-We’ve noted recently how there are money problems surrounding Bill Goldberg’s WWE return deal.
The latest word was that Goldberg and WWE were very far apart on money.
In recent months there was a hangup over creative decisions surrounding his return and the two sides were believed to be “within reason” on money. However, now word is that
Goldberg budged on his price and when WWE didn’t agree, he upped the asking price for a return. While things were initially looking good from a monetary prospective, they’re now described as far apart once again.
To go with this, it’s said Goldberg has little interest in a match against Roman Reigns. Goldberg is believed to have other opportunities on the table and at this point a
deal for him to work at WrestleMania XXX does not look like it’s going to happen.
-There has been
talk for months now that Sheamus would be a surprise entrant in the 30-man Royal Rumble match on Sunday. He has been out of action for months with a torn labrum injury.
Word at Monday’s RAW is that
his status for the Rumble is still up in the air. WWE officials understand the
risk of re-injury is high because of how physical Sheamus is.
Sheamus’ situation is a case-by-case situation as some athletes recover in 12 weeks and others take a full 6-8 months. It’s complicated because
some days the injury feels great and others it feels awful.
-
Rob Van Dam is reportedly hoping to get a new contract with WWE finalized in time for WrestleMania XXX season. While RVD wasn’t “super happy” with his last run, he has plenty left in the tank and knows it’s best if he can work a deal out before Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
Vince McMahon is a fan of RVD, which makes things easier.
-We noted before that
The New Age Outlaws are expected to be regulars on WWE TV for the next few months. They are being given another run because of how well they were received in their return and WWE officials figure they could utilize them to make up for their lack of heels on the roster.
-Evan Bourne noted on Twitter that he’s been doing some “insane workouts” the past few days. At last word,
WWE officials expected Bourne back in time for the Royal Rumble.
-We noted yesterday that
WWE is planning on inducting the WrestleMania I main event itself into the Hall of Fame this year, with participants Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and others likely being inducted as well.
While that is the idea being pitched for Piper and Hogan during WrestleMania XXX weekend,
it’s still possible they will have some kind of match role on the pay-per-view itself.
We noted before that
Piper pitched the idea of doing he and a top heel vs. Hogan and John Cena. At one point Piper wanted that heel to be CM Punk but WWE likely won’t be turning Punk again this soon.
Source: PWInsider
-Within WWE,
some people are under the impression Jericho is returning for WrestleMania XXX season while some say he is not.
-The deal to bring Batista back to WWE had
reportedly been in the works since September and was signed off on in or around October.
-There was
more talk last week of bringing Christian and Evan Bourne back. Word is that Bourne has been ready for some time but WWE creative hasn’t come up with anything for him yet.
Partial source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
-Word is that the
deal to induct The Ultimate Warrior into the WWE Hall of Fame was finalized a week before Christmas. There’s a feeling that Hulk Hogan will be inducting him.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
-As has been the case around this time in recent years,
reports are that WWE is talking with Sting, who has not renewed his TNA deal yet.
-The appearance from Jake Roberts at Old School RAW was a one-time deal.
That doesn’t mean he won’t be in the Royal Rumble or the WWE Hall of Fame but no deal has been put in place for either yet. Regarding his return on RAW,
Roberts was telling people that the reason Dean Ambrose was smiling when Jake put the snake on him was because the snake defecated on his chest. CM Punk mentioned this to Ambrose and that’s why he couldn’t help but laugh.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
-The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that
Ryback is not well liked at all these days within WWE, even among people who used to have nothing but nice things to say about him.
- Raj Giri of WrestlingINC reports that Hulk Hogan confirmed that he would be at WWE’s WrestleMania XXX pay-per-view during the Affiliate Summit West marketing conference in Las Vegas this week. Hogan was there to promote his Hostamania web hosting company.
When Hogan was asked if he would be returning to WWE,
he said that he will indeed be working WrestleMania XXX.
- WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin was asked on his podcast earlier today if he would be appearing at this year’s WrestleMania XXX pay-per-view from New Orleans.
Austin said
he would like to be there to do stuff with the talent and Legends for his podcast but no official appearance for the company has been set yet.
-WWE officials are
hoping to get 75,000 fans chanting “YES!” at WrestleMania XXX. The previous big idea involving the crowd was to do Rey Mysterio vs. Sin Cara with everyone wearing lucha masks but that’s been nixed.
Source: F4Wonline.com
-When WWE first had Daniel Bryan join The Wyatt Family on RAW a few weeks back,
they had two matches lined up for him at WrestleMania XXX – one that would see him still a member of the group and one that would have had him back to being a babyface. There was no real solid plan on turning Bryan back babyface but it was not supposed to happen just two weeks later, like they ended up doing.
The idea was that
Bryan would either turn back at Elimination Chamber, setting up Bryan vs. Bray at WrestleMania XXX, or he would turn at WrestleMania after coming out for a tag match with Wyatt. This would have guaranteed the big babyface reaction at WrestleMania.
Word within WWE is that the
company was “100% fully embarrassed” by the footage of the Michigan State crowd all chanting “yes!” in unison. The footage ended up everywhere online and on TV shows, with Bryan and WWE getting a mention. WWE wanted to run with the Daniel Wyatt storyline but, “when you have a whole college arena doing “yes!” chants and most likely others will, plus NFL stars in the post-season doing it,”
WWE felt they had no choice but to hurry and turn Bryan back on RAW.
Source: F4Wonline.com
-Bryan
managed to get through the match last week without missing any spots. However, at the
end of the show when he was on top of the cage leading the “yes!” chants, right before the show ended Bryan suddenly stopped and sat there, looking around like he was unsure. A WWE stagehand laid on the ground, looked up at him and started gesturing for him to keep chanting. Bryan just looked at the guy seemingly completely confused. Bryan later told WWE officials that he barely remembered anything that happened in the cage.
Backstage,
Bryan’s big moment was a hot topic. A source said, “The whole backstage was in awe. Vince McMahon loves Bryan.”
Source: F4Wonline.com
-For what it’s worth,
it’s said that all creative plans for Hulk Hogan’s WWE return have been finalized.
Partial source: F4Wonline.com
-As noted, Daniel Bryan was cleared to return from a concussion on Monday afternoon. WWE made sure not to put him in a position where he would have to take bumps on last night’s show so he could have another week to rest up before the Royal Rumble singles match against Bray Wyatt.
Many fans have been wondering if Bryan will have a spot in the 30-man Royal Rumble main event.
As of Monday afternoon, Bryan was not going to be in the match. His only appearance at the Rumble is scheduled to be the match against Wyatt.
Source: PWInsider
-On part 2 of Steve Austin’s podcast interview with Roddy Piper, Piper was asked about the rumors of Piper vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania XXX. Piper said:
“This is Wrestlemania 30.
I’ve pinned Hogan once and he’s never pinned me. From a fan’s perspective, and WWE Universe and Vince, it never had closure. The business that would be done, the interviews and stuff would be coming from the heart.
We could try to outraise the bar of the WWE entertainment machine in our sport, if they let us go toe to toe and don’t script us. The fans will see really how it got started and why, and then they’ll see the conclusion. They are asking can I get in shape. I am already in shape! They are asking Hogan. But there is a fear, I guess, of whether we can pull off the performance.”
-You may remember a few month back it was
reported Dolph Ziggler lost his push because of something he said in an interview around the time of SummerSlam. No other details were available but we now know that
it was Ziggler’s comments about Randy Orton that got him in hot water with WWE officials. Here’s what Ziggler said to MLive.com on September 4th:
“I’ve made it clear; I’m not patient at all – several times. I’ve been very vocal about my position on the card and in the company. I’m not trying to say ‘Hey, everybody sucks and I’m great!’ But I love doing this, and at some point you go ‘OK, It’s not my time right now and I got to figure something out’ And when it’s time, that’s when I must go out there and make as huge of an impact as I can and let everyone know ‘I dare you to follow that, I dare you try something better.’ And when they don’t (counter or match what I’m doing in the ring) I’m very outspoken about it and it can get me into very hot water (with the company). Then you never know where we’re going. Everybody can be just so outspoken about taller guys, and guys like Randy Orton being the face of the WWE, the WWE Championship. I dare you to put me in a back alley with Randy Orton or someone like that. I guarantee I’m not afraid of someone taller.”
Source: F4Wonline.com
-WWE’s plan going forward is to
push Batista heavily in the storylines. Plans do change but the idea since signing him was for him to win the Royal Rumble match and go on to headline WrestleMania XXX.
Partial source: PWInsider
-The timeline for The Ultimate Warrior working things out with WWE goes like this.
Triple H met with Warrior last July on the same day 2K Sports had a press event to announce Warrior would be in the video game.
Warrior then met with Vince McMahon during SummerSlam weekend in August. They were scheduled to meet for 30 minutes but ended up talking for a few hours. At that point, WWE started to try and work out a deal with Warrior,
which was completed in December.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
-WWE officials have
reportedly believed for months that Sting was coming in this year and it’s been talked about even more like it’s going to happen recently.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
-As things stand right now,
Hulk Hogan will not be wrestling at WrestleMania XXX but will be making some sort of appearance. Word is that Hogan was examined by WWE doctors and the
company has made the call to not only not put him in a match, but not to book anything physical involving him. There has been
some talk of bringing Hogan back on the February 24th RAW with several other big names. That is the night after Elimination Chamber when the WWE Network launches.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
-While a
contract itself hasn’t been signed yet, talks between
Sting and WWE are so far that they are discussing concepts for him using the name “A Man Called Sting.”
Partial source: F4Wonline.com
-We still
don’t know if Sheamus is scheduled to make his return at Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view but we now
know he is returning soon because he’s penciled into one of the top 5 matches at WrestleMania XXX.
Current plans as of today,
January 24th, have Sheamus facing Daniel Bryan in a singles match at WrestleMania.
This will be the third WrestleMania match between the two. They faced in a Lumberjack dark match resulting on a no contest at WrestleMania 27 and Sheamus defeated Bryan in 18 seconds at WrestleMania 28.
Plans can always change six weeks out but word as of today that the Sheamus vs. Bryan match is pretty much set in stone.
Source: PWInsider
-
WWE will reportedly reach out to Seattle Seahawks player Richard Sherman about making a possible appearance at WrestleMania XXX. It won’t be a match of any kind, just a celebrity appearance.
-There has been talk of bringing in
2 Cold Scorpio as a surprise Royal Rumble entrant this Sunday. The idea would be that there’s an ECW tie-in since original ECW TV and pay-per-views will be on the Network. Another name rumored within WWE is
Jimmy Wang Yang, who teased it on Twitter, is a good friend of Batista’s and attended two WWE events last week.
Source: F4Wonline.com
-WWE has been working on plans for the RAW the night after Elimination Chamber, the same night the WWE Network launches.
It’s going to be a supershow with names brought back and lots of promotion for the Network. While some people think Hulk Hogan will return at the Royal Rumble on Sunday, he is expected to debut the night the Network launches. There’s also been talk of bringing in Shawn Michaels, Sean Waltman and Kevin Nash for that night
- The
belief within WWE is that Kurt Angle will be returning to WWE once his TNA deal is up but it’s very unlikely he will be able to pass the company physical. Angle could end up as a trainer for NXT.
Source: F4wonline.com
-Multiple sources
continue to report that Sting is coming to WWE this year. It seems there is more talk this year than any year in the past.
- The latest on Roman Reigns is that
he may not break away from The Shield until WrestleMania XXX.
Source: F4Wonline.com
-There are
no plans to have Money In the Bank at WrestleMania this year.
- As of this past Friday,
The Undertaker’s WrestleMania XXX match was said to be set in stone, likely against Brock Lesnar.
- There has been talk that
The Ultimate Warrior may be working one more match as part of his new deal with WWE. Word being talked about backstage is Warrior vs Ryback, likely at WrestleMania XXX. As noted, it’s believed the deal with Bill Goldberg is pretty much dead because of money issues.
Source: F4Wonline.com
:thumbdown to Bryan vs Sheamus & Warrior vs Ryback
if they are finally able to get Sting!
