Getting a grip: 'Woken' Matt Hardy debuts; Ronda Rousey signing with WWE

Brian Fritz

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Getting a grip: 'Woken' Matt Hardy debuts; Ronda Rousey signing with WWE image

Each week, Sporting News runs down the biggest stories in the world of professional wrestling.


Matt Hardy has ‘woken’

After being dormant since his WWE return earlier this year, Matt Hardy is indeed “woken” as the character made his official WWE debut on “RAW” this past Monday.

All the mannerisms were on full display as Hardy talked about his travels though “space and time” in a taped back-and-forth segment with Bray Wyatt that concluded with him sentencing the “Eater of Worlds” to deletion.

Any worries about how the WWE audience would react to “Woken” Matt were quickly gone following the huge reaction Monday night. He also received a huge reception last weekend at a house show.

MORE: Alexa Bliss on the difference between "RAW" and "SmackDown"

It shows the reach and popularity of the character even before debuting in WWE. That also speaks to the potential it now has on a much larger platform including WrestleMania 34 where Hardy could square off against Wyatt in a “Final Deletion” match.

Ronda Rousey signing with WWE

It’s been more of a “when” rather than “if” former UFC star Ronda Rousey would be making her way to the squared circle. That could be in the near future following the recent USA Today report that Rousey is finalizing deal with the WWE.

It was just a few years ago at WrestleMania 31 when The Rock invited her into the ring and she easily took down both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.

That jumped started speculation that Rousey could have a career in professional wrestling once her days of fighting in the Octagon are over. That time has come with UFC president Dana White recently admitting that he doesn’t think she will fight again.

It’s no secret that Rousey, a lifelong wrestling fan, has been training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla. the past few months. She was supporting her good friend Shayna Baszler at the Mae Young Classic in September and took part in a backstage angle with Charlotte Flair.

The expectation is that Rousey will be a special attraction and only wrestling several times a year similar to Brock Lesnar. While a match against Charlotte is certainly in the works, it may not happen until later in 2018. That would allow Rousey some time to get more comfortable in the ring and gain some experience before a major single match.

The bet here would be for that match to take place next August at SummerSlam. With WrestleMania quickly approaching, that could be the perfect stage for Rousey to make her in-ring debut in a match pitting the Four Horsewomen of MMA (Rousey, Baszler, Marina Shafir, and Jessamyn Duke) against the Four Horsewomen of Wrestling (Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Bayley, and Sasha Banks).

That would allow Rousey to have her first match on a major event while also limiting her in-ring time as she acclimates to pro wrestling.

Wrestle Kingdom 12 on AXS TV

While there was some talk about the huge Jan. 4 New Japan Pro Wrestling event airing live on pay-per-view in the United States, that won’t be happening. However, it will be on U.S. television just a few days later.

AXS TV — which currently airs NJPW programming every Friday night — has announced that it will have a three-hour special on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. ET featuring the top matches of the event.

The two-day turnaround will be the fastest turnaround for the event in its history with Jim Ross and Josh Barnett handling the broadcasting duties on the channel.

The show will include IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada versus Tetsuya Naito, IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho, and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White. AXS will air a special NJPW marathon for eight-hours that day leading up to the Wrestle Kingdom 12 special.

The remainder of the event will be shown the following five weeks during on the regular Friday night NJPW series.  

AXS TV has stepped up in airing NJPW coverage over the past few year including the live special this past July when the promotion held its first U.S. event.

There had been some discussion about making the show available on pay-per-view but New Japan officials decided against that, making New Japan World — its subscription-based video streaming service — as the only place where fans can watch the show live.

News and notes

— Speaking of New Japan, the promotion continues to make more strides toward the American audience by launching an English YouTube channel

— Even though Chris Jericho will be a part of  Wrestle Kingdom in January, he remains committed to a WWE return at some point. However, it looks like that won’t be in time to be a part of WrestleMania as he’ll be on tour with his band Fozzy that night (April 8).

— While the WWE cruiserweight division has received mixed reviews, the company unveiled a plan for “205 Live” branded house shows in 2018. The first shows will take place on Jan. 19-21 in Kingston, RI, Lowell, Mass., and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. All three shows will be in smaller venues and this is a test to see how the brand does on the road.

— R-Truth revealed that he hasn’t been on WWE television lately due to an injury. He underwent surgery on Monday to have loose bone removed from his shoulder and even spent a few minutes before going under the knife to explain the situation.

— As mentioned previously in this post, Drew McIntyre will be aggressive in his rehab from a torn bicep muscle in hopes of returning to action in April during WrestleMania week. The former NXT champion put out this video on Thursday of him already back in the gym following surgery.

Brian Fritz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Blog Talk Radio.

Brian Fritz

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Brian Fritz is a contributor with The Sporting News covering the NBA and NFL who previously worked at BasketballNews. He is a 20-year veteran of sports talk radio in Orlando, Florida, after graduating from the University of Central Florida. He now resides in Durham, North Carolina.