’s episode will emanate from the WWE Performance Center,
much like this week’s Smack Down Live, and the only people in the area will be
essential personnel.
This news was confirmed by a tweet from WWE, who mentioned that the show
was originally scheduled to take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and it’ll be
interesting to see just how the 3:16 edition of RAW goes, complete with an
appearance by Steve Austin, without a crowd for the Rattlesnake to feed off.
We’ve got even more changes to WWE’s programming now, as 205 Live will no
long be live, according to the Wrestling Observer.
In their report, it was revealed that the purple brand will be filmed before Firday
Night SmackDown, as they said:
WWE is now taping 205 Live first, before SmackDown, and starting its East
Coast shows at 7:15 p.m. They are taping usually two matches, cutting
the time back on 205 Live, and then taping SmackDown, and doing one
dark match main event after the show.
The dark match following Smack Down is not a 205 Live match, and it appears that
WWE has figured out how to make sure that fans stick around for the purple
brand, as they’re filming it when fans are arriving, not when they want to leave.
We’re once again looking at the global m******c****** that is affecting people, as
even WWE Hall of Famers aren’t risking getting s***.
This week, it was revealed that Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, who were supposed to
be attending Toy Con in Las Vegas, won’t be appearing now, as more and more
wide public gatherings are being cancelled, or having major changes.
On Twitter, Nash mentioned that the NBA’s recent actions to reduce the rate of
i********, and said that in the interest of the fan’s h*****, this choice was a no-brainer.
Both Nash and Hall are set to receive their second inductions into the WWE Hall of
Fame as part of the New World Order, but time will tell whether WWE goes ahead
with the Ceremony and Wrestle Mania, which is currently scheduled to place in early April.
Speaking of the global m****** c******, next week’s episode of WWE Backstage
was supposed to feature both the return of CM Punk and an appearance by NXT
Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley, but that won’t be happening now.
The WWE on FOX account has revealed that the production of the show has been
suspended due to the ongoing m******c*****, and that the show will be suspending
production at least until March 20th.
On Twitter, WWE Backstage presenter Renee Young said that she was
disappointed in not being able to make the show, but understood that h***** and
s***** were the number one c******.
Though the show has struggled with the rating pretty much since it launched,
WWE Backstage still provides an entertaining hour of WWE programming, so
hopefully the FS1 show won’t be gone for very long.
We mentioned that NXT Women’s Champion was supposed to be appearing on
WWE Backstage this week, but with the show being temporarily suspended, the
Aussie Superstar will have plenty of time to heal up.
On this week’s edition of NXT, Ripley took a beating from 2020 Women’s Royal
Rumble winner Charlotte Flair, who locked the champion in a figure four around
the ring post.
Continuing her attack, the Queen stomped on Ripley’s throat with her high heel,
and the NXT Women’s Champion took to Instagram to share a picture of the damage.
In a caption, Ripley joked that the mark looks like a surgical scar, saying that she
didn’t undergo neck surgery, but instead got a high-heeled boot to the throat.
It’s clear from the image that Flair’s boot left quite the mark on Ripley’s neck, but
we doubt that this will keep the NXT Women’s Champion down for long, as she
prepares for the biggest match of her career at WrestleMania 36.
Speaking of WrestleMania, one man who knows all about big matches, and NXT, is
Triple H, and whilst the Game isn’t scheduled to compete this year, that isn’t the
only big change for him.
We previously mentioned that Triple H’s official corporate title has changed, and
according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, this change is being seen as a
quiet demotion for the King of Kings. They said:
He was moved away from being in charge of talent and his main duties are
now NXT, selling NXT TV rights overseas and expanding NXT globally.
It’s a change. There are those internally and externally who have called it a quiet demotion.
To be fair to the Game, ever since he took over NXT, the gold brand has become
arguably the best part of WWE programming, so it makes sense that the company
wants Triple H as the head of trying to get TV deals for the third brand overseas.
It’s also been reported that Brad Blum, Vince McMahon’s Chief of Staff, is the man
who has replaced the Game as the Executive Vice President of Operations, and it’ll
be interesting to see just how the WWE reacts to these huge changes.
Now, earlier this year, Vince McMahon made headlines when he revealed that the
WWE was talking to some major players about buying the rights to Pay Per Views.
Since then, the WWE has been pretty hushed about the details of what this means
exactly, and the company has been quietly promoting that WrestleMania 36 will
take place on the WWE Network.
In the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was reported that the company is still
trying to see Pay Per View streaming rights, and the deal isn’t coming together as
quickly as hoped. They said:
WWE is still in talks with people regarding a PPV deal. They’ve announced
WrestleMania as being on the network which would indicate the belief
they aren’t close enough on the deal to not make that announcement.
The only thing we’ve heard is WWE is seeking a very high number for the deal
Though WrestleMania 36 is being promoted for the WWE Network, the show is
still up in the air, as time will tell whether the ongoing global m******issues will
cause the company to postpone their biggest show of the year.
At this time, the WWE is still looking to sell their streaming rights, but with
everything that has happened, it’s likely they won’t have any deals in place by
April 5th, when WrestleMania is scheduled to happen.
And finally today we’re ending with the results of SmackDown, as despite the lack
of a live audience, the men and women of the blue brand still put on an
entertaining show.
In the opening of the show, Bayley and Sasha Banks picked up the win over Alexa
Bliss and Nikki Cross, whilst Roman Reigns made it clear that he was coming for
Goldberg’s Universal title at WrestleMania.
In an unsurprisingly, incredible encounter, Daniel Bryan picked up the victory over
Cesaro, whilst Jeff Hardy returned to action, complete with a new back tattoo, by
defeating King Corbin.
And in the main event segment, John Cena spoke in the ring about his upcoming
match against Bray Wyatt, but was cut off when he noticed the former Universal
Champion had emerged in the front row.
After preying on Cena’s insecurities, including their WrestleMania encounter in
2014, Wyatt went as far as to blame the 16-time WWE World Champion for the
emergence of The Fiend, and beckoned for Cena to let him in, as their
WrestleMania match approaches.
Like we said, this week’s Smack Down was unique to say the least, given the lack of
a crowd, and it’ll be interesting to see how RAW’s three hour show will do next
week, and whether we will have many more episodes from the Performance
Center as the global m****** c******, carries on.