Getting a grip: Road to WrestleMania; ROH vs. NXT; Corey Graves vs. Booker T?

Brian Fritz

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Getting a grip: Road to WrestleMania; ROH vs. NXT; Corey Graves vs. Booker T? image

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

Road to WrestleMania

While WWE is officially on the road to WrestleMania, they have a few stops along the way.

Those include the “RAW” brand Elimination Chamber show on Feb. 25 and the “SmackDown” exclusive Fastlane on March 11. There will be two “Chamber” matches on the same-named event, one for both the men and women.

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One of the big issues WWE has to deal with right now is how predictable the winners of matches will be. Take for example "RAW" this past Monday: while both were very good matches, almost no one believed that Bray Wyatt would beat Roman Reigns or that Asuka would lose to Bayley.

The same goes for the upcoming Elimination Chamber with the overwhelming belief that Reigns will win and go on to challenge Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania for the Universal Championship.

Meanwhile, the women’s championship will be on the line in the other Chamber match between Alexa Bliss, Bayley, Mandy Rose, Mickie James, Sasha Banks and Sonya Deville. Again, the outcome feels certain with Bliss escaping as the champion. The same goes another match announced on the show between Asuka and Nia Jax with no one believing that the unbeaten Japanese superstar will take her first loss here.

As for Fastlane Daniel Bryan announced on SmackDown that the main event of the show would see AJ Styles defend the WWE Championship against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a Triple Threat match.

That has already changed with the blue brand’s commissioner Shane McMahon deciding to make it a Fatal Four-Way.

No one believes Styles is going to drop his title and a dream match against Shinsuke Nakamura is set for WrestleMania. WWE is in a tough spot, but that comes with having a smarter audience.

Ring of Honor loading up against NXT

Even though WWE will own New Orleans WrestleMania week, Ring of Honor is looking to make its mark.

ROH will hold its Supercard of Honor XII that Saturday night, going head-to-head with NXT TakeOver. The promotion is loading up with a huge, first-time ever matchup between Cody and Kenny Omega.

The ROH show will also include champion Dalton Castle, along with the Young Bucks and New Japan stars Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi. It's expected to be the company’s highest attended show in its history.

The match between the Bullet Club members has been building for the past year when Cody has been critical of Omega’s leadership. Although they’ve tried to put their differences aside, it was inevitable that the two would eventually meet in the ring. That was perpetuated recently at a New Japan show when Cody attacked Omega, leaving plenty of questions about their relationship and the future of Bullet Club.

The group is taking advantage of their popularity with the “Being the Elite” video series that has been instrumental in keeping them in touch with their audience and playing out storylines.

NXT TakeOver shows have become must-see so ROH will be facing stiff competition. That show includes Andrade “Cien” Almas defending his NXT championship against Aleister Black, a rematch between Ember Moon and Shayna Baszler for the women’s title and the finals of the Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament.

It’s too bad the shows and running against one another and cheating fans of attending both events. Hopefully, this changes in the future to where ROH either moves to the night before or possible to the afternoon, which would allow for an incredible doubleheader of wrestling action.

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Booker T vs. Corey Graves

Chalk this up as pure wrestling.

Booker T went into great detail on his “Heated Conversations” podcast about his dislike of Corey Graves. He blames Graves for losing his position on the "RAW" announce team.

“I’m a nice guy, until you get on my bad side,” Booker T said on this show. “Corey Graves, right now, I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s on my bad side, but he’s the reason that I’m not on 'Monday Night RAW' right now.”

He went on to say that he was so angry at Graves that people in the company thought he was going to do “something bad to him” and the decision was made to take him off "RAW" and put him on the kickoff shows.

“But if I catch Corey Graves on the street, I’m gonna do something to him. Alright? I ain’t gonna do it at the office or anything like that. But if I catch him... not gonna do it in the airport, nah, I’m not gonna do that," he continued. "But if I catch Corey Graves on the street? You see that little bouffant hairdo he got? I’m gonna rearrange it for him. Alright? I’m just saying. I’m just saying...”

The question is what is real and what is a work? Truth is, it’s probably a little of both.

There no question Booker T was upset any time Graves got on him after a ridiculous comment or whenever he got tongue-tied. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if Graves was just having fun or if his sharp comments were spurred on by Vince McMahon, who was probably as entertained as anyone.

While we will probably never know how much of this is legitimate, the two are making a show of it with Booker T invited Graves on his show to air things out.

News and notes

— When Kurt Angle told Jason Jordan to go home during "RAW," it wasn’t simply for storyline reasons. Jordan had neck surgery on Tuesday in what WWE Dr. Joseph Maroon described as “a minimally invasive operation to decompress the nerve, to allow it to heal.” There is no timetable on when he is expected to return. 

— The Miz isn’t leaving for Hollywood yet. PW Insider reported that the A-lister has signed a four-year deal that will keep him in the WWE until 2022.

— The Big Show revealed during an interview with “Busted Open” that his recovery from last September’s hip surgery has hit a roadblock. He suffered a surgical infection where doctors had to cut him open and flush the infection out. He added that he still wants to return to the WWE but he will be “touch and go” for another six to eight months to make sure the infection doesn’t return.

— WWE is partnering with LIDS for custom headwear. The deal will allow customers to get on-demand gear from the new library of WWE custom embroidery options to create, personalized, one-of-a-kind looks.

— Revenge is a dish best served cold…

— This kid is destined for greatness.

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.