Wrestling Roundup: April 14, 2020

The Wrestling Roundup is here to bring you all the news and rumors you need to know in one place.

WWE Raw Results

According to Vince McMahon, the show must go on. With that, WWE will continue to do live events at the Performance Center for the time being. WWE gave us another live, crowdless Raw on Monday night. Women’s Money in the Bank qualifying matches started as WWE continues to build towards a pay-per-view that is still tentatively being held in Baltimore. What happened on Monday’s Raw? Here are the results:

• Asuka def. Ruby Riott to qualify for the Women’s Money in the Bank match
• Aleister Black def. Oney Lorcan
• Shayna Baszler def. Sarah Logan to qualify for the Women’s Money in the Bank match
• Austin Theory def. Akira Tozawa
• Angel Garza def. Tahuti Miles
• Nia Jax def. Kairi Sane to qualify for the Women’s Money in the Bank match
• Bobby Lashley def. No Way Jose
• Viking Raiders def. Cedric Alexander & Ricochet
• Drew McIntyre def. Andrade

WWE announced some Men’s Money in the Bank qualifying matches for next week. MVP will face Apollo Crews, Austin Theory battles Aleister Black, and Buddy Murphy battles Rey Mysterio. Of all of those matchups, Theory-Black could be the one to steal the show.

New WWE Champion Drew McIntyre took down Andrade in the night’s main event. McIntyre’s first real challenger for the championship has seemingly arrived: The Monday Night Messiah, Seth Rollins. This should be an excellent feud for storytelling and for in-ring action.

The #MondayNightMessiah has made his presence felt at the expense of #WWEChampion @DMcIntyreWWE. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/ccon5vcr8f

— WWE (@WWE) April 14, 2020

WWE Deemed “Essential Business”

Some are wondering how WWE is allowed to continue production in Florida in spite of the state-wide closure measures for non-essential business. According to WrestlingInc, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings claimed that WWE has been deemed essential by Governor Ron DeSantis. Even after an on-screen talent tested positive for COVID-19, WWE will continue to produce television weekly.

Footage of @OCFLMayor's statement on WWE running live TV tapings within the county right now: pic.twitter.com/6HVJr2TxcO

— Harry (@harryaaron) April 13, 2020

NXT Interim Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Pools Released

WWE has released the pools for the NXT Interim Cruiserweight Championship tournament. Similar to the G1 Tournament in NJPW, all group members will face each other in round robin action. Then the top competitor in each group will face off for the interim title, and likely will face Jordan Devlin in the future to unify the belts. The groups are:

• Group A: KUSHIDA, Tony Nese, Jake Atlas, Drake Maverick
• Group B: Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, El Hijo del Fantasma, Jack Gallagher, Akira Tozawa

The tournament to crown an Interim #WWENXT Cruiserweight Champion begins this Wednesday!

Meet the Superstars who will be competing for the prestigious crown.https://t.co/XE0cFBt6AW

— WWE (@WWE) April 12, 2020

One for the Road:

Today is Lita’s 45th birthday! Celebrate by watching her main event match against Trish Stratus for the WWE Women’s Championship from 2004.