[Emperor Smeat]

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SPOILER: show

The only real known change in the WrestleMania card is the original Miz vs. Strowman IC title match is out. Strowman’s role isn’t determined because right now he is the fallback position in case something happens with either Reigns or Brock Lesnar. It was a lock Lesnar would leave if Jon Jones could have found himself a tainted supplement with Turinabol and gotten a minimum suspension. Right now, given Jones’ lack of an explanation for his positive test, things don’t look good for him in his upcoming testimony before USADA as far as being able to fight any time soon. Lesnar vs. Jones was a huge money fight, and while Lesnar could get fights and make money with Cain Velasquez, Stipe Miocic or Francis Ngannou, he couldn’t make nearly the money as he could have with Jones. In addition, he would be the underdog in all of those fights and his market value would drop with a loss. Plus, Ngannou is the one that also offers the most serious physical danger for him and one he should probably avoid, even if of the four opponents, it’s the one there is at least a possible path of victory using his wrestling. Reigns winning the title from Lesnar is still the direction, as it has been for a year, for the show. The big issue is the claims about Reigns by Jon Bravo, the film maker with access to the Wellness Fitness Nutrition, Inc., files who has claimed for the past few weeks that he would be revealing information regarding Reigns’ alleged purchases from the company that distributed steroids and other PEDs.

Originally Posted by Observer Cena vs. Undertaker is still the Mania plan, or at least was at the time Cena did the interview and we’ve heard nothing different. Based on the crowd reaction, it has more anticipation than almost anything on the show. The only way that would change would be if Undertaker gets hurt in training or for some reason pulls out of the show. As for Mysterio Jr., he has no deal with WWE at this moment. He does have a meeting scheduled with Paul Levesque to discuss a deal very soon, and it’s basically dependent upon Levesque clearing his schedule and set up when this will take place. Mysterio is looking for a very different type of deal as he’s not willing to wrestle full-time at this point, nor should he. There are also questions about opportunities outside of wrestling. Mysterio was at the 2/26 house show in San Diego but all of the key people would have been at Raw in Anaheim that night. He is also still scheduled for the New Japan show on 3/25 in Long Beach.

Originally Posted by Observer There had been speculation of Travis Browne, Rousey’s husband, who has been training at the Performance Center, being in the match where it would be the husband and wives against each other. But this is a better bet since using Browne would mean the match at Mania would have HHH and three wrestlers with almost no experience, two of which would be in the first match. Angle is the safer choice since the guys who likely work most of the way and carry the match, and build for the peak spots with Rousey and Stephanie. The entire match will likely be mapped out spot-for-spot, or at least the limited action of the women would have to be.

Originally Posted by Observer The most recent WrestleMania plans were the women’s title matches to be Bliss vs. Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair vs,. Asuka. Jax was protected as much as could be possible in losing to Asuka on the Chamber show, and continued getting the monster push. Bliss, in her television interview, kept saying that Jax deserves the title shot as a way to avoid Asuka. The idea is she kept saying it because she knew it had no chance of happening, and makes sense that it ends up happening. But it’s unclear where all that stands right now.

Spoiler tag used since its related to Mania plans and Lesnar's future status in the WWE.

Originally Posted by Observer The WWE to FOX stories have grown stronger including this noting a Monday night slot on FOX for Raw is possible. This is actually something first talked about more than a year ago and we had reported it months ago. But this story said FOX would rather have WWE and would let UFC go if they can make the WWE deal and is willing to pay more for WWE. The moral of this story is that it's very important to have a good year in your contract year. One year ago, nobody would have ever made that call. This year, the perception is very different, and the signing of Ronda Rousey is a big part of this.

Link: http://www.sportingnews.com/wwe/news...t1fglfp1m7xr2w

Originally Posted by Observer On FS 1's Speak for Yourself show, Jason Whitlock and Colin Cowherd talked about Cowherd going with FOX Sports execs to the Smackdown tapings Tuesday night at the Staples Center. Cowherd talked about meeting Stephanie McMahon and said that he had a blast at the show. He'd spent years burying wrestling and its fans. Cowherd now said it was a very good sport "coming to a network near you" which was meant as a tease as FOX is looking to get WWE's TV rights in 2019.

Originally Posted by Observer Ring of Honor is set to return to the United Kingdom for a three-show tour in May. The tour will be called "Honor United" and will begin in Edinburgh, Scotland with a show at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange on May 24th. After that, there will be stops at the Crystal Palace Sports Centre in London, England on the 26th and The Doncaster Dome in Doncaster, England on the 27th. This will be ROH's first trip to the UK since last summer's War of the Worlds events, which included an iPPV from Liverpool and featured wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling and CMLL. Though few details have been announced for the three shows in May, ROH confirmed that there will be wrestlers from NJPW on the tour.

Link: https://www.rohwrestling.com/news/ro...80%99-tour-may

Originally Posted by Observer All Star Wrestling on 3/2 and 4/14 in Surrey BC at the Alice McKay Building at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. Due to Tom Lawlor's injury, tomorow night's main event will be Davey Boy Smith Jr. defending the Stu Hart Heritage title against Artemis Spencer, who replaces Lawlor. MCW on 3/24 in Joppa, MD with Bruiser vs. Joey Mercury in a cage match. CZW on 3/10 in Voorhees, NJ at the Colossal Sports Academy has Rich Swann vs. Joe Gacy added to the show. Wrestle Circus announced Penta 0M vs. Shane Strickland, Tessa Blanchard vs Chelsea Green and Extra Talented vs. Andy Dalton & Gregory James for their 3/24 show in Austin TX. Another NWA video produced by Dave Lagana covering Nick Aldis returning home as NWA champion.

NWA link: https://youtu.be/dgBLSaHUkaE

Originally Posted by PWI Let’s imagine something happens to Vince McMahon tonight and he is no longer able run WWE. What happens next? who takes over the business, creative etc. Vince is known to pretty much do everything in his company, so i’m interested as to you believe the plan would be should he not be there? And what would be the immediate reaction? Remember there have been lots of shows that Vince McMahon wasn’t involved in and WWE got through them fine. The plan would be for Michelle Wilson and George Barrios to run the day to day of the business while Triple H and Stephanie McMahon would handle the creative and branding of the company. I think a lot of people will be shocked to hear this, but should and when something happens to Vince McMahon, the WWE machine will continue without a beat. It’s too massive a company at this point that it wouldn’t. I think people outside the company will be shocked and wonder how WWE will carry on, but Disney still moved on and grew even after the deaths of Walt and Roy Disney.

From PWI's weekly Q&A article about WWE's current plans for Vince's departure.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE announced that they will returning to Tokyo, Japan on June 29th and 30th with shows at the Ry?goku Kokugikan Sumo Arena featuring the Smackdown Live brand. No talent has been confirmed yet for the events.

Originally Posted by PWI The official Twitter account for the 9/1 "All In" event being promoted in Chicago, IL, headed by Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks, announced that the location of the event, a 10,000 seat venue in that market that Ring of Honor has never run, will be announced on the next edition of their YouTube series Being the Elite: The next #BeingTheElite will feature the location for the event! — All In (@ALL_IN_2018) March 1, 2018

Link: https://twitter.com/ALL_IN_2018/stat...29707260887040

Originally Posted by Observer There was a much bigger walk-up than usual both nights. Las Vegas had 8,000 tickets a few weeks out and ended up with 11,000 in the T Mobile Arena for Fast Lane. Whether that was a late two-for-one, or the announcement of Rousey is impossible to say, probably some of both. In Anaheim, there was another huge walk-up as we were told the afternoon of the show that it was looking like 8,500, and ended up at 10,000. That was very much attributed to Rousey, since WWE didn’t even announce she would be there until after the PPV.

Originally Posted by Observer The weekly saga of Roman Reigns and his connection with Richard Rodriguez had a few new stories from an interview with Jon Bravo. Bravo did an interview with pro wrestler Devon Nicholson’s Hannibal TV channel. He said that he hasn’t gone over the 2017 records, but he claimed that he of yet hasn’t found anything from 2016 that Reigns ordered that came after his June suspension. He said he also found things being used prior to the June suspension which is why he said he was certain that what got Reigns suspended were drugs he purchased from Rodriguez ... Bravo said the information would be released in a lengthy video with Rodriguez where he will go into detail on Reigns and every other wrestler involved. He also said he uncovered a connection between Rodriguez and all of the wrestlers and indicated it would be out shortly ... The key is that if this is accurate, WWE can argue if there is no evidence of him using anything after June, that he was already suspended. With Reigns scheduled to win the Universal title from Brock Lesnar, and a second suspension would be 60 days, it would put the company in a very bad position if evidence is brought out implicating him with purchasing anything after that point. WWE would not be forced to do anything, and because they aren’t really covered in depth by many mainstream places, there’s not going to be the media pressure on the policy. That was shown by the revelation that Lesnar wasn’t subject to the policy after he failed a UFC test and wasn’t suspended, which got virtually no mainstream coverage, like it would if there was a bust and one of UFC’s or the NFL’s biggest stars was named ... He said the reason he and Rodriguez they talked about Reigns, Josh Duhamel (who, coincidentally, appeared on Smackdown this week to plug the debut of the USA Network TV show “Unsolved,” that he is starring in) and Mark Wahlberg is because he claimed those names had already come out in testimony related to the case. He said because of that, all three of the men would have been contacted and been aware of this all along ... But if the records come out and there is substance to them, there is great onus on WWE on a lot of different fronts ... The other is that if you’ve got 15 guys tied to just this one case, that likely tells you use the issue is far more prevalent than just from this one guy as a dealer. If it is, that tells you the mentality among the wrestlers, or at least a good percentage of them, is that when WWE tests and tells you they want you clean, what they really mean is they want you to not fail tests that may be easy to pass. Part of the issue is when you have traditionally awarded physiques with better spots and more opportunities, the natural incentive in a very competitive sport is to do what you can to maximize what you are given. This is not limited to WWE ... It doesn’t help when the CEO and the head of developmental are both bodybuilders themselves and whether they are or aren’t clean, I don’t believe there’s one person on the roster who believes they don’t have a history with the stuff. So there’s a lead by example thing going. I don’t really care if they suspend a bunch of guys. The reality is the guys who are using the stuff have the mentality that the real rules, as opposed to what the public is told, is look how you need to look and don’t get caught. And if those are the rules, WWE should do nothing here. If those aren’t the rules, and this is meant to be more than a smoke-screen, the WWE should be aggressively trying to find out what the information is, and what is being used, and what type of testing can be done to lessen that use ... There’s also the Lesnar loophole, where WWE has allowed the older part-timers an essential drug exemption free pass, while the guys on the harder schedule who are taking the bumps and traveling hard, don’t get that benefit. Another issue that came up this past week regards NXT. Talent there is tested, and are suspended with the same rules, but their suspensions are kept hidden. Unfortunately, with the revelation last week here of that fact, it was created an environment where anyone who disappears for more than 30 days is now getting the rumors of a drug test failure their way. In some cases, that may be true and others it wouldn’t. NXT is a touring brand with guys being pushed as stars, so I’m not sure why he rules would be different. They have their reasons. But the problem now is by not announcing the failures, anyone who misses 30 days for a minor injury, a personal leave, a legit health issue or cosmetic surgery will now be rumored that they have failed test. Sometimes you reveal names to punish the people and as a public deterrent to everyone that your name will get out. Sometimes you do it because every real sport would. But another reason to announce all failures is to protect the innocent.

Originally Posted by Observer Mike Tenay has said that while he is not actively pursuing any jobs in wrestling, and has had offers that he hasn’t accepted, he does not consider himself retired from wrestling. He said that he might consider a return to announcing at some point in the future and is open to listening to offers

Originally Posted by Observer John Pollock noted that the ban on piledrivers was due to a significant injury to a wrestler in Louisiana from a piledriver. This injury and ban was enacted in recent years, so the fact there were piledrivers at both the last WrestleMania in New Orleans and on shows that week doesn’t matter. Still, my gut tells me the commission will rule tombstones as not being piledrivers since WWE doesn’t allow their wrestlers to do regular piledrivers under normal circumstances (they may be approved for top stars in a major match, but even that is rare). All wrestlers who appear on the shows have to have blood test results sent to the promotion for review by the commission regarding testing for HIV along with Hepatitis B and C. In addition, the commission will be doing physicals at the shows before the matches and the commission is saying there are no exceptions to the rule. What’s notable here is that most commissions are small and there are so many events going on at the same time so I don’t see how they’ll be able to oversee them all

Originally Posted by Observer Both Keith Lee and Walter have been offered WWE spots starting in Orlando in May. The two are the two best big men on the independent scene right now. The belief within the indie world is Lee is taking it since he’s turned down dates after that point in time but this is one of those things that neither side are even allowed to confirm. Lee is 32 or 33 (he told me he was 32 months back) , and he’s got charisma to go along with being so strong and agile. He reminds me of a more agile but not quite as heavy version of Bam Bam Bigelow. Lee, while not announced yet because it requires the approval of Gabe Sapolsky, since he has a contract with WWN, was tentatively on the card for New Japan on the 3/25 show in Long Beach. If that happens, that doesn’t mean he won’t do that date and still go to WWE in May although New Japan believes he’s not. He also has shown he can work with lots of different styles and have good matches and had a tear down the house psychology match with Tomohiro Ishii in London that was beautiful in its simplicity. Walter is less clear. I know that in the past he’s told us he’s not interested because he’s got employee status with the wXw promotion in Europe and runs their school and in the past told us he likes his life and wasn’t interested in moving. He wasn’t even interested in long periods out of Europe as he noted New Japan isn’t something he was interested in either. But there is an opportunity if you become a WWE star to make far more money and garner far more fame in this business than anywhere else. Walter would have been a main event heel in the old WWWF days against Bruno Sammartino or Pedro Morales in the 70s as a big German who can really go standing behind a heel manager. He’s got a great foreign heel face, similar to Vladimir Kozlov, just as big, not quite as good a body as Kozlov had but world’s better in the ring. Walter’s chops are incredible, but I’m not sure WWE will want their guys taking those chops as much as indie guys are willing to do to make a match, but he can do more than that. Both have different styles than WWE but if I was WWE, they are two of the top guys possible to get that aren’t under contract with a major promotion already

Originally Posted by Observer Rousey was training during the week at the Performance Center in secrecy. Even before, when she would come, she would train if off hours so people wouldn’t see her even though it was not a secret she was there. She also went to Stamford this past week for business meetings. Her training team was Norman Smiley, Sara Amato, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke (so she’s back training for pro wrestling again), Travis Browne (her husband who is 6-foot-6 and was doing training as well and has done some training there for months although we’ve heard mixed reports on whether he’ll be wrestling or not) along with Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler

Originally Posted by Observer Talks are back open regarding a Neville return. If it was to happen, the target is April right now. He has been looking at leaving but wasn’t able to get a release, and it’s a bad situation because the company can freeze his contract length if he’s not performing (the same reason they were able to keep both Bryan and Mysterio under contract long after their original deals were to expire)

Originally Posted by Observer Regarding Apollo dropping the Crews last name, it’s been confirmed through people who have seen internal e-mails that it was a decision made by Vince McMahon because of the gunman in the Parkland school mass murder names Nikolas Cruz. That had previously been reported by Daniel Wood and in many other places. WWE never denied the story to us, only said that they had never released that information to any media source. The reason for the dropping of the name wasn’t supposed to get out

Originally Posted by Observer Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that a TV appearance by Eric Arndt (Enzo Amore) on the show Undercover Boss on CBS has been edited off the show. There was an episode that has yet to air with a WWE theme that Arndt had a scene in. They reported it was a small scene that wasn’t integral to the episode itself and it wasn’t difficult to edit him out. Arndt was edited off likely because WWE didn’t want anything associated with them to have him shown as part of their company in the future since he’s being investigated on a sexual assault charge

Some other sheet news includes:

• According to the Observer, WWE is currently struggling selling tickets for Smackdown exclusive Fastlane PPV. WWE currently offering a "2 for the price of 1" for ringside seats.
• The entire content listing for the upcoming Becky Lynch collection set for the WWE Network was recently revealed. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...ction.html?p=1
• According to PWI, Sunny (Tammy Sytch) is dealing with legal problems again and this time related to her failing to appear at two different courts for prior legal issues. Besides being arrested in New Jersey, she is now considered a "fugitive of justice" in Pennsylvania. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...stice.html?p=1
• Radio show Conversations With Maria Menounos had Charlotte as the guest talking about who she wants to face at Mania, her feelings on Ronda Rousey, her father's legacy, and more. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...-more.html?p=1
• Karen Jarrett recently commented on Jeff Jarrett's induction into WWE's Hall of Fame and thanked everyone who made it possible and helped Jeff's career. https://www.pwinsider.com/article/11...ction.html?p=1
• According to the Observer, Paul Heyman will be giving the induction speech for Goldberg during this year's WWE Hall of Fame event.

Some stuff from TPWW Frontpage:

• Various: Lesnar at WWE Show, Taker Campaigns w/ Kane, Edwards Re-Signs
• WWE: Austin at WrestleCon, Birthdays, WWE Camera Work, Paige’s Store
• Impact vs. Lucha Underground Show Planned for WrestleMania Weekend
• PWG to Move to a Bigger Venue for Their Next Show