And your headlines for today include
Scott Hall dead at 63: Wrestling World loses one of its most influential performers
Wrestlers pay tribute to Scott Hall after the death of the former Razor Ramon
WWE Hall of Famer continues incredible transformation on latest Monday Night RAW
Possible new stable teased during latest RAW featuring top champion of the red brand
Next WWE Hall of Famer confirmed by the company
WWE planning “something nice” for Shad Gaspard after his heroic sacrifice in 2020
Next guest confirmed for Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions
WWE Hall of Famer says she’d come back for one more reign as Women’s Champion
New Championship match announced for WrestleMania 38 could already be facing changes
WWE announces their own line of NFTs in time for WrestleMania And more!
We’re starting today with some sad news, as wrestling legend and two-time WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall has died aged 63.
Last weekend, Hall suffered three heart attacks due to a blood clot which arose during hip surgery after Scott had suffered a fall.
Yesterday, Hall's friend Kevin Nash gave the news that once Hall's family have arrived, he would be taken off life support that had been keeping his body going.
In an emotional read, Nash spoke about losing the one person he's spent more time with than anyone else in the world, adding:
"I love Scott with all my heart but now I have to prepare my life without him in the present. I’ve been blessed to have a friend that took me at face value and I him.
When we jumped to WCW we didn’t care who liked or hated us. We had each other." As Razor Ramon and later as part of the New World Order,
Hall was an instrumental part of establishing 'cool heels,' and his influence continues to be felt in every promotion to this day.
Beginning his career in 1984, Hall had an incredible career before officially retiring from the ring in 2010, and we at Slat Rock are sending our deepest sympathies
to everyone who knew Scott at this tragic time.
Hall’s passing is a huge blow to the wrestling community, not just because of the magnitude of his star power, but also because of how suddenly it happened.
On social media, tributes have been pouring in, with Diamond Dallas Page, who helped Hall during his substance abuse issues saying his brother had gone
to Valhalla, the realm for Norse warriors after life. Mick Foley called Hall “a legend inside and outside the ring,” while Shane McMahon referred
to the Bad Guy as “perhaps to greatest to ever perform in the squared circle.” AEW’s Tony Schiavone referenced Hall’s shocking
WCW debut on the May 27th 1996 Nitro in his response, and statements were put out by several promotions, including WWE, AEW and Impact Wrestling
Hall’s Kliq pals also spoke, with Triple H saying he’s lost a brother and Sean Waltman called Hall a good friend in one post, and shared a photo of Hall with Curt
Hennig, simply captioning it “together again.”
Scott Hall clearly meant a lot to a lot of people, and the wrestling world has shown their respect to one of the greatest to ever get in the ring.
Over to RAW, as this week’s episode saw another appearance by Edge, now fully in his role as a conniving heel.
Insulting everyone and everything, including his past self over the past two years, Edge has continued to distance himself from the hero who miraculously
returned to wrestling in 2020, even coming out with a new theme song. This isn’t just the Rated-R Superstar that fans saw
during the 2000s, but the evolution of that character, and it’s proven that Edge, for as good a babyface as he is, will always be a better villain.
Discussing his WrestleMania match with AJ Styles, the Phenomenal One didn’t appear on the show, but will return to RAW next week with revenge on his mind.
Whatever Styles has planned, expect a counter from the Ulitmate Opportunist, and given how powerful this persona is, don’t be surprised to see Edge
emerge the victor at WrestleMania.
The build towards Becky Lynch Vs. Bianca Belair also continued this week, with the EST getting a win over Doudrop with the KOD.
After Lynch missed last week’s RAW due to a voice box injury she blamed Belair for, the RAW Women’s Champion was back last night, attacking her WrestleMania opponent
her win.
In a post-match assault, Lynch caused a throat injury to Belair, which was emphasised by WWE with a medical update after RAW went off the air.
This was a case of evening the score, but what was even more interesting what that before facing Belair, Doudrop gave her endorsement to the RAW Women’s Champion.
She wasn’t the only one to endorse Lynch, as Nikki A.S.H, a former RAW Women’s Champion herself, also praised Lynch in what could be a pivotal moment
for the RAW Women’s division. This could’ve been just a case of heels sticking together but it definitely felt like WWE was building
some kind of group for Lynch, which would dramatically change plans for WrestleMania 38.
A three-woman faction led by Becky Lynch would certainly be a powerful group for Belair and the faces of RAW to battle with, and could easily turn the tide
at WrestleMania when Big Time Becks collides with Belair one on one.
On April 1st, the WWE will host its annual Hall of Fame, with The Undertaker and Big Van Vader already confirmed for the ceremony.
We now know who will be the next to be inducted, and they’ll be a touch of royalty to this year’s class of Hall of Famers.
As first reported by Complex and later confirmed by WWE, Queen Sharmell, aka Sharmell Huffman will be inducted next month after a career in and outside WWE.
After being named Miss Black America in 1991, Sharmell went to work for WCW as one of the Nitro Girls and first appears as Storm before changing her name to Paisley.
Signing with WWE in 2001, Sharmell would become an on-screen figure alongside her husband Booker T in 2005, and would become Queen Sharmell the
following year after Booker’s King of the Ring victory. There’s no word on who will induct Sharmell, though her husband is an obvious choice,
and fans will get to see the Queen take her place as a Hall of Famer next month.
Sharmell will join the Undertaker and Vader in this year’s class, and fans may soon see another prominent black athlete get the nod.
In 2020, Shad Gaspard gave his life to save his son when the pair were pulled underwater by a riptide, in a truly heroic sacrifice by the former WWE Superstar.
Last year, fans called on WWE to induct Shad posthumously as a Warrior award recipient and while that didn’t happen, it could be his time this year.
Brad Shephard reports that fans can expect Shad to be acknowledged as part of this year’s ceremony, but didn’t say if this would be an induction
only noting that they’ll be “doing something nice for him.” Shephard is known for being a reliable source with
Hall of Fame news, as he was the one who broke the news of the inductions of JBL, Mark Henry, Goldberg, the British Bulldog and many more names
Whatever WWE has planned for Shad’s memory, he deserves it, as he may soon become the next posthumous inductee into the Hall of Fame.
At WrestleMania 38, Stone Cold Steve Austin will confront Kevin Owens in a segment that’s bound to see the two get physical.
That hopefully won’t be the case for Austin’s next guest on the Broken Skull Sessions, who this week was revealed to be Lita.
As confirmed by WWE, the two Hall of Famers will sit down for an episode on Friday March 25th, just eight days ahead of the Texas Rattlesnake’s confrontation
with Kevin Owens. After an incredible career and her recent return to face Becky Lynch, Lita will have plenty to say
about her tenure in the ring when she sits down with the Bionic Redneck later this month
One name who’s bound to come up during Lita’s interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin is Trish Stratus, as the two are considered some of the most
influential female Superstars of all time. In 2006, Stratus retired as a full-time performer, but has had several one-off returns since then,
most recently competing at Summerslam 2019 in her hometown of Toronto against Charlotte Flair. Now, the WWE Hall of Famer may be looking to get
back in the ring, this time for a longer role, at least according to what she had to say during a Highspots virtual signing.
When asked about a possible return and another run as Women’s Champion, Stratus said she would be all for it, but it’d have to be a programme
with the right opponent. Already a seven-time WWE Women’s Champion, Stratus has done it all in WWE, but the Canadian
icon may be returning for a potential eighth reign with championship gold soon enough
More from WrestleMania now, as another huge title match has been confirmed for the show.
During RAW, new Tag Team Champions RK-Bro had a championship celebration before being interrupted by Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins.
Issuing a challenge for WrestleMania, the champs quickly accepted and it was later confirmed that the RAW Tag Titles will be defended next month.
This match was only just announced but could already be changing soon, as RAW was meant to see Riddle face Ford, but both were attacked by Alpha Academy.
If WWE adds Otis and Chad Gable to the match, it’ll be the second match to receive the change after the WWE Women’s Tag Title match, but we’ll only know
for sure as we get closer to this RAW Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania.
And we’re ending with WWE, who are officially getting into the NFT game with their latest project.
Appearing at South by Southwest, Stephanie McMahon announced the launch of the WWE Moonsault platform, which will serve as the official
home for all WWE officials NFTS. Stephanie added that the company plans to launch their NFTs in time for WrestleMania 38, and
and a website has already been launched where fans can sign up to show their interest and be added to WWE’s mailing list for updates.
It’s an interesting move for WWE to return to the world of NFTs, as John Cena had his own wave of NFTs during his Summer 2021 return to the company,
which didn’t go well for the 16-time WWE World Champion. Cena even went on to say that his line of NFTs was
catastrophic failure,” with less than 8% of the available content being purchased, but WWE is hoping for a much better response when they launch
their WWE Moonsault brand of non-fungible tokens