Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News, I am Luke Owen and I hope everyone isn’t
too bleary eyed after getting up early to watch WrestleKingdom 12.
Headline: Daniel Bryan’s WWE Ultimatum
Daniel Bryan had his last wrestling match for WWE on the April 16th 2015 edition of
Smackdown Live, but had to take time off due to the concussion-related injuries he’d
suffered on that European tour.
He shortly announced plans to return to wrestling, but on February 8th 2016, Bryan officially
announced he was retiring.
Even before he retired from WWE, Bryan gave interviews where he said he had been cleared
by outside doctors, but was unable to get clearance from WWE’s Dr. Maroon.
And without clearance from him, he will not be able to step foot inside a WWE ring competitively.
Last year his wife Brie Bella revealed that Bryan had been travelling all over the United
States to gather evidence to show he was able to compete, and was on a serious mission to
get back inside the squared circle.
Since Survivor Series, Bryan has been involved in a storyline with Smackdown Live commissioner
Shane McMahon, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, which has recently added WWE Champion AJ Styles
into the mix.
Many have speculated that this was leading to some sort of match between McMahon and
Bryan.
Or a tag match where Shane and Daniel take on Owens and Zayn.
Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter last year that if this match - or
some variation of it - were to take place it would possibly be at Summerslam 2018, but
according to Bryan that might not be the case.
His WWE contract is set to expire later this year, and he has said that he plans to wrestle
outside of WWE for Ring of Honor, New Japan or even The Bullet Club’s 10,000 seat show
if he doesn’t re-sign.
And in an interview with Sports Illustrated while as a guest at the Springfield Thunderbird’s
hockey game, Bryan said, “I assume that if I don’t wrestle by WrestleMania, I probably
won’t be wrestling with WWE at all.”
This could mean that WWE and Bryan are actively working on getting him cleared for WrestleMania,
presumably for a match involving Shane McMahon, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
Which is also backed up by Wrestle Votes on Twitter.
Headline: Shane McMahon High Profile WrestleMania Match
In news that will come as no surprise, Wrestle Votes - who broke the story of Neville leaving
WWE last year - are reporting that Shane McMahon is currently pencilled in for a high profile
match at WrestleMania.
Shane has been in featured WrestleMania matches since his return in 2016, first wrestling
The Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell and against AJ Styles last year.
When Shane was announced for WrestleMania against Undertaker, there was a spike in ticket
sales - although that could also be attributed to Taker and the Hell in a Cell stipulation
- and WWE believe he’s one of their biggest draws.
Whatever Shane’s match is, he will likely join the long-rumoured main event of Roman
Reigns challenging Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship.
Or will he?
Headline: Elimination Chamber Rumour Killer
An image of an Elimination Chamber main event in February began to float online yesterday,
reportedly from South African TV station SuperSport TV, which showed Braun Strowman defending
his Universal Championship in the Chamber against Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Cesaro,
Finn Balor and Big Cass.
With Strowman challenging for the title at Royal Rumble, many believed this was a leak
and meant Braun would be winning the triple threat.
However it has now been revealed by WrestleZone that this is actually a fake.
The original image comes from a YouTube video posted back in August 2017 featuring fantasy
booking scenarios for the PPV.
This image was then photoshopped to look like it was on a TV.
Sorry folks, but this is far from confirmation that The Monster Among Men is winning the
championship, and the rumours are that Elimination Chamber will actually be for the number one
contendership for the Universal Champion at WrestleMania, which will likely be The Big
Dog, Roman Reigns.
Headline: Raw Ratings
Despite heavy competition, Monday Night Raw was up 6% for its first show of 2018, bringing
in 2.86 million viewers.
We don’t have the Smackdown Live ratings yet, but we do have yours!
59% of you agreed with me with Smack Bang in the Middle, with 22% thinking the show
was SmackTastic.
And in the WrestleRamble poll, it was a close call but 58% of you disagreed with Oli and
I thinking Smackdown was the better show this week.
What huge match was made for Royal Rumble?
Click the videos for more awesome wrestling content.