Royal Rumble News
This is the official card for the Royal Rumble, which will be held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sunday, January 28, 2018. It will air on pay-per-view and on the WWE Network at 7 PM EST/6 PM CST.
WWE Universal Title Triple Threat Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Kane vs. Braun Strowman
WWE Title Triple Threat Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
WWE Raw Tag Team Title Match: Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (c) vs. Cesaro & Sheamus
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title 2-out-of-3-Falls Match: The Usos (c) vs. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
Men’s Royal Rumble Match Participants: Elias, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, John Cena, Finn Balor, Baron Corbin, “Woken” Matt Hardy, Bray Wyatt, Rusev, Aiden English, Titus O’Neil, Apollo Crews, other wrestlers TBA.
Women’s Royal Rumble Match Participants: Naomi, Asuka, Ruby Riott, Natalya, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan, Carmella, Tamina, Lana, Nia Jax, Mickie James, Becky Lynch, Dana Brooke, Alicia Fox, other wrestlers TBA
Royal Rumble Kickoff Show Matches:
United States Title Match Open Challenge: Bobby Roode (C) vs. ?
Tag Team Match: Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder
Cruiserweight Six Man Tag Match: Kalisto, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik vs. TJP, Jack Gallagher & Drew Gulak
Royal Rumble Entrant News
Molly Holly cleared up rumors regarding her return in Sunday’s Royal Rumble in an interview with Wrestling Inc.. She said that she’d need months to get ready and that it was nice that fans thought enough about her to start a rumor. We’ll see come Sunday.
According to Ronda Rousey, she won’t be at the Royal Rumble. She said in an interview with TMZ that she’s in Colombia filming for the movie Mile 22 with Mark Wahlberg and John Malkovich and that she won’t be back in the U.S. until mid February. Ronda also went on to say that no deal was formally finalized with the WWE. We’ll see come Sunday.
NXT Takeover: Philadelphia
This is the current card for NXT Takeover: Philadelphia. It will be held in Philadelphia on Saturday January 27, 2018 and will air exclusively on the WWE Network at 8 PM EST/7 PM CST
NXT World Championship: Andrade “Cien” Almas (C) vs. Johnny Gargano
NXT Women’s Championship: Ember Moon (C) vs. Shayna Baszler
NXT World Tag-Team Championship: Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish (C) vs. The Authors Of Pain
Extreme Rules Match: Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black
Singles Match: Kassius Ohno vs. The Velveteen Dream
NXT Takeover news
Triple H announced on Twitter that the following matches will be taped before NXT Takeover: Philadelphia.
U.K. Title #1 Contender Match: Roderick Strong vs. Tyler Bate
Women’s match: Nikki Cross vs. Lacey Evans
TM-61 is also slated to return.
Public Roman Reigns steroid evidence release eminent?
Richard Rodriguez made headlines last week by naming Roman Reigns and actors Mark Wahlberg and Josh Duhamel as clients in his steroid ring that was federally raided last February in Miami. Roman, Mark, and Josh each denied the allegations but things have taken a further turn. Jon Bravo is making a documentary on Iron Addicts Gym and has released another interview with the steroid dealer. Richard outed the three celebrities as a part of an attempt to receive a better plea deal and claims to have dealt with even bigger names. In the footage, he claims that he has text messages, shipping addresses, and shipment tracking information that implicates Roman that he plans on releasing in snippets over the next week. Richard also plans to outing other clients as well. The WWE and Roman Reigns have yet to commit to this latest statement.
Bobby Lashley Update
According to Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bobby Lashley’s deal with Impact was slated to officially end with the company in May. Impact granted Bobby and early release since he wanted to leave and they wouldn’t be obligated to pay the rest of the contract by doing so. Bobby is also being courted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).
Rich Swann cleared
Charges against Rich Swann were dropped due to “insufficient evidence” according to prosecutors. Rich was suspended by the WWE since his arrest for domestic violence this past December. This development opens the door for his reinstatement. There is yet to be a statement from the WWE.
