As noted earlier this month, former WWE Diva Joanie “Chyna” Laurer accused Triple H of assaulting her during their relationship while talking to Vince Russo for a podcast interview. HHH subsequently issued a statement denying the claims by Laurer.
Former WWE Superstar Sean Waltman (X-Pac) who is good friends with HHH and also dated Laurer in the past recently noted that Chyna once told him a similar story about HHH abusing her while they were dating, but claimed she later admitted that all HHH did was push her out of the way once.
Waltman also said he didn’t want to be involved in a public back-and-forth issue with Chyna, but mentioned that she has said a lot of things about him in the past that weren’t true either, including a lie about being raped in college, a story that she once told and later admitted to him wasn’t true.
Take this for what you will, but WWE executive Michael Hayes recently asked fans online if The Fabulous Freebirds go into the WWE Hall Of Fame, do they think Jimmy Garvin should be inducted with them.
The original Freebirds group was a trio that features Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts. A later version of the group was a straight tag-team act with just Hayes and Garvin.
The Freebirds have been rumored to be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in the past, particularly last year when WrestleMania was in New Orleans, as the Freebirds were big in that market during the territory days.
Now, however, the latest rumor is that The Freebirds will be inducted next year since WrestleMania 32 will be in Dallas, and The Freebirds’ most epic feud was arguably their Texas-based rivalry with The Von Erich’s.
– Part-time WWE performer Chris Jericho has only two weeks left on his current WWE contract, a deal that has him working strictly non-televised live events. Jericho’s last date with the company is a February 28th live event in Toronto. After that, he is scheduled to head to the United Kingdom for a “Fozzy” tour.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Pat Patterson is finally working on his autobiography. There’s not a lot of information regarding the project at this point in terms of a name or potential release time frame, other than the fact that he’s finally started writing it.
Add WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley to the list of people pushing for WWE to sign Samoa Joe, who parted ways with TNA this week. Foley posted the following message on Facebook earlier today:
SAMOA JOE IN WWE?
I’d love to see it. A proven commodity given a new surrounding, and possibly a new look could be good for both Joe and ?#?WWE?. I remember running into Triple H and Stephanie McMahon – WWE in an airport in 2004, and mentioning I was on the way to a ?#?RingOfHonor? show. Triple H went out of his way to say that he’d heard that Samoa Joe was a “hell of a worker”. Hopefully Joe will get a chance to show WWE just how impressive he can be in person.
Do you see Joe fitting in with WWE? If so, how? Maybe as a potential Paul Heyman guy?
As noted earlier, Paul Heyman also took notice of Joe’s announcement on Twitter –
Hmmm RT @SamoaJoe I have decided to part ways with @ImpactWrestling. My very best to them moving forward, and my eternal thanks to the fans.
As noted earlier, there is some interest in WWE to bring Joe in for a tryout in the next few weeks. Click here to read more on that story – and what led Joe to leave TNA after 9 years.
– Sunday’s edition of WWE Total Divas drew 914,000 viewers on E!, the lowest number the show has drawn thus far this year. By comparison, the previous week’s show averaged 1.08 million viewers. This coming Sunday’s show will look to bounce back, but will have to do so while running against the live WWE Fastlane event on pay-per-view.
– It looks as though former NXT Tag-Team Champions The Lucha Dragons could be headed to the main WWE roster soon. The duo, which consists of Sin Cara and Kalisto, worked the WWE Main Event taping on Tuesday night, defeating the team of Curtis Axel and Heath Slater.
WWE Superstar Bray Wyatt appeared on the Gater 98.7 radio show in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Tuesday to discuss his recent cryptic promos on WWE television.
The host asked Wyatt outright if his promos of late have been about The Undertaker. Wyatt responded by saying sometimes things are better left unsaid.
Wyatt explained that he likes to surround himself with mystery and encourages fans to “dive a little deeper” into some of the “clues” he’s been leaving behind in his promos.
Wyatt continued, pointing out that there is a lot more to the promos than what people may think, and even said he’s surprised and a little sad that fans haven’t picked up on some of the clues he’s given.
Former TNA performer Christopher Daniels recently spoke with Vaughn Johnson of Philly.com about a number of topics. Below are highlights from the interview.
On how things have gone for him now that he’s over a year removed from being in TNA: “Well, I feel like we were very lucky that I think the last year, year-and-a-half in TNA, I think people were sort of disappointed in how we were used. So when we left TNA, there was a good demand for us as a team … not just in Ring of Honor, but on the independent scene and overseas. I feel like we’ve been very lucky and will continue to be lucky that Frankie and I have had the opportunity to wrestle a lot of great team out on the independent scene and in Ring of Honor. It’s cool that we can sort of bring our act together around the world, around the United States to a lot of the independent companies and continue to do what we love to do.”
On his thoughts of wrestling promotions on television in the U.S.: “I think it’s a great time to be a wrestling fan to have all of these different alternatives to WWE, and not to say that WWE is bad in any way. WWE is what it is. It’s the model of professional wrestling. There’s a lot of great stuff happening on WWE television right now, but there are a lot of alternatives as well like TNA, Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground coming into play in the last year and New Japan finally getting their foot in the door here in the United States. I’ve had the opportunity to watch a couple of episodes of that television show and I think it’s just a matter of time with WrestleKingdom 9 being broadcast on pay-per-view here in the States, and that television show, that New Japan is going to make a move to try to do more things in the United States whether it’s doing more crossover dates with Ring of Honor or doing something on their own.”
On how wrestlers feel about the current state of the business: “I think that a lot of the guys that are at the independent level are a lot of the guys looking to branch out on television and there’s a lot of opportunity for them with Lucha Underground, with TNA moving to Destination America, with Ring of Honor still going strong on Sinclair’s syndicated stations. There’s a lot of opportunity to break out and get on television in one or more of these companies.
Then you can’t forget that the strides that NXT has taken to become not just the feeder system for the WWE, but it’s own brand. I know that they just had their third or fourth special recently and there’s not a bad word about NXT going around anywhere. Everybody’s thrilled about the guys that are in NXT, the action that they see and the type of show that NXT is, and that also being an alternative to the things that you see on WWE.”
On how much longer he thinks he’ll wrestle: “As long as I want. Right now, I don’t see an end yet. That’s crazy to say, but if someone told me that I would be wrestling four days a week for the foreseeable future, I ‘d be fine with that. I actually challenge people to try and get me to the point where I’m too beat up to wrestle or I’m too tired to wrestle. I want to wrestle. Right now, I feel good. I’m always actively looking for bookings and trying to continue to get better and do more and try to expand my repertoire and just continue to make this career what it is. I’m not looking to retire anytime soon and I’m challenging promotions out there to try to work me to death. I dare you.”
The latest weekly sit-down interview between Michael Cole and Triple H is now available.
On this week’s interview, the focus was this Sunday’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view event. Cole asked HHH about some of the top matches. Regarding the Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns main event, “The Game” pointed out that the leader of the “Yes! Movement” might be the best wrestler in WWE right now, however he questioned if that will be enough to overcome Reigns’ brute strength and power.
Regarding Sting, HHH said he first wanted to apologize to Ric Flair for pushing him down on Monday’s RAW. He blamed it on passion and Sting and said what Sting is trying to do will only get done over Triple H’s “dead body.”
You can check out the complete Cole and HHH interview above.
WWE Superstar Ryback recently spoke with Jim Varsallone of The Miami Herald about a number of topics. Below are highlights from the interview.
On the Nexus’ debut in 2010: “We were pretty much told that if we don’t nail this thing, we’re probably going to be fired or definitely not going to be given the opportunity they were going to give us. So we were all on the same page that night…We all knew we had to work together that night, and we were all in position to do that, because if we were going to make this thing work, we had to work together. When you’re out there with seven other guys, working together, it kind of makes it a little bit easier. It wasn’t solely just on one of us. So that definitely helped, but to say nerves didn’t exist would be crazy. We definitely were all nervous before we went out there. That was the first night of the beginning of my WWE career, so to speak, as far as being in the big leagues. That night in Miami we were given a huge opportunity to sink or swim, and a group of us went out there, and we tore everything up.”
On working with John Cena: “Working with John has been a great experience. He’s been on top in WWE for a very long time, and he’s done extremely well for himself. He has set the bar very high. John’s been able to [be on top] for an extended period of time, which is a rarity in this business. So being in the ring with John was a great learning tool for me to see where I had to be, what areas I had to improve for me to go where I wanted to go with Ryback.”
On working with Paul Heyman: “Being with Paul Heyman, if you look back at the wrestling footage throughout the years, he’s been around for a very long time, and he’s been around a lot of the greats. So for Paul to want to align himself with me and be with me was a great compliment to me. It was a lot of fun. At that stage of my career and where I was at, I always liked being out there by myself to speak and say what I want to say and not have a mouthpiece, but it was a great learning experience for me, seeing how Paul approached promos and how he spoke to people and controlled the crowd, because he is truly very gifted in that aspect.”
On his time in WWE: “In anything in life, there’s going to be ups and downs, but my time in WWE thus far has been amazing. Each and everyday I get to show up to my job. I love it. I’m very thankful. Everyday is a different opportunity, a different challenge, and I love that.”
Check out the complete interview at MiamiHerald.com.
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels recently spoke with Ring Rust Radio to promote his new book, “Wrestling For My Life: The Legend, the Reality, and the Faith of a WWE Superstar”. You can listen to the full interview at Blogtalkradio.com.
Here’s what HBK said about the pressure that will be put on Roman Reigns as the “Face Of WWE” –
“As far as him being a top star moving forward, I have very little insight on that. I’m the guy that sits there and looks in the rearview mirror and am very thankful for the stuff that I got to do. As far as the pressure, it’s going to be tough. WrestleMania is pressure filled anyway and more so when you’re going for the first time in what might be the main event.
If you are being dubbed or people seeing you as the next guy those things mount up. They are important and you want to live up to them and it’s especially hard. Back in my day it was the beginning of the internet and we had the newsletters, but I imagine now with social media it’s all right there at your fingertips. I’d imagine it’s even tougher nowadays. Our line of work if very cynical and a lot of it is driven by cynicism, cruelty, and meanness. It’s easier to believe the negative stuff than the positive stuff. The feel good stories don’t usually spend a lot of time on the front pages.
It’s gotta be a pretty tough row to hoe for the guys nowadays. Along with the great notoriety and the good stuff that comes with it, there’s always some negative that comes with it and you have to do your best to balance it along the way.”
Samoa Joe announced on Tuesday that he is parting ways with TNA Wrestling after 9 years with the company. Based on what we’re hearing from sources in TNA, it was a very amicable split and the door is open for them to do business again in the future.
Joe’s decision to leave TNA was very similar to that of AJ Styles. Like Styles, Joe had been with the company since its early days and it all came down to money. TNA today is a very different company than it was several years ago, operating with a drastically reduced budget. TNA was unable to match the money that Joe had been previously making. The negotiations were ‘friendly’ the entire time, but in the end, TNA simply couldn’t offer him enough to stay.
Joe will have no problem finding work elsewhere. The question is, where does he go next? WWE, Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Lucha Underground and working the indy scene are all viable options for the former TNA World Champion. TNA does not have ‘no compete’ clauses in their contracts, so Joe could theoretically show up in another promotion as early as this weekend.
Triple H is said to be very interested in giving Joe a shot at NXT. Vince McMahon does not have much interest in him, but there’s already talk of giving him a tryout at the Performance Center in the upcoming weeks/months. Paul Heyman, the advocate for WWE’s reigning, defending Heavyweight Champion of the World, took notice of Joe’s announcement –
Hmmm RT @SamoaJoe I have decided to part ways with @ImpactWrestling. My very best to them moving forward, and my eternal thanks to the fans.
During this week’s WWE SmackDown television taping, which took place on Tuesday night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a new singles match was made official for WWE Fastlane.
In a long-awaited battle between brothers, Goldust and Stardust will meet one-on-one at this Sunday’s pay-per-view following their breakup at this past Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
Make sure to join us here at the website for live WWE Fastlane play-by-play results coverage this Sunday night.
The following are spoiler results of the WWE Main Event taping, which took place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
– Sin Cara & Kalisto def. Heath Slater & Curtis Axel in tag-team action to kick off the show. The Lucha Dragons picked up the win via their double-team finisher for the pinfall victory.
– Stardust def. Zack Ryder in singles competition in his first official match as a heel.
– Titus O’Neil def. Adam Rose via disqualification. Rose came out to face O’Neil. He sent the Rosebuds to the back but they didn’t stay. They ended up attacking O’Neil, which led to the DQ. Darren Young ended up coming out to make the save and clean house. Young and O’Neil then celebrated to the theme song of the Prime Time Players.
– Cesaro def. Jack Swagger in the headline match of this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. This was said to be an excellent match that the crowd was well into. Tyson Kidd interfered a few times in the match and in the end, Cesaro picked up the “W” after hitting Swagger with his Neutralizer finisher for the 1-2-3.
Longtime TNA performer Samoa Joe announced via social media on Tuesday that he has officially ended his tenure with the promotion.
“I have decided to part ways with Impact Wrestling,” said Joe. “My very best to them moving forward, and my eternal thanks to the fans.”
TNA executive John Gaburick also commented on Joe’s departure, writing, “On expiration of Samoa Joe contract, TNA and Joe have agreed to part ways. Joe will always be a member of our family & we wish him the best.”
I have decided to part ways with @ImpactWrestling. My very best to them moving forward, and my eternal thanks to the fans.
Several of the TNA regular performers are said to be very happy that the recent set of television and pay-per-view tapings are now over. It was said to be a long five days for all involved, with many of the wrestlers working almost every single taping.
It was noted over the weekend that Wrestle-1 performer Jimmy Suzuki was headed to Orlando for a “big TNA announcement” on Monday. While that never happened, Suzuki is in town with The Great Muta, and was in attendance at the TNA taping on Monday night. According to TNA sources, there was never any announcement planned, despite Suzuki claiming otherwise on social media.
– The WWE Monday Night War Volume 1 DVD is still scheduled for a summer release, while Volume 2 of the series is expected to be released in the winter. The set was pushed back and the format was changed from three discs to four.
– Part-time WWE performer Chris Jericho has been announced as appearing on the next season of the VH-1 series, “That Metal Show.” Jericho has appeared on the show in the past.
– Former WWE announcer Kevin Kelly is the guest on this week’s edition of Jim Ross’ “Ross Report” podcast. The show will be available tonight at PodcastOne.com.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels is the guest on the latest edition of Steve Austin’s “Steve Austin Show” podcast. The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASc – EP195 – WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels
“WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels talks to Steve about his new book, and his time in the ring. They cover WM 14 and what that was really like for Shawn given his injuries then, Shawn’s retirement from pro-wrestling, his in-ring work philosophy, hitting rock bottom with pills & coming out on the other side, best advice he got from Macho Man Randy Savage, what he learned from Ric Flair, and how shooting’s going for his reality TV show, MacMillan River Adventure.”
– The official WWE website has video footage of The Bella Twins at the 2015 ESPN Sports Science Newton Awards during Super Bowl weekend. You can check that out at WWE.com.
– Stardust’s (Cody Rhodes) wife, NXT Diva Eden, posted the following tweets regarding the promo on RAW:
Daniel Bryan recently appeared on Turnbuckle Weekly with Chuck Carroll, which you can listen to at Washington.CBSLocal.com. Here are some highlights:
– Bryan revealed that he was not officially cleared to return to the ring until the day before his first match back. He wasn’t cleared at the time he announced he would be in the Royal Rumble. On that Monday, Bryan said he was only about 90 percent sure medical clearance was imminent.
– Bryan said that he had been in touch with WWE in the three or four weeks before the announcement and let them know that the treatment was finally working and he was preparing to return.
– When asked about the negative reaction Roman Reigns got at the Royal Rumble, Bryan said it had less to do with overzealous Philadelphia fans and more to do with the hardcore WWE wrestling fan base that traveled from all over to attend the show.