NEWS

So long, farewell? Over the last few months, the top story on “Smackdown Live” has been a power struggle between Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan. The two haven’t come to blows but they’ve clearly been having issues with each other for a long time now. However, something changed tonight which could make the story go away.
The announcement didn’t go well for McMahon.
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At the end of this week’s “Smackdown Live”, McMahon announced that he would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from his position as Commissioner. There is no word on how long he will be gone or if he will be back in the role at all. McMahon leaving his job will leave Daniel Bryan as the lone authority figure on “Smackdown Live” starting next week.
You can read this week’s results here.
Opinion: Thank goodness. I haven’t been a fan of McMahon’s time as Commissioner as he’s been all over the show and received far too much attention in the role. H..

Who says she can’t act? Ronda Rousey debuted in WWE about six weeks ago at the “2018 Royal Rumble”. She has since hit the ground running and will be making her in-ring debut at “Wrestlemania XXXIV” in a mixed tag match. Rousey can put on one of the scariest faces in the world and got to demonstrate this ability on a pretty big TV show.
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Rousey appeared on “Ellen” for an interview, during which she demonstrated how to look mean to a camera, which she often does before a fight. The interview also includes a discussion of the differences between wrestling, the Olympics and UFC, as well as whether she would ever return to the UFC. Rousey has used the death stare in WWE already, starting here.
Opinion: Rousey knows how to play to a camera and that death stare is as good of a weapon as she has. She knows how to look like she’s going to kill you but more than that, Rousey can actually back the look up. There’s a lot of potential there and if she..

There’s money to be made. WWE is the biggest wrestling company in the world by several laps. It’s a billion dollar company and stretches all over the world with big shows coming up in Australia and Saudi Arabia. That means there’s quite a bit of money to be made worldwide and the people who make the most are at the top of the company.
There was enough money to do this.
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In a new corporate filing, WWE has declared the salaries of some of its top corporate members. This includes the top names in the organization, including Vince McMahon, George Barrios, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. The filing includes numbers from 2016, 2017 and 2018. Here are the numbers, with transcription courtesy of Wrestlinginc.com: * WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon was paid $1,400,000 in 2017. He was paid $1,325,000 in 2016 and will be paid $1,400,000 in 2018
* WWE Co-President George Barrios was paid $783,510 in 2017. He was paid $764,400 in 2016 and will be pai..

It worked once. Earlier this week at “Fastlane 2018”, Randy Orton won the United States Title for the first time in his career. Orton defeated Bobby Roode to win the title in a long match, but it was pretty clear that the feud wasn’t over quite yet. Now, we know where things are going next, or at least have a good idea of where they’re starting.
Orton was back on “Smackdown Live” after winning the title.
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This week on “Smackdown Live”, Roode announced that he would be cashing in his rematch clause to face Orton again at “Wrestlemania XXXIV”. Orton didn’t have a problem with this, but Jinder Mahal interrupted and defeated Roode in a singles match. After the match, Orton laid Mahal out with an RKO. You can read this week’s “Smackdown” results here.
Opinion: I don’t think a triple threat match would be a big surprise at this point but at least there is now a storyline reason to put Mahal in the match. This has been the pretty clear end goal..

Another first. The Women’s Revolution has been in full swing for several years now and there have been a lot of firsts. Some of these have included the first women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, the first women’s Elimination Chamber and the first women’s Royal Rumble. Now though, there is another.
Here’s the announcement.
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As announced this week on “Monday Night Raw”, there will be a Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal at “Wrestlemania XXXIV”. There are few details at this point and the number of entrants hasn’t been announced. There will however be a mixture of talents from “Monday Night Raw”, “Smackdown Live” and “NXT”. Opinion: Works for me, though having this come less than three months after the first ever women’s Royal Rumble does weaken things a bit. I’m also wondering how many people will actually be involved as WWE had to bring in a ton of legends to fill in the Royal Rumble spots. If they keep this to around twenty then thi..

As the old saying goes: “don’t cross the boss.” Tonight on “Raw,” Kurt Angle opened the show by saying that Brock Lesnar would not be showing up on the show tonight, despite being advertised. This lead to Roman Reigns coming out and confronting not only Angle, but eventually, Vince McMahon himself.
You can see a clip of the altercation below:
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This would lead to a closed door conversation between McMahon and Reigns, with Vince saying that he has “temporarily suspended” Reigns for his actions.
You can see that clip below:
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WWE.com has posted an article regarding the suspension:
Per WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon, Roman Reigns is temporarily suspended, effective immediately.
The suspension came moments after Reigns publicly criticized The Chairman for choosing not to punish Universal Champion Brock Lesnar when The Beast Incarnate did not appear live in Detroit to meet The Big Dog face-to-face as schedul..

It’s finally here. It was previously reported that “Woken” Matt Hardy challenged Bray Wyatt to a match that was referred to as “The Ultimate Deletion.” However, there has been much speculation as to when the match would take place.
Those questions were answered tonight on “Raw,” as Hardy announced that the match would be taking place on next week’s show.
You can see a clip of the initial invitation below:
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Many of the characters from the “Broken” Gimmick will be making their WWE debut next week as a part of this special event. They include Queen Rebecca, King Maxel, Lord Wolfgang, Señor Benjamin and his drone, Vanguard 1.
You can see a tweet with the promotional video below:
The entire #WOKEN family has been assembled at the #HardyCompound…@MATTHARDYBRAND is ready to sentence @WWEBrayWyatt to his ULTIMATE DELETION! #RAW pic.twitter.com/CbxP6pxNNK
— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2018
Editor’s Opinion:
YAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS!!!!!!! This is what I have..

Every year, a celebrity earns the right to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, as a part of their “celebrity wing.” According to new reports from both Billboard as well as WWE.com, rock superstar Kid Rock will be this year’s Celebrity Inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame, Class of 2018.
Kid Rock has had a long relationship with the company, which you can see in the video below:
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Kid Rock was recently interviewed by Billboard to celebrate this achievement. Below is a quote from the man himself:
On being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame:
“Every time I go to a WWE event I always have a good time; there is nothing like it and no better fans in the world,” Kid Rock tells Billboard. “The Hall of Fame ceremony will be a fun night and it will be great to see everyone again. I have so much respect for what those guys and girls do. I’m grateful to WWE for letting me be a part of WrestleMania weekend.”
WWE.com had the following to say about their r..

Get these hands ready for a tag. Braun Strowman is on a heck of a roll and looks like he’s primed to become World Champion at some point this year. The monster has shown the ability to destroy almost anything that stands in front of him. He hasn’t won a title in WWE yet, but that might be changing soon.
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This week on “Monday Night Raw”, General Manager Kurt Angle announced a tag team battle royal for the rights to challenge the Bar for the Raw Tag Team Titles at “Wrestlemania XXXIV”. Without a partner, Strowman entered the match and won, last eliminating Karl Anderson. While it’s not clear if this will stand, at the moment, Strowman is the #1 contender for the titles. You can read this week’s “Monday Night Raw” results here.
Opinion: While I’d prefer Strowman in a bigger singles role, this is a lot better than having him in some multi-man match where he destroys a bunch of people but comes up short. Strowman finding some nothing person to..

Fastlane 2018
Date: March 11, 2018
Location: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves
So this is a thing that exists for reasons that I don’t quite grasp. With four weeks to go before Wrestlemania, we have this stop for the final Smackdown pay per view before the big show. The main event is a Six Pack Challenge for the Smackdown World Title as there was no other way to break things up and add another match to a six match card. Let’s get to it.
Here’s last week’s “Smackdown” if you need a recap.
Kickoff Show: Tye Dillinger/Breezango vs. Mojo Rawley/Chad Gable/Shelton Benjamin
Gable throws Breeze down to start and calls him a joke. Just don’t insult his shoes. Fandango comes in and puts on some amateur wrestling headgear, allowing Gable to take him down as well. It’s back to Breeze so Gable drops down to give him a shot. Breeze rides him like a horse and the good guys clear the ring in short order. Gable comes back in with a hard monk..

Tonight at WWE “Fastlane,” Charlotte Flair defended the “Smackdown Live” Women’s Championship against Ruby Riott. Despite interference from both the Riott Squad, as well as Naomi and Becky Lynch, “The Queen” was able to successfully retain her championship, following a great contest. Flair performed an outstanding moonsault on her opponent during the match. You can see a clip of it below:
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However, her night wasn’t over.
Following her victory, Flair was confronted by the winner of the first Women’s “Royal Rumble,” Asuka. The “Empress of Tomorrow” made it clear that she wants to face “The Queen” at WrestleMania 34 for the “Smackdown Live” Women’s Championship.
You can see a clip of the stare down below:
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WWE.com has posted a story that confirms the match.
Editor’s Opinion:
YES!!!!!!!!! This is the match that I have wanted to see every since Asuka won the 2018 Women’s “Royal Rumble” match. These a..

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Tonight at “Fastlane,” AJ Styles defended the WWE Championship in a six-pack challenge against John Cena, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. It was a hard hitting match with outstanding action from all six competitors.
At one point in the match, Cena managed to send the champion crashing through the announce table. You can see a clip of that below:
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However, despite this injury, Styles was able to overcome the other five challengers, and come out victorious. This confirms that he will be taking on Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34.
Nakamura earned the right to face Styles by being the winner of the 2018 Men’s “Royal Rumble” match.
Editor’s Opinion:
Although you knew that this match wouldn’t get changed, it’s nice to have confirmation of that. This is a match that fans have been wanting to see in WWE for years, and they will finally get th..