Jericho Almost Wrestled at WrestleMania, McIntyre News, Woods

Chris Jericho continues to plan his wrestling and music themed cruise whilst continuing to perform with his band. He has also been wrestling occasionally in WWE and in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Although Jericho worked a match against Kenny Omega at NJPW’s huge Wrestle Kingdom show earlier this year, he came close to competing at WrestleMania 34 in WWE just a few months later. On Talk is Jericho, Jericho revealed that he almost replaced Shane McMahon in Daniel Bryan’s match against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn after McMahon suffered from acute diverticulitis and an umbilical hernia a few weeks before the show. Shane was able to compete in the match at WrestleMania, but Jericho did compete in the 50-man Royal Rumble match at the Greatest Royal Rumble later that month.
Monday Night Raw received a huge new star during the Superstar Shakeup when it was revealed that Drew McIntyre had officially joined the roster. McIntyre completely transformed himself on the independent wrestling circuit before he was rehired by WWE to work in NXT last year. PWInsider has reported that it was Vince McMahon’s idea to bring McIntyre back to the main roster and McMahon has been in charge of McIntyre’s current storyline. Despite the fact that Drew is currently teaming up with Dolph Ziggler, the reported goal is to eventually position McIntyre as a top singles star on the Raw brand. Expect to see Vince put a huge emphasis on McIntyre within the next few weeks.
On last night’s edition of Smackdown, it was confirmed that The New Day will be facing The Bar on next week’s edition of the show. A team member from the winning team of that match will then be inserted into the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Regardless of which team wins the match, it may not be Xavier Woods competing in the ladder match at Money in the Bank. After receiving an uppercut from Cesaro that left him bleeding from the mouth on this week’s Smackdown show, Woods revealed that he bit down on his tongue and injured it in the process. Fortunately, the injury only appears to be a minor one, but it may cause him to miss some in-ring time.