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Whether you loved it or hated it, the Rusev, Bobby Lashley and Lana love triangle storyline was one of the biggest and most pushed of the second half of 2019.

It appears as though the storyline is now over, with Liv Morgan defeating Lana twice on Raw in two weeks, and Rusev not appearing on TV for some time now, and it appears the reason for that is pretty simple.

There’s an ongoing contract dispute between WWE and Rusev, which is the least shocking news of the year so far.

Rusev has been relatively vocal on his Twitter about being less than thrilled with his position in WWE, but said in a recent interview about the Lana storyline that he and his wife were “the luckiest people alive”, so it’s a hard situation to read.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter simply reports:

“Rusev has been off television due to a contract dispute.”

There isn’t a known date for the official end to Rusev’s WWE contract, but wife Lana did sign a new contract towards the end of last year.

The difference between Rusev and Lana is that Lana is primarily used as a manager, something she can probably earn the most money for in WWE.

Rusev on the other hand is likely to want to wrestle as much as possible, and as we know, there are plenty of alternative promotions who would love to bring the Bulgarian on board if he was to leave.

After she lost her NXT Women’s Championship to Rhea Ripley in December 2019, everyone has sort of been waiting for Shayna Baszler to debut on the main roster.

The expectation prior to the Royal Rumble was that Baszler would be winning the match and challenging Becky Lynch at Wrestlemania 36. However, the decision was instead taken to have Charlotte win the match, but don’t worry Baszler fans, she’s still coming to the main roster.

The plan is still for her to challenge Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship, and this is something she will likely do in the next few weeks to set up their feud.

Here’s what Dave Meltzer had to say in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

“Shayna Baszler will be a regular on Raw shortly. She is leaving NXT and this has been planned for a long time, probably close to a year so the thing about not wanting to transfer stars in NXT to the main roster and give the idea NXT is developmental or a stepping stone rather than a third brand doesn’t apply to her.”

Becky and Shayna have already been involved in a match together, with Shayna coming out on top at Survivor Series in the three-way between themselves and Bayley.

Whether this is the start of a huge push for Baszler, or whether it’s being done to cement Becky Lynch as the top star isn’t clear, but this will hopefully be the start of WWE paying attention to the women’s division for the first time since Ronda Rousey left nearly a year ago.

Despite holding both the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships this year, 2019 has certainly not been the best year for The Revival.

Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson were part of a goofy (not in a good way) feud with The Usos for what felt an eternity. It showed that WWE sees The Revival as nothing more than a comedy tag team, despite being arguably the best tandem in the world.

It seems like the comedy segments and storylines are set to continue, as WWE reportedly has a worrying plan for the The Revival in 2020.

In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer notes that Dash Wilder’s planned trip last week on SmackDown was the start of WWE’s plan to turn the duo into comedy characters.

“The Revival only has a few months left on their contracts and haven’t agreed to a new deal after attempting to get a release months ago. The proposed idea is to do a spoof of the Fabulous Ones, which, funny enough, is actually the original Fargos heel gimmick in the late 50s.”

While I have little doubt that Dash and Dawson will make whatever silly gimmick WWE gives them work, I cannot help but feel that WWE is truly wasting one of the best tag teams in the world.

Instead of trying to embarrass them in case they leave for AEW next year, WWE should allow the duo to have a meaningful feud with another top tag team and allow the four wrestlers to put on some killer matches. This could incentivise them to stay.

If this report is to be believed, then I fully expected 2020 to involve a run with the AEW World Tag Team Championships for The Revival.

Unlike AEW Dynamite, WWE NXT will be broadcast on Christmas Day, but it will be a taped show and below are full spoilers for how it’s gonna go down.

Obviously, if you don’t want to know, stop reading now.

It was announced on NXT this past Wednesday that Roderick Strong would be defending the North American Title in an open challenge on December 25.

That match is actually a dark match from a previous week, and his challenger will be Austin Theory. Strong retains.

Three further matches were taped at last night’s SmackDown episode:

• Isaiah Scott def. Jack Gallagher
• Dominik Dijakovic def. Bronson Reed
• Keith Lee & Lio Rush def. Damian Priest & Tony Nese

It is also believed that previous dark matches seeing Bianca Belair beating Shotzi Blackheart, and Candice LeRae defeating Taynara, will be on the show too.

Tonight and next Friday, Dec. 27, relive the best matches and moments of The Most Exciting Hour on Television as WWE 205 Live looks back at the top moments of the year.

What matches stood out the most? Which Cruiserweights had the most competitive year? See all the memorable debuts of the newest faces of WWE 205 Live.

Don’t miss the best of WWE 205 Live, starting tonight at 10/9 C on the award-winning WWE Network.

Rip City, get ready, because NXT TakeOver is coming your way!

It was reported several months ago that prior to signing with All Elite Wrestling, Tony Schiavone received an offer to join rejoin WWE.

Despite working for Vince McMahon for a year before leaving for WCW in 1990, Tony Schiavone clearly isn’t too fond of his former employers

Speaking on the What Happened When podcast, the AEW commentator revealed that after seeing Eric Bischoff left out of the nWo’s induction into the Hall of Fame, he told his family to never allow WWE to induct him:

“Well Eric got f*cked over once by Vince [McMahon] this year, so why wouldn’t Vince f*ck him over again? You know what? That’s f*cking fine with me,” Schiavone said about not going into the WWE Hall Of Fame. “And I hope that I’m working with AEW until the day I die, because once it’s all over with, my family has been instructed… I’ve told you this I think on the air here before.”

“My family has been instructed that if they want to induct me in anyway, postmortem, the answer from the family is no. So, don’t expect from me to be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame. You know, now I’m pissed off. I’m pissed off because Eric is not a part of the n.W.o. into the Hall Of Fame, and I’m pissed off because Eric got f*cked over by Vince McMahon. Not Bruce Prichard, who’s our friend, who’s a good guy, straight up guy, but by Vince McMahon.”

“You know, and everybody knows that Eric was brought in just so he could get fired, and that f*cking sucks. I know it, and I’ll guarantee you that I’m right, and the fact he wasn’t put in the n.W.o. Hall Of Fame — into the Hall Of Fame with the n.W.o. confirms it.”

While Schiavone certainly wouldn’t have been inducted into the Hall of Fame while working for AEW, you can understand why he is angry at the fact Bischoff was snubbed in the nWo’s induction.

As the creative genius behind the iconic faction, Schiavone is not alone in thinking that Eric Bischoff deserves to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with the group.

A report has emerged suggesting that the first-ever two-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair could be on his way out of the company in just a matter of weeks.

In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer notes that the wrestling legend’s contract with Vince McMahon’s company is due to expire at the end of 2019:

“Flair’s WWE deal expires right around the end of the year.”

Ric Flair, who recently claimed he is cleared to wrestle, is reportedly very good friends with AEW Founder and President Tony Khan.

On the matter of Flair’s relationship with Khan, Dave Meltzer noted that WWE will likely make Flair a very good offer to keep him from joining AEW in the new year:

“He is friends with Tony Khan, to the degree that Khan was an invited guest to his wedding. I would expect WWE to make a good offer to keep him given they wouldn’t want him on the AEW television show”.

There is no word on if WWE has offered Flair a new contract yet, so stay tuned to WrestleTalk.com for the latest on the 16-time World Champion’s future.

For what it’s worth, I fully expect Flair to tease moving to AEW to try and get a better deal out of Vince McMahon to stay with WWE.

The most disliked WWE YouTube video in all of 2019 has been revealed in an article by Alfred Konuwa of Forbes looking at the top 10.

Charlotte Flair being inserted into the WrestleMania 35 in place of Becky Lynch takes the bacon this year, with 73,000 dislikes compared to only 27,000 likes, having been viewed 1,799,913 times.

Here’s the entire top 10:

1. Charlotte Flair replaces Becky Lynch in anticipated WrestleMania match: Raw, Feb. 11, 2019 – 73,000 dislikes
2. Seth Rollins hits “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt with a Stomp: WWE Hell in a Cell 2019 – 48,000 dislikes
3. Brock Lesnar brutally attacks Rey Mysterio and his son: Raw, Sept. 30, 2019 – 39,000 dislikes
4. Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley – Arm Wrestling Match: Raw, June 3, 2019 – 23,000 dislikes
5. Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan – Gauntlet Match Part 6: SmackDown LIVE, March 19, 2019 – 22,000 dislikes
6. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair – SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: SmackDown LIVE, March 26, 2019 – 20,000 dislikes
7. Kofi Kingston vs. Brock Lesnar: SmackDown, Oct. 4, 2019 – 18,000 dislikes
8. Charlotte Flair to dedicate WrestleMania win to Becky Lynch: SmackDown LIVE, Feb. 12, 2019 – 17,000 dislikes
9. Kurt Angle will face Baron Corbin in his final match at WrestleMania: Raw, March 18, 2019 – 16,000 dislikes
10. Rusev left crushed by Lana and Bobby Lashley: Raw, Oct. 28, 2019 – 16,000 dislikes

Out of those, 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, and 9 all got more dislikes than likes.

The Flair WrestleMania video is not only WWE’s most disliked of the year, but actually of all time. I think it’s safe to say it was worth it given how it all played out.

It was announced on tonight’s episode of WWE NXT on the USA Network that one of its signature tournaments will be returning in 2020.

The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will be back next year!

The teams that will compete in the tournament will be announced on the New Year’s Day episode of NXT.

The tournament has been held four times since 2015. Here are the winners so far:

• 2015 – Finn Balor & Samoa Joe, beat Baron Corbin & Rhyno in the final
• 2016 – Authors of Pain, beat TM-61 in the final
• 2018 – Undisputed ERA, beat Authors of Pain, and Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne in the final (the match in which Strong joined UE)
• 2019 – Aleister Black & Ricochet, beat Forgotten Sons in the final

Stay tuned for more info on the tournament as it is announced.

Tonight’s episode of WWE NXT played host to a major championship change, as one of the two titles that were on the line changed hands.

23 year old Rhea Ripley is the new NXT Women’s Champion after defeating Shayna Baszler in the main event of tonight’s show.

Ripley’s win put an end to Shayna’s 416 day reign, and makes her the first woman to ever hold the NXT and NXT UK Women’s Titles.

Here’s how it all went down (via our NXT live coverage):

Ripley looked on top in this one, so obviously Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke came out to try and turn the tables. Ripley took them both out, but the distraction did allow Baszler to gain the upper hand by stomping Ripley’s arm down on the ring steps.

We then went to commercials, during which Shafir and Duke attacked Ripley and were ejected from ringside, which seems like a bit of a silly thing to do during the commercials rather than when the show is on but oh well.

Ripley kicked Baszler into the referee, landed the Riptide, but the because the ref was down the pin couldn’t be counted. I feel like NXT does this far too much. Might just be me but it feels like almost every major main event title match the ref gets knocked down.

With the ref down and out, Baszler grabbed a steel chair and lobbed it into the ring, and then nailed a DDT right on it, but Ripley kicked out at two anyway!

Shayna then locked in the Kirifuda Clutch, Ripley survived it longer than anyone I can remember, and as it looked like she had faded she managed to keep her arm up when the ref checked it, and managed to somehow escape.

The two fought to the top rope, and Rhea Ripley managed to land a huge Riptide off the top to become the new NXT Women’s Champion! It was worth the wait for Baszler’s reign to end like this, in my opinion.

There will be no more new episodes of 205 Live in 2019, instead the WWE Network will air “best of” shows following SmackDown on December 20 and December 27.

This report comes from Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, but WWE is yet to make an official announcement.

The cruiserweight show has undergone several changes in the last few months, and it didn’t even air on October 4 or November 22, with no reason given for the October 4 cancellation.

A number of 205 Live’s biggest former stars have also moved to the main roster, with Mustafa Ali, Buddy Murphy and Akira Tozawa all trying to make a name for themselves on Monday or Friday nights.

It is by far and a way the least watched show out of WWE’s four weekly wrestling shows, and currently has a roster of just 7 people. Yes, 7 people.

Despite the initial brilliance of the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic, WWE clearly had no real direction for the show, and it seems that moves are being made in case 205 Live comes to an end, including general manager Drake Maverick being tested out as Baron Corbin’s new heel manager.

An announcement is likely to be made in the coming weeks regarding the future of the show, and we will give an update when that happens.