Here is your news for February 29, 2020.
We’re kicking off this leap year video with news from Smack Down, as after
winning the Universal title in Saudi Arabia, Goldberg became the first person to
win a major WWE Championship AFTER becoming a Hall of Famer.
Though some have wrestled after being inducted, Goldberg is the first to hold a
top singles title, though the wrestling world is still processing the fact that the Hall of
of Famer was able to end Wyatt’s reign with the gold at Super Showdown.
It doesn’t help matters that the match was far from great, as Goldberg was just
about able to lift Wyatt up for a poor incarnation of the Jackhammer, before
slamming him down to capture his second reign as champion.
Actor and wrestling fan Macaulay Culkin quickly reacted on social media, claiming
that he’d cancelled his tickets to Tampa, where WrestleMania 36 will be, after
what happened, and now Goldberg has responded to the Home Alone star.
Never one to shy from letting fans know what he thinks, Goldberg responded to
Culkin’s tweet with “Duly noted dork”, as it doesn’t look like the new champion
cares all that much regarding the push back he’s receiving.
As Goldberg is almost certainly heading to WrestleMania as champion, he will
Responding to Goldberg, Culkin told the two-time Universal Champion “Just don’t
try to tombstone me”, referencing Goldberg’s botch-filled encounter against The
Undertaker at Super Showdown 2019, and Wyatt himself has also commented on Twitter.
Claiming that life is a circle when he landed back in Boston from Saudi Arabia, the
Fiend also said that no matter how bright you try to make your life, the darkness is
always bound to come again.
Many speculated that this tweet was Wyatt setting his sights on John Cena,
instead of the Universal title, and by the end of SmackDown, this match was made
official for WrestleMania 36.
Hopefully Wyatt can defeat the 16-time World Champion at the biggest show of
the year, as his career needs a big win right now following his loss to Goldberg.
We’ve got more news from the Goldberg-Wyatt match, as one person who knows
all about the Fiend is Seth Rollins.
After all, the Architect lost the Universal title to The Fiend at Crown Jewel 2019,
and whilst fans aren’t happy with the Fiend losing the title to Goldberg, Rollins
was watching closely.
As one-half of the RAW Tag Team Champions, Rollins took to Twitter after the
Super Showdown main event, saying he should have pulled out the Jackhammer,
as that was the move that finally put down the Fiend.
During their Crown Jewel match, Wyatt was able to overcome many curb stomps,
and whilst the former Universal Champion was also able to kick out after four
spears, it seems the Jack hammer is Bray’s Kryptonite.
Perhaps Seth will need that information if they ever cross paths again, but it’s
hardly surprising that the Monday Night Messiah is feeling smug seeing his old
adversary lose, especially as he and Murphy retained their tag titles at Super Showdown.
Rollins is just one of many current stars who have commented on the match, as
multiple NXT Superstars have poked fun at Goldberg.
We’ve previously reported that Matt Riddle sarcastically commented that
Goldberg used the BroHammer instead of the Jackhammer, and now Riddle’s tag
partner Pete Dunne has also weighed in, claiming that the new Universal
Champion is a big Broserweights fan.
This comment was echoed by Velveteen Dream, who also claimed that Goldberg
had used the BroHammer, whilst Tyler Breeze claimed that the new champion
may have suffered a hernia after the match.
Despite these comments, we doubt that Goldberg cares what other people think,
as he was able to leave Saudi Arabia as Universal Champion, exactly as he planned.
Of course, WWE Super Show down is just one show in the WWE’s 10-year deal
with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the company will be back again this year.
According to Wrestling Club, a WWE employee confirmed to them that the WWE
will be back in October as they said in a translated tweet.
“Exclusively: A WWE worker yesterday assured us that the next wrestling show in
Saudi Arabia will be in October, but the city has not yet been identified. “
It’ll be interesting to see who WWE can get for their next event, as they have
historically brought huge shows to Saudi Arabia, but what we know for now is that
they have eight months to plan ahead.
We’re looking at Friday Night SmackDown now, as the show opened with
Goldberg coming out to ask who’s next, which led to Roman Reigns to appear,
telling the Universal Champion “I’m next.”
By the end of the broadcast, the match was made official, as Roman Reigns will
face Goldberg for the Universal Title at WrestleMania 36.
This’ll be Roman’s first singles opportunity at the gold since his return from
Leukemia last year, and the Big Dog is hoping to get the biggest win of his career
in his home state, on April 5th.
From one Hall of Famer to another now, as Booker T has spoken about a lot on his
podcast, and recently commented on the Goldberg- Reigns match.
On his Hall of Fame podcast, the five-time WCW World Champion said he was a
big fan of the booking direction, as it’ll be a battle to see who has the best spear. He said:
“I like it, old spear vs. young spear. If they can mix in a little Shakespeare,
everything will be beautiful. I like it because my thing is, how else were we going to
get the belt off The Fiend? Who was going to take it off of him? Who else can we
believe for a moment? We may not even believe this, but who else taking the title
off The Fiend would’ve been better than Goldberg?”
“What’s better, Roman conquering The Fiend or Roman conquering Goldberg?”
Booker will be a happy camper now that the Reigns-Goldberg match has been
made official, as fans will get to see who has the better spear between the two on
April 5th, at WrestleMania 36.
Now, we’ve already commented on what stars like Booker T, Macauley Culkin and
Seth Rollins have had to say about Goldberg’s victory at Super Showdown, but
there’s plenty of other names who have given their two cents.
Following Goldberg’s victory at Super Showdown, Scott Hall took to Twitter to
comment on the new Universal Champion, saying that it’s time to dust off his Taser.
Older fans may remember that it was Hall who helped break Goldberg’s incredible
winning streak in WCW, thanks to a taser, and it looks like the Bad Guy is ready to
let Roman Reigns borrow it if he needs to.
From one Hall of Famer’s return that fans haven’t liked, to one that they loved, as
this year also saw the in-ring return of Edge, though the Rated-R Superstar’s
happiness was short lived.
Just one day after returning at the Royal Rumble, Edge was brutally attacked by
Randy Orton, and whilst the former World Champion has yet to make a return to
the ring, his wife Beth Phoenix is expected to give an update on his condition on RAW.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the plan remains for Edge and
Orton to face off at WrestleMania 36, but there will be quote “stipulations to be
named later”. They said:
“It’s unclear what WWE plans on adding to this match. The idea of Edge vs Randy
Orton is enough to get fans interested. They might add a gimmick like no holds
barred or otherwise to really make the importance of the contest stand out during
the show of shows.”
Edge is reportedly contracted to wrestle a reported 9 matches over the next 3
years, and he has already had 1 match and 1 appearance on WWE TV already.
With that in mind, the WWE needs to use Edge sparingly, so they’re going to make
his WrestleMania return count, against the Viper.
At the 2020 Royal Rumble Pay Per View, Beth Phoenix made her return to the ring
as well, long before her husband Edge, and according to the latest reports, both
members of the Hall of Fame couple will be competing at the shows of shows.
The Glamazon is slated to be on RAW this week to provide an update on Edge’s
condition but she could also be starting her own road to WrestleMania, as the
Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that Beth and Natalya are currently slated to
team up again at WrestleMania, and this time could be leaving as champions.
It’s reported that the plan is for the Divas of Doom to take on the WWE Women’s
Tag Team Champions the Kabuki Warriors for the titles at WrestleMania, though
the report also said that WWE should wait before making the match official. It reads:
“One would think this match can’t be announced until 3/9 or later since both
Asuka and Natalya are in the women’s Elimination Chamber match. The two were
paired off with each other during the contract signing angle for the Chamber “
As the longest reigning Women’s Tag Team Champions, Asuka and Kairi Sane
haven’t had any real opponents to defend the titles against, though that appears
to be changing very soon.
We’ll just have to wait and see who walks out of Tampa with the tag titles, as this
year will be the second year that the Women’s tag gold will be defended at the
biggest show of the year.
Onto some Undertaker news now, as the WWE Universe never knows where the
Deadman will appear, and given that many fans weren’t expecting to see him at
Super Showdown, they certainly didn’t think he’d be appearing on Twitch.
During the Twitch live stream of Dr. DisRespect, where he was playing Overwatch,
the Phenom appeared after DisRespect walked in front of a green screen, and said:
“I have no patience for the two-time. WWE is my domain, my yard. Your
transgressions will be punished. Dr Disrespect, you will rest in peace
After the Undertaker left, Dr. DisRespect got back to playing Overwatch, and this
isn’t the first time the popular streamer has worked with WWE.
Both the Twitch streamer and the WWE posted footage of DisRespect’s encounter
with the Deadman, and it just goes to show that you’ll never know when the
Demon of Death Valley will strike.
We’re going back in time to last year, as Kevin Owens didn’t get KOMania in 2019,
as KofiMania took over and Vince McMahon had to change his plans so that
Kingston could win the WWE title.
This year though, it appears Owens is on track to get a match at the show of
shows, as the Wrestling Observer noted that there is a plan for Owens and Seth
Rollins to face one more time on the grandest stage of them all.
Whilst the current plan is for a singles match between the two, the fact that
Rollins holds the RAW Tag Titles with Murphy might change things, as the report reads:
“One match will involve Seth Rollins. It could be a singles match with Kevin Owens,
and as of ten days ago, that was the plan. It could be Rollins & Murphy defending
the tag titles, with Owens and a partner”
Samoa Joe’s Wellness Suspension will expire on March 24th, meaning there is time
for him to be added to the match, if the company chooses to make this a RAW Tag title affair.
Whatever the case, this is certainly an interesting situation, as the Monday Night
Messiah seems to factor into Owens’ WrestleMania plans, with or without a partner.
As a former Universal, NXT, United States and Inter continental Champion, Owens
has been a huge star in WWE, an has had quite a few pieces of merchandise on
WWEShop.Com, though his latest shirt might be his most special yet.
In a video, the Prizefighter commented on his new “Just Keep Fighting” shirt, and
revealed that the idea for the shirt came from when a fan contacted him on
Twitter, and told him just how much those words meant to them when they were
going through their own personal struggles.
Now, Owens is going even further, as he revealed in the video:
“With that in mind I have decided, after speaking to my wife, that all the profits I
make from this shirt are going to go to two organizations that help with mental
health. One in Canada and one in the U.S.”
The former Universal Champion will bd donating the profits to the Canadian
Mental Health Association and the National Alliance for Mental Illness.
Whilst this is something Owens doesn’t have to do, the Candian was clearly moved
by the comments he received on Twitter, and whilst the RAW Superstar said that
it may be a little while before he knows just how much is donated, due to the way
WWE royalties work, he’ll keep everyone up to date on this amazing gesture.
From RAW to SmackDown now, as during this week’s show, it was revealed that
Jeff Hardy will be on WWE Backstage this week.
After suffering a knee injury in April last year, Jeff has spent the past 10 months
recovering, and though he should be all healed up, some personal issues,
stemming from a DUI arrest, have gotten in the way.
Hardy was backstage at Smack Down last week and given his upcoming
appearance on FS1’s WWE Backstage, this is a very good sign that the Charismatic
Enigma will be back in the ring very soon.
We’re heading overseas now, as the WWE is always trying to capture as much TV
distribution as possible, and India is a huge market that they really want to get in on.
This week, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter claimed that WWE’s Television deal
with Indie is “either finalized or close to”, and this is a huge deal for the WWE, as
it was asked about a couple of times during the company’s 2019 fourth quarter
investors call.
WWE’s contract with India expired last year, and there were hopes that something
would be in line by the time 2020 rolled around, and though that didn’t happen in
time, there is an expectation that they’ve finally accomplished it.
Though the company’s last deal in India was reportedly for $34 million, this new
deal is estimated at $125 million a year, a huge increase that would make the
Asian nation the #2 market for WWE’s TV deals, behind the U.S.
From India to the UK now, as British Boxer Tyson Fury defeated Deontay Wilder in
a big way recently, and now the path is clear for the Gypsy King to return to WWE.
The Wrestling Observer noted there have been talks of Fury appearing at
WrestleMania, but nothing could be discussed at this time.
The reason why talks have stalled may be down to money, as after defeating
Wilder, the Gypsy King’s price went up, and he might be asking for more money
than the WWE is willing to give, as he could bring a lot of publicity to the show.
The report reads:
“The big question is money. Fury, with the win, is in a much higher income bracket
than a few months ago. In no way would Fury be worth millions for one show given
what he would mean as far as WWE Network subscribers. And no way he’s
working for less than millions.”
That same report also said that the WWE is running out of opponents if Fury
competed in a match, as they said:
“Given that every significant star is figured in, the only names I could see as an
opponent if a deal is made, would be either Big Show, with the size gimmick and
he can lose with no issue, or HHH, who one would think would also have to lose. “
Given the falling ratings recently, WWE needs something big to entice a streaming
service to purchase the rights to WrestleMania, and whilst putting the Universal
title on Goldberg probably helped, having a big name like Fury on the Grandest
stage of them all would almost certainly seal the deal.
One name many fans want to see at WrestleMania is CM Punk, but in a recent
interview, the Second City Saviour had his eyes set elsewhere.
In the interview, Punk teased wrestling for AEW, whilst maintaining under
contract for FOX, as it looks like the wrestler turned MMA star turned Actor
doesn’t have any regrets about walking away from McMahon’s company in 2014.
In Lars Sullivan news, the Wrestling Observer noted that the Freak should be ready
for a return fairly soon, but his name hasn’t been brought up backstage in WWE recently.
WWE doesn’t want to release Sullivan, or anyone, or risk them going to AEW, but
given that the company isn’t focussed on him much right now, it’ll be interesting
to see how his career pans out when he comes back.
On SmackDown this week, fans got a new Elimination Chamber match added to
next Sunday’s show, featuring the new SmackDown Tag Champions John Morrison
and the Miz.
At the show, the duo will defend against the New Day, Lucha House Party, the
Usos, Heavy Machinery and Roode and Ziggler, in what will no doubt be a physical match.
And finally as you may have seen on SmackDown, Sasha Banks returned this week,
and there could be big plans for her at WrestleMania.
There has been speculation that the Boss will face Trish Stratus at WrestleMania,
and though the Canadian is considered retired, Stratus has teased coming out for
one more match.
Hopefully, fans will get more answers as we carry on the road to WrestleMania,
which could be very interesting for The Boss.