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WEEKLY OVERVIEW – WWE (thru 3/27): Top stories of week, major show lineups, live event results, schedule of live events, noteworthy social media posts, more

By Zach Graham, PWTorch Contributor

March 29, 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

  • WWE officially announced that the Raw Women’s Championship match between Ronda Rousey (c), Becky Lynch, and Charlotte will be the main event of WrestleMania 35 on April 7.
  • WWE also announced that Bret Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart are being inducted into the Hall of Fame together as The Hart Foundation.
  • Charlotte won the Smackdown Women’s Championship from Asuka on Smackdown this week. It’s unclear if the triple threat at WrestleMania will be a unification match, or if the Smackdown Women’s Championship will be involved at all. As of Wednesday morning, WWE.com still has this triple threat match listed as a match for the Raw Women’s Championship only.
  • Finn Balor & Kofi Kingston both officially get championship matches at WrestleMania. Balor will take on Bobby Lashley for the Intercontinental Championship and Kofi Kingston finally gets his one on one match with Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship.

•WWE Weekly Event Results

WWE Live Event – Raw Roster (Trenton, N.J.) 3/22/19

(1) Drew McIntyre beat Dean Ambrose
(2) No Way Jose defeated EC3
(3) Apollo Crews beat Luke Harper
(4) Natalya defeated Alexa Bliss via Disqualification after interference from Lacey Evans. Nikki Cross would come out to help Natalya in the two-on-one beatdown
(5) Nikki Cross & Natalya beat Alexa Bliss & Lacey Evans
(6) The Ascension & Mojo Rawley defeated Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, & Titus O’Neil
(7) The Revival (c) beat Chad Gable & Bobby Roode to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
(8) Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin in a No Disqualification match

SOURCE

WWE Live Event – Raw Roster (Utica, N.Y.) 3/23/19

(1) Drew McIntyre beat Dean Ambrose
(2) No Way Jose defeated EC3
(3) Apollo Crews beat Luke Harper
(4) Natalya defeated Alexa Bliss via Disqualification after interference from Lacey Evans. Nikki Cross would come out to help Natalya in the two-on-one beatdown
(5) Nikki Cross & Natalya beat Alexa Bliss & Lacey Evans. The Riott Squad attacked after the match.
(6) Sasha Banks & Bayley defeated The Riott Squad (Sarah Logan & Ruby Riott)
(7) Mojo Rawley & The Ascension beat Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, & Titus O’Neil
(8) The Revival beat Chad Gable & Bobby Roode
(9) Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin in a No Disqualification match

SOURCE

WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster (Buffalo, N.Y.) 3/24/19

(1) The New Day (Xavier Woods & Big E) beat Sanity
(2) Billie Kaye defeated Carmella
(3) Samoa Joe (c) beat Mustafa Ali, R-Truth, The Miz, and Rey Mysterio in a United States Open Challenge
(4) Becky Lynch beat Charlotte
(5) The Hardy Boys defeated The Bar
(6) Asuka (c) beat Mandy Rose to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(7) A.J. Styles & Kofi Kingston beat Daniel Bryan & Rowan

SOURCE

WWE Live Event – Raw Roster (Amherst, Mass.) 3/24/19

(1) Drew McIntyre beat Dean Ambrose
(2) No Way Jose defeated EC3
(3) Apollo Crews beat Luke Harper
(4) Natalya defeated Alexa Bliss via Disqualification after interference from Lacey Evans. Nikki Cross would come out to help Natalya in the two-on-one beatdown
(5) Nikki Cross & Natalya beat Alexa Bliss & Lacey Evans
(6) Sasha Banks & Bayley defeated The Riott Squad (Sarah Logan & Ruby Riott)
(7) Mojo Rawley & The Ascension beat Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, & Titus O’Neil
(8) The Revival (c) beat Chad Gable & Bobby Roode to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
(9) Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin in a No Disqualification match

SOURCE

WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster (Allentown, Pa.) 3/25/19

(1) Big E beat Eric Young (w/ Killian Dane)
(2) Mustafa Ali defeated Shelton Benjamin
(3) Rey Mysterio beat Shelton Benjamin
(4) Peyton Royce (w/ Billie Kay) beat Carmella
(5) The Miz defeated Rusev (w/ Lana)
(6) The Hardys beat The bar
(7) Asuka (c) defeated Mandy Rose (w/ Sonya Deville) to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(8) A.J. Styles & Kofi Kingston beat Daniel Bryan & Rowan

SOURCE

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

•WWE TV Match Results

Monday Night Raw TV Results 3/25/19

(1) Women’s Beat the Clock Challenge
– Ronda Rousey beat Sarah Logan in 1:25
– Charlotte vs. Ruby Riott ended in No Contest after the clock expired. Charlotte had Riott in the Figure Eight with a few seconds left, but Ruby didn’t tap out before the clock expired.
– Becky Lynch defeated Liv Morgan in 1:18 to win the Beat the Clock Challenge
(2) Finn Balor beat Bobby Lashley (w/ Lio Rush) & Jinder Mahal (w/ The Singh Brothers) in a Two-on-One Handicap match when he pinned Bobby Lashley to earn an Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania.
(3) Aleister Black & Ricochet defeated The Revival
(4) Sasha Banks (w/ Bayley) vs. Natalya (w/ Beth Phoenix) ended in a No Contest when Tamina & Nia Jax attacked everyone
(5) Baron Corbin defeated Apollo Crews
(6) Kurt Angle beat Samoa Joe
(7) Drew McIntyre beat Dean Ambrose in a Last Man Standing match

Smackdown Live TV Results 3/26/19

(1) Charlotte defeated Asuka to win the Smackdown Women’s Championship
(2) A.J. Styles vs. Kurt Angle ends in a No Contest after Randy Orton hit Styles with an RKO
(3) Tag Team Gauntlet Match – If New Day won, Kofi Kingston goes to WrestleMania
– New Day beat Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows when Big E pinned Anderson
– New Day defeated Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev (w/ Lana) when Xavier Woods pinned Nakamura
– New Day beat The Bar when Woods rolled up Cesaro. After the match The Bar put Big E through a table
– New Day beat The Usos via Forfeit after The Usos announce they’re refusing to compete because The New Day have earned their respect and Kofi deserves the WrestleMania match
– The New Day defeated Daniel Bryan & Rowan via countout after Big E flipped the announce table onto Rowan so he couldn’t reenter the ring

New Day won the Gaunlet and Vince confirmed Kofi is going to WrestleMania

205 Live Results (Aired on WWE Network) 3/26/19

(1) Lucha House Party beat Humberto Carillo, Drew Gulak, & Jack Gallagher
(2) Ariya Daivari defeated Cedric Alexander

WWE Main Event (Aired on Hulu and WWE Network) 3/28/19

(1) EC3 beat Tyler Breeze
(2) Heavy Machinery defeated The Ascension

Source: WKPWP Post-Raw On-Site Correspondent

•Upcoming Lineups for Stadium/PPV Events

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

  • Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Charlotte (c) vs. Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship
  • Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship
  • Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship
  • Samoa Joe (c) vs. Rey Mysterio for the United States Championship
  • Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Finn Balor for the Intercontinental Championship
  • Bayley & Sasha Banks (c) vs. Beth Phoenix & Natalya vs. The IIconics vs. Nia Jax & Tamina for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships in a Fatal Four-Way
  • Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Tony Nese for the Cruiserweight Championship
  • Triple H vs. Batista in a No Holds Barred match
    • If Triple H loses, his in-ring career is over.
  • Kurt Angle vs. Baron Corbin in Kurt Angle’s final match
  • Shane McMahon vs. The Miz in a Falls Count Anywhere match
  • A.J. Styles vs. Randy Orton
  • Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre
  • Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
    • Known Entrants (3): Braun Strowman, Colin Jost (from S.N.L.), Michael Che (from S.N.L.)

•Upcoming Events

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. 4/9/19 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
Fri. 4/19/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Mo.
Sat. 4/20/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wis.
Sat. 4/20/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Bank of Springfield Center, Springfield, Ill.
Sun. 4/21/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, Minn.
Sun. 4/21/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Tax Slayer Center, Moline, Ill.
Mon. 4/22/19 WWE Raw, Wells Fargo Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Mon. 4/22/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Sioux City, Iowa
Tue. 4/23/19 WWE Smackdown, Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Neb.
Mon. 4/29/19 WWE Raw, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.
Mon. 3/29/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Big Sandy Superstore Arena, Huntington, W.Va.
Tue. 4/30/19 WWE Smackdown, Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio
Sun. 5/5/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Ford Center Evansville, Evansville, Ind.
Mon. 5/6/19 WWE Raw, U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Mon. 5/6/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, The Corbin Arena, Corbin, Ky.
Tue. 5/7/19 WWE Smackdown – KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.
Wed. 5/8/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Thur. 5/9/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland
Thur. 5/9/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Forest National, Brussels, Belgium
Fri. 5/10/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Helsinki Ice Hall, Helsinki, Finland
Fri. 5/10/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Arena Du Pays D’Aix, Aix-en-Province, France
Sat. 5/11/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Hovet, Stockholm, Sweden
Sat. 5/11/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Utilita Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Sun. 5/12/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
Sun. 5/12/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool, England
Mon. 5/13/19 WWE Raw, The O2, London, England
Mon. 5/13/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth, England
Tue. 5/14/19 WWE Smackdown, The O2, London, England
Tue. 5/14/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Accorhotels Arena, Paris, France
Wed. 5/15/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Resorts World Arena, Birmingham, England
Wed. 5/15/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Getec Arena, Magdeburg, Germany
Thur. 5/16/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Flydsa Arena, Sheffield, England
Thur. 5/16/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg, Germany
Fri. 5/17/19 WWE Live Event – Raw Roster, Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, Wales
Fri. 5/17/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin, Germany
Sun. 5/19/19 WWE Money in the Bank, XL Center, Hartford, Conn.
Mon. 5/20/19 WWE Raw, Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y.
Mon. 5/20/19 WWE Live Event – Smackdown Roster, Tsongas Center, Lowell, Mass.
Tue. 5/21/19 WWE Smackdown, Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Providence, R.I.

•Latest TV Highlights

Monday Night Raw

  • Raw opened with the announcement that Ronda/Charlotte/Becky would be the headline match at WrestleMania. After that announcement, Ronda came out to her music. She said you’re welcome to the fans for helping the women headline, she dropped the mic, then picked it back up to say she doesn’t know what a Beat the Clock challenge is, but it sounds like another lame gimmick, so let’s get to it. Becky came out and took credit for helping them headline WrestleMania. Charlotte came out next to take the credit for them headlining because of the work she’s been doing for seven years, unlike Ronda who’s done it for a year, and Becky who’s only been popular for a few months. Then we had the Beat the Clock challenge. Ronda beat Sarah Logan in 1:25, Charlotte didn’t get Ruby Riott to submit in under that time, and Becky would beat Liv Morgan in 1:18 to win the Beat the Clock challenge.
  • Finn Balor qualifies for WrestleMania after beating Bobby Lashley and Jinder Mahal in a two-on-one handicap match. The match was announced as Lashley and Lio Rush, but Rush claimed he wasn’t medically cleared after what Braun Strowman did to him during their tag match. Balor would eventually pin Lashley for the win. Lashley would take out his frustrations on Mahal and The Singh Brothers. Balor vs. Lashley for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania is official.
  • Roman Reigns accepted Drew McIntyre’s WrestleMania challenge. Drew called Reigns out demanding an answer, but tried to appeal to “Joe the man, the father, the husband” saying he’s put his family through enough after his battle with leukemia. Roman finally came out stood face to face with Drew and accepted the challenge, but told Drew to listen closely. Roman warned Drew to never run his mouth about his wife and kids again and he attacked him. As Drew tried to flee, Roman continued the beat down until Drew climbed back into the ring and hit Roman with a low blow. Later in the night Dean would challenge Drew to a Last Man Standing match. That match would be the main event and Drew would win as Raw went off the air.

Smackdown Live

  • Charlotte is the new Smackdown Women’s Champion. In a backstage segment, Becky emphasized that Charlotte was the third wheel in their match saying that she’s bringing the fans, and Ronda is bringing the title, so what is Charlotte bringing? Charlotte’s music hit in the arena and she walked onto the stage and told Becky and the audience that she’d show them how deserving she was to be in the match as the show went to commercial. The show came back from commercial to the ring announcer announcing that the match between Charlotte and Asuka was for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Eventually Charlotte would win the match with the Figure 8 for the tap out finish.
  • Kofi Kingston is finally headed to WrestleMania. The New Day came out at the start of the show talking about the fact they’ve considered quitting WWE in the past week due to everything going on. They called out Vince who came down. Before Vince really began speaking Daniel Bryan and Rowan came onto the stage. Bryan told Vince not to let them get in his head. He called Kofi a B+ player and said if New Day wants to quit, let them because “we can just call up three NXT wrestlers, call them Fresh Afternoon, and have them throw waffles to the crowd.” Vince eventually got down to the point, saying that Kofi’s opportunities are over with, but Big E and Xavier could send him to WrestleMania if they could win a Tag Team Gauntlet match tonight. In the main event, they would beat four teams, and the Usos willingly forfeited their match in the gauntlet to them. Smackdown ended with Vince confirming that Kofi is headed to WrestleMania.

•WWE Social Media Highlights

Becky was very busy on Twitter this week. Notice the shirt on Travis Browne, Ronda’s husband, in this first tweet. Good photo editing by Becky!

https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1109904765780135942

https://twitter.com/MsCharlotteWWE/status/1109955066339962882

https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1109971101738770432

She had some thoughts about Charlotte winning the title from Asuka too…

So, you may have missed this, but Mustafa Ali had his name changed on WWE.com and on his Twitter page. Apparently he’s just Ali now. He made this comment about the name elimination.

The Revival are also still being very vocal on Twitter

https://twitter.com/MickieJames/status/1109999726051688453

Kofi did his best to dismiss someone who showed him the Instagram ad that featured him being listed for WrestleMania before Smackdown where he was officially put into the WrestleMania match. I liked the effort, even if we all saw the end result coming.

Kofi took to social media after Smackdown too to express his gratitude.

•Closing Commentary

– So, I’d like to just take a minute to compliment two small things from WWE television this week: Ruby Riott on Raw and The Usos on Smackdown. First, I loved the finish to the Ruby Riott vs. Charlotte match during the Beat the Clock challenge on Monday. With seconds to go, Charlotte gets Riott in the Figure 8. Instead of tapping out with only seconds to go, like others in the past have done, Riott held on through the end of the clock. Now, I know that was done so Charlotte wouldn’t set the time, but it’s illogical for someone to tap out with seconds to go in a match. When this has been done in a Beat the Clock match or an Iron Man match previously, I just want to scream because it’s just unbelievable. People withstand submission holds for 30+ seconds sometimes depending on the hold, but with five seconds left in a match, they tap out to lose? I just find that to be such an insulting finish to the match. The last second pinfall victory is way more believable than someone being unable to withstand three more seconds of the submission to not lose. One of the reasons I loved this was Riott appeared to look up to the stage to see the clock when she contemplated tapping, only to realize she only had to endure four more seconds, so she didn’t tap out.

The second thing I loved this week was The Usos forfeiting their match. When their music hit for The New Day Gauntlet match, I was completely stunned. My first thought was, “They can’t be heels now; they were just seen prominently on television cheering Kofi on backstage last week during his Gauntlet match!” I was so happy when they forfeited because it was consistent with their characters recently. Yes, they were the heel team in their feud with The Miz & Shane McMahon, but were they really all that heelish? Unless I’m just not remembering, I don’t think anything they did was over the top heel. They seemed more like a team somewhere in the middle that was leaning heel given who their opponents were at the time. After seeing them backstage cheering on Kofi just as prominently as Big E and Xavier Woods were last week, The Usos forfeiting was perfect. I loved that they gave an explanation, there was enough time between them coming out and them forfeiting for fans, or at least me, to get caught up in the moment and trying to figure out what they would do. The Usos are just so darn good and this just re-emphasized that to me.

NOW CHECK OUT OTHER WEEKLY OVERVIEWS HERE.

OR JUMP TO LAST WEEK’S WWE OVERVIEW: WEEKLY OVERVIEW – WWE (thru 3/20): Top stories of week, major show lineups, live event results, schedule of live events, noteworthy social media posts, more

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