WWE officials are said to be very high on NXT newcomer Dylan Miley, particularly due to his unique look.
Miley has recently made some in-ring appearances at NXT live events and is reportedly scheduled to make his official debut in the near future.
Dylan Miley is a 6’3”, 285 pound athlete with enormous hands. The NXT rookie sports red trunks and red boots, as pictured below.
Miley made an appearance at WrestleMania 31 Axxess and it was said that of the many NXT stars that worked matches that fans probably didn’t know, he was someone that made people stop and take notice when he came out.
The NXT rookie is said to be very green in the ring, and appears to be a long-term project for WWE. In the short match he worked at Axxess, he showed very little in the ring in terms of skills, but it was clear to everyone that he has the right look and a charisma about him that can take him a long way if he improves on his fundamentals.
The WWE contracts of “Big” Vito LoGrasso and Evan Singleton have been released as part of their current lawsuit against the promotion.
Big Vito’s main roster WWE talent contract included a $75,000 downside guarantee while Singleton’s developmental deal was for $31,000 per year with an additional $2,000 paid for moving expenses for Singleton to move from Pennsylvania to Florida.
Vito’s cuts of live events and pay-per-view events were left up to WWE, but licensing products based around his likeness saw him receive 25 percent of the net sales, and products such as DVDs where the talent was the featured performer saw them earn five percent of the total sales.
Talk of pay issues in TNA continue as wrestlers and production workers continue to be well behind on payments. As of this past weekend, TNA’s production crew were more than two months behind on pay, as they had not yet been paid for the February pay-per-view tapings or any other events since then.
To make matters worse, workers received pay in April for the January tour of the United Kingdom, which was almost 70 days late. Not only were the checks issued late, they were reportedly short $1,000 per person.
Additionally, the TNA production crew found out that TNA talents were finally being paid for the March tapings while they had still not been paid for the production work they did back in February.
TNA had similar issues with pay in 2014 that were actually more significant than this, however one particular production worker in the company noted that this is the third year in a row where there were issues with late payments. While they have dealt with payments being late in the past, the fact that several of the checks were short on money is a new issue, and one that was likely a big morale-killer.
WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley recently spoke with Brian Fritz of the SportingNews.com website to promote his new “Cheap Pops” WWE Network taping at Full Sail University on Friday night.
Foley noted during the interview that his show will be a PG-version of his regular one-man stage show and he expects it will air on the Network within a month of the taping.
“I’m really excited,” said Foley. “People who have been following me know this is what I’ve been really hoping for, for a couple of years. It really seemed to come together in a really, first class manner. Now looking back, I’ve glad we waited just because (it will involve) the WWE’s top director, top producers, guys who I’ve worked with and am really comfortable with.”
Foley concluded, “We’re pretty sure we’re going to not only capture something special live but turn it into something really special for the network.”
Check out the complete interview at SportingNews.com.
– Bray Wyatt vs. Ryback and Roman Reigns vs. Kane are two new matches WWE has booked for upcoming live events in May. As noted recently, WWE is planning on having Ryback be the “mystery Superstar” that Wyatt has been referring to in his recent “cryptic promos.”
– Former WWE Diva AJ Lee recently made the following post on Twitter, thanking her fans for their support.
So you guys got #ThankYouAJ and #AJTaughtMe trending for days??? I have the most badass fans on earth.
April 15th in Hamburg, Germany drew 9,500 fans (John Cena tour)
April 16th in Toulouse, France drew 4000 fans (without John Cena and Rusev)
April 16th in Budapest, Hungary drew 8,500 fans (Roman Reigns tour with Cena and Rusev)
April 17th in Antwerp, Belgium drew 4,000 fans (Cena and Rusev back on the tour)
April 17th in Dortmund, Germany drew 8,000 fans (Roman Reigns tour)
April 18th in Zurich, Switzerland drew 4,000 fans (John Cena tour)
April 18th in Nurnberg, Germany drew a sellout of 7,000 fans (Roman Reigns tour)
April 18th in Jacksonville, FL for NXT drew 150 fans
April 20th in Albany, NY for RAW drew 6,800 fans
– Following the retirement of AJ Lee, Lana and Eva Marie are in line for pushes. Eva Marie has been training with Brian Kendrick and WWE officials expect her to be a more well rounded performer when she returns to action.
– Samoa Joe should be starting in NXT in June. Joe booked an independent show on May 23rd for AIW Wrestling in Cleveland, Ohio. No word on if he’s signed a WWE contract yet.
As noted earlier this week, WWE Intercontinental Champion Daniel Bryan suffered an injury of some kind during his match on the April 9th live event in Dublin, Ireland. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bryan was hurt in his March 31st SmackDown match with Sheamus, and was already “banged up” heading into the WWE European tour. The injury that occurred during his 4/9 match likely just made matters worse and resulted in WWE sending Bryan home early.
According to one WWE source, Bryan is expected to be out of action for five weeks, so regardless of how serious his condition is, it is expected that he will be missing the WWE Payback pay-per-view on May 17th. WWE hasn’t confirmed whether or not he will be defending his title against Bad News Barrett at Extreme Rules this Sunday as originally advertised, but it doesn’t appear that he will.
This week’s WWE.com sitdown interview features Sheamus talking to Michael Cole about his new attitude, his “Kiss My Arse” match against Dolph Ziggler this Sunday at Extreme Rules and more. Here’s a recap:
– Sheamus says he’s having the time of his life with his new look and attitude. The past few weeks have been a breath of fresh air for him and he feels reborn. He’s not worried about fan feedback on his new look and says the only voice that matters is his.
– Cole asks why Sheamus has an issue with underdogs like Neville, Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan. Sheamus says underdogs make a romantic story, but it’s fantasy. All he sees are pretenders who look just like the fans in the audience. All of these “so-called Superstars” seem to be multiplying, but he’s a true Superstar of WWE. He’s going to restore order in WWE and show the fans what a real WWE Superstar is.
– Sheamus took a look at himself when he was out of action with an injury and didn’t like he saw. He realized to be liked is to be yourself and that’s what he’s doing.
– Sheamus previewed his Kiss My Arse match against Dolph Ziggler this Sunday at Extreme Rules. Beating a man is one thing, but taking his soul is another. Sheamus says he’s going to embarrass Ziggler in Chicago – and will send a message to the entire WWE Universe that they can all kiss his arse.
Corey Graves’ new WWE Network show Culture Shock premieres tonight immediately following NXT. On this week’s show, Graves will tour the headquarters of Marvel Entertainment. (more…)
Ring of Honor announced on Wednesday that Night 1 of their upcoming Global Wars series of live events with New Japan Pro Wrestling will be broadcast live on iPPV on Friday, May 15th.
Here’s the full lineup:
– ROH All Stars – The Briscoes, War Machine & Roderick Strong vs. The Bullet Club – Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, The Young Bucks & AJ Styles.
– Michael Elgin vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
– ROH TV champion Jay Lethal vs. Tetsuya Naito
– ROH Tag Team champions The Addiction vs. ReDragon vs. The Decade vs. Roppongi Vice
– Matt Sydal & Jushin Liger vs. IWGP Tag Team champions The Kingdom
The following is a preview for tonight’s episode of NXT on the WWE Network, featuring Alex Riley’s “shot at redemption” against NXT Champion Kevin Owens: (more…)
Former WWE Superstar Batista attended the recent Avengers: Age of Ultron Premiere in London and spoke to Cassam Looch from HeyUGuys about James Bond: Spectre, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and if we’ll ever see him in a WWE ring again.
Batista said he constantly gets asked about returning to WWE and is open to the idea. He loves wrestling. He spoke to Chris Jericho, who only works non-televised live events.
Batista said that option is appealing to him, since you’re locked into the scripts of WWE writers on TV, which he thinks “aren’t great” these days. He doesn’t want to be locked in and just wants to entertain the fans, so he might try to go that path.
– Hideo Itami is headed to Japan next month to do promotional work for WWE as they prepare for two live events there in July.
– After wrapping up his feud with Damien Mizdow on RAW, The Miz and Summer Rae did media in New York City on Tuesday to promote the release of The Marine. Miz is now off filming the new WWE Studios film Santa’s Little Helper with Paige, which is due out this holiday season.
– Mick Foley noted last night that the first round of tickets for his “Cheap Pops” comedy show that will air on the WWE Network sold out, but additional tickets are being released:
– The dark main event after last night’s tapings from Providence, Rhode Island saw Neville and Dolph Ziggler save Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns from a beatdown by Sheamus, Bad News Barrett, Seth Rollins and J&J Security.
Big Show came out and took Neville, Ambrose and Ziggler out but the babyfaces finally fought back. Big Show took a spear from Reigns, a superkick from Ziggler, a superkick from Ambrose and Red Arrow from Neville to end the show.
– NXT will be announcing more live events outside of Florida today.
– Jey Uso posted this on Instagram on Tuesday night, updating fans on his condition after recent shoulder surgery. He’s expected to be out for the next 6 months.
Been off the grid for a min..thanks for everyones love N prayerz!!! Road to Recovery is NOW!!! This is NOT a “set back” but a “Set Up”!! #UsoStrong #UceMode
The following matches were taped in Providence, Rhode Island on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 for the Thursday, April 23, 2015 edition of WWE SmackDown. For complete spoiler results of the show, click ahead to page two.
– Seth Rollins vs. Kane
– Neville & Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus & Bad News Barrett
– Natalya vs. Naomi
– Rusev vs. Ryback
– Cesaro vs. Kofi Kingston
– Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins & Luke Harper
For complete WWE SmackDown spoilers for this week, click below to advance to page two
WWE confirmed last week that Daniel Bryan was sidelined from the European tour, but was not suffering from post-concussion symptoms. While the nature of Bryan’s injury still remains unclear, we’ve got more information regarding when he was hurt and how long he could be out of action.
The injury took place at the April 9th live event from Dublin, Ireland, when Brya teamed with Dolph Ziggler and Erick Rowan in a 6-man tag match against Sheamus, Bray Wyatt and Bad News Barrett.
Bryan was sent home from the tour to get checked out by doctors in the United States. WWE’s preliminary estimate was that Bryan would be out of action for about a month. The short timeframe is a good indcation that it wasn’t an issue with his neck, which many people were fearing.
It remains to be seen how much ring time he will actually miss. Earlier today, WWE teased that Bryan might be unable to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Bad News Barrett this Sunday at Extreme Rules.
The Monday, April 20th, WWE Extreme Rules “go-home” edition of RAW, with Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler in the main event, drew 4.04 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The 4.04 final draw marks a solid increase compared to last week’s show, which averaged 3.665 million viewers for a taped edition of the show from London, England.
The hourly viewership breakdown for Monday’s RAW, which emanated from the Times Union Center in Albany, New York, is as follows:
Hour One: 4.105 million viewers Hour Two: 4.136 million viewers Hour Three: 3.873 million viewers
WWE RAW finished second on cable for Monday night behind the NBA Playoffs.
– As of this past Monday morning, WWE officials were planning on having a Bray Wyatt vs. Ryback feud. Ryback is apparently the person Wyatt has been alluding to in his recent cryptic promos on RAW and SmackDown.
– JBL’s line on commentary during RAW on Monday about not liking catering was apparently a shot at the backstage offerings in WWE as of late. The company has reportedly cut back on their catering budget, but they have been using more pyro as of late.
WWE released a promotional video for this year’s “Payback” pay-per-view which has led to rumors on what the possible main event could be.
Based on the video, which you can watch above, speculation has spread that the main event of this year’s WWE Payback pay-per-view will be a triple-threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Seth Rollins, Randy Orton and Roman Reigns.
WWE Payback takes place on Sunday, May 17, 2015, from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown tapings take place from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
The top item advertised for this week’s show is a battle of the big men featuring Rusev and Ryback.
Other top stars appearing include WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose and more.
The dark match main event is scheduled to be Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins and Big Show, but it’s unlikely Bryan will be competing tonight.
Join us here later for Live Coverage of the WWE SmackDown tapings.
Jim Ross recently updated the official blog section of his website to share his thoughts on Monday’s RAW and some other topics. Below are some highlights:
On Kane’s RAW performance: “Thought the irate and angry Kane persona was a plus. Not sure, other than Undertaker, that any WWE talent has ever had a more distinguished career than Glen Jacobs aka Kane. His character and integrity are beyond reproach and he should be what every talent in NXT strives to emulate. He is exactly the kind of person WWE needs to always utilize in a variety of ways as he is rock solid in every area and is an invaluable mentor to the young wrestlers.”
On Seth Rollins and the banned “Curb Stomp” rumors: “I don’t know if WWE has or has not banned the use of Seth Rollins’ Curb Stomp finisher but many fans are seemingly up in arms about its absence. I say the safety of the athlete is always the first priority of any responsible company and if the move is more likely to concuss people than others then it needs to be eliminated. It’s that simple. Not sure why so many fans have taken to my Twitter @JRsBBQ to bitch about it but, at the same time, everyone has the right to an opinion. It’s too bad that so many people within the business have bastardized the DDT, among other moves, or it would still be a great finisher instead of another overused, uncreative high spot that everyone kicks out of on a regular basis. Those type of issues where finishing maneuvers have become impotent ‘spots’ is the fault of undisciplined bookers within the world of wrestling and lazy talents who have not mastered the art orf wrestling.”
On Daniel Bryan’s health: “Hopeful that Daniel Bryan is going to be OK soon but he has to change some of the things that he does whether he wants to or not and not be a prisoner to his on reputation as being one of the best wrestlers in the world. He could eliminate many things from his repertoire and still be one of the best talents in the business. His health is much more important than diving head butts, drop kicks where he strikes the back of his head on the canvas, etc. His most important job in life isn’t being a wrestler but a son, husband and perhaps some day a father. Without great health, those lots in life are more challenging and they’re not easy for a healthy person.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
Original plans for the WWE Tag-Team Championship match at this Sunday’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view called for Tyson Kidd and Cesaro to defend the titles against The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara and Kalisto), however that no longer appears to be the case.
Kidd and Cesaro got over so well at many of the live events during the recent WWE European tour, which has some speculating that it may have influenced some of the booking.
While it’s not clear yet whether or not Kidd and Cesaro will remain a babyface tag-team going forward, they will be working as the babyfaces against The New Day at the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view this Sunday.
TNA star Drew Galloway recently spoke with Tom Feaheny about a number of TNA-related topics. Below are some highlights of the interview, which you can listen to via the YouTube player embedded above.
On how he is finding his time in Impact Wrestling so far: “I’m finding it awesome, it’s a great working environment, everybody is so passionate about wrestling and making the company succeed, especially with the move to Destination America, the network being so behind the product.”
On his Impact Wrestling debut: “It was the last possible second, I flew to Scotland to do a show for ICW on the Sunday, on the Monday I had a bunch of missed calls from a Tennessee number, I thought I knew nobody from Tennessee and threw my phone away, checked my phone again and Tommy Dreamer had messaged me saying can you pick up the phone, TNA would like to talk to you, I had no goals being back on worldwide TV so soon after finishing with WWE, all I’ve wanted to be is Drew Galloway, and as soon as I got into TNA I thought it was really cool.”
On The Rising: “I knew Mica before Impact Wrestling, we wrestled in developmental together, he is an awesome guy from an incredible heritage and Eli I had never met before, he’s a passionate confident guy, there a couple of guys I’m proud to have by my side.”
On wanting to become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion: “I’ve got some short term goals, but 100% if you’re not looking at the world title then you shouldn’t be in wrestling, I’m not there to make up the numbers I’m there to eat them up.”
– WWE Hall Of Famer Bret Hart recently spoke with the folks at Title Match Wrestling about his niece, WWE Diva Natalya. Hart said he believes Natalya has been the best women’s wrestler for years and also praised current WWE Tag-Team Champions Tyson Kidd and Cesaro.
Check out the Bret Hart interview with Title Match Wrestling below:
– Former WWE Diva Kaitlyn and her husband, PJ Braun, are featured on the cover of the latest issue of Iron Man magazine. Kaitlyn tweeted the following photo of the cover: