NEWS

The more things change. We are in a very different time in the wrestling world at the moment and it seems like something new is happening every single day. WWE is feeling a lot of those changes as it is next to impossible to keep track of what kind of changes they are undergoing on a daily basis. Believe it or not, it is already time for another change to take place.
One of the bigger stories that WWE has dealt with over the last few weeks is their television setup. The company has gone from setting up a marathon taping schedule to running three weekly live events in the span of a few days and not many people seem to be happy with the whole situation. With so many travel restrictions in place at the moment, wrestlers may not be thrilled with the idea of making so many trips. Now though, that may not be such a problem.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, WWE is changing its television schedule again, this time to a mixture of live and taped shows. The three shows for the week of April 2..

This week, WWE experienced a mass layoff of both wrestlers and employees, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of WWE losing an estimated $22 million due to canceling WrestleMania in Tampa, as well as losing additional millions due to the inability to have lice ticketed events, Vince McMahon made the tough decision to end the WWE careers of names including Drake Maverick, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, No Way Jose, and others. WWE also released Kurt Angle from his position as a producer.
I reached out to former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal to check on both his WWE status, as well as the status of his injury. Mahal stated that he is currently “cleared and waiting.”
Mahal was last seen spending much of his television time chasing the WWE 24/7 Championship, which was a far cry from his ascension to the main event level just a couple of years prior. Mahal shocked the world by defeating Randy Orton at the 2017 Fastlane pay-per-view to win the WWE Championship, an..

Here they come again. There are some people you can almost guarantee will be around the title picture no matter what goes on. Maybe it’s because they’re popular, talented, reliable, or some combination of the three. That can be the case for singles or tag team wrestlers and it is the case again at the moment, with a rather popular team getting to add even more to their resume.
There has not been a team like the New Day in a very long time. The team has been around for over five years now, which is an eternity in today’s wrestling world. There is very little that they haven’t done, including seeing Kofi Kingston win the WWE Championship last year. However, they are mainly a tag team and that was on display again this week.
In the main event of this week’s SmackDown, Big E. won a triple threat match over Jey Uso and the Miz to win the Tag Team Titles for the team. Miz was defending the titles for himself and John Morrison after Morrison successfully did the same thing at WrestleMania. ..

You have to fill that card out somehow. We are less than a month away from Money in the Bank and that means things are getting interesting in a hurry. The show is one of the most important on the WWE calendar as it can change things for a long time to come. The battles for the briefcases are some of the biggest matches of the year, but what about the rest of the show?
While a good chunk of the WWE roster will be tied up in ladder matches, there are other things taking place at Money in the Bank. The ladder matches are for future title shots, but there are going to be title matches taking place the night of the show as well. WWE has already started announcing some of the matches for the show, with another one coming this week.
During this week’s SmackDown, Tamina defeated Sasha banks to earn a shot at Bayley and the SmackDown Women’s Title at Money in the Bank. Bayley tried to interfere but was cut off by Lacey Evans, allowing Tamina to win. Banks would not have earned a title shot ha..

It will be the most unique match in a long time. It was revealed on tonight’s episode of Smackdown that the participants for the Money in the Bank ladder match will have to work extra hard in order to grab the coveted briefcase.
According to WWE.com:
This year’s WWE Money In The Bank Men’s and Women’s Match participants will have an even more unique challenge ahead of them than usual.
The match begins on the ground floor of WWE Headquarters, but the briefcases – containing contracts for a championship match anytime, anyplace – will be hanging all the way up on the roof of the corporate tower.
There have been some great cash-in moments over the years:

Editor’s Opinion:
Genius. WWE has once again taken a bad situation and made something unique out of it. They are going to use their corporate headquarters as a battleground for a wrestling match. Who thinks to do that? This is going to be very cool and I can’t wait to see it!
What do you think of the 2020 Money in the Bank ladder m..

Let him in so that he can get these hands. Tonight on Smackdown, the Universal Championship Match for Money in the Bank 2020 was made official. Braun Strowman will be defending his title against Bray Wyatt.
Wyatt introduced Strowman to the world nearly 5 years ago:

From WWE.com:
Just days into Strowman’s reign as Universal Champion, he was addressed from the Firefly Fun House by Wyatt — the man who brought Strowman to WWE years ago as part of The Wyatt Family. After accusing Strowman of turning his back on him, Wyatt asked for an apology.
The Monster Among Men was anything but contrite in return, but Strowman saying sorry was far from the only thing Wyatt was seeking, as he soon declared that he wanted the Universal Title back after losing it earlier this year.
Though Strowman insisted he wouldn’t fall for Wyatt’s psychological warfare, he soon found himself pulled into the mind games regardless. Lured in by what he thought was a gift from Alexa Bliss on “A Moment of Bliss,” Stro..

Smackdown
Date: April 17, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves
It’s time to move forwards towards Money in the Bank and this time around we are finding out who else is going to be involved in the women’s match, plus the first man involved. I’m not sure how much steam these empty arena shows have left but they’re all we’re getting at the moment. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Cole runs down the card.
It’s time for A Moment Of Bliss to start things off. After bragging about being two time Women’s Tag Team Champions, Nikki Cross brings out Braun Strowman. They congratulate Braun on being the new Universal Champion but bring up the fact that he is officially defending against Bray Wyatt (not the Fiend) at Money in the Bank.
Strowman knows Bray and the games he plays so Bray is going to get these hands. There’s a present on the mat though and it seems to be for Braun. Inside is….the old mask he wore as part of the Wyatt Fa..

He’s on the no list. WWE is in a weird place at the moment and that is going to be the case for a good while to come. There is very little good news going on at the moment and with WrestleMania already out of the way for the year, it might be a little while before they get to their next big show. During that time, there is someone who might be missing and WWE wants you to forget about him.
One of the biggest stories of the year has been Roman Reigns taking himself out of WrestleMania 36. As a leukemia survivor, Reigns’ immune system is not as strong as others’ meaning that he was at more of a risk to the Coronavirus. Therefore, Reigns has not been seen on WWE television in several weeks and that will be the case going forward. It turns out that WWE may be going a bit further than that.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE talent and announcers are not allowed to mention Reigns on television. There is no word on why Reigns is off limits or if he is in hot water with the..

Where did he get to? WWE is in a rapidly changing place at the moment and that is going to be the case for the time being. It seems that you can’t go more than a day or so without seeing some other change here and there. This is the case for everything from where the shows are taking place, how many are filmed at a time and even who is wrestling on them. The latter of those has produced some questions, and now we might have an idea of where one wrestler has been.
Every now and then, WWE finds a wrestler who just connects with the fans. This could be the case for a variety of reasons, but sometimes it is because the fans just buy into him. That was the case with Samoa Joe, who debuted on the main roster three years ago and has been one of the more popular names ever since. However, he hasn’t been around for a bit and now we know why.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Samoa Joe has not appeared on WWE TV as of late because he is still recovering from a concussion. He has ..

One of the biggest stories of the week was WWE’s massive layoffs and cuts to talent, coaches, producers, executives, etc. This was in response to the Coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping the world. However, an owner of a major league franchise has called this move ‘appalling’.
According to the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, an anonymous owner of a sports team had the following to say to Dave Meltzer:
“I’ve had to do two layoffs in my life. They both sucked, but I always understood they sucked more for the people being laid off.
I know a few people in the wrestling business, one who lost their job in the furlough today. I understand layoffs. But given WWE’s cash position, the essential business status they negotiated, the unsafe conditions they are already asking workers to commit to and the fact that they are doing so much better than every other live / place-based business, for them to be THE FIRST company in the business to have such a significant layoff is u..

We have some sad news to report today. According to a report from Super Luchas, Mexican luchador Black Demon has passed away at the age of 39, due to complications from the Coronavirus.
The report states that Black Demon, whose real name is Roberto Munoz Carrillo, passed away on April 13, 2020. While authorities have not confirmed his passing, his family has.
Black Demon made his debut in 2009 and hailed from Mexicali. He worked the independent scene in Mexico, along the west coast of the country and won PPR’s Pendragón Rojo Cop in February.
We at Wrestling Rumors extend our deepest condolences to the entire Carrillo family during this difficult time.
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The post First Coronavirus-Related Wrestling Death Confirmed appeared first on WrestlingRumors.net.

You don’t find people like him very often. There are a lot of uncertainties in the world at the moment as there are all kinds of problems that grow every day. You never know how much worse it is going to get with each passing day and that is the kind of thing that makes the problems even worse. However, every now and then you hear something that makes it feel a little better.
On Wednesday, a lot of things changed in WWE with nearly forty releases or furloughs. That isn’t something you hear about every day and it shook up the company in a big way. This was a major hit for several people as several of them are going to be facing an uncertain future. With so many problems going on and a lot of coworkers losing their jobs, one wrestler is doing something incredible anyway.
Titus O’Neil has announced that he and NFL quarterback Jameis Winston have each donated $25,000 to the Metropolitan Ministries. The charity is helping deliver food boxes to poorer families in the Tampa, Florida area, a..