November is drawing to a close, and in the WWE year, that can only mean one thing- Triple H has come out of hibernation, blown the cobwebs off his sledgehammer and is about to insert himself into a top-level feud for Wrestlemania. Over the last few years it has been pretty obvious who Triple H’s opponent is going to be, especially in the case of Seth Rollins last year, and Sting two years prior to that. This year, however, things are looking a little different.

At the end of the Survivor Series main event, Triple H went crazy and made the whole thing about himself- attacking both Shane McMahon and Kurt Angle, and then getting beat up by Braun Strowman. While the ending was supposed to have made Braun look strong, Hunter isn’t fooling anybody and the internet reacted with its usual response to Triple H doing such things. The match did create a lot of speculation surrounding Triple H’s Mania opponent, though, and fans have since been discussing it ever since the show closed.  While it seems likely it will be one of the men involved in the finish at Survivor Series, just which one it will be remains uncertain, and who knows, it could be someone different entirely. Let’s take a look at five potential Wrestlemania opponents for Triple H.

Braun Strowman

At the time of writing, Braun Strowman is definitely the front-runner to face Triple H at Wrestlemania. The two men had a square off at the end of Survivor Series and Braun followed that up by confronting The King of Kings on Raw the night after.

Triple H cowered away from Braun in their in-ring segment, something we have rarely seen The Game do in recent years, and there is every chance that sooner or later he will find some underhanded way to retaliate against the big man. WWE won’t be teasing a feud between the two for nothing either, and Triple H, for all his faults, has a habit of putting over younger stars on the grand-daddy of them all, Wrestlemania.

A match between Braun and Triple H, and a victory for the former Wyatt Family member would work wonders for his career, and with Brock Lesnar likely leaving the company after Wrestlemania, this would position Braun as the next unstoppable force in the WWE.

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Coming out of Sunday’s Survivor Series event, it appears that Triple H’s next opponents are Braun Strowman and Kurt Angle. These matches will presumably take place at the upcoming Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 34 events.

While original plans called for Triple H vs. Kurt Angle at WrestleMania, Bryan Alvarez speculated on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio this match could happen at The Royal Rumble, while Strowman vs. Triple H could take place on the WrestleMania card.

In regards to how the Survivor Series pay-per-view event ended, Dave Meltzer mentioned that it was done that way to get Braun Over.

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Photo: WWE

Triple H held his NXT TakeOver: WarGames media call yesterday, and here are some of the highlights of what he had to say.

• Kurt Angle was in the midst of medical testing when the issues with TLC rolled around. They were rushed and finished up so that Angle could make his return to the ring for WWE at the event.
• He’d love to have another match with Angle now that he’s been cleared.
• There will be no roof on the cage for the WarGames match at TakeOver. According to Triple H, WWE needed to modify the match for the current audience, hopefully making it better in the process.
• He said that the roof is a bit limiting (of course, this means we will be seeing someone or a couple of someones jump off the cage come Saturday).
• There was resistance to bringing the match to WWE, but the creative changes helped with that.
• He was asked about the UK talent and the possibility of finally doing the UK weekly show that has been discussed for almost a year. His answer was vague at best, but he asserted that the UK talent is still working for WWE and that some are at the Performance Center right now.
• NXT will be taping at Center Stage in Atlanta early next year due to scheduling conflicts at Full Sail.

Trips also spoke with NBC Sports to promote the Survivor Series weekend of events, and he elaborated a bit on why the changes were made to the WarGames match.

“It seemed like the perfect time to bring it out, so I dusted it off. Throughout the years, I was aware of Vince’s feelings about it. There were some things about that match that he liked and there were some things about the concept that he didn’t necessarily think worked, especially in today’s world. So I brought it back up to him and we walked through the process and I said here’s the way I think we can make this match work for us and he liked it, agreed with it, thought it worked great for NXT and was real happy to do it. So here we are.

“When you do this, the goal is not to go backwards. My goal isn’t to make people go, ‘oh is this as good as it was back then?’ I want to put a slightly different spin on it, so that it begins again and takes a life of its own because it can’t be what it was. I grew up watching it in the Dusty [Rhodes], [Ric] Flair, Four Horseman vs. the world sort of iteration of it and this cannot be that. It has to be today’s version of it. Hopefully it’ll be something that our fan base really enjoys. I think the NXT fans are going to love it. I know the talent is very excited about it. When we announced the match and word began to spread on the Internet, a bunch of main roster talent came to me and said, ‘oh my God, you’re doing WarGames? Anyway I can do something in that?’

“For me, it’s also a cool nod to Dream [‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes]. It’s cool that his vision is able to continue.”

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Photo: WWE

Following last night’s edition of RAW, there were some major changes to the Survivor Series card. This was surprising considering the show, which takes place in Houston, Texas, is less than two weeks away.

Tonight, with the AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal title match on deck for SmackDown, we could see even more changes to the card should Styles emerge victorious. Plus, don’t forget about Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, who have their eyes on the Usos’s tag team titles.

With that said, here is the current, updated WWE Survivor Series card.

• Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match
  Kurt Angle (C), Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Jason Jordan vs. Shane McMahon (C), Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura, TBA
• Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match
  Alicia Fox (C), Nia Jax, Asuka, Sasha Banks, TBA (thought to be Bayley) vs. Becky Lynch (C), Carmella, Tamina Snuka, Naomi, Charlotte Flair
• RAW vs. SmackDown
  WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Champion Jinder Mahal
• RAW vs. SmackDown
  WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. WWE United States Champion Baron Corbin
• RAW vs. SmackDown
  RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Natalya
• RAW vs. SmackDown
  RAW Tag Team Champions Sheamus and Cesaro vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos
• WWE Cruiserweight Title Match
  Kalisto vs. Enzo Amore

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Photo: WWE

Captain Kurt Angle?

It sounds like WWE may be sending Kurt Angle back into action sooner rather than later. It’s being reported today that Angle will return to the ring as captain of the Team RAW at Survivor Series. Apparently, his teammates will be Finn Bálor, Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns, and Braun Strowman.

It’s also being reported that Shane McMahon will captain Team SmackDown, which will consist of Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, and AJ Styles.

Of course, things can always change, but with the invasion angle from last week, it kind of makes sense that the authority figures from both brands would captain their respective teams.

Eric Bischoff On WWE’s Handling Of Roman Reigns

Eric Bischoff has never been one to shy away from controversy, and I am sure that some will find his opinion on how WWE is presenting Roman Reigns as a bit interesting. In a recent interview, Bischoff said that refusing to categorize Reigns as a heel or a face was a “cop out.”

“You have to make a choice and you have to commit to a character. You’re either a babyface or a character that the fans relate to, support, love and aspire to be, or you’re not. And if you’re not, you’re heel, you’re despicable and they need to learn to love to hate you. And I think when you take that safe road in-between and let the fans decide…to me, it’s a cop-out. To me, that’s kind of like raising your hands and saying, ‘look, I’ve got ideas. I really don’t have a plan, so let’s just put him out there and let the fans choose.’ I think that’s just the most cowardly creative cop-out that I’ve ever heard.”

I hate to agree with Bischoff on anything, but in this instance, I have to say he knows what he is talking about.

The post Kurt Angle Returning To The Ring For Survivor Series?; Eric Bischoff On WWE’s Presentation Of Roman Reigns appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: Post & Courier

Jeff Jarrett Checks Into Rehab

It’s being reported tonight that Jeff Jarrett has checked into rehab. We’ve been reporting all week about Jarrett’s issues at a indie event where he apparently wrestled a match while inebriated and then no-showed for the same promotion the following night. He was also terminated by Impact Wrestling and Anthem on Monday, with the company cutting ties with both Jarrett and Global Force Wrestling.

According to this report, one source is saying that this is a WWE-sponsored rehab program. We can only hope that Jarrett takes full advantage of this time and this program and gets his life back on track.

Jerry Lawler On Kurt Angle’s Return To The Ring

WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry Lawler spoke about Kurt Angle’s return to a WWE ring for the first time in over 11 years on the most recent episode of his podcast.

“Kurt and I talked at-length about that [in the past], how much he wanted to still wrestle with WWE. He was happy with the contract and happy to be back with the WWE, but he was not crazy about the fact, I guess they had already told him that they didn’t think they wanted him to do things like get in the ring and wrestle. I know he was lobbying for that [to wrestle] and I know he really wanted to do that. I’m happy for Kurt.”

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Photo: WWE

Kurt Angle’s In Ring Return

As we all saw last night at WWE TLC, Kurt Angle returned to in-ring action, teaming with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose in the main event. Apparently, it was Vince McMahon himself that made the call to have Angle in the match.

Due to the outbreak of the mumps on RAW’s roster, Angle was rushed through a physical on Friday in Pittsburgh, and as soon as he got the good-to-go from his doctors, the announcement was made that he would be replacing Roman Reigns at TLC.

As of now, it’s unclear if Angle will wrestle more matches for WWE. Sunday’s match was reportedly a one-off, but who knows? The door is open for Angle to be featured on any of WWE’s bigger shows in the future.

RAW Return Updates

Speaking of that mumps outbreak, Bo Dallas, Bray Wyatt, and Roman Reigns are still out of action for the near future. Reigns reportedly is suffering from the mumps, and he and Bray Wyatt are going to be retested next Monday to see when they can return to the road. No word on when Dallas will return.

There’s still a fear that more of RAW’s roster could contract the illness, but for now, things are holding steady at the three wrestlers who are currently out.

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TLC was quite a car-crash, and I mean that in a good way. There was no shortage of action and excitement. Ladders were climbed, chairs were sat on, and tables failed to break (looking at you, Dean). No doubt there are a lot of highlights. Everyone will be talking about the main event, and with good reason. It was that good.

Still, there’s more to the show. So much more happened. With all this in mind, here are some big points from Tables, Ladders, & Chairs.

Asuka Is Still Undefeated

Asuka made her long-awaited main roster debut against sassie Aussie Emma at TLC. While it was not the massacre many expected, what matters is the result. Asuka won. She has still never been pinned. She’s never tapped out.

How long does WWE want to keep this winning-streak going? With a division of only 10 people, Asuka is going to run out of competition very quickly. She can only fight Dana Brooke so many times. Jobbers lose their entertainment value if they are used too much.

There’s a more important question, though. Who will beat Asuka? I think in NXT they planned for Ember Moon to be the one to dethrone the Empress of Tomorrow, but a collarbone injury changed that. So who will beat the unbeatable? There’s not a lot of options right now. Bayley? Sasha Banks? Alexa Bliss? Alicia Fox (no offense to her, but God forbid)?

There’s also the question of how quickly she is inserted into the title picture. When will she become champion? And if she does, will she reign supreme over Raw as well? Should we be anticipating 510 Days of Asuka 2.0? I think one can be cautiously optimistic about Asuka’s future.

Enzo Amore is Champion (Again)

Enzo Amore is now a two-time Cruiserweight Champion. This is going to raise a lot of questions for 205 Live. Does Kalisto get another shot at the title? If so, who ends up on top?

Amore’s title win at TLC means that WWE is still invested in him as a character. Why wouldn’t they? Barring any personal flaws, the man can talk, and he’s brought fresh eyes to 205 Live.

Regardless of who wins the feud, there will need to be new challengers. Should Kalisto win, which of 205’s dastardly heels shall face him? Drew Gulak? Brian Kendrick?TJ Perkins?

I initially thought Amore would be a babyface champion, but I was proven wrong. So should Amore emrge victorious, who will be the one to vanquish the loudmouth bully? Both Cedric Alexander and Rich Swann are waiting in the wings, but even someone more unexpected like Mustafa Ali would be a welcome surprise.

A Potential Kurt Angle – Miz Feud

The Miz certainly wasn’t happy that his spotlight was stolen from him. Last night, during the main event, a TLC match, The Miz found himself on the receiving end of an Ankle Lock and a Triple Powerbomb. He was even pinned in the match. By Kurt Angle, no less.

Miz isn’t going to take this ignominy lying down. I wholeheartedly believe we may soon be seeing Kurt Angle step foot in the ring against The Miz. TLC proved that Angle can wrestle without dying mid-match. A battle with the A-Lister may be the next step.

Miz is not a bad choice. He’s talented in the ring, works a relatively safe style, and his character work is impeccable. Remember last year’s feud between Miz and Daniel Bryan? They may be trying to replicate that storyline, except it will lead to a match between the two. It’s not the worst idea ever.

Perhaps at Survivor Series they’ll lock horns but for now all we can do is speculate.

The post TLC: 3 Big Talking Points From Tables, Ladders, & Chairs appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Photo: WWE

Well, Sunday’s WWE TLC has been all shaken up by the health scare and illness that seems to be spreading through the RAW roster. It was announced this afternoon that RAW General Manager Kurt Angle will replace Roman Reigns in the main event of Sunday’s show, and AJ Styles will be taking Bray Wyatt’s place.

Breaking News: Kurt Angle will return to action and replace Roman Reigns at WWE TLC; AJ Styles to battle “The Demon” Finn Bálor

Due to medical issues impacting two WWE Superstars scheduled to appear at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, streaming live on WWE Network this Sunday, the special event will now feature Kurt Angle competing in a WWE ring for the first time in more than 11 years, as he replaces Roman Reigns. In addition, former WWE Champion AJ Styles will replace Bray Wyatt and face “The Demon” Finn Bálor.

A WWE Hall of Famer and the current General Manager of Raw, Angle will join forces with Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose to battle the daunting combination of Braun Strowman, Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus and The Big Red Machine Kane in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs 5-on-3 Handicap Match.

The showdown between “The Demon” and Styles is one that the WWE Universe has been wanting for a long time and promises to be one of the most exciting matches of 2017.

Check back with WWE.com as more information becomes available. Don’t miss a moment of WWE TLC, streaming live on WWE Network, this Sunday at 8 ET/5 PT.

As far as what’s actually going on, we’ve reported that Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt are off the road due to viral meningitis, and now, apparently, WWE is testing the RAW roster for mumps. Yes, mumps. If the RAW roster is being tested, once someone has been tested, they cannot compete until the results come back. No word on whether or not the SmackDown Live roster will be tested, too.

WWE made the following statement about the changes, health scare, and talent testing:

“We have confirmed that three of our performers have been diagnosed with a viral infection. As a precautionary measure, we are ensuring in-ring performers and staff are tested and immunized in accordance with recommended medical guidelines.”

We reported earlier that Kevin Owens was pulled from the SmackDown South America tour, and AJ Styles missed last night’s show due to a stomach bug. As of right now, that’s all the information we have on them. Whether or not their absences are related to this RAW illness scare is unknown. It’s also unknown if them being pulled is TLC-related.

We will keep everyone updated on this developing story.

The post Major Changes Announced For Sunday’s WWE TLC; Medical Issues Force Card Changes appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: WWE

Kurt Angle On Jason Jordan

As we’ve all seen over the past several weeks, the whole angle with Jason Jordan being Kurt Angle’s son has fallen flatter than a pancake. During a recent interview, Angle talked about Jordan and where this whole story line is headed.

“I think Jason has a lot of potential. I think he’s going to be one of the more popular superstars down the road. He has a little bit of work to do – he’s a little bit shy – but as far as far as his athleticism, he’s one of the best we’ve got here. And I think this storyline is going to help him. Now, we haven’t really gritted down and gotten into the storyline, yet, but it’s going to happen eventually.”

As for getting back in the ring in WWE, Angle doesn’t sound so hopeful.

“We’ve talked about it, but, I haven’t taken the physical yet. Really? I don’t know – I don’t know when, or if, I’m going to. My guess is, I will – but I’m going to sit, and wait, and be patient, and see how it all plays out.”

The Undisputed Era

Ever since Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, and Adam Cole made their presences felt at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III by attacking the new NXT Tag Team Champions Sanity and the new NXT Champion Drew McIntyre, we’ve been wondering what their stable name would be. Now, we know.

The trio has been dubbed “The Undisputed Era”, and WWE even has merchandise for them already. Looks like their motto is going to be “Shock The System”.

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