Worlds Collide
Filmed over the course of the 2 day Fan Access event Royal Rumble weekend, the Worlds collide tournament was edited down for broadcast on WWE Network this past Saturday. 5 men each from NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live started the tournament in a 15 man battle royal match with the order of elimination determining the tournament match ups. NXT UK’s Jordan Devlin won the battle royal and earned a 1st round bye in the tournament.
Round 1 results:
Drew Gulak defeated Mark Andrews
Keith Lee defeated Travis Banks
Adam Cole defeated Shane Thorne
Dominik Dijakovic defeated TJP
Tyler Bate defeated Cedric Alexander
Velveteen Dream defeated Tony Nese
Humberto Carillo defeated Zack Gibson
Quarter Final Results:
Adam Cole defeated Keith Lee
Tyler Bate defeated Dominik Dijakovic
Velveteen Dream defeated Humberto Carillo
Jordan Devlin defeated Drew Gulak
Semifinal Results:
Tyler Bate defeated Adam Cole
Velveteen Dream defeated Jordan Devlin
Final: Dream defeated Bate to earn a shot at any title of his choosing from the 3 brands represented in the tournament. The Dream wasted little time in picking his shot. He came out during the opening segment of NXT this week and made it known that he was interested in the North American Title that Johnny Gargano won at TakeOver. The match between Dream and Gargano has already been taped and is scheduled to air Feb. 20.
Halftime Heat
For those uninterested in the Superbowl halftime show (or those who merely wished to go back and watch something else after the fact), a match was presented at the Performance Center on Sunday featuring 6 of the biggest stars NXT has to offer. It was the first time they’ve done a broadcast like this directly from the PC, and given the circumstances and the presence of a number of NXT talents in the crowd I’m guessing it was an audience of friends and family. The match itself was made as a result of a brawl that broke out after the recent TakeOver event. Former NXT Champ Aleister Black, former North American Champ Ricochet, and Velveteen Dream (in appropriately football themed ring gear) teamed up to face the trio of NXT Champ Tommaso Ciampa, North American Champ Johnny Gargano, and former North American Champ Adam Cole. With Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels and Vic Joseph on commentary, the match was an exciting spotfest that saw the face trio claiming victory. Definitely worth checking out if you’ve got 25 minutes to fill with some fun NXT action.
Women’s Tag Titles
The two remaining Smackdown teams, The Iiconics and Fabulous Glow (Naomi and Carmella) declared themselves for the Chamber match. They aren’t acknowledging this discrepancy on television yet, but some of the Raw women have commented about it on social media at least. If the brands were still being run by different General Managers, then using different means of team selection would be fine. However it makes zero sense, if the same people are in charge of both shows, that the Raw teams all had to win qualifying matches while Smackdown teams just had to find a mic and say they wanted in. Speaking of qualifying, the team of Sasha Banks and Bayley won their match against Alicia Fox and Nikki Cross.
Injury Report
Seth Rollins is said to be dealing with a back injury of some kind. It’s expected that he’ll sit out Elimination Chamber but be ready to go for Wrestlemania.
Also hurting, but expected to be ready for Elimination Chamber is Sasha Banks. She wasn’t actually cleared to work in the ring this past Monday which is why they did the prematch attack angle. Banks was able to spend the match “recovering” while her partner Bayley did all of the work in the match. Officials are said to be confident banks will be cleared for the Chamber, which is good since the Boss n Hug Connection are the clear favorites to walk away as the inaugural Womens Tag Champs.
Contracts
Every week now we have contract renewal stories floating around, and with a growth in competition for WWE any contract renewals will receive more scrutiny than they have in the recent past. Up this week are the Usos whose contracts are said to expire in April. They have not yet signed new deals, but also are not expected to have interest in leaving. Given how consistently important the twins have been to the tag division for years now they are likely just using every factor currently available to negotiate the best possible deal for themselves.
Assorted News and Notes
The next Superstar Shakeup has been announced for the Raw and Smackdown broadcasts from Montreal on April 15 & 16. It’s being referred to as “the first ever International Superstar Shakeup.” This could be a reference to the broadcast location in Canada, or it perhaps it’s a nod to the fact that NXT UK exists now and could see some players called to the main roster. These dates are one week after Wrestlemania, so it should be interesting to see how all of the rosters are refreshed.
PPV Event Plans
The Revival won a 4 way #1 contenders match on Raw. It wasn’t explicitly stated, but I assume their tag title opportunity will come at the Chamber PPV.
Elimination Chamber, Feb. 17
Women’s Tag Team Chamber match: Jax & Tamina vs Riott Squad vs Boss & Hug Connection vs Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville vs Iiconics vs Fabulous Glow
WWE Title Chamber Match: Daniel Bryan© vs AJ Styles vs Randy Orton vs Jeff Hardy vs Mustapha Ali vs Samoa Joe
Smackdown Tag Title Match: Miz and McMahon© vs The Usos
Raw Tag Title Match: Roode & Gable© vs The Revival
Cruiserweight Title Match: Buddy Murphy© vs Akira Tozawa
Possible additions: IC Title-Lashley vs Balor, US Title-Truth vs Rusev vs Nakamura
Fastlane, Mar. 10
NXT TakeOver: New York, Apr. 5
WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony, Apr. 6
Though not yet official, the latest rumors suggest that the 1st inductees for this year’s Hall of Fame will be the original Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart and Jimmy Hart). Sadly, due to the personal relationships (or lack there of) between WWE and some members of the Hart family this is not expected to include later versions of the faction which included Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Brian Pillman. That said, it would be a 2nd induction for both Bret and Jimmy as well as a long overdue recognition of the recently passed Anvil.
Wrestlemania, Apr. 7
WWE.com put up a poll asking fans which match they want to see headline Wrestlemania, the Raw Women’s Title match between Rousey and Lynch or the Universal Title match between Lesnar and Rollins. An overwhelming 81% of the voters side with the women. Hopefully WWE will do the smart thing and listen to the fans on this one.
Universal Title: Brock Lesnar© vs Seth Rollins
Raw Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey© vs Becky Lynch
Summerslam
Though we’re still thick in the midst of Wrestlemania season, the first rumors of Summerslam plans are already surfacing. After their altercation of Raw this past Monday, there’s talk of a potential showdown between “The Man” Becky Lynch and Stephanie McMahon at the company’s 2nd largest show of the year. That’s a long way off though, and plans will evolve often between now and then.
