We can take a deep breath for now as WWE was able to complete it's ambitious taping schedule at the Performance Center this week. While the rest of sports world is on hiatus, pro wrestling fans can count on 2 Raws, 2 NXTs, and next week's Smackdown, in addition to the Grandaddy of Em All, Wrestlemania, on both next Saturday and Sunday for the first time ever. As it stands, Friday Night Smackdown on April 10th would be the next possible live event for WWE.
The Wrestlemania card did take a couple of losses, first reported by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Roman Reigns cautiously bowed out of his Universal Championship main event with Goldberg due to growing concern over the coronavirus. Reigns had a much publicized battle with Leukemia in 2018, and took the smart and safer route of not performing during this time. Braun Strowman is replacing the four-time WWE Champion at Mania. I wish Reigns all the best, and look forward to seeing him perform when it is safe to do so.
In addition to Roman, The Miz is out of the Smackdown Tag Team Title Ladder Match 3 way with the New Day and Usos with an unreported illness. Andrade has also been scratched from the Raw Tag Team Title match due to an injury he sustained at Raw on Monday. Meltzer has also refuted the Reddit rumors that Kevin Owens, Edge, and Asuka were off the card as well, and confirmed their matches all took place as scheduled.
Two new stipulations were added to The Showcase of the Immortals this week. The Undertaker and AJ Styles will fight in a Boneyard Brawl, and John Cena and The Fiend's match will be in the Firefly Funhouse. This is one of the few times WWE can let matchups be a little more creative by having them take place outside the arena since there isn't a live audience that would grow restless watching a screen. I'm sure WWE post-production will be able to add a lot to these particular matches since Undertaker and Cena are no longer in their prime, as full-time performers.
NXT is making the best of a bad situation as well. With the postponement of Takeover Tampa, matches that were scheduled for that event were taped to air on the NXT TV show Wednesday Nights the next two weeks. On the April 1st episode, a Triple Threat for the NXT North American Title will take place between Keith Lee, Domnik Dijakovic, and Damian Priest. Then, on the April 8th show, the Six Women #1 Contender Ladder Match and the final blowoff of the Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano feud will take place The two and a half year feud between them has been a highlight of NXT, and it is going to be interesting to see where they go from here.
AEW is taking the chance going live for Dynamite every week still with a limited roster in Daliy's Place in Jacksonville. International wrestlers, like Pac and Lucha Bros, as well as talent from California, including the Young Bucks and SCU weren't at the show this week. This past Wednesday's show was supposed to be Blood and Guts in Newark , pour out a Lil Bit of the Bubbly for me :( but instead was highlighted by a confrontation between Chris Jericho and Broken Matt Hardy. Both these guys have great comedic timing, and it was a lighthearted moment I think everyone needed. Some of the highlights were Jericho cutting a promo on Vanguard One (Hardy's drone) and Hardy saying the empty amphitheater was filled with spirits of George Washington,Martin Luther King, and Judas.
Dana White continued his battle against the media this week with some more hilarious quotes, including a must-listen interview with Barstool Sports' Bob Fox. In spite of some the controversy the media is trying to stir up, the UFC President vows to move on with April 18th's UFC 249 card, headlined by Tony and Khabib, in a move I wholeheartedly agree with.
“I’m not telling the media anything! Fuck you! Every day when I wake up, there’s a bullshit story. Or somebody doesn’t like this, somebody doesn’t like that. I don’t give a fuck what you think. On April 18th, you either wanna turn on the TV and watch this fight, or you don’t.”
"How long are we really going to stay in our houses and hide? If the coronavirus is what's going to get me, then so be it. I mean, it is what it is. Heart disease, car accidents, cancer — the list goes on and on of all these things that kill people every year. One thing is guaranteed: We're all gonna die of something. ... You can't be somebody who's gonna hide in your house."
Dana is working on making UFC 249 the "Baddest Card Ever", including adding fights from the previous three postponed events. A potential combination of any of the below fights would be a great way for the organization to return to normalcy, as White said he plans all events after April 18th to continue as scheduled.
Khabib Nurmagomedov (c) vs Tony Ferguson
Francis Ngannou vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik
Tyron Woodley vs Colby Covington
Jessica Andrade vs Rose Namajunas
Jeremy Stephens vs Calvin Kattar
Alistair Overeem vs Walt Harris
Magomed Ankalaev vs Ion Cuțelaba
Uriah Hall vs Jacare Souza
Lyman Good vs Belal Muhammad
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