WWE News: ‘SmackDown’ & ‘Total Divas’ Stars Compete In NXT Matches, Former NFL Player In Action At NXT Event

Two of WWE’s women’s wrestling stars featured on the Total Divas program competed in matches during an NXT event on Saturday night. Both of these women’s stars have been working at NXT house show events for the past several weeks. In particular, SmackDown Live roster member Lana has been preparing for her debut on the WWE’s main roster. In addition to that, a former NFL player was part of the action at the latest WWE event on Saturday evening, while another member of the Total Divas program on E! channel also was involved in a match.

As reported by WrestleZone, the NXT live event results from Saturday night came from the show held in Orlando, Florida. The latest WWE house show featured a total of eight matches including two different women’s matches, several tag team bouts, and the main event featuring Kassius Ohno. The opening bout featured Wesley Blake taking on Jeet Rama until Steve Cutler rushed in to attack Rama. From there, he and Blake continued a beatdown which would lead to a tag team bout later in the show.

Featured in the second match on the card was current SmackDown superstar, Lana. The Total Divas star has been using a new dancer gimmick and has been featured in promotional videos over the past several weeks on SmackDown. While her debut on the television program is unknown, she has been honing her wrestling skills with the NXT roster at their events. In the latest match, she was able to defeat Sarah Bridges to add a win to her resume.

As 411 Mania reported in their show results, Lana had some rough edges to her in-ring moves. She also reportedly had a female ringside manager named Mary Kate who brought a chair to the ring for her to use in her dance routine. It’s unknown if Mary Kate will portray this character on SmackDown Live as well, but it’s also mentioned she was using a Russian accent.

A former NFL player was involved in the latest WWE NXT show as well. The man who could win the award for the toughest name to pronounce on the roster, Babatunde Aiyegbusi, was able to pick up a victory over Brennan Williams in a battle of big men. Aiyegbusi’s NFL career was brief as he was signed to the Minnesota Vikings back in 2015 and played in three preseason games before he was cut ahead of the regular season. He’ll look to follow in the footsteps of other former NFL stars to join WWE such as Baron Corbin and Mojo Rawley.

The Minnesota Vikings website had a report on the 6-foot-9 350-pound offensive lineman about two weeks ago, with Aiyegbusi discussing why he chose to try WWE after football didn’t pan out.

“I’ve always watched wrestling – I just decided, why not give it a shot? Everybody here just wants to put smiles on people’s faces, and that’s my main goal. I feel good about being here, and I’m grateful to the WWE for giving me this chance.”

Since Jeet Rama and Wesley Blake’s previous match ended in a disqualification, Rama came out to complain about the earlier attack. Another attack broke out, but this time Buddy Murphy came out to make a save for Rama. From there, a tag team match took place with Rama and Murphy defeating the duo of Cutler and Blake.

Another Total Divas star continues to work NXT events and unlike Lana, has been featured on NXT’s show regularly. Mandy Rose was in action against Liv Morgan with the reality television star picking up the victory. As 411 Mania indicated, Rose a.k.a. Mandy Sacs, has been improving with her matches. Mandy’s latest match was followed by another tag team bout as Heavy Machinery defeated the team of Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford.

The main event featured one of NXT’s latest stars, Kassius Ohno (aka “Chris Hero”), as he continues to build towards his main roster debut at some point in the future. Ohno took on Riddick Moss and was victorious in that match to send the fans home happy from Orlando.

Ohno was previously involved with WWE’s Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT from 2011 through 2013, before leaving for four years for the independent scene. Now that he’s back with WWE, many fans are hoping for his main roster appearance to happen within the next year, but it still could take some time.

WWE will hold its Payback pay-per-view Sunday night in San Jose, California which features former NXT stars such as Bayley, Alexa Bliss, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, and Kevin Owens. As for the current WWE NXT roster, their next live event is scheduled for Thursday, May 4th at the Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona at 7:30 p.m. local time, with another event the following night at the same time in Gainesville, Florida.

[Featured Image by WWE]