Here is your news for January 21, 2020.
We're starting off with some huge news from Monday Night RAW today, as last night's
show saw the crowning of new RAW Tag Team Champions.
During the show, the never before seen pairing of Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy
proved their effectiveness together, as they defeated the Viking Raiders, who had held
the titles since October, when they defeated Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode.
This marks Rollins' sixth reign as champion, having held the gold with Roman Reigns,
Dean Ambrose, Jason Jordan and Braun Strowman before, whilst this is Murphy's first
reign as a Tag Team Champion since his days in NXT.
The Murphy-Rollins pairing only started last week, when the self- proclaimed Monday
Night Messiah was able to convince the Australian to join him and the AOP, and now
with the RAW Tag Team Titles in their group, we wonder what is next for Rollins and
his crew.
One man who knows all about being a Tag Team Champion is Jeff Hardy, though fans
haven't seen the Charismatic Enigma due to his recent arrest this past October.
At the time, Hardy was pulled over for driving whilst impaired, and after failing a
sobriety test and being uncooperative when asked to take a breathalyser, received his
second arrest of 2019.
Since then, the court date for Hardy has been pushed back for a variety of reasons,
and this week, PW Insider reports that the former World Heavyweight Champion is
scheduled to appear at Moore County Court in North Carolina on April 6th, the day
after WrestleMania 36.
Though Hardy is one of the most popular WWE Superstars of all time, at one point
even outselling John Cena in merchandise, his trouble outside the ring has caused
both him and the company some very big issues, and fans will have to wait and see
what actions the WWE take with the troubled Jeff.
Though Jeff isn't in the best state of mind at the moment given what's happened, his
brother Matt isn't doing too great either, at least on WWE TV.
On RAW this week, Hardy lost yet another match on the red brand, this time to Erick
Rowan, as it seems that the former ECW Champion has only been brought back to be a
jobber to younger stars the company wants to push.
On Twitter after the match, Matt thanked the fans for their support, as he was the #17
trend around the world because of what happened on TV.
In the same tweet, Matt also said that fans should enjoy his appearances on TV, even
though he is consistently losing, saying at this rate, there won't be many more.
Over the past few months, Hardy has hinted at leaving the WWE when his contract
expires in early March, and comments like these only make it seem more likely that
the Woken One could be leaving sooner rather than later.
It was outside of WWE, that Hardy was able to reinvent himself as his Broken
character years ago, and if these losses continue, leaving the company to pursue other
creative aspects of his character may be the best decision for the Team Extreme
alumni to make.
Some more sad news now, as fans are still reeling from the death of 'Soulman' Rocky
Johnson, who passed away less than a week ago aged 75.
Best known as one-half of the first African American WWF Tag Team Champions and
as the father of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Rocky's death has been a tragedy, and
now the Brahma Bull has given some more information on what happened.
In an Instagram video to his near- 170 million followers, The Rock said that he never
had a chance to say goodbye to his dad but thanked the fans for their support and well wishes.
Addressing what exactly happened to the Soulman, Rock said he'd spoken to the
medical examiner who performed the autopsy. Rock said:
"He had not been feeling well. Been battling a cold, an infection. On Tuesday he had a
deep vein thrombosis, which is essentially a blot clot in the leg, a big ol’ blood clot. It
broke free, traveled up his body and went right to his lung. It clotted his lung and he
died very quickly from a massive heart attack."
If there is a silver lining to this awful story, the People's Champion also revealed that
when he asked about the manner in which his dad died, the examiner told him it was
fast and quick, indicating that the Hall of Famer wasn't in pain for long.
Once again, we'd like to send our best wishes to The Rock and his family, as Rocky
Johnson had a career and family that'll never be forgotten.
Back to RAW now, and this week's show saw not one but two title matches, as United
States Champion Andrade defended his title against former Champion Rey Mysterio.
After being defeated by Andrade at Madison Square Garden, the WWE's Ultimate
Underdog was hungry to regain the title, but that simply wasn't meant to be.
Instead, in the first ladder match on WWE weekly programming since SmackDown's
1000th episode, Andrade was able to retain his title, but wasn't finished yet, as he
attempted to deliver a Hammerlock DDT to Mysterio on the exposed floor outside of the ring.
This devastating move was thankfully blocked by Humberto Carillo, as it seems the
former 205 Live star has his eyes set on Andrade, as well as his United States title.
It'll be interesting to see where things go from here for all three men involved, but a
feud between the two much younger stars, Andrade and Carillo could be great, and
both are seemingly big priorities for RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman.
One Superstar that both fans and WWE had high hopes for, but that isn't quite
working out is Lars Sullivan, as the Freak's main-roster run has been mired in
controversy and injury ever since his call-up last year.
Shortly after his main roster debut on the post-WrestleMania 35 edition of RAW,
controversial comments made by Sullivan, both before and after he signed with WWE
were unearthed, and after a hefty fine and management training, the Freak went
down with a serious injury.
According to Fightful Select this week, it seems the some in the company are hoping
for Sullivan to return sooner than expected, but that his return could still be a long
way away. The report reads:
"WWE always had him marked down to miss a full year, but he was of the belief he’d
be back sooner, having recovered from a knee injury prior."
It was only a few weeks ago that Sullivan's past in the adult-film industry also came to
light, meaning that whenever he eventually returns, there's no telling how the fans,
management or his fellow Superstars backstage, will handle the controversial
powerhouse.
Speaking of backstage, it's no secret that several Superstars have transitioned to a job
behind the curtain once their in- ring career ends, as Billy Kidman, Jason Jordan and Fit
Finlay are just some of the names who now operate behind the scenes.
This week, another name joined that list as Sylvan Grenier spoke to TVA Sports, and
revealed that he will be returning to WWE to work as a producer.
Fans may remember Grenier for his tenure from 2003-2007, where he worked as part
of the anti-American group La Resistance, alongside René Duprée and later Rob Conway.
Capturing the World Tag Team Champions on four occasions before his release in
2007, Grenier knows what it means to make it as a WWE Superstar, so hopefully, he'll
be able to impart some wisdom of the stars of today, whether they be from Monday
Night Raw or Friday Night SmackDown.
We've got some big news from across the pond next, as the WWE has signed Irish
indie wrestler Valkyrie Cain to a contract with NXT UK.
This past weekend, the 23-year- old star worked tapings in England, and tweeted about
her WWE debut on Sunday morning, where she wrestled Amale.
Though few fans will know of Cain, fans will be more aware of her wrestling school
classmates, as she trained at the same wrestling school as Becky Lynch, according to
Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc.
Winning the Irish junior Heavyweight Championship in 2018, as well as tag team gold
as a member of the Woke Queens, it seems the future is bright for Cain, who has
made it to the big time just five years after making her professional wrestling debut.
From one new face in WWE to an established star, as Big E has continued to be his
charismatic self during a recent edition of the New Day's podcast.
When discussing the concept of dream matches, the former NXT, Intercontinental and
Tag Team Champion revealed that his dream opponent would be Goldberg and made
it very clear that he didn't care about what fans would say, in very graphic detail. He said:
"If I were to ever have a dream match, it would be against the one, the only, Goldberg.
That's right, Goldberg. I don't wanna hear y'all talking about all this workrate, and how
good guys are in the ring, and moonsaults. I don't care about any of that. You want a
great match? Nah, bump that. I wanna see two big men, with big chests, and big
muscles bumping meat. That's why I'm here. That's why I watched wrestling as a kid.
You want your five-star matches? You want your 30-minute classics? Not me! Big
meaty men slapping meat! That's what I want!"
You can't fault Big E for knowing exactly what he wants, and it's always good to see
that the New Day are consistently their hilarious selves, both in and out of the ring.
Now, we all know that the 2020 Royal Rumble Pay Per View will be this Sunday, and so
far, the WWE has made a lot of names known about who will be entering the Rumble matches.
Out of the 30 spots in the Men's Royal Rumble match, 22 have been already filled.
leaving just eight remaining for surprising stars or shocking returns.
According to the PW Insider, one shocking return fans should expect is Kane, as the
website reports that the Big Red Machine will be in the match, though the company is
keeping it a secret.
As seen on last Friday's edition of WWE SmackDown, Kane returned to assist his old
friend Daniel Bryan in a sneak attack on The Fiend, as Bryan and Wyatt will face each
other at the Rumble in a Strap Match, for the Fiend's Universal Championship.
Given his age and job as the Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, it's highly unlikely that
Kane will be entering the Royal Rumble match, but seeing Kane dominate in the 30-
man contest should still be great to see, as he reportedly is ready to appear in his
record-shattering 20th Royal Rumble match.
We've got some news from All Elite Wrestling now as the company has given more
details on an upcoming episode of AEW Dynamite.
On the official AEW Twitter, news broke that Dynamite will make its Empire State
debut on March 18th, as the show will emanate from the Blue Cross Arena, in
Rochester, New York.
Not only that, but tickets will also go on sale this Friday, the 24th of January, and with
prices starting as low as $20, expect these tickets to sell out fast to the loyal AEW crowd.
Back to WWE now, and the company recently revealed that Becky Lynch will be
appearing on this week's edition of WWE Backstage.
Ever since SummerSlam 2018, The Man has become one of the most popular stars in
women's wrestling ever, capturing the RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania
35, and having a record-breaking lengthy reign with the title.
This Sunday, Lynch will defend the title against Asuka, the one woman she has been
unable to defeat on Pay Per View, so fans should expect the loud- mouthed Superstar
to have plenty to say on her title reign, the Empress of Tomorrow and WrestleMania
when she appears this week on WWE Backstage.
And finally, today we're ending with some results from Monday Night RAW, as the
final edition of the red brand before the Royal Rumble this Sunday had a lot to fill in.
In the opener, Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and the Viking Raiders brawled with Rollins,
the AOP and Murphy to set up the Tag Title match later in the night, before Andrade
retained his title against Rey Mysterio in their ladder match.
Aleister Black made quick work of a local competitor on the show, ahead of this
Sunday's Royal Rumble match, though up next, fans saw the third consecutive weekly
appearance of WWE Champion Brock Lesnar.
Entering the Royal Rumble match at number 1, there's the possibility that Lesnar will
have to go through every other participant in the men's match and gave fans a
preview of what may happen this Sunday, when he demolished Ricochet.
When Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre faced off, it wasn't long until their match was
ended prematurely by the OC, though that hasn't stopped fans from considering the
Scotsman as a dark horse to win this Sunday's Men's Rumble match.
Speaking of the Rumble, RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch tried to prove herself
by defeating Kairi Sane this week, but once again, it was Asuka who had the last laugh.
After submitting Sane to end the match, The Man was ambushed by the Empress of
Tomorrow, who is looking to become Asuka two Belts this Sunday, by taking Lynch's
RAW Women's Championship.
After Rollins and Murphy captured the RAW Tag Team titles and Matt Hardy got
squashed by Erick Rowan, it was time for the main event, as Bobby Lashley and Lana
looked to silence Rusev and Liv Morgan once and for all.
Despite their wedding being ruined by the former Riott Squad member and the
Bulgarian Brute, The Lashleys did get payback this week, winning in the main event, as
it seems that this love drama isn't over just yet.