Week in Wrestling - Friday, January 27, 2017
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship
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AJ Styles (c) vs. John Cena for the WWE Championship
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30-man Royal Rumble match
Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Bayley for the WWE Raw Women's Championship
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Rich Swann (c) vs. Neville for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
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Cesaro & Sheamus (c) vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for the RAW Tag team Championships
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Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella & Naomi
vs. Alexa Bliss, Mickie James and Natalya
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Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
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Usually, the winner of the Rumble is either fairly well known, or common sense breaks it down into only a few possibilities. But this year, there is a lot of intrigue and really, many possibilities that would be good for business. There could be returns from injuries (if Finn Balor is cleared), debuts from NXT (Samoa Joe is a possibility; and both Shinsuke Nakamura and Tye Dillinger if he enters at No. 10 are easy monster pops).
As of now, there are 22 of the 30 names announced, led by the big three of Goldberg, Lesnar and Undertaker. The others are Strowman, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Rusev, Corbin, The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus (Cesaro & Sheamus are the only ones listed for both a Rumble match and an undercard match), Cass, Kingston, Big E, Xavier Woods, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn and Mojo Rawley. That’s more open spots than usual for surprises.
An angle for HHH vs. Rollins is expected this weekend, where Rollins finally gets some revenge and sets up HHH finally appearing as a television character.
Besides the Rumble, the card, which is likely to start at just after 6 p.m. Eastern and last until 11 p.m., has Jax vs. Banks and Sheamus & Cesaro defending the Raw tag titles against Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson with two referees as pre-show matches. Matches announced for the main card, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern, are Nikki Bella & Becky Lynch & Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss & Mickie James & Natalya, Rich Swann vs. Neville for the cruiserweight title, Charlotte vs. Bayley for the women’s title, Styles vs. Cena for the WWE title and Owens vs. Reigns for the Universal title with Jericho hanging above the ring in a shark cage.
As of now, there are 22 of the 30 names announced, led by the big three of Goldberg, Lesnar and Undertaker. The others are Strowman, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Rusev, Corbin, The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus (Cesaro & Sheamus are the only ones listed for both a Rumble match and an undercard match), Cass, Kingston, Big E, Xavier Woods, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn and Mojo Rawley. That’s more open spots than usual for surprises.
An angle for HHH vs. Rollins is expected this weekend, where Rollins finally gets some revenge and sets up HHH finally appearing as a television character.
Besides the Rumble, the card, which is likely to start at just after 6 p.m. Eastern and last until 11 p.m., has Jax vs. Banks and Sheamus & Cesaro defending the Raw tag titles against Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson with two referees as pre-show matches. Matches announced for the main card, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern, are Nikki Bella & Becky Lynch & Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss & Mickie James & Natalya, Rich Swann vs. Neville for the cruiserweight title, Charlotte vs. Bayley for the women’s title, Styles vs. Cena for the WWE title and Owens vs. Reigns for the Universal title with Jericho hanging above the ring in a shark cage.
This past week, Roman Reigns talked about 40,000 fans being at the Rumble. All we know is that there are a ton of seats left remaining. In no way is 40,000 people for that show not a big success. In 1997, when they did the Rumble at the Alamodome, they did more than 62,000 fans, but that was heavily papered and the paid was 48,014, but that was also with super low ticket prices. In those days, most tickets were sold in the local market.
This year, the idea was it’s a big destination weekend with NXT on Saturday night and that they could get travelers in. Keep in mind that even WrestleMania in recent years only draws 15,000 to 26,000 from the local market and the rest are travelers. Hell of a job when you really think about it.
This year, the idea was it’s a big destination weekend with NXT on Saturday night and that they could get travelers in. Keep in mind that even WrestleMania in recent years only draws 15,000 to 26,000 from the local market and the rest are travelers. Hell of a job when you really think about it.
NXT Take Over ThIs Saturday
For NXT Takeover on 1/28 at the Freeman Coliseum, they are set up for about 7,000 seats and are not close to sold out. Most sections were sold out, but there were ringside seats and several upper deck sections not close to sold out. At press time, there were still fourth row tickets available at normal prices. The secondary market price for entry is $20.
That lineup has Nakamura vs. Bobby Roode for the NXT title, Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. Authors of Pain for the tag titles, Asuka vs. Billie Kay vs. Peyton Royce vs. Nikki Cross for the women’s title, Eric Young vs. Dillinger and Andrade Cien Almas vs. Roderick Strong. It’s the weakest Takeover lineup to date, as you don’t have the excellent lineup filled with great workers.
For NXT Takeover on 1/28 at the Freeman Coliseum, they are set up for about 7,000 seats and are not close to sold out. Most sections were sold out, but there were ringside seats and several upper deck sections not close to sold out. At press time, there were still fourth row tickets available at normal prices. The secondary market price for entry is $20.
That lineup has Nakamura vs. Bobby Roode for the NXT title, Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. Authors of Pain for the tag titles, Asuka vs. Billie Kay vs. Peyton Royce vs. Nikki Cross for the women’s title, Eric Young vs. Dillinger and Andrade Cien Almas vs. Roderick Strong. It’s the weakest Takeover lineup to date, as you don’t have the excellent lineup filled with great workers.
Wrestlemania Title Plans
The key in charting the winner to the Royal Rumble match is to look at WrestleMania. Traditionally, the Rumble winner will be in the title match at Mania. With two brands, that’s two titles. Also, with two PPVs, there will be title matches involving both brands’ champions taking place before Mania.
The plans at this point are that neither Kevin Owens nor A.J. Styles will be champions going into WrestleMania. Smackdown has an Elimination Chamber match, meaning six guys will be in, so if John Cena wins the title at the Rumble, and that’s being teased (although they did downplay the tying of the Ric Flair record this past week), that doesn’t mean he’ll retain it in the Chamber match. Coming off the Rumble, or at least when the Fast Lane main event is announced, that should make the Raw title direction obvious.
The key in charting the winner to the Royal Rumble match is to look at WrestleMania. Traditionally, the Rumble winner will be in the title match at Mania. With two brands, that’s two titles. Also, with two PPVs, there will be title matches involving both brands’ champions taking place before Mania.
The plans at this point are that neither Kevin Owens nor A.J. Styles will be champions going into WrestleMania. Smackdown has an Elimination Chamber match, meaning six guys will be in, so if John Cena wins the title at the Rumble, and that’s being teased (although they did downplay the tying of the Ric Flair record this past week), that doesn’t mean he’ll retain it in the Chamber match. Coming off the Rumble, or at least when the Fast Lane main event is announced, that should make the Raw title direction obvious.
Updated Mania 33 Rumored Card Plans
The Mania lineup at this point is looking like Goldberg vs. Lesnar, Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns, HHH vs. Seth Rollins, Jericho vs. Owens, Wyatt vs. Orton, Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal and Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax as the Raw women’s title match. The key is the Rumble winner is likely, although they could swerve, to be the person who will challenge for either the Universal title or WWE title.
On the Raw side, Goldberg vs. Lesnar, Undertaker vs. Reigns or Jericho vs. Owens would likely be the title match. Goldberg’s storyline explicitly mentions coming after the title. Owens vs. Jericho would make more sense as the U.S. title match since Owens would figure to win.
The Mania lineup at this point is looking like Goldberg vs. Lesnar, Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns, HHH vs. Seth Rollins, Jericho vs. Owens, Wyatt vs. Orton, Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal and Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax as the Raw women’s title match. The key is the Rumble winner is likely, although they could swerve, to be the person who will challenge for either the Universal title or WWE title.
On the Raw side, Goldberg vs. Lesnar, Undertaker vs. Reigns or Jericho vs. Owens would likely be the title match. Goldberg’s storyline explicitly mentions coming after the title. Owens vs. Jericho would make more sense as the U.S. title match since Owens would figure to win.
Orton to Win the Rumble?
The only Smackdown match on that list is Orton vs. Wyatt, and it’s not a secret that Wyatt was scheduled for a title run in 2017. That immediately puts both of them in contention, and if one wins, the other would be favored to win the Chamber match.
There’s a story that just started going around about Orton winning the Rumble and Wyatt winning the Chamber match. If that doesn’t happen, it would be because plans changed. Even though historically the booking before Mania always gets out and it almost never changed , with the increase in social media, my feeling is nothing is a lock until it happens. I doubt we’ll see major destination changes, in the sense the top of the card will probably be pretty close to as is slated now, but how to get there could change.
The only Smackdown match on that list is Orton vs. Wyatt, and it’s not a secret that Wyatt was scheduled for a title run in 2017. That immediately puts both of them in contention, and if one wins, the other would be favored to win the Chamber match.
There’s a story that just started going around about Orton winning the Rumble and Wyatt winning the Chamber match. If that doesn’t happen, it would be because plans changed. Even though historically the booking before Mania always gets out and it almost never changed , with the increase in social media, my feeling is nothing is a lock until it happens. I doubt we’ll see major destination changes, in the sense the top of the card will probably be pretty close to as is slated now, but how to get there could change.
Among the key guys, the obvious guys not on the list of matches are Cena, Styles, Balor, Dean Ambrose and Strowman of guys that will likely be in key matches. Cena vs. Samoa Joe was definitely an idea that was pitched, and made sense based on a few things we’ve heard, but we’ve never heard a confirmation on that. There are rumors of Styles vs. Shane McMahon, and Styles did complain about the idea of the Elimination Chamber match to Shane and neither have anything going.
With Balor returning, they do have someone who perhaps can be a top face, since Seth Rollins, even though he’s in a great position the next few months, seems to have been botched as far as being the top of the brand face. Then again, Smackdown had Ambrose in that spot when Cena was gone and everything was fine.
With Balor returning, they do have someone who perhaps can be a top face, since Seth Rollins, even though he’s in a great position the next few months, seems to have been botched as far as being the top of the brand face. Then again, Smackdown had Ambrose in that spot when Cena was gone and everything was fine.
What's the Plan for Braun?
Strowman is harder to figure, as he’s clearly being pushed for something big. They’ve teased the idea of doing spots with him with Undertaker and Show at the Rumble. But all the guys you’d think they are building him up for, Goldberg, Lesnar, Undertaker, Reigns or Show, are all taken at this point.
He could be put in there for the Andre Battle Royal, and perhaps take that one (at one point that was the idea last year but the feeling at the time is he wasn’t ready), and then work with one of the aforementioned names after Mania in a top program. One would think he’ll play monster in the Rumble, the big guy who throws everyone out (the spot that made the career of Kevin Nash), and there will be a story built from his elimination to take him to his next destiny.
Strowman is harder to figure, as he’s clearly being pushed for something big. They’ve teased the idea of doing spots with him with Undertaker and Show at the Rumble. But all the guys you’d think they are building him up for, Goldberg, Lesnar, Undertaker, Reigns or Show, are all taken at this point.
He could be put in there for the Andre Battle Royal, and perhaps take that one (at one point that was the idea last year but the feeling at the time is he wasn’t ready), and then work with one of the aforementioned names after Mania in a top program. One would think he’ll play monster in the Rumble, the big guy who throws everyone out (the spot that made the career of Kevin Nash), and there will be a story built from his elimination to take him to his next destiny.
Taker vs Reigns
Undertaker vs. Reigns is notable because Vince McMahon made the call to go from the original Undertaker vs. Cena direction to this match. On paper, this would make it a lock that nobody is coming close to the boos Reigns will be getting on this show. Regardless of the outcome, this to me only makes sense if the plan is an all-out Reigns heel turn and use this as the springboard.
Otherwise, the idea of Undertaker beating him and then endorsing him won’t work, because Daniel Bryan and Rock endorsed him and it didn’t work. Taker losing to him, unless the match is dramatically perfect, will only get him more heel heat. But we’ve heard nothing about a Reigns turn and they say he gets cheered on the house shows and it’s only the vocal minority that boo him.
Undertaker vs. Reigns is notable because Vince McMahon made the call to go from the original Undertaker vs. Cena direction to this match. On paper, this would make it a lock that nobody is coming close to the boos Reigns will be getting on this show. Regardless of the outcome, this to me only makes sense if the plan is an all-out Reigns heel turn and use this as the springboard.
Otherwise, the idea of Undertaker beating him and then endorsing him won’t work, because Daniel Bryan and Rock endorsed him and it didn’t work. Taker losing to him, unless the match is dramatically perfect, will only get him more heel heat. But we’ve heard nothing about a Reigns turn and they say he gets cheered on the house shows and it’s only the vocal minority that boo him.
Road Dogg New Head Writer?
There was a story going around that Brian James (Road Dogg) had replaced Ryan Ward as the head writer of Smackdown. The story is actually that James got a corporate promotion, over Ward, but they are sharing the job of pitching Smackdown to Vince McMahon, who then rewrites it as he sees fit. James has been the guy reading the show to the other producers at the production meeting for some time now.
So it’s not a major change in the show, nor are rumors Ward is no longer with the show correct, only that James got a promotion and would technically be above Ward in that way, but Ward is also still technically titled the lead writer of the show. James and Ward have essentially been co-head writer of the show since it started getting praised. James is considered Paul Levesque’s emissary on the show and to be one of the major power brokers going forward, particularly if and when Levesque does take over
There was a story going around that Brian James (Road Dogg) had replaced Ryan Ward as the head writer of Smackdown. The story is actually that James got a corporate promotion, over Ward, but they are sharing the job of pitching Smackdown to Vince McMahon, who then rewrites it as he sees fit. James has been the guy reading the show to the other producers at the production meeting for some time now.
So it’s not a major change in the show, nor are rumors Ward is no longer with the show correct, only that James got a promotion and would technically be above Ward in that way, but Ward is also still technically titled the lead writer of the show. James and Ward have essentially been co-head writer of the show since it started getting praised. James is considered Paul Levesque’s emissary on the show and to be one of the major power brokers going forward, particularly if and when Levesque does take over
- Cena will be hosting the Kid’s Choice Awards on Nick, which air on 3/11.
- Jerry Lawler signed a new one-year contract with WWE.
- Lawler is doing the pre-show panel for the Rumble as well as announcing the Rumble match, maybe being put there to do something with Ziggler coming off their Smackdown angle.
- WWE has commissioned a statue of Flair that will likely be unveiled at Fan Axxess at Mania. WWE has already done statues of Ultimate Warrior, Dusty Rhodes, Bruno Sammartino and Andre the Giant
- PW Insider reported that Finn Balor is being evaluated this week to see if he can be cleared to return after major shoulder surgery right after. SummerSlam. He was hopeful of a March return and is in the plans for WrestleMania. If cleared this week, he could be a Rumble surprise.
- For a 2/17 house show in Dallas, they are advertising Lesnar vs. Show and Reigns vs. Strowman. So you be teh judge what that means....
- Paige just started her physical therapy after neck surgery on 1/23
NXT News -
- Given the status of Tye Dillinger, there are some who think that if Dillinger isn’t in the Rumble at No. 10, there will be a big negative reaction. That’s hard to say because there are expected to be around 40,000 people at the Alamodome, and while some will revolt if No. 10 isn’t who they want it to be, it’s not a lock the big crowd will.
- The Takeover women’s match doesn’t appear to be the quality of most NXT women’s title matches on the big show. It does have the option of taking the title from Asuka without beating her, because it does seem like Kay is being groomed for the title.
- Roode seems a lock to get the NXT title at some point relatively soon, but right now doesn’t seem to have any challengers ready. Whether Roode wins or loses, it looks like Nakamura vs. Roode should keep going.
New Japan Pro Wrestling News -
- New Japan’s Fantastica Mania tour, a usually light series of shows with heavy doses of comedy, ended with three sold out shows at Korakuen Hall. Generally the tour is self-contained, in the sense the angles for the February big shows are set up at the Tokyo Dome and New Year’s Dash, and the booking of this tour is usually based around some wins and losses to set up the singles main events on the final nights.
- With the exception of heating up Hiromu Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee, an IWGP jr. title match that takes place on 2/11 in Osaka, no big news.
- All three shows were sellouts, with the paid attendance being 1,515 on 1/20, 1,559 on 1/21 and 1,592 on 1/22.
Ring of Honor News -
- The Best in the World PPV, the company’s second of the year, was officially announced for 6/23 at the Lowell, MA Memorial Auditorium. They will also be doing a television taping the next day
- These are the current lineups for the shows over the second week of February. The 2/11 show in Pittsburgh has Adam Cole & Young Bucks & Cody vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe & Bobby Fish & Jay Lethal, Marty Scurll vs. Donovan Dijak for the TV title,
- The 2/12 show in Columbus, OH has Young Bucks vs. War Machine for tag titles, Cole & Page vs. Lethal & Fish, Scurll vs. Lio Rush (fans in the building will be polled on whether they want a 2/3 fall match, a submission rules match or a European rounds style match)
TNA News -
- Dutch Mantell is back on creative with Gaburick and Matt Conway.
- The Bobby Lashley angle with Josh Barnett over the title is likely something Lashley suggested as in real life, Lashley and Barnett have often trained together.
- The Hardys appearing on The Crash show and having the Crash main event filmed for Impact tells you the beginnings of a relationship with TNA are there. If Jeff Jarrett gets more power in TNA, he and Konnan worked together extensively in AAA after Jarrett had left TNA. Even if he doesn’t, if Anthem attempts to grow TNA and add more talent, this could be the avenue.
Lucha Underground News -
- On 1/21, Pentagon Jr., Garza Jr. and Daga showed up on The Crash promotion show in Tijuana, just one day after all three had worked AAA’s Guerrera de Titanes show in Mexico City. None of the three had informed AAA they were leaving.
- AAA owns the rights to Pentagon Jr., while Lucha Underground owns the rights to Pentagon Dark.
- This came just days after Lucha Underground announced Dorian Roldan of AAA as the General Manager of Lucha Libre FMV (which is the Lucha Underground business company), which puts him in charge of talent relations, live events, sponsorships, merchandising and licensing.
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By: Larry Causion Jr. CausionCreations.com
Posted: Friday, January 27, 2017
Credit: Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Posted: Friday, January 27, 2017
Credit: Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter