Here is your news for March 20, 2020
We’re starting today with some more huge changes to Wrestle Mania, as this
year’s show is shaping up to be different to any of the other previous events.
Not only will the showcase of the Immortals now air from the Performance Center
and over two days, but according to reports, the show could also be pre-taped in advance.
Post Wrestling is reporting that RAW and Smackdown will also be taped, as they reported:
The company will be taping the remaining episodes of Friday Night
SmackDown and Raw leading into WrestleMania.
One source we spoke with indicated that they are expecting both
WrestleMania shows to be taped over the next week as well.
With everything that has been going on in the world lately, the WWE has had to
make some huge compromises so they’re biggest show of the year can go ahead
on schedule, and this is a smart move by the company.
With how fluid the situation is, it’s possible that more restrictions about public
g********** could be put in place, making it impossible for WWE to produce
content before WrestleMania takes place on April 4th and 5th.
Of course, that is just speculation, but WWE is certainly not wanting to take any
chances, and though this year’s WrestleMania will certainly be one to remember,
it probably won’t be for the reasons WWE wants.
Speaking of WrestleMania, this year’s show will be the first in the event’s 36 year
history to be split over two days.
There’s been plenty of speculation about why the show has been split, and this
week, Dave Meltzer gave his own explanation over why the decision has been made.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer cited the ***’s guidelines that people
should a***** g********** of *************, which would have been a huge
issue if WrestleMania was just one day long.
Now, the company will be able to have a lot more people work on WrestleMania,
whilst keeping the number of people in the Performance Center low, and whilst
the city of Orlando may still nix WrestleMania all together, the company remains
determined to host their biggest show of the year, on time.
We’ve got even more Wrestle Mania news for you now, as the WWE’s website has
updated the WrestleMania card to show what matches are happening when.
Though the card is always subject to change, and this match listing hasn’t been
officially announced, the website says that the Saturday April 4th show will have
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defend his title against Drew McIntyre.
That night will also see NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley put her title on the
line against Charlotte Flair, the Undertaker face AJ Styles, and Kevin Owens take
on Seth Rollins.
As for the April 5th show, fans will see WWE Universal Champion Goldberg take on
Roman Reigns, and RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch put her title on the line
against Shayna Baszler.
The Sunday show will also see John Cena take on ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt, and as
more matches are announced, it’ll be interesting to see where they end up on the
WrestleMania card.
Whilst WWE are determined to host WrestleMania in just a few weeks, that
doesn’t mean everyone is a fan of the new plans for the showcase of the Immortals.
According to a tweet from WrestleVotes, a source of them has said that the
majority of Superstars are hoping that WrestleMania is postponed, but didn’t
name any wrestlers in particular.
One person who is known to be unhappy about the new WrestleMania plans, is
Randy Orton, who took to Instagram to share his displeasure at the situation.
In a post, the Viper shared the updated WrestleMania poster, complete with the
two dates, and guest host Rob Gronkowski, with the caption: “Well ain’t that
some bulls**t”
The fact that Orton included the #LetMeCountTheWays implies that the
former World Champion has plenty of reasons to be ticked off, but despite this,
Orton is still scheduled to face Edge at the show, in a Last Man Standing Match.
From one former World Champion to another now, as Kurt Angle has done it all in
WWE, and is still managing to have some fun, despite what’s happening in the world.
On Twitter, the Olympic Gold Medalist shared himself singing Jimmy Crack Corn, a
nod to his appearance on the July 12th, 2001 edition of SmackDown, where Kurt
sang the same song in an effort to cheer up Vince McMahon.
Though we doubt Angle will be getting signed to any record labels anytime soon,
it’s still hilarious to see Kurt sing, and what makes it even better is that he’s sat on
his couch in his full wrestling gear, and gold medal.
It’s good to see that Angle is still able to have fun despite this worrying time, as
the Hall of Famer continues to entertain the fans, from the comfort of his own home.
Speaking of World Champions, The Undertaker will return to WWE for
WrestleMania this year, as he will take on AJ Styles in what is nothing short of a
dream match.
Appearing on RAW this week, the Deadman’s new look seemed similar to his
times as the American Badass, and according to the Oh You Didn’t Know patreon,
the company had some big plans for the Phenom’s WrestleMania entrance. They said:
According to a source in WWE, The Undertaker was scheduled to come out
on a motorcycle for his Wrestle Mania entrance. This may also allude to
The Undertaker ditching his historical look to be the American Bad Ass or
Big Evil character. It’s not clear if that will still happen with WrestleMania
no longer taking place at Raymond James Stadium.
With WrestleMania now happening at the Performance Center, it’s highly unlikely
that the Deadman will ride to the ring on a motorcycle, but fans should still expect
a great match, when the Phenom meets the Phenomenal One at WrestleMania.
Whilst both Styles and the Deadman have a big day ahead of them at
WrestleMania, one person who doesn’t have a match yet is Daniel Bryan, but
there may be a good reason for that.
Speaking on the Bella Twins podcast, Bryan discussed how his life has changed
recently, as he prepares for his and Brie’s second child, as well as becoming an
uncle to Nikki’s baby. He said:
“WWE has been great. They’re gonna give me six weeks paternity leave which
so few places in the United States do that. So I’ll get to be home that first six
weeks, but then after that, it’s not long until my contract is up. We’ve been
talking about what we do from there, but to me, in my mind it’s almost, like, I
think I’m just done being a full-time wrestler.”
Given that Bryan had to retire from wrestling in 2016, it’s a miracle to see him
compete at all, so even having Bryan competing as a part- time wrestler is still
great news for fans.
It’s obvious that Bryan is putting his family first, and we can’t blame the Eco
Warrior, who has earned a much deserved break from the ring, after years of
entertaining millions of fans around the world.
Back to WrestleMania now, and though the fact that this year’s show will still host
some of the biggest matches of the year, there are some bouts that have been cancelled.
According to the Pro Wrestling Sheet, both the men’s and women’s Battle Royals
have been cancelled, as the WWE doesn’t want to have too many Superstars so
close together, following the guidelines of the ***. They said:
“According to multiple sources, the annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle
Royal and the women’s battle royal matches were pulled from the card to
abide by *** and government recommendations as much as possible while
producing the event.
We’re told this is one of the many precautionary measures WWE is taking
during the event to ‘flatten the curve.’”
“When reached for comment, WWE confirmed the battle royals would not be
taking place this year.”
A rumoured Women’s tag team title match between the Kabuki Warriors, the
Divas of Doom and Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross has also reportedly been nixed, as
this year’s show is clearly going to be much different than the one WWE had
planned just a few weeks ago.
One match that will be going ahead at WrestleMania is the Universal title match
between Goldberg and Roman Reigns, as the Big Dog is hoping to capture the title
he never lost, but was forced to vacate in 2018.
Recently, CM Punk commented on WrestleMania taking place without a live
crowd, saying that this will ensure that Roman won’t get booed at the biggest
show of the year, and that he won’t have fans chanting Punk’s name.
These comments clearly didn’t go down well with many people, as Punk has said
he didn’t mean to insult the Big Dog, whilst speaking on the Sing and Mrs podcast.
He said:
“Sometimes if I haven’t eaten in two hours, I get crabby, and I can take
things the wrong way. It’s not meant as a personal attack on anybody. If
anybody is super offended, I didn’t do it on purpose. Sometimes I get
Twitter fingers, but it’s not the way I would’ve done things. It is what it is.”
We’re not quite sure what Punk was intending by the comments, if he didn’t mean
to insult Reigns, but whatever the truth is, Reigns is still expected to walk out of
WrestleMania, as the new Universal Champion.
From one person who’s had beef with WWE to another now, as for years, it
seemed like Bret Hart would never return to WWE, after the Montreal Screwjob.
Fortunately, Bret did return to the company in January 2010, and was recently the
guest on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions, when he discussed what happened
in the run-up to the Screwjob. He said:
“We were ready to go to Montreal for the Survivor Series and I remember
Shawn went to shake my hand — me and him had a little fisticuffs a few
months before that — he came in to thank me for the match which is
customary. We were shaking hands and I said, ‘Hey Shawn I just found out that
we’re wrestling in Montreal and I just wanted to let you know that I’ll always
be a professional in the ring and you don’t have to worry about me going off
the rails or doing something to ya or trying to hurt ya’ because we’d had some friction.”
“‘I said I have no problem putting you over, no trouble dropping the title to
you, I’ll do anything you want.’ The big problem between me and Shawn
started right then when he said, ‘I appreciate that, but I’m just wanting to let
you know that I’m not willing to do the same for you.’ Then he turned around
and walked out of the dressing room.”
When Vince McMahon told Bret that he was set to lose the WWF Title to Shawn in
Montreal, the Hitman’s creative control that he had in the final two months of his
contract meant that Bret vetoed the idea, saying that he wouldn’t lose in Canada
to someone who had so little respect for him.
Obviously, we all know what happened, as Bret would end up losing the title
despite never tapping out to the Sharpshooter, and this ultimately led to the Mr.
McMahon character on TV, helping to usher in the Attitude Era.
We’re having a look at WWE’s corporate side now, as the company has seen a lot
of lawsuits recently.
There was recently a lawsuit over keeping WWE money separate from the XFL,
which was followed by another lawsuit over the Saudi Arabia deal, and now yet
another lawsuit, this time over the fall of WWE stock, and investors wanting to
find out what went wrong.
Now, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that more law firms are
looking to join this third class action lawsuit, saying:
The company has had more law firms looking to jump into the class action
lawsuits against them over the stock price drop after the Wilson/Barrios
firing and second drop after the last conference call.
It’s certainly a strange time to be in WWE, as it seems nothing can go right, and
whilst the Saudi Arabia deal and their tv contracts with FOX are helping keep the
money rolling in, things certainly aren’t looking good for Vince McMahon.
Now, we all know that WWE loves using Social Media, and one of their most active
Superstars online, is WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Asuka.
Not only does the Empress have her own YouTube channel Kana Chan TV, but she
also has Instagram, Twitter and until recently, had Facebook.
In a Tweet, Asuka revealed that her Facebook account has been suspended, and
according to the Japanese Superstar, this isn’t fair, as she’s not done anything to
violate the company’s policy.
Violations on Facebook can be a tricky thing, as usually, even the smallest claims
are not looked into, and the use dealing with it is given a strike on their account.
Hopefully, Asuka will be able to get this sorted, but until then, fans will have to
head to Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to see the colourful, charismatic Champion.
And finally today we’re ending with more news from WWE’s Performance Center
shows, as a recent edition of RAW found a unique way to fill the three hours.
As WWE have realised that having a ton of matches without a crowd can be
difficult, the company chose to replay the Men’s 2020 Royal Rumble, which saw
Drew McIntyre last eliminate Roman Reigns to punch his ticket to the main event
at WrestleMania.
This idea certainly paid off for the company, as this week’s RAW saw the red brand
get some of it’s highest ratings all year, and Dave Meltzer spoke more about this
on Wrestling Observer Radio, saying:
“This rating was because they put the Royal Rumble on TV and stretched
it out to almost two hours and people watched because it was the Royal
Rumble on free television.”
The WWE will do everything within their power to keep airing RAW and
SmackDown during this unpredictable time, and given that airing the Royal
Rumble match clearly worked, this may not be the last time the WWE goes into
it’s archives, to help fill the time on RAW and SmackDown.