8/1/2019

Mean Gene Okerlund:

Raw was dedicated to Mean Gene Okerlund last night. Hulk Hogan returned to WWE TV as part of his memorial...

Royal Rumble:

Sasha Banks booked herself a match vs Ronda Rousey at the Royal Rumble last night. John Cena confirmed himself for the Rumble match, as did Apollo Crews and Andrade Cien Almas for the men and his valet Zelina Vega for the ladies.

New stars officially step up:

ECIII and Lacey Evans debuted as main roster stars last night on the Main Event taping.

WWE call for Kenny:

Bobby Roode is the first WWE star to openly call on Kenny Omega to come to WWE. He says he hopes to see the former NJPW champion in the Royal Rumble.

Batista:

Batista is set to star in a new massive movie franchise. He has signed on to lead the cast of 'Dune' which has a multi film long term plan and a huge budget in place.

Impact blow the lights:

An explosion in the production truck caused a power outage at the Impact taping last night, leading to literal dark matches, that could not be taped. Some fans grew tired of waiting for the issue to be fixed and left early. Impact officials were giving out free merch to people as they left.

The did eventually fix the problem, and the taping continued.

NJPW expand tour:

NJPW have extended their US tour to three cities, with the addition of Nashville.

HOF'er goes for two WWE stars:

Animal has been critical of two WWE tsras in recent weeks, and did not take kindly to them retaliating on social media. He said of Becky Lynch and Tyler Breeze...

"First of all, Becky Lynch needs to get over herself, first and foremost. When Becky Lynch can achieve what I've achieved in the sport of pro wrestling, then she can call me out. But other than that, she's not earned her stripes to call me out alright, and I just want to make that perfectly clear. I don't think anyone in the wrestling world will have any objection to that. Second of all, you remember that article? It's funny to me how people take little tidbits of stuff and they run with it. You also heard me say in our interview that I thought she was the hottest female going today in the sport of wrestling. Did I not say that? Did I not say that women are stealing the show in that company? Okay, so Becky, where is the compliment of saying that you're the hottest female," asked Animal. "Where's the compliment of saying the women stole the show at WrestleMania, at TLC and so on? If someone wants to hang her hat on one little comment, as compared to ten positives, well then hey, I rest my case. They're thinking about their own egos and not really thinking about the big picture. This is for you Tyler Breeze – put your 180 pound ego aside. Sorry if you don't like to hear me say that, but… you and Fandango were great together, an entertaining tag team. It's not my fault or WWE's fault that they used you guys as a couple of job guys. That's exactly what they do. They give you a win here or there, and then they smoke you for a year. If anyone thinks he's gonna take the Intercontinental Belt off anyone, they're sadly mistaken. There's no way they're gonna do it. I loved him and Fandango together, but without them two together nobody really knows them individually anymore. It would be like separating New Day and calling them by their individual names. When you get associated with a team, it's better off staying with a team. That was my point. These little people getting their panties in a bunch over this stuff is really getting old. They need to get a backbone and not get so sensitive when someone makes a comment... You gotta not take this thing way too serious. It's the entertainment business. People are gonna give you comments left and right."

SD teaser:

• Triple Threat Match to decide who will square off against Asuka for the SmackDown Women's Title at Royal Rumble
• The Usos to battle The Bar with a SmackDown Tag Team Championship opportunity on the line
• AJ Styles to confront WWE Champion Daniel Bryan
• Who will gain momentum heading into the Men's Royal Rumble Match?
• Will Rusev be looking for retribution?

Injury:

Rowan has started training at the PC.

Impact for sale:

Impact had a meeting with talent and employees to address the talk of a sale of the promotion being in the works. Ed Nordholm reportedly reassured everyone the rumours were false and that Impact were doing great.

Edge shares why early entry spots are better than late ones:

...In the Royal Rumble match...

"I think that's the key, if you're one of the pieces of thread through the Rumble, then yeah, it makes for a more difficult, challenging night, but that's what you want to be! I always loved if I was gonna get to be #2 and be in there at #22, because that means, at some point every talent is going to go through you and you're basically going to be in there for the greatest hits as every character rolls through. And hopefully you're in there when, I don't know, Jake the Snake comes out, or something, and you can take the short arm clothesline, or Booker T, or take your pick. I always enjoyed the rumble from that aspect. I was always bummed if I was only gonna be in there for 5 minutes. I was like, 'Man I want to get in there and be one of the last superstars remaining.' There are always great storylines throughout. And it generally happens that there's a talent that's been in there for a while, or Kofi finds his niche and comes up with some kind of crazy, spectacular, absolutely creative way to be Kofi every year. And now Naomi is doing it! That's what I love about the Rumble is you get these little stories within the stories, within the story, within the story. I always really really enjoyed that. But it can be tough, for sure. There's a lot of responsibility if you're one of those people."

Alums to AEW:

Neville and Billy Gunn are in Florida for an AEW event today. At the event they also announced the huge news that Chris Jericho had signed a deal with the promotion.