Here is your news for January 4 2020
We're starting off with some news from Monday Night RAW, s WWE Champion Brock
Lesnar will be appearing on next week's show.
Despite being the top star of the red brand, Lesnar continues to be absent for months
at a time, though that reportedly won't be the case for January.
According to Brad Shepard, the Beast Incarnate is expected to appear every week at
RAW this month as well as the Royal Rumble but is not listed for anything after the Pay Per View.
It'll be interesting to see who WWE chooses to be Lesnar's opponent at the Rumble,
and fans should keep in mind that whoever wins the men's Rumble match may end up
facing the Beast on April 5th, at WrestleMania 36.
Carrying on with the RAW theme, and last week's final Raw of the decade ended with
the wedding of Lana and Bobby Lashley, and though the segment went over their
allotted time, fans shouldn't expect this to continue in the future.
Though RAW used to receive a weekly overrun, that isn't the case anymore, as RAW
will be cut off at the 11 PM EST mark.
On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that this week's
overrun was due to the show being a special occasion, and special treatment was
given in particular to the wedding segment.
Keeping RAW on the air for an additional ten minutes also helped retain viewers in the
11 pm hour slot for the USA Network, as viewership was said to be way up for the final
hour of RAW, which also helped the next show that followed on the Network.
Whilst there will be no more overruns on Monday Night RAW, fans should expect this
storyline to continue, especially as Vince McMahon is happy with how everything
played out, despite critics not sharing his opinion.
Although many fans have criticized the chairman for the angle, fans should note that
the vast majority of what this angle has been about has come from Paul Heyman, the
Executive Director of the red brand.
When Liv Morgan was pulled from WWE TV in July, there were reportedly other plans
for her, but they of course changed so that she could be inserted into this angle.
Though many fans are disappointed that she isn't Bray Wyatt's Sister Abigail, which
fans believed would happen, this angle has made the 25 year old into one of the
most talked Superstars around, as Vince McMahon feels she is very marketable.
Over to New Japan Pro Wrestling now, and 2019 wasn't exactly a great year for the promotion.
Thanks to upstart company AEW, New Japan lost many of its top stars, including Kenny
Omega, in 2019, and the two companies have remained distant from each other,
leaving fans to wish they could come to some sort of working agreement.
During the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alverez revealed that this wish may
have come true, as though neither company hasn't announced anything substantial,
they are closer than ever to being friendly. He said:
“The two sides are, how can I say this? So, AEW allowed New Japan to promote this
Tanahashi/Jericho match using the AEW Championship belt. So, Tanahashi did an
interview with Tokyo Sport and said if I beat Chris Jericho, I want a shot at the AEW
Title. Chris Jericho then did a response saying if you win I will give you a shot at the AEW Title.”
“Things have changed to the point where Tony Khan and AEW are allowing New Japan
to use the AEW Belt on the show. With all that said I know everyone got very, very
excited, but I fully expect Chris Jericho to beat Hiroshi Tanahashi. I fully expect that
nothing substantial is going to be changing in the next couple of days, for the next
couple of weeks, maybe ever.”
New Japan using the AEW title for their storyline could be a big deal, but it could also
lead to nothing, and time will tell just how 2020 goes for both promotions.
Whilst the door isn't fully open between the two companies, it has been opened a
crack, though it might not be a great idea to bet any money on the two companies
announcing a partnership anytime soon.
Back to WWE now, and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin remains to be a big part of the
company thanks to his Broken Skull Sessions, which has just announced it's latest guest.
After appearances by The Undertaker and Goldberg, the WWE Network Twitter
account revealed yesterday that Kane will be the guest on the third episode of the
interview series.
With decades in the wrestling industry and a career unlike anyone else, Kane will no
doubt have plenty to say about WWE, his character and his eventual election to the
role of Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.
This latest episode of the Broken Skull Sessions will air on the Network on January
12th, immediately after NXT UK TakeOver Blackpool 2 in the Empress Ballroom.
From one giant of WWE to another now, as the Big Show may be a guarenteed future
WWE Hall of Famer, but 2019 wasn't a big year in the company for the former World Champion.
In fact, 2019 was the first year since 2007 that the seven foot Superstar didn't have a
single match in WWE, but he did keep busy outside of the ring, as he filmed a Netflix
comedy series and has another reality TV show in the pipeline.
Despite remaining a part of the WWE roster, Big Show's absence from programming in
2019 broke a massive streak for him, and the last time fans saw the Giant of Pay Per
View is all the way back at Summerslam 2017, when he faced Big Cass.
The last time Big Show had a match on RAW, was on the September 4th edition of the
red brand, when he took on Braun Strowman inside a steel cage.
Fans will remember the match as the Monster Among Men sent Show through the
cage wall, which wrote the giant off of TV, before he needed hip surgery.
Upon his return, Show was drafted to SmackDown and assisted The Bar for a few
weeks, and his last match on the blue brand came on the November 20th, 2018
episode, in a match with Sheamus and Cesaro.
Though it's been over a year since his last televised match, The Big Show hasn't
announced his retirement just yet, meaning fans could see him return to the ring in 2020.
With that said, it's more likely that the former World Champion is finished between
the ropes, though there will be a lot of other places and shows to see the Big Show, as
a guy that size is never too hard to find.
Speaking of retired Superstars, Nikki Bella shared some big news this week, as the
former Divas Champion announced on Instagram that she is engaged.
In the post on social media, Nikki revealed that she said yes back to November, and
that her fiancée is Artem Chigvinsev, a professional dancer best known for his time on
FOX's 'So You Think You Can Dance' and ABC's 'Dancing With The Stars'.
Fans will remember Nikki and John Cena getting engaged after defeating The Miz and
Maryse at WrestleMania 33, though the couple did ultimately break off their engagement.
Nikki is retired from WWE after she revealed that she could not get cleared due to her
neck issues and a benign cyst on her brain, but has hinted at a quote "miracle"
comeback, on her podcast, much like her brother in law Daniel Bryan.
Even if Nikki doesn't ever return to the ring, she now has something huge to look
forward to, and we hear at Slat Rock would like to send our congratulations to Nikki
and Artem on their engagement.
And finally today we're looking at the first edition of Friday Night SmackDown of 2020,
as the show had plenty of surprises and returns.
When Shorty G defeated Dash Wilder in singles action, it looked like the former
Olympian was going to start the new year right, until he was double-teamed by Wilder
and Scott Dawson, who dropped him with a Shatter Machine.
Before they could continue their attack though, Sheamus made his long awaited
return to SmackDown, and though fans expected the former World Champion to help
Gable, he instead dropped him as well, with a Brogue Kick, before sending an icy glare
at the WWE Universe.
The return of Sheamus wasn't the only big comeback however, as after a frustrated
The Miz defeated Kofi Kingston on the show, and delivered a post-match beatdown,
Cathy Kelley tried to get a word at the A-Lister's locker-room.
Instead, she found John Morrison, who spoke on behalf of his friend and former Tag
Team partner, saying that The Miz had nothing else to say, before closing the door.
This marks Morrison's first appearance on WWE TV in over eight years, and it'll be very
interesting to see where the former Intercontinental and Impact World Champion
goes from here.
There was plenty more action on the show, as in women's division action, the tag
team of Lacey Evans and Dana Brooke defeated Sasha Banks and Bayley, as well as
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
Although Evans and Brooke aren't an established tag team like the other two, it's hard
to argue with their success, as the duo could soon find themselves challenging for the
WWE Women's Tag Team titles if they keep cracking up wins like this.
After a heartbroken Otis defeated Drew Gulak and Braun Strowman defeated Cesaro
before being attacked by Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, it was time
for the main event of SmackDown, which saw even more returns change the layout of
the SmackDown roster.
When King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler battled Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan, it wasn't
long until The Fiend appeared, taking Bryan out of the match with two mandible claws.
Though Reigns was left to fend for himself against Corbin and Ziggler, he would
receive backup from his family, as The Usos made their return to the show, delivering
a couple of superkicks to the heels, before helping their cousin to his feet.
With 2019 being a bad year for both Jimmy and Jey thanks to some brushes with the
law, its good to see the former Tag Team Champions back on SmackDown, as they
hope to make 2020 a much better year.
With three huge returns and an appearance by the Universal Champion The Fiend,
SmackDown certainly kicked things off right in 2020, and with the Royal Rumble less
than 4 weeks away, it's clear that everyone on the blue brand is getting ready for the
road to WrestleMania 36.