NXT to continue inclusion?
With at least eight NXT female wrestlers taking part in the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match in two weeks, NXT will have its biggest role on a WWE PPV to date.
Will this continue to help NXT evolve?
NXT has been Triple H’s brainchild and it has become a solid promotion on its own after being billed as WWE’s developmental territory.
Could more and more NXT talents take part in future shows?
While NXT has been having its own PPVs the weekends of WWE’s biggest shows, could NXT start to find itself integrated more often in the bigger events like the Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series?
Considering that these shows are four hours long and usually have two-hour preview shows, there is plenty of time for NXT matches.
WWE announces Mixed Tag Team Challenge brackets
The brackets for WWE’s Mixed Tag Team Challenge have been announced and it starts Tuesday on Facebook Live.
Each quarterfinal match will have a Raw team face a Smackdown team and Tuesday’s match pits Shinsuke Nakamura and Natalya taking on Finn Balor and Sasha Banks.
Paige’s career over?
www.pwinsiderelite.com is reporting that WWE doctors have told Paige that they will not clear her from her recent injury and if true, it means that her WWE in-ring career would be over.
Samoa Joe hurt again?
This past Monday on Raw, it is reported that Samoa Joe felt a pop in his right foot.
After having an MRI taken, it is believed that he may have a plantar fascia rupture.
More on this as updates are provided, but he could be out anywhere from two weeks to two months.
Royal Rumble to set record?
It was reported this week, that with there being two Rumble matches at the Royal Rumble PPV, the show may set a PPV record for the most number of wrestlers to wrestle on a PPV card.
It is expected, depending on how many matches take place on the PPV and not the preview show, that anywhere from 72 to 78 wrestlers will be on the show,
WWE signs former Pirates prospect
Does the name Rinku Singh ring a bell?
A native of India, he gained fame as part of the “Million Dollar Arm” reality show who had a movie made about his life by Disney and signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates, signed a WWE deal and will report to WWE’s Performance Center shortly.
He was in the Pirates organization for almost eight years and took part in WWE’s tryout in Dubai in 2017.
Records in 2017
With 2017 getting farther away in the rearview mirror, here are some WWE numbers of note.
Jinder Mahal wrestled the most matches of the year with 185.
Where does Mahal’s total rank over the last ten years?
He is nowhere near the top as Daniel Bryan wrestled 232 times in 2013, Sheamus wrestled 220 times in 2012 and Roman Reigns wrestled 219 times in 2015.
Dean Ambrose had the most wins (144) followed by Shinsuke Nakamura (131) while Natalya had the most losses (131) while Nia Jax was next with 128 and Mahal was the male who lost the most matches with 124.
U.S. title semifinals Tuesday
While the finals to crown a new United States champion will take place at the Royal Rumble, the semifinals take place this Tuesday on Smackdown Live.
Bobby Roode takes on Mojo Rawley and Xavier Woods faces Mahal.
Roode and Mahal are heavy favorites in their respective matches.
Bryan’s return to ring?
In last week’s column, we looked at the possibility of Bryan wrestling at WrestleMania and how if he doesn’t, he will leave WWE when his contract expires later this year.
Depending on the expiration date of his contract, could Bryan wrestle elsewhere Sept. 1?
Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks are looking to rent out a venue for a show on Sept. 1, and as I stated in this column months ago, it would not surprise me to see a show take place in a large venue for Bryan’s return.
More on this as it develops.
On this date:
In 2010, Live Nation suffered a blunder that infuriated fans.
The ticket selling site sold out the WWE Hall of Fame show then canceled all of the orders when it turned out that it had accidentally sol sections that had been reserved and earmarked for the WWE roster.
Live Nation informed all ticketholders that their respective orders were canceled and it held another on sale several hours later.
This week’s question:
I saw where Triple H and Rhonda Rousey had dinner in Los Angeles this week. Was it to discuss a contract? Bobby, Connellsville.
Rousey has been training for several months around her acting career for a pro wrestling career, so my hunch is that she is already under a contract.
The guess is that the “dinner,” which took place on Tuesday at Republique, was for publicity purposes.
Email questions/comments to Bill at powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to me @BillHughes_III