Columnist Rob Pasbani catches you up on a big weekend of wrestling for WWE, and New Japan.
Now that the Elimination Chamber premium live event is in the rear-view, and we’ve seen how the storylines are progressing on Raw, we have a really good idea of where the lineup is headed for WrestleMania this year.
Let’s take a look at the card as it stands today. Confirmed matches:
Based on storylines, these are the matches WWE is setting up for the biggest show of the year, but have not been announced officially.
WrestleMania will take place April 1st and 2nd in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium. The card is shaping up to be a fun event.
The crowd in Montreal was incredible, and while they did not get the ending they wanted, they were still super vocal and made a fun show even more memorable. Sami didn’t win, and I didn’t think he was going to win, but even this jaded wrestling fan started believing for a few minutes.
On Raw, Sami wanted to thank Kevin Owens and convince him to team up to take the Bloodline, but Kevin was not taking the bait:
The other main story is Cody Rhodes’ chase for the title, and he had another excellent exchange with Paul Heyman:
Mercedes Moné made her in-ring debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling this weekend, defeating Kairi in an excellent match to become the new women’s champion.
Elsewhere on the show, Jay White is gone from the promotion. Okada retained his title at the end of the show and posed for this awesome photo-op with Moné.
CM Punk was spotted in the crowd with Lars Fredricksen of Rancid. Bayley, Tamina and Trinity Fatu (Naomi) were also there to support Mercedes.
WWE NXT is tonight at 8pm on USA Network:
MLW Underground airs at 10pm on REELZ. Here’s what’s scheduled
Tomorrow, AEW Dynamite is live at 8pm on TBS:
Thursday, Impact Wrestling airs at 8pm on AXS:
Smackdown is on Friday at 8pm on Fox:
AEW Rampage at 10pm on TNT has one match announced:
Keiji Mutoh, known as the Great Muta, had his final match(es) tonight. His scheduled final match was against Naito, and he lost. After the match, he grabbed the mic and challenged his longtime friend and rival, Masahiro Chono (who never got to have a retirement match) to one final match and Chono accepted, finishing Muta with the STF in a few minutes. It was a very fitting end to a legendary career.
A report from Bloomberg notes that WWE is asking for $9 billion for the sale of the company. They are valued at just under $6 billion at the moment, so that’s quite a markup.
John Cena returns to Raw on March 6th when they are live in Boston. He’s expected to start a feud with Austin Theory.
Kenny Omega told Swerve City Podcast that the reason for the delay of the AEW video game was trouble getting a T rating from ESRB. “It does suck because the rating has held us back a little bit because we really wanted to get it out,” Omega said. “The longer the time goes by, this finished product that we have of a game is just gonna be a little dated, right? Sure, a lot of the same people are going to be there, but some aren’t, and you’re going to wonder why ‘I’ve seen this guy on TV for weeks, why isn’t he in the game?’ It’s because the game has been done, but we’ve had to try to get our game in a position to be rated so that we can sell it. So now, I can positively say that we’re headed back in the right direction.”
Jay Briscoe’s daughters, who were seriously injured in the car accident that took his life, were released from the hospital after a one-month stay. They seemed in good spirits, all things considered.
Do you enjoy pro wrestling? Knotfest Wrestling has a bi-weekly column filled with wrestling news. Read previous editions of this column here. You can always follow me @robinjection on Instagram and Twitter and @Squaredcirclpit.
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