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WEEKLY OVERVIEW – WWE (thru 2/20): Top stories of week, major show lineups, live event results, schedule of live events, noteworthy social media posts, more

By Zach Graham, PWTorch Contributor

February 21, 2019

Former champion reportedly returning to WWE
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

The following is the latest in a new series of weekly in-depth articles exclusive to PWTorch which will help put in perspective major wrestling promotions with a weekly overview, looking at news and roster developments, results, future line-ups, social media activity, key interviews, plus a timely commentary at the end. We will be featuring similar features on other promotions each week and each will be updated weekly.

•Top Stories of the Week

  • Ahead of the Elimination Chamber this week, WWE announced that Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas will be the site for the Royal Rumble in 2020. Minute Maid Park is the home stadium for the Houston Astros of the MLB. SOURCE
  • Three new sets of champions were crowned at Elimination Chamber on Sunday. Sasha Banks & Bayley won the Elimination Chamber match to become the Women’s Tag Team Champions, The Usos beat The Miz & Shane McMahon to win the Smackdown Tag Team Champions, and Finn Balor beat Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush to win the Intercontinental Championship.
  • Four more NXT wrestlers made their debuts on Raw and Smackdown this week. Ricochet, Tomasso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, and Aleister Black all wrestled on both Raw and Smackdown. Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano wrestled together in a DIY reunion on both shows.
  • As first reported by ESPN, Degeneration X was announced as the first inductees into the WWE Hall of Fame class this year. All six members of DX (Shawn Michaels, Triple H, X-Pac, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and Chyna) will be recognized.
  • Tye Dillinger tweeted Tuesday that he has asked for his release from WWE.

•WWE Weekly Event Results

WWE Live Event – Raw Roster (Edinburg, Texas) 2/15/19

(1) Mojo Rawley beat Tyler Breeze
(2) Lucha House Party beat Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers
(3) Bobby Lashley (c) defeated Apollo Crews & Dean Ambrose to retain the Intercontinental Championship
(4) Ronda Rousey (c) beat Ruby Riott to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
(5) Drew McIntyre beat Elias
(6) The Revival (c) defeated Chad Gable & Bobby Roode to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
(7) Braun Strowman beat Baron Corbin

SOURCE

WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster (Alexandria, La.) 2/16/19

(1) New Day (Xavier Woods & Big E) beat The Bar
(2) EC3 defeated Tye Dillinger
(3) Shelton Benjamin beat EC3
(4) R-Truth (c) beat Rusev (w/ Lana) & Andrade (w/ Zelina Vega) to retain the United States Championship
(5) Asuka (c) beat Charlotte via DQ to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(6) Jeff Hardy defeated Samoa Joe
(7) Daniel Bryan (c) (w/ Rowan) beat A.J. Styles to retain the WWE Championship

WWE Live Event – Raw Roster (Laredo, Texas) 2/16/19

(1) Mojo Rawley beat Tyler Breeze
(2) Lucha House Party beat Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers
(3) Bobby Lashley (c) defeated Apollo Crews & Dean Ambrose to retain the Intercontinental Championship
(4) Ronda Rousey (c) beat Ruby Riott to retain the Raw Women’s Championship
(5) Drew McIntyre beat Elias
(6) The Revival (c) defeated Chad Gable & Bobby Roode to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
(7) Braun Strowman beat Baron Corbin

SOURCE

If you attend a live event, please send results to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!

•WWE TV Match Results

WWE Elimination Chamber Results (aired on WWE Network) 2/17/19

Kickoff Show

(1) Buddy Murphy defeated Akira Tozawa to retain the Cruiserweight Championship

Main Card

(1) Women’s Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber Match – Winner: Bayley & Sasha Banks

Order of Entry & Elimination:

– Bayley & Sasha Banks and Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville start the match
– The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) enter
– The IIconics enter
– Naomi & Carmella enter
– Naomi & Carmella eliminated when Naomi is pinned by Peyton Royce & Billie Kay
– Nia Jax & Tamina enter
– The IIconics eliminated by Nia & Tamina when Nia & Tamina pinned both Royce & Kay
– The Riott Squad eliminated when Tamina pinned Morgan & Logan at the same time
– Nia & Tamina eliminated when Mandy, Sonya, Sasha, and Bayley all pin Tamina
– Mandy & Sonya eliminated when Sonya tapped out to a modified Bank Statement by Sasha Banks

(2) The Usos defeated Shane McMahon & The Miz to win the Smackdown Tag Team Championships when Jimmy pinned The Miz
(3) Finn Balor beat Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush to win the Intercontinental Championship when he pinned Lio Rush
(4) Ronda Rousey beat Ruby Riott to retain the Raw Women’s Championship.
– After the match, Charlotte entered the ring and Becky Lynch walked through the crowd on crutches. After entering the ring, Becky then attacked Charlotte with one of her crutches. She handed Ronda a crutch and encouraged her to hit Charlotte too, as Ronda turned her back to Becky, Becky attacked her with her crutch as well. Security would eventually remove Becky from the ring.
(5) Baron Corbin defeated Braun Strowman in a No Disqualification match after Drew McIntyre & Bobby Lashley came down to help Corbin
(6) WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match – Winner: Daniel Bryan

Order of Entry & Elimination:

– Daniel Bryan & Samoa Joe start the match
– Kofi Kingston enters
– A.J. Styles enters
– Samoa Joe eliminated by A.J. Styles
– Jeff Hardy enters
– Jeff Hardy eliminated by Daniel Bryan
– Randy Orton enters
– A.J. Styles eliminated by Randy Orton
– Randy Orton eliminated by Kofi Kingston
– Kofi Kingston eliminated by Daniel Bryan

Monday Night Raw TV Results 2/18/19

(1) Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin in a Tables Match
(2) Ricochet & Finn Balor beat Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush when Ricochet pinned Lio Rush
(3) Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik w/ Kalisto) beat Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins when Dorado pinned Hawkins
(4) Tomasso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano defeated The Revival when Ciampa pinned Dawson
(5) Drew McIntyre beat Dean Ambrose
(6) Aleister Black defeated Elias
(7) Ronda Rousey beat Ruby Riott (w/ Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) to retain the Raw Women’s Championship

Smackdown Live TV Results 2/19/19

(1) Aleister Black beat Andrade (w/ Zelina Vega)
(2) Tomasso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano defeated The Bar when Ciampa rolled up Cesaro
(3) Mandy Rose (w/ Sonya Deville) beat Asuka
(4) Ricochet defeated Eric Young (w/ Killian Dane & Alexander Wolfe)
(5) Kofi Kingston, Jeff Hardy, & A.J. Styles beat Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, & Samoa Joe when Kofi Kingston pinned Daniel Bryan

205 Live Results (Aired on WWE Network) 2/19/19

(1) Humberto Carillo beat TJP
(2) Ariya Daivari beat a local wrestler
(3) Cedric Alexander defeated Mike Kanellis (w/ Maria Kanellis)

Drake Maverick announced an eight-man tournament with the winner earning a title opportunity against Buddy Murphy at WrestleMania. Two matches have already been announced in this tournament:

– Tony Nese vs. Kalisto
– Brian Kendrick vs Drew Gulak

WWE Main Event (Aired on Hulu and WWE Network) 2/21/19

(1) Rezar defeated No Way Jose
(2) The B-Team & Tyler Breeze beat Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers

Source: WKPWP Post-Raw On-Site Correspondent

•Upcoming Lineups for Stadium/PPV Events

WWE Fastlane on March 10 from Cleveland, Ohio

  • Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship
  • The Usos (c) vs. Shane McMahon & The Miz for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships

WWE WrestleMania on April 7 from New York City, N.Y.

  • Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Charlotte for the Raw Women’s Championship
  • Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship
  • Buddy Murphy (c) vs. TBD for the Cruiserweight Championship

•Upcoming Events

Fri. 2/22/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, First National Bank Arena, Jonesboro, Ark.
Sat. 2/23/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, S.C.
Sat. 2/23/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Bancorpsouth Arena, Tupelo, Miss.
Sun. 2/24/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Garrett Coliseum, Montgomery, Ala.
Sun. 2/24/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, S.C.
Mon. 2/25/19 WWE Raw, State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Ga.
Mon. 2/25/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Savannah Civic Center, Savannah, Ga.
Tue. 2/26/19 WWE Smackdown, Spectrum Center, Charlotte, N.C.
Fri. 3/1/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, WYCC, Salisbury. Md.
Sat. 3/2/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Mark Etess Arena, Atlantic City, N.J.
Sat. 3/2/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Target Center, Minneapolis, Minn.
Sun. 3/3/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Eaglebank Arena, Fairfax, Va.
Sun. 3/3/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, N.Y.
Mon. 3/4/19 WWE Raw, Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pa.
Mon. 3/4/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Westchester County Center, White Plains, N.Y.
Tue. 3/5/19 WWE Smackdown, Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Sat. 3/9/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Little Cesars Arena, Detroit, Mich.
Sat. 3/9/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, N.Y.
Sun. 3/10/19 WWE Fastlane, Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Mon. 3/11/19 WWE Raw, PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Penn.
Mon. 3/11/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Covelli Centre, Youngstown, Ohio
Tue. 3/12/19 WWE Smackdown, Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Fri. 3/15/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Sat. 3/16/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Five Flags Center, Dubuque, Iowa
Sat. 3/16/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wis.
Sun. 3/17/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Peoria Civic Center, Peoria, Ill.
Sun. 3/17/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Resch Center, Green Bay, Wis.
Mon. 3/18/19 WWE Raw, Allstate Arena, Chicago, Ill.
Mon. 3/18/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, BMO Harris Bank Center, Rockford, Ill.
Tue. 3/19/19 WWE Smackdown, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Ind.
Fri. 3/22/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Cure Insurance Arena, Trenton, N.J.
Sat. 3/23/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, First Arena, Elimra, N.Y.
Sat. 3/23/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Adirondack Bank Center, Utica, N.Y.
Sun. 3/24/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Keybank Center, Buffalo, N.Y.
Sun. 3/24/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Mullins Center, Amherst, Mass.
Mon. 3/25/19 WWE Raw, TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
Mon. 3/25/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, PPL Center, Allentown, Pa.
Tue. 3/26/19 WWE Smackdown, Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn.
Fri. 3/29/19 WWE Live Event – Supershow, Eastern Kentucky Expo Center, Pikeville, Ky.
Sat 3/30/19 WWE Live Event – Supershow, Wesbanco Arena, Wheeling, W.Va.
Sun. 3/31/19 WWE Live Event – Supershow, Giant Center, Hershey, Pa.
Mon. 4/1/19 WWE Raw, Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
Mon. 4/1/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Berglund Center, Roanoke, Va.
Tue. 4/2/19 WWE Smackdown, Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore, Md.
Sun. 4/7/19 WWE WrestleMania, Metlife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
Mon. 4/8/19 WWE Raw, Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Tue. 4/8/19 WWE Smackdown, Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mon. 4/15/19 WWE Raw, Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Tue. 4/16/19 WWE Smackdown, Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

•Latest TV Highlights

Monday Night Raw

  • Four of NXT’s biggest stars debuted on Raw this week. Tomasso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Ricochet, and Aleister Black all wrestled on the show. Ricochet would team with Finn Balor against Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush after he came down to the ring to help thwart a two-on-one attack by Lashley & Rush. Ricochet would pin Rush for the win. DIY reunited on Raw to take on the Raw Tag Team Champions, The Revival, in a non-title match. Tomasso Ciampa would pin Scott Dawson after he and Gargano did their old DIY finisher, the running knee/super kick combo. Aleister Black would interrupt an Elias performance and defeat him as well.
  • Dean Ambrose had a very strange night on Raw. Drew McIntyre approached Triple H backstage asking for a match with Seth Rollins to prove he wants the Main Event of WrestleMania and he wants to beat Seth to take his spot against Brock Lesnar. Dean walked up behind McIntyre and challenged him to a match instead saying “I’ve got nothing to do tonight” and slapping him across the face. McIntyre would beat Dean quickly in their match. In a backstage segment, Seth was being interviewed about his WrestleMania match with Brock Lesnar, after responding to the question Dean walked up to Seth. Seth asked Dean if he could help him with something an Dean asked Seth where he was during his match with McIntyre and Seth responded “Have you completely lost your mind?” Dean sat there for a minute, shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
  • WWE booked two rematches from Elimination Chamber tonight. Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin would wrestle again, this time in a Tables Match that Braun would win. Ronda Rousey would also face Ruby Riott again for the Raw Women’s Championship. The match on Raw was much more competitive than the Elimination Chamber match, but the result was the same.

Smackdown Live

  • Shane McMahon announced that he and The Miz will be challenging for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships at Fastlane. Shane started Smackdown talking about the NXT wrestlers from Raw and that they would be on Smackdown tonight as well. The Miz came out and said he hasn’t been able to sleep for two days after costing them the championships at Elimination Chamber. The Miz then tried to convince Shane to use his power to give them a rematch, but Shane was hesitant. The Usos then came out and told Shane they’d accept a rematch, but that he may want to replace The Miz because he’s a joke. This angered Shane so he announced the match for Fastlane in The Miz’s hometown. The Miz would later tell Shane that his dad would be sitting front row at Fastlane.
  • The same four NXT wrestlers that wrestled last night were at it again tonight on Smackdown. Aleister Black defeated Andrade in a match, Gargano and Ciampa would beat The Bar in a tag team match after The Bar mocked them backstage showing that they didn’t take them as serious threats. Tomasso Ciampa would pin Cesaro with a quick roll up pinfall. Ricochet also defeated Eric Young.
  • Kofi Kingston was named the number one contender for Daniel Bryan’s WWE Championship tonight. Before the six-man tag team main event that feature the six men from the Elimination Chamber match, Daniel Bryan told the other five competitors in the ring that none of them would be the number one contender for his championship because he already beat them all in the Elimination Chamber match. Kofi Kingston would then pin Daniel Bryan in the match and as he celebrated, Shane McMahon walked onto the stage and announced that he will challenge Daniel Bryan at Fastlane.

•Listen to the latest Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-Show – Smackdown Post-Show

PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by Jason Solomon from the Solomonster Sounds Off podcast as they discuss WWE Smackdown with live callers first, then an on-site correspondent from New Orleans, La. They discuss Kofi Kingston being awarded the WWE Title match at Fastlane and whether he’s a good choice to face Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, who is more likely to turn between Shane McMahon and Miz, the second day of four NXT wrestlers beating main roster wrestlers for no apparent reason, and…

-On Tune In Radio HERE
-On Apple Podcasts HERE
-Or search “Wade Keller” on your podcast app of choice

•WWE Social Media Highlights

More trolling tweets from WWE wrestlers this week as Dash Wilder posts a quote mocking their tag title win last week.

Paul Heyman made one of the worst jokes I’ve seen in a long time on Twitter last week as well.

Becky Lynch took a moment to thank the fans after someone tweeted out that people were lining up for a meet and greet with her the night before she was even scheduled to be there. Someone then posted a video of the line to meet her and she responded to them apologizing for not being able to meet everyone.

Becky wasn’t done on social media, though, she talked about The McMahons and then tweeted out a couple of tweets after her attack at Elimination Chamber.

Ronda also posted a picture of the cut she received at the hands of Becky and her crutch.

View this post on Instagram

Lesson learned. Never trust the #FauxHorsewomen

A post shared by rondarousey (@rondarousey) on

Big E responded to a fan making fun of the fact that WWE drops people’s names like Andrade Cien Almas being changed to Andrade inexplicably. He was asked how long until Aleister Black gets his name shortened, he was then was asked what his shortened name would be. Ironic he would be asked this considering his name has been shortened to “Big E” from Big E. Langston already.

https://twitter.com/WWEAleister/status/1097891433888075778

Tye Dillinger announced he asked for his release Tuesday at the Smackdown tapings. He posted this note on Twitter to explain why. He received some public support from current wrestlers on the roster, Cody Rhodes also wished him luck in the future, which will absolutely spark the Dillinger to AEW rumors.

https://twitter.com/XavierWoodsPhD/status/1098134397981736960

https://twitter.com/Zelina_VegaWWE/status/1098222134017564672

•Closing Commentary

– Were the debuts on Monday and Tuesday a legitimate call-up, a Hail Mary attempt to regain some ratings, or a last minute idea to fill out the show because they’ve devalued almost everyone on the roster? Let’s investigate.

It doesn’t seem to be a legitimate call-up at this time. Tomasso Ciampa is still the NXT Champion and, as I write this, Johnny Gargano is still the NXT North American Champion. Gargano does have a championship match with Velveteen Dream on NXT this week, so that could very well change. Kevin Owens made his debut while still the NXT Champion, so it’s possible, but this was entirely too strange for me to think it is a permanent call-up, especially since they’ve hardly done anything with the last batch of call-ups (EC3, Heavy Machinery, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross, and Lars Sullivan.)

I don’t think it was a Hail Mary attempt at a ratings boost either, because they didn’t promote them being on the show ahead of time, unless you count a random tweet and WWE app notification sent out a couple of hours before the show saying that the four were backstage at Raw. If it was an attempt at a ratings boost, I think they failed at that because they didn’t promote it ahead of time, and the people in the crowd Monday acted like they didn’t know who the wrestlers were. I think it’s safe to say a large majority of the current audience who still watches, or recently decided to stop watching, wouldn’t know who they are either. As dedicated fans, we sometimes forget that some people aren’t heavily invested in WWE or wrestling at all. A large portion (maybe the majority) of the Raw and Smackdown audience tune in on Monday and Tuesday nights and that’s it. They may not even get the WWE Network because they’ll see what happened on social media, checking WWE.com, or on television the next two nights. So if this were a ratings boost, I don’t think it worked, and if ratings are up, I wouldn’t give a majority of the credit to the NXT wrestlers for that.

This leaves the third and final option as the most reasonable in my eyes; they’ve ruined so many members of the roster, they can’t fill out a three hour show. Injuries obviously play a role in this as well. Ember Moon, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Akam, Fandango, Goldust, Roman Reigns, Harper, Mustafa Ali, and Sin Cara are all currently out with injury, and there are others that don’t appear on television regularly at all, but this is not an excuse. Wade Keller said it on a podcast earlier this week, and I completely agree with this thought: if you remove the three NXT matches, what would they have scheduled instead that would’ve been better on Raw? Nothing, and that’s exactly the problem. The creative team, namely Vince, is so focused on two or three things, everyone else is sacrificed in the process and this is the result. By focusing on the micro instead of the macro, you’ve told fans not to care about the lower card wrestlers because they randomly disappear for months at a time, and when they are on television, they trade wins, so don’t bother investing in them. When is the last time Titus O’Neil was on Raw? He may have been on stage during one of their Breast Cancer Awareness segments, but before that, the last thing I remember him doing was falling under the ring at The Greatest Royal Rumble (which happened in Saudi Arabia, don’t forget that), and there are other examples too. The WWE has to start giving these wrestlers something to do because they shouldn’t see the talent they have available for a show and hit a panic button to bring in NXT wrestlers to fill out a show. If they find it necessary to bring in NXT’s best just to fill out a random show of no real consequence, why are you paying all of the main roster people you’re skipping over just to not be on television? I’m not advocating for them to trim down the roster. If they want to pay people to not wrestle, that’s awesome for the wrestlers, but it seems idiotic to have these people on payroll and, thanks to your horrible booking in recent memory, you don’t want to put them on television because people won’t stay tuned to your show.

NOW CHECK OUT OTHER WEEKLY OVERVIEWS HERE.

OR JUMP TO LAST WEEK’S WWE OVERVIEW: WEEKLY OVERVIEW – WWE (thru 2/13): Top stories of week, major show lineups, live event results, schedule of live events, noteworthy social media posts, more

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