Wrestling All Over the Super Bowl
Wrestling was all over the Super Bowl this weekend. The Undertaker was in a commercial for Draft Kings, spooking Kevin Hart. The joke was Kevin Hart "never takes the under" on a bet, so he "ain't no Undertaker." And then the Dead Man shows up.
There were advertisements for movies featuring John Cena (Fast X) and Batista (Guardians of the Galaxy) Plus NWA champion Tyrus was in a Fox Nation commercial. And the crown jewel is Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs walking around with his new WWE championship:
What happened on Raw?
The big moment on Raw was Sami Zayn crashing the party and having a really great exchange with Cody Rhodes. Zayn started feeling some doubt that he could actually beat Roman Reigns this weekend and wanted to see if Rhodes meant what he said last week that Rhodes thinks Sami can beat Roman. Cody gave Sami a hell of a pep talk ahead of Saturday's big match:
Somebody who was watching the segment was WWE Undisputed Universal Champion Roman Reigns, who made sure to offer a quick response:
The only other notable moment from Raw was this colossal interaction between Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley:
Oh, and Seth Rollins found some big red boots!
Rhea Ripley looked pretty awesome, too!
What's on TV this week?
WWE NXT tonight at 8pm on USA Network has:
- Bron Breakker returns
- Meiko Satomura and Roxanne Perez vs. Kayden Carter and Katana Chance
- Hank Walker vs. Charlie Dempsery
- Wes Lee open challenge for NXT North American Championship
- Tyler Bate vs. Grayson Waller
AEW Dynamite on Wednesday at 8pm on TBS has a loaded show announced:
- Texas Tornado: Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Rush and Preston Vance
- Mark Briscoe vs. Josh Woods
- Toni Storm vs. Ruby Soho vs. Britt Baker
- Hangman Page vs. Kip Sabian
- Brian Cage vs. Jungle Boy
- Orange Cassidy, The Acclaimed, and Billy Gunn vs. Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh, and Sonjay Dutt
- MJF is contractually obligated to appear
- Wardlow interview
- Adam Cole interview
Impact on Thursday night on AXS has:
- KUSHIDA vs. Chris Bey
- Eddie Edwards vs. Heath in a No Surrender four-way qualifier
- Steve Maclin vs. Rhino in a No Surrender four-way qualifier
- Rich Swann vs. Kenny King
Smackdown on Friday, the day before WWE Elimination Chamber on Fox has announced:
- Intercontinental Championship: Gunther (c) vs. Madcap Moss
- Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler vs. Natalya & Shotzi
- Drew McIntyre & Sheamus vs. The Viking Raiders
AEW Rampage, Friday on TNT has announced:
- Dustin Rhodes vs. Swerve Strickland
- Ricky Starks vs. Daniel Garcia
WWE Elimination Chamber is this Saturday as is a huge New Japan show with the former Sasha Banks debuting. I'll preview those in my next column.
Wrestling News from Around the Internet
Legendary wrestling personality Jerry Jarrett, the father of Jeff Jarrett, passed away at the age of 80. Jarrett ran the Memphis promotion and was hugely influential. Here is a tribute from Jeff and a really cool news report:
Mercedes Moné, the former Sasha Banks posted a teaser of a documentary that will be released ahead of her big match this weekend:
Dave Meltzer on a recent Wrestling Observer Radio addressed the possibility of a CM Punk return now that he's close to recovering from injury: "There's a lot of mending of fences that need to be done and there's been no mending of fences at all," he said. "Punk could be back in two months and then there's a decision of how that goes. That's going to be a big story of how that goes down or how it doesn't go down."
PWInsider is reporting WWE is shooting new "WrestleMania Goes Hollywood" vignettes with Bianca Belair and Montez Ford in a parody "Titanic," Rhea Ripley in a parody of "Stranger Things;" the Brawling Brutes in a parody of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin;" The Bloodline doing a parody of "Goodfellas" and Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch doing a "Batman & Joker" parody.
Jeff Hardy is due back in court on February 23rd for a pre-trial hearing. His lawyers are trying to get a plea agreement settled before that date, according to PWInsider. He could be facing up to five years in prison.
Montez Ford offered these sweet Valentine's wishes for his wife:
Do you enjoy pro wrestling? Knotfest Wrestling has a bi-weekly column filled with wrestling news. Read previous editions of this column here. You can always follow me @robinjection on Instagram and Twitter and @Squaredcirclpit.
