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WWE Raw results, actions and grades

Roman Reigns mocks Cody Rhodes as Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens dare The Usos

 

WWE Raw Results: Roman Reigns Addresses Cody Rhodes Ahead Of The WrestleMania 39 Fight

 

Presented by Ed Emeanua

 

WrestleMania is not even up to two weeks to go and the WWE already has their eyes on Hollywood, even while playing out their Raw program on must see tv. And it’s just as well. But, where else can the company find the relevancy to unfurl their WrestleMania 39 paraphernalia than on Monday night Raw?  Last night on Raw, proposed WrestleMania 39 main eventers-Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes-did take it a notch by getting the disdain for each other rather personal.

 

Though, their somehow perplexing verbiages are earsplitting, the two antagonists of one other continued on their relentless monumental spewing of rather uncoddled violent intentions towards each other during their tense face to face on the Raw platform. As predicted, the WWE Universe equally received the confirmation that the frenemies of Kevin Owens (KO) and Sami Zayn will reconvene to go to war on WrestleMania 39 with The Usos for the Unified WWE Tag Team Titles.

 

 

The show flagged off with Sami and KO emerging to a breathtaking acclamation, with a throw back on their former relationships until their reverie was cut shot by Jimmy and Jey Uso, leading to eagerly anticipated challenge for a WrestleMania 39 Unified WWE Tag Team Titles joust. This led to another brawl between the warring teams, setting the stage for one of the most distraught encounters of WrestleMania forerunner.

 

 

Backstage, Solo Sikoa arrived the Raw event arena with Paul Heyman and Roman, and later stepped on stage for the Tribal Chief’s confrontation with Cody. The trash talk from both men was expectedly relentless and merciless, with Roman teeing off the mouth lashing by accusing the American Nightmare of running away from WWE to start AEW, failing woefully over there at ‘getting over’, then settling for crawling back to the WWE.

 

 

At best, Cody managed to sew the seeds of doubt in the continuation of The Bloodline if he takes Roman’s Undisputed WWE Universal Title at WrestleMania 39, then, turning his focus to Sikoa and writing him off a ‘not ready’. Cody then deflected the Samoan Spike, but the Head of the Table stepped in to stop things going downhill.

 

 

Omos annihilates Mustafa Ali, Bayley takes on Rhea Ripley and lots more

 

The first match of the event featured Austin Theory’s defeat of Montez Ford in a non-title match purposed to whip up some sentiment for Theory. The Street Profits star presented a formidable challenge to help deliver an exciting bout though Theory matched on to the victory podium with less than two weeks to his defense of his United States title against John Cena.

 

 

Brock Lesnar’s much anticipated war with Omos at WrestleMania 39 was presented via a video footage to promote WWE’s grandest event in the entire universe. This heralded the Nigerian Giant’s emergence from the dressing rooms to destroy outclassed Mustafa Ali, under Dolph Ziggler’s backstage scrutiny.

 

 

Logan Paul was on hand for a special live documentation of his much talked-about Impaulsive podcast. Before his walk to the roped square, Logan snubbed The Miz offer to be of assistance in the podcast. Next, Logan came to the ring ranting about a paucity of appreciation from the fans.

 

 

Seth Rollins cleverly triggered a microphone related technical issue for Logan, thereby curtailing the verbal tirade, then danced on his way to the ring to ignite a rancorous clash with the YouTube blogger turned grappler. Though, security personnel managed to separate them, Seth went for another onslaught but this time Logan was ready for him, by landing yet again, another right hander that left the Visionary cold in the ring.

 

Logan Paul knocks out Seth Rollins in wild brawl on WWE Raw not long before WrestleMania 39

Dominik Mysterio continued his fast paced development by picking up an untainted victory against Johnny Gargano, who expectedly came to the fray with bandaged ribs, the signs of injuries he sustained in his home’s invasion by NXT’s Grayson Waller last week. At the end of the encounter, Dom again turned-on the vestige of his disdain for his legendary father Rey Mysterio, promising not to relent on his challenge for a fight with father at WrestleMania challenge until Rey Mysterio accepts to his son. Dom vowed to take his challenge to SmackDown this Friday in Las Vegas, where his family are set to show up and where he plans to ask his mum for permission to fight his father.

 

 

Edge renditioned an appropriately spine-chilling publicity stunt promotion for his upcoming Hell In A Cell war with Finn Balor, urging his opponent to come to the battle ground with the Demon in tow to face the Devil.

 

Rhea Ripley came to the ring to talk-up her title opposition of Charlotte Flair, before Damage CTRL decided to cut her off, culminating in  an unrehearsed battle with Bayley. Lita, Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus would eventually come down to prevent the duo of Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai from interfering in the match, and in the process, distract Bayley, exposing her to the dreaded game-winning Riptide.

 

 

Chad Gable was seen backstage searching for Otis, who was out on a planned spa day on the initiation of Maximum Male Models (MMM) but was soon back by his Alpha Academy co-star’s side as he battled a Braun Strowman accompanied Ricochet. The two super stars gave their all in a total rope to rope cliff-hanger war, which led to Chad – whose accomplice was engrossed with MMM during the bout – in the end capitulating to a Shooting Star Press.

 

Asuka and Bianca Belair combined to defeat Piper Niven and Chelsea Green. Asuka flattened the Raw Women’s Champion at the end of the encounter with a behemoth knee-kick to the face.

 

 

Eagles and Wild Dogs battle costs ₦10,000

AFCON 2023 Race: Nigerian Fans to cough up ₦2,000 and ₦10,000 to watch Super Eagles take on Djurtus

 

Africa Cup of Nations - Guinea-Bissau miss penalty as Sudan hold on for  Group D stalemate - EurosportCameroon 2022 Africa Cup of Nations Guinea Bissau against Nigeria in a group game

 

By Rasheed Adewuyi

 

Tickets for Friday’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification battle involving Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Guinea Bissau’s Djurtus (Wild Dogs), have been calibrated in price ranges of ₦2,000 and ₦10,000 for ordinary and VIP seats respectively.

 

The tickets are available at the secretariat of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), at the Package B of Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, Old Parade Ground, NFF’s former office at Wuse Zone 7 and other designated places, with additional details to be announced on broadcast stations nationwide. Nigeria, who are on six maximum points from their previous two games, confronts Guinea Bissau in a top-of-the-table fixture that will largely determine the swing of the pool, with the Super Eagles considered favorites to pickup the total six points on offer and guarantee their qualification for Cote d’Ivoire early next year.

 

As at 15:33 hours on Tuesday, there were 21 players in the Super Eagles’ John Wood Hotel abode in Abuja. Only the pair of forward Victor Osimhen, who was already in Lagos and awaiting the boarding of his flight to the nation’s capital, and Portugal-based left-back defender Zaidu Sanusi, were still being expected.

 

Egyptian referee Mahmoud Elbana will be at the centre during the engagement, with his compatriots, Youssef Elbosaty, Sami Halhal and Ahmed El-Ghandour to perform as assistant referee 1, assistant referee 2 and fourth official respectively. Ghana’s Prosper Harrison Addo, will operate as the match commissioner, with his fellow Ghanaian Kotey Alexander, taking up the role of referee assessor. 

Olympic Eagles will scale Guinea hurdle-Yusuf

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Paris 2024: Nigeria U-23 Manager exude confidence that his wards will defeat Guinea Olympics football team

 

Olympic Eagles Open Camp in Ibadan Today with 32 Players – THISDAYLIVE

 

By Rasheed Adewuyi

 

Twenty-four hours before his wards are due to take on Guinea’s Olympic football squad in a final qualifying fixture, first leg duel at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Head Coach Salisu Yusuf said his Nigeria U-23 boys are very much up to the task of grabbing one of the tickets to this year’s Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Morocco.

 

“I am satisfied that we have been able to work hard these past days and are now set for action. The players know that reaching the Africa Cup of Nations presents them a tremendous opportunity to fight hard for a ticket to the Olympics, which is a global tournament.

 

“We have invited a number of players from overseas that we believe can help us stake a very strong claim to the ticket, and we will be aiming for a good win on Wednesday. The second leg is on neutral ground, but we don’t want to entertain that in our minds. We have the objective of working assiduously to wrap up things in this first leg.”

 

Guinea’s U23 squad had their official training at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium on Saturday evening, hours before the Olympic Eagles took to the same pitch for their final workout ahead of the encounter. Nigeria have won all the available medals in the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament, taking the gold in Atlanta, USA in 1996 and the silver medal in Beijing, China in 2008. Eight years later, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the squad led by John Mikel Obi won the bronze.

 

The return leg of the Nigeria versus Guinea series has been scheduled for the Complexe Sportif Prince Heritier Moulay Al Hassan starting from 7pm Morocco time (8pm Nigeria time) on Tuesday, 28th March. For Wednesday’s encounter in Abuja, CAF has appointed Sabri Mohamed Fadul from Sudan as referee. His compatriots Abdelgabar Mohamed Abdelgabar and Ahmed Subahi will serve as assistant referee 1 and assistant referee 2 respectively, while Ring Akech Malong from South Sudan will work as fourth official. Munkaila Nassam Adam from Ghana will be the match commissioner.

 

Super Eagles hold first training

Ahead of their clash with Djurtus of Guinea Bissau

 

 

By Ed Emeanua

 

Watch Super Eagles first training ahead of their Friday AFCON qualifiers against the Djurtus of Guinea Bissau at the main bowl of the Moshood Abiola National stadium in Abuja Monday evening.

 

Rick also wants Flair-Ripley Headline

For WrestleMania 39 first Night

 

Charlotte Flair does a Rhea Ripley takedown 

 

Charlotte Flair will be defending the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley in two weeks at WrestleMania 39, Saptarshi Sinha writes for EWRESTLINGNEWS.

 

With Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Universal Title match headlining the second night of WrestleMania 39, 2-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair wishes for Flair vs. Ripley to main event the inaugural night of The Showcase Of Immortals this year.

 

On the most recent episode of his To Be The Man podcast, Flair opined how WWE should book the first night of WrestleMania Goes Hollywood.

 

On his reasoning for supporting a Flair/Ripley Night One headliner: “I would put it on right before Rhea and Charlotte. There’s no way you can’t… as entertaining as it might be, in my estimation, there’s no way you put a tag match on ahead of a championship [match], that someone won the Royal Rumble. I’ve seen things like that happen before, but I don’t anticipate that being the case. I think the women’s championship [match], the fact that Rhea had to win the Royal Rumble, which is a huge event, it’s the [way] to getting to pick the champion you want to wrestle from SmackDown or Raw, and Rhea picked Charlotte. I would have to think that would be the main event. But that match will be very entertaining.”

 

On the scope of this year’s WrestleMania: “It’s LA. It doesn’t get any bigger. We were out there a long time ago, and I thought to myself, ‘This is cool,’ but now they’ve got the SoFi Stadium and sold out both nights. I’m really excited. But to answer that question, I would hope the main event would be [Charlotte] and Rhea.”

What Lita thinks about ‘WrestleMania 39’

‘Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair Should Headline WWE WrestleMania 39’

 

WWE Hall of Famer Lita talked about a wide range of topics while speaking with Alfred Konuwa of Forbes.

 

During the interview, Lita was asked about the Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 39 and whether it should be the main event of the show, something the company is reportedly planning to do.

 

“Charlotte’s natural role is to be a heel, right? Because it’s like that overconfident vibe,” said Lita. “I almost wonder if Rhea is going to bring that out of Charlotte because you can only get shown up with confidence so much before Charlotte puts it back in your face.”

 

Lita continued, “I know she is the heel in this match, but I’m rooting for [Rhea Ripley] because Charlotte has earned her shot, but she was also presented with a spot because of her lineage, and has just stepped up and continues to rise to the occasion. Whereas I do feel like Rhea created her spot, and she’s just getting started, but it has culminated in this high-profile match at WrestleMania.”

Legacy means so much to Okolie

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Ahead of his highly anticipated fight against David Light, Lawrence Okolie has discussed leaving behind a legacy

 

Presented by Ed Emeanua

 

 

Already 18-0 up and running what else does the Nigerian Iron want from boxing? As he looks ahead to what he must do to confirm his place in boxing let’s look at the past to see what he has already achieved. Enjoy the highlights of Okolie’s career.

Chris Hughton won’t guarantee trophy win

Manager would not commit to trophy win because of uncertainty over the shape of his new team

 

2021 AFCON: This is what Ghana legend Tony Yeboah said about the Black Stars' trophy hopes [Onua TV] — Ghana Sports Online2021 AFCON: This is what Ghana legend Tony Yeboah said about the Black Stars’ trophy hopes

 

By Rasheed Adewuyi

Black Stars coach Chris Hughton says he is unable to  guarantee the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the fans that the national team would win a trophy during his tenure.
Chris  Hughton at his unveiling in Kumasi on Monday, said winning a trophy is a process and he can not say if the Black Stars are in good shape to win a trophy.
Hughton explained that his main focus is to build a formidable team that can compete and qualify for tournaments adding that he would be giving a false hope if he states confidently that  he can win a trophy with the Black Stars.
“No coach  can guarantee a trophy.  No coach  can  sit at a table like  this and guarantee you that . No single coach can do that ” he told Journalists at a world press conference in Kumasi, Ghana.
“You begin to know the strength of your team and what the players can do during the qualification for major tournaments and from there , you’ll know what to do to make the team solid.”
The former Newcastle United FC manager said he was happy and satisfied with the duration of the contract he signed with the GFA because it will help him build a  strong team in the future.
Hughton’s first official assignment comes up on the 23rd of March, as Ghana hosts Angola in  the Africa cup of nations qualifier at the Baba Yara stadium in Kumasi.  The second leg is slated for March 27 in Luanda, Angola.

FIFA President praises late Ismaila Mabo

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Gianni Infantino calls him, ‘one of the best coaches of his generation’

 

Gusau Raps NPFL Clubs For Not Attending NLO Super 8 Play-Off | Sports247 NigeriaAlhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau

 

By Rasheed Adewuyi

 

President of world football-governing body, FIFA Mr. Gianni Infantino has described the former Super Falcons’ Head Coach, Ismaila Mabo who died recently as “one of the best coaches of his generation.”

 

In a letter of condolence that he personally signed and addressed to President of NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau on 20th March 2023, Infantino expressed, on behalf of the international football community, FIFA’s deepest sympathy to the NFF, family, friends and loved ones on the passing of the titan.

 

“I would like to express my sincerest and heartfelt condolences on the passing of the former women’s national team coach, Mabo Ismaila. Words seem inadequate to express the sadness we feel for this loss. Former international player with regular appearances in the senior national team, he notably defended the colors of Mighty Jets FC in the late 1960s and 1970s.

 

“As a coach, Mabo Ismaila led the senior women national team, the Super Falcons, to the quarter finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999, to two Olympic Football Tournaments in 2000 and 2004, as well as to the 1998 and 2000 women’s Africa Cup of Nations titles.

 

“Considered as one of the best coaches of his generation, inspiration to younger generations of coaches, having contributed to the growth of women’s football in the country and around the world, his legacy and achievements, and in particular his personality, his loyalty and his human qualities will not be forgotten and he will be truly missed.” 

 

NFF refutes sacking George and Shorunmu

Decries media reports that it sacked two members of the Super Eagles’ technical crew

 

NFF: Finidi George is not fired

 

The Nigeria Football Federation has issued a statement decrying media reports that it sacked two members of the Super Eagles’ technical crew in Messrs. Finidi George and Ike Shorunmu from the team.

 

The statement read: “As part of cost-cutting measures instituted at the beginning of the new administration, we established a rotation policy among the assistant coaches, based on the high number, which was agreed with all of them. The last time that the team had a programme, Mr. Finidi George was the person who travelled for the friendly match in Portugal. This rotation policy is only for matches. When there is a tournament, all of them will be with the team.

 

“He (Finidi George) knew at that time that the next trip would be that of Mr. Usman Abdallah. Abdallah is simply taking his turn to be in the camp for the program of Super Eagles Vs Djurtus of Guinea Bissau, and Mr. George will be around for the next program.

 

“The other person who could have been in contention, Mr. Salisu Yusuf, has been sent to the U23 team. There was no victimization, sleight of hand or any disrespect meant to our illustrious ex-international players.

 

“The case of goalkeepers’ trainer, Ike Shorunmu, is somewhat peculiar, as the former Nigeria goalkeeper showed a clear lack of desire to be in camp for the matches against Guinea Bissau.

 

“We do not want to go into any details because we have the utmost respect for all our ex-internationals, including Mr. Shorunmu. It was only when we got the clear signal that he was unwilling to come, and the Head Coach was in a quandary, that he (Coach Peseiro) requested for the services of Olatunji Baruwa, whom he had seen at work during the U-20 AFCON in Egypt, to help do the work of training the goalkeepers.

 

“We agree there are a number of challenges concerning contracts of coaches of National Teams that we need to speedily resolve. The NFF is working on these and the issues will soon be in the past.”