Welcome the Daily Drop, your daily roundup of wrestling news and rumors for Friday, April 5. This is a day that a lot of fans have waited for, and now we’
Before we get going, WWE revealed the stage for WrestleMania 40. It looks amazing when it’s all lit up, and you can check out the big unveiling here.
Also, tonight is the go-home episode of SmackDown before WrestleMania, followed by the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame at the Wells Fargo Center. This year’s ceremony will see Paul Heyman, Lia Maivia, Muhammad Ali, The US Express, Thunderbolt Patterson, and Bull Nakano receive inductions.
WrestleMania 40 is Tomorrow!
WWE:
– WaleMania 2024: WaleMania was last night. WWE and AEW stars were there along with legends like RVD. It was quite a party, and we have a comprehensive highlight article up now for you to check out!
Samantha Irvin, singing and playing a flute to razor Ramon’s theme was not in our bingo card today. pic.twitter.com/7geSUH2XPF
— SEScoops (@sescoops) April 5, 2024
– Waiting for The Rock: Fans at WWE World saw The Rock appear on April 4, but they had to wait hours. The Final Boss was two hours behind schedule, but he still had a wild crowd to cut a promo for.
– Free Agent Spotted: Giulia, who just left STARDOM, was spotted at WWE World. That is a very interesting place to see her, especially as NXT promoted a surprise audience member for Stand & Deliver.
– Bloodsport x WWE: Shayna Baszler and Charlie Dempsey had quite a time at Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport event.
– Damage CTRL’s Breakup: New information was reported on WWE’s original plans to break up the Damage CTRL stable. It seems Charlotte Flair was supposed to be in the mix.
– The Rock Trained With NXT Superstars: A new report from ESPN revealed that The Rock had the Gallus faction come in to help him train for his tag team match at WrestleMania 40.
WWE SmackDown Card (4/5):
- Andre The Giant Battle Royal
- The KO Show w/ Kevin Owens – Special Guest: Randy Orton
- Zelina Vega vs. Elektra Lopez
- New Catch Republic vs. Grayson Waller & Austin Theory
- Jey Uso vs. Solo Sikoa
AEW:
– Forbidden Door: Toni Storm made a pretty ominous statement about how the Forbidden Door is always open. As AEW Women’s Champion, that could mean something.
– Firing The Boys: Tony Khan claims that The Boys no-showed events, and that is why they were fired. In a deleted tweet, Brandon Tate called that a lie, and he claimed AEW said their release was due to budget cuts.
Yikes… pic.twitter.com/SiIMWUARxG
— Aaron (@AaronVarble) April 5, 2024
– AEW Dynamite Viewership: The April 3rd episode of AEW Dynamite brought in 752,000 viewers and secured a 0.23 rating in the highly sought-after 18-49 demographic. This marks a slight uptick from the previous week’s broadcast, which garnered 747,000 viewers with the same 0.23 demographic rating.
– AEW Media Rights: During the Supercard of Honor media call, Tony Khan confirmed that AEW’s exclusive negotiation window with WBD is ending soon.
Upcoming Wrestling Shows
Looking ahead, here are some of the major upcoming shows that we have in the pipeline:
April 6: NXT Stand & Deliver and WrestleMania XL Saturday from Philadelphia, PA.
April 7: WrestleMania XL Sunday from Philadelphia, PA.
April 21: All Elite Wrestling presents AEW Dynasty live on pay-per-view from St. Louis, Missouri at the Chaifetz Arena.
May 4: WWE Backlash France from Décines-Charpieu, France at the LDLC Arena.