Roman Reigns to appear on Raw, GMA
There are several news-worthy tidbits this week in the world of pro wrestling, so we will save the topic of Becky Lynch and Stephania McMahon being the next Steve Austin and Vince McMahon feud for next week鈥檚 column.
Reigns to appear on GMA, Raw
Roman Reigns will appear on Raw Monday night to discuss his battle with leukemia. The following morning, he will be a guest on Good Morning America.
DX headed into Hall
It had been speculated last week that The Hart Foundation would headline this year鈥檚 WWE Hall of Fame class.
WWE threw a curve ball Monday and ESPN hit it out of the park when it broke the news that DX would be headlining this year鈥檚 inductees. Members of the group who will be honored include Shawn Michaels, Triple H, the New Age Outlaws, X-Pac and the late Chyna.
Michaels joins Ric Flair as the only two men to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice, but look for Triple H and Flair to be honored three times.
Triple H鈥檚 individual induction will happen down the road as will the induction of Evolution. The group consisted of Flair, H, Randy Orton and Dave Batista before disbanding in 2004.
WWE releases four
Word broke Friday that WWE released three wrestlers and an agent.
Tye Dillinger, TJ Perkins (TJP) and Hideo Itami were all given their releases, while Arn Anderson, a member of the legendary Four Horseman group and an agent with WWE since 2001, was also let go.
Movie about Paige debuts
Fighting With My Family, a movie about WWE鈥檚 Paige and her family, opened Friday night in theaters.
Produced by Dwayne 鈥淭he Rock鈥� Johnson, it has been well-received by critics and pro wrestling experts who have already had the chance to watch it.
New NXT North American champ
The confusion from the Jan. 30 NXT TV taping became clear Wednesday night during this week鈥檚 episode of WWE NXT.
At the show, Velveteen Dream pinned Johnny Gargano before Gargano attacked him after the match. Dream would go for a flying elbow, but missed.
Gargano followed up with his Gargano Escape submission making Dream tap and Gargano leaving with the belt.
Gargano had the title with him this week as he appeared on Raw and Smackdown, leading fans confused as to who the actual champion was.
With the title change 鈥渢aking place鈥� Wednesday night, Gargano will not have the title with him moving forward if he appears on Raw and Smackdown.
The WWE used to use this strategy regularly pre-Internet as it was able to have a performer lose a title on a house show without everyone finding out instantly online.
Flair party on Raw
WWE will celebrate Ric Flair鈥檚 70th birthday on Raw Monday.
On This Day
In 2014, WWE launched the WWE Network.
It is truly a pro wrestling fan鈥檚 dream as there are literally countless shows and many types of content.
The one thing that disappoints me is that it has barely been upgraded since its launch. It really isn鈥檛 all that easy for fans to navigate and the hope here is that it will become easier to use in the future.
This week鈥檚 question
When is John Cena returning to the ring? He is the man! Bishop Swope, Lemont Furnace.
Cena鈥檚 full-time days are behind him as he is making the transition to Hollywood. However, I would not be surprised to see him show up and do WrestleMania.