Various: WWE Women’s Rumble Updates, World of Sport Update, Indies

WWE Women’s Royal Rumble Match Updates

As previously reported, January 28th’s Royal Rumble event will feature the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match involving thirty competitors. At least two former WWE women stars have been contacted recently by the WWE as potential surprise entrants.

In an update regarding potential surprise entrants, the Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie) are currently rumored to be surprise entrants based on a recent episode of Total Divas!. During the episode, both the Bella Twins and WWE Senior Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano discussed and agreed on potential plans involving the Bella Twins returning at this year’s Royal Rumble event and also participate at Wrestlemania 34.

In regards to the competitors, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported WWE is currently considering the split to be 9 entrants from NXT, 18 entrants from the main roster, and the rest as a mix of former WWE women stars and possible celebrities. Of the current main roster, PWInsider reported Paige is expected to not be participating due to her recent injury being worse than originally expected.

Rumor: ITV to Relaunch World of Sport This Summer

ITV is currently rumored to be relaunching the production for World of Sport this summer, according to this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported people within ITV claim the project itself is back on track for production with the goal to start television tapings during the summer. Unlike the original plans, it was also reported ITV ended their partnership with both Anthem and Jeff Jarrett who were the main sources of issues with the original attempt at the revival. ITV has also contact some talent for this new revival attempt and told them to be patient till the company is ready to relaunch World of Sport as a weekly television show.

Indie Wrestling News & Notes

As previously reported, Moose suffered a knee injury during Wednesday’s set of television tapings for Impact Wrestling. In an update to this situation, Moose is reported to have suffered a torn lateral collateral ligament in his knee but is currently not expected to miss any time due to the injury, according to the Wrestling Observer.

NJPW’s New Japan World streaming service is reported to have reached over 100,000 subscribers since Wrestle Kingdom 12, according to this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported the service was at around 65,000 subscribers for the month of December which means the growth for the month of January so far is around 35,000 new subscribers. In regards to last year’s numbers, the bump from December 2016 to Wrestle Kingdom 11 was around 15,000 for new subscribers.

NWA will be holding an Empty Arena Match featuring Jocephus versus Tim Storm this Sunday with the winner to become the new number one contender for current NWA World Heavyweight champion Nick Aldis. Making things interesting is the NWA will be taping this match at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida prior to Impact Wrestling’s set of television tapings for the night.