Rumble, Ambrose and much more
WWE presented the Royal Rumble last Sunday, and there were plenty of newsworthy items.
Fortunately, two dedicated readers of this column were at events over the long weekend in Phoenix.
Alex Herman, a graduate of California Area High School who now resides in Albuquerque, N.M., attended events with her husband, Mike. The Hermans watched the Royal Rumble show at Chase Field and again once they returned home.
“I watched it again on the WWE Network and the crowd seemed very quiet on TV compared to how it was live,” said Alex Herman. “The huge stadium was not great for the acoustics.”
Herman added, “The women’s Rumble was really fun and Becky might be the most popular wrestler in all of WWE right now. Women’s wrestling has changed so much since I was a kid and it is exciting to see a female wrestler as popular as Becky.”
Jim Grosik, a California University of Pa. grad who lives in Phoenix with his wife and daughters, attended the NXT show.
“From top to bottom, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to, and that includes WrestleMania 26 and a Royal Rumble,” he said. “It was an impressive show and an impressive draw.”
One dynamic was how the crowd turned on Ronda Rousey over the course of the shows.
WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry spoke about the reaction Rousey received at the Rumble and Raw on Busted Open Radio on SiriusXM.
“Ronda falls under the same category as Michael Jordan … Larry Bird … LeBron James … She is great,” said Henry. “She suffers from greatness hate.
“She has earned a level of respect that most of us will never see.”
An issue I had was Nia Jax entering the men’s rumble. WWE prides itself on not allowing men on women “violence,” yet they put Jax in the men’s match?
Apparently, Fox wants fresh entertainment and WWE is looking for “something that sticks,” according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
More on the Rumble next week with a look at numbers.
Ambrose leaving WWE?
Word broke on Tuesday that Dean Ambrose has informed WWE that he will not sign a new deal with the company. Later in the day, WWE confirmed the news and said that Ambrose will be leaving when his deal is up in April.
Currently, word is that Ambrose leaving is legit and not part of a storyline, although that could always change by April.
Ambrose was offered a five-year deal worth seven figures annually, but his decision was based on not being happy with having no creative control over his character and it was not about the money.
Ambrose is scheduled to be on Raw Monday night, so we shall see where this goes.
There is buzz about have Jax defeat Ambrose in a singles match.
Bryan’s new title belt
Bryan introduced a new WWE championship belt Tuesday on Smackdown, and the belt has a local connection. The title was made by Latrobe’s Andrew Lazarchik, owner of Wildcat Belts.
Lazarchik is best known in the Pittsburgh wrestling scene as “Hot $hot” Drew Lazario, who in my opinion was the best manager the local scene has ever seen.
Halftime Heat returns tonight
For the first time in almost 20 years, WWE will present “Halftime Heat” during halftime of the Super Bowl. It will air on the WWE Network, the WWE App, wwe.com, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
The match will feature NXT wrestlers in a six-man tag match: Velveteen Dream, Aleister Black and Ricochet will take on Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole and Tommaso Ciampa.
Itami leaving WWE
When KENTA was signed a few years ago to a WWE deal, he was renamed Hideo Itami and has been a staple with the 205.
Tuesday night at the Smackdown tapings, Itami asked for, and was granted, his release from WWE. A megastar in Japan as KENTA, word is that he wants to return home.
Once his 90 no-compete clause is up, look for him to be back in pro wrestling news.
GLOW wins SAG award
GLOW, the Netflix show partially depicting the Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling promotion from the 1980s, won a Screen Actors Guild award for “Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series.”