-- WWE tapes SmackDown tonight in Austin, Texas at the Frank Erwin center. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane headlines. The match is a no DQ match, and if Bryan loses, he is out of the Royal Rumble match.
-- WWE also tapes Main Event tonight, but that will no longer air on the WWE Network due to a contractual issue with Sky TV in the UK.
-- Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins and Big Show is tonight’s dark match.
-- Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling has announced that Road Warrior Animal will be at the Fantasy Camp on February 15. You can find more info here.
-- As of 12:08 PM today, WrestleMania AXXESS tickets for Hulk Hogan, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Shawn Michaels, Sting and HHH were sold out. Tickets are still available for Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns and Ric Flair.
-- Ric Flair was interviewed a few days ago for ESPN’s 30 for 30, which looks at Christian Laettner of Duke University. It will air in the spring.
-- Speaking of Flair, he will be at the March Monster-Mania Con in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. You can find more information here.
-- As noted earlier, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos have been added to the Royal Rumble match. Ziggler and Ryback won qualifying matches on SmackDown, while Erick Rowan lost his qualifier against Luke Harper.
We noted earlier that WWE.com had removed the listing of three names of the entrants for tonight’s WWE Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble event. Justin Gabriel and Los Matadores are no longer on the list of participants. Hour after this post, word came out that Justin Gabriel had quit WWE. We hope to have more on why he quit shortly. The number of official entrants is now 17.
-- WWE.com is running a poll asking fans who they will be rooting for in the WWE Championship match at tonight's Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
With over 15,000 votes cast, John Cena has 48% of the vote, while Lesnar has 34% and Rollins has only 18%.
-- Check out this video of Dean Ambrose, Goldust, Stardust and Fandango picking their numbers for the Royal Rumble:
-- This past Wednesday, the CRTC approved Rogers’ application for the WWE Network to air in Canada. It will be a non-Canadian produced Network that can air in the country. This means that Rogers can begin making deals to bring the service to other carriers in Canada.
-- This is the last weekend of the free month of WWE Network.
Also read: More News On The WWE Network Issues In Canada - The Latest Updates Inside Here-- Speaking of the Network, WWE has started adding previous Tribute to the Troops events to their VOD “In-Ring” section.
Just to recap some things from a very, VERY vusy night following RAWL
-- As noted earlier, it was announced on Monday’s RAW that Kane will face Dean Ambrose Tuesday night on WWE Main Event, which airs live on the WWE Network at 8 PM ET.
Also read: ?'A New Day' Stable Set To Debut On Next Week's WWE RAW Broadcast, The RAW General Manager?-- Also announced on RAW was a segment for SmackDown, in which The Miz will have Big Show as a special MizTV guest.
-- Daniel Bryan and Sgt. Slaughter both made their returns on RAW Monday night. Bryan was put in control of RAW for the night with the Authority out of power, while Slaughter was part of a segment in which Rusev and Lana had to recite the Pledge of Allegience. Instead of doing so, they tried to bully Slaughter until Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter came to the rescue and Swagger attacked Rusev.
-- The infamous Anonymous GM made his return on RAW. After the main event, the tell-tale chime occurred, prompting Michael Cole to go to a podium with a laptop. Cole read a message from the Anonymous GM which said, “Forgive me for interrupting this joyous celebration. This party is over. Next Monday, Cyber Monday, order and discipline return to Monday Night Raw.”
-- It was revealed on RAW that New Day–Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E–will make their return to RAW (and debut as a group) next week. The group has been teased over the last several months and went through a few different names during that time.
Partial Source: Pwinsider.com
Also read: ?More On TNA Trying To 'Raid' ROH Talent - Big Update-- There has been no change in the ROH contract situation in regards to their talents’ ability to work independent events. Some of the wrestlers have exclusive deals and are getting paid a full-time salary. ROH has the final say on if they work any indy dates outside of ROH (similar to TNA’s contracts). Other talents have deals in which they can work independent dates. There’s no word on which talents are full-time.
-- ROH will hold a TV taping this Saturday in Baltimore at the William J. Myers Pavillion. It includes Adam Cole vs. Brian Kendrick, a No DQ Grudge Match with Tommaso Ciampa vs. Cedric Alexander and “Tag Wars 2014?, a tournament featuring Matt Sydal & ACH vs. The Young Bucks, Jay Lethal & J. Diesel w/ Truth Martini vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe and The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) vs. The Decade (BJ Whitmer & Jimmy Jacobs). All three winners will fight ROH Tag Team champions ReDragon in a four way that night.
-- WWE announced at last night’s live event in London, England that that they will return to the city for RAW and SmackDown at the O2 arena next April.
-- WWE returns to Las Vegas on January 17th for a house show. Tickets will go on sale this weekend.
Also read: ?The RAW Attendance + WWE Stock Continues To Drop-- The Independent recently interviewed Sheamus discussing his return to Ireland and more. You can read that interview here.
-- WWE.com has a feature up on Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero feud in the 1990s, which you can check out here.
Credit: PWInsider
The Nashville Fairgrounds is said to have a healthy crowd tonight. We've heard from a lot of fans that used to frequent the old TNA days that they were going to the show.
Former ROH champion Jerry Lynn is backstage. He lives in Nashville and it's the first wrestling show he's attended since retiring last year. Lynn has cut off the trademark long hair that he's had since the late 1980s as well.
If Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne) is there, they are keeping him hidden backstage as nobody has seen him.
Also read: ?Recap Of The Goldbergs' Wrestling-Themed EpisodeAccording to sources, some sort of surprise is planned for it's unknown what as of this writing.
ROH announced a 1/3/15 return to the Nashville Fairgrounds.
Before ROH went on the air, they taped several matches for upcoming ROH in Sinclair TV:
*War Machine won a squash.
*Adam Page defeated The Romantic Touch.
EVOLVE sent out the following today…
EVOLVE returns to the Elk's Lodge in Queens, NY on May 9th and The Lyceum in Brooklyn, NY on May 10th. Tickets for both shows can be purchased here. The weekend will have the theme of Back To The Basics. EVOLVE officials feel that things got out of hand at EVOLVE 28. There was too much interference and shenanigans you don't expect from the EVOLVE brand. It's time to reign things in and regain control. Fans of EVOLVE want straight, competitive matches and great wrestling. The original rules of EVOLVE were designed to deliver that. For May 9th and 10th, we are going back to some of the original EVOLVE rules. These rules will be in effect for the entire EVOLVE 29 and EVOLVE 30 cards:
-There will be no interference of any kind tolerated. Any interference will result in an immediate fine and/or suspension.
-Any physical contact with a referee will result in an immediate fine and/or suspension.
-Referees Brandon Tolle and Bryce Remsburg have been given the power to administer any fines or suspensions on the spot of an infraction.
In an additional move, EVOLVE officials have isolated Larry Dallas as being responsible for inciting an out-of-control situation at the WWNLive Experience. As a result and to set an example to the rest of the locker room, EVOLVE has decided to release Larry Dallas. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.
EVOLVE 29 on May 9th will be a live to VOD iPPV. EVOLVE 30 on May 10th will be a live iPPV. We have a Weekly Special so you can get both iPPVs at a big discount. You can pre-order both EVOLVE 29 and EVOLVE 30 at www.WWNLive.com for just $9.99 each if you act by Monday, May 5th. This will get you the VOD of EVOLVE 29 and the live & VOD of EVOLVE 30. You will get unlimited access for just $9.99! This means you can own the entire weekend for just $20. Act now, you must pre-order in the next week to get these savings.
JT Dunn and Ryan Rush will both make their EVOLVE debuts in NYC. We have info on their matches below. We look forward to seeing what both do with this opportunity.
EVOLVE 29 - Queens, NY - May 9th - 8pm EST. Tag Team Main Event: AR Fox & Uhaa Nation vs. Anthony Nese & Trent Baretta Gentlmen's Club Implodes: Chuck Taylor vs. Drew Gulak Johnny Gargano vs. Biff Busick Rich Swann vs. Caleb Konley Non-Title: Lancelot & Harlem Bravado vs. #AllEgo & #WalkingWeapon Fire Ant & Green Ant vs. Jigsaw & Tim Donst NEW MATCH: Blake Edward Belakus vs. JT Dunn with Shelly Martinez Shelly Martinez will be available for autographs! Plus: SHINE Champion Ivelisse, Moose, Su Yung & Mr. A, more!
EVOLVE 30 - Brooklyn, NY - May 10th - 8pm EST I Quit Match: Johnny Gargano vs. Rich Swann Open The United Gate Title Match: Lancelot & Harlem Bravado defend vs. Fire Ant & Green Ant Uhaa Nation vs. Trent Baretta AR Fox vs. Caleb Konley Four Way Freestyle: Anthony Nese vs. Chuck Taylor vs. Jigsaw vs. #AllEgo Tim Donst vs. #WalkingWeapon NEW MATCH: Blake Edward Belakus vs. Ryan Rush Plus: SHINE Champion Ivelisse, Moose, Su Yung & Mr. A, more!
You can order the iPPV events at this link.
-- While he was originally advertised for the event, Shawn Michaels is no longer appearing on the NXT Arrival event on Thursday. As previously reported, Kevin Nash has replaced him.
-- Former TNA referee Rudy Charles, who has been with the NXT brand for some time, was refereeing on RAW last night.
The call started at 11:04 AM ET.
Vince McMahon and WWE financial executive George Barrios will take part in the call.
Vince McMahon started off the call, and says things were about where they expected them to be. The weekly TV audience has grown 19% and their social media presence has grown over 80%.
They signed new TV deals internationally in the UK and Thailand, which were better than the old deals. They are the #1 and #3 markets for WWE, outside of the US.
They are happy with the Total Divas show, are moving into new toys (The Stackdown set) and will work with the Flintstones and Scooby-Doo for new film projects.
They expect to complete the US TV negotiations by late April.
They will continue to work on new International TV deals as they expire to get a higher TV rights fee.
Vince says they are extremely excited for the launch of the Network on Monday.
The majority of cable and satellite distributors have agreed to air WrestleMania, and from there, will decide on PPV carriage on a month by month basis. They then added it is about 85% coverage of the US.
They broke down the key financials, which are broken down section by section in the 411 news section.
Total Divas increasing viewership by over 150% from the programming it replaced on the E! Network.
WWE expects losses early in 2014 because of costs to launch the WWE Network and other investments. They expect a 2014 first quarter loss of $12 to $15 million.
When asked about CM Punk, Vince stated that he is taking a sabbatical.
They were repeatedly asked for details on the new TV deals and negotiations with NBCU and other networks, but they refused to give direct answers.
The company plans to launch the Network in the UK, Canada, Australia, and Nordic countries by the end of the year or early 2015.
The goal for the WWE network is 1 million subscribers by the end of 2014.
Vince stated that WrestleMania is a huge event, and that they are excited for the event, which he thinks will be a part of a big year for the company.
When asked why they continue to stay in the movie business, Vince stated that they understood characters and story lines and already had a set of stars to use. He also said that they are on their third model with WWE Studios, and that they are doing well with it. Barrios said they were seeing a better return under their new model and would continue to evaluate with each film.
The call ended at 11:37 AM ET.
Birthdate: 03/01/1961 (age 53) Height: 6'3" Weight: 256 Ib Booker T is regarded as the greatest African-Am... 
Birthdate: 03/03/1981 (age 33) Height: 6'1" Weight: 213 Ib A second-generation wrestler, Lloyd was initial...