As the road to NXT Takeover: Brooklyn continues the WWE Network presented yet another packed episode of WWE NXT taped in Full Sail University, Florida.
Below are the results:
– Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder defeated Enzo Amore and Big Cass
Jason Jordan and Chad Gable are shown backstage, mocking the other tag teams in the division.
A video package is shown to build up the Dana Brooke/Charlotte feud.
– Baron Corbin defeated Jesse Sorenson with the End of Days
Tyler Breeze visits William Regal in his office and demands a match at Takeover, Regal tells him to be careful what he wishes for.
– Jason Jordan & Chad Gable defeated Elias Samson and Manny Garcia (Levis Venezuela Jr.)
Devin Taylor is backstage with Dana Brooke and Emma. Dana says that she’s going to beat Charlotte and once again taps Devin on the head as she walks off.
A video package showing Bull Dempsey trying to get “Bull Fit” is aired.
– Charlotte defeated Dana Brooke with the Natural Selection
Samoa Joe is shown backstage talking about his goal in NXT is to win the title and talks trash about Rhyno and says that his future will end during their match next week.
Kevin Owens is shown backstage apologising to William Regal for striking him during the contract signing with Finn Balor last week.
– Kevin Owens defeated Martin Stone with the pop-up powerbomb and attacked him afterwards by planting him on the ring apron
– Blake & Murphy defeated The Vaudevillains to retain the WWE NXT Tag Team Championships
After the match, Alexa Bliss is left alone in the ring with The Vaudevillains, they allow her to leave unharmed but as she leaves she slaps them both across the face.
Lucha Underground aired last night in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California with the first part of the “Ultima Lucha” extravaganza.
Part two of “Ultima Lucha” will air next Wednesday (August 6th) in a two hour special to close out the first season of Lucha Underground.
Below are the results from last night’s show:
– Cage defeated The Mack in a Falls Count Anywhere which literally took both men throughout the Temple. The match ended after Cage smashed Mack’s head through a cinder block. The match had a number of great spots and both made use of their environment.
– Matt Striker and Vampiro discussed what was to come on the two hour season finale of Lucha Underground next week including Vampiro’s return to the ring against Pentagon Jr. which will air on the two hour special next week.
– The Disciples of Death defeated Team Havoc after Catrina struck Ivelisse over the head with the stone allowing them to get the pin and become the new Trio tag team champions. After the match Catrina gave Ivelisse the lick of death.
– In the main event of the night Drago defeated Hernandez in the Believer’s Backlash match which saw a group of fans coming out with belts – siding with Drago and whipping Hernandez whenever they had that opportunity.
– The show closes with Dragon Azteca making his way back into the Temple.
Daniel Bryan has been promoting his new book “Yes!: My Improbable Journey to the Main Event of WrestleMania” and spoke with The Mirror newspaper here in the UK.
Bryan gave a length interview while promoting the book and spoke about a number of topics including why he decided to write a book, main eventing WrestleMania and his fans.
If you want to read the interview in full, you can do so by clicking on this link. Below are some of the highlights from the interview:
Why he decided to write a book in the first place:
“[Laughs] To be honest I wasn’t even thinking about writing a book and WWE approached me with the idea. I had just had neck surgery, they asked me to do it and I was kind of like ‘okay, it seems like perfect timing’. It was May of last year, it was literally either the week before I knew I was having neck surgery, or it was the week after I had my neck surgery. It was one of those two times! I had a lot on my mind.”
On having such a strong connection with the fans:
“I’m not sure. We’ve entered this new phase in wrestling, where the fans acknowledge – and because WWE has done it for so many years – that what WWE is, is entertainment. Long gone are the days of you getting into trouble for saying that wrestling isn’t real. I prefer to use the term wrestling fiction. And so there is this acknowledgement that what they are watching is fiction. So fans don’t get as invested as far as like, for example if someone is really beating someone really hard. It’s not the same as it was in the 1980s when the Four Horsemen were beating on Dusty Rhodes. It’s a different vibe from the crowd. But there are still very real things that the fans catch on to. They think ‘this particular guy we like, and he entertains us, so we want to see him succeed, but the fiction is not allowing him to succeed’. And they think ‘it’s not that he’s not succeeding because he isn’t good enough to succeed, he’s not succeeding because whoever has decided to write the story, has written him out of this story’.
There is this realisation that by cheering they may have the power to change that. I think last year specifically it was almost the case that the fans didn’t know, they didn’t know if they could change it. But it’s very powerful, this idea is powerful. Imagine if you could watch a movie and as you’re watching the movie you realise that the supporting character is actually your favourite character, and you want him to be the guy who saves the day. And, somehow, by yelling at your TV screen or something like that, you could actually change how the movie pans out. That would be incredible! In wrestling you can.”
If in his book he talks about his time on the independent scene:
“Yes actually there is a big piece, a substantial portion written about that particular match when I wrestled Nigel in Liverpool to unify the Ring of Honor World Championship and Pure Championship. I talk about that match specifically a lot. I talk about my time in Dublin. I spent a lot of time over in England wrestling at Butlins holiday camps for Brian Dixon and All Star Wrestling. I talk about my first night ever in England, when I almost watched a man get thrown out of a building!”
Daniel Bryan’s book is available to purchase today. If you want to read the rest of the interview, click this link
Since the news broke last Friday that Hulk Hogan had been removed from the WWE due to a racist rant, several people have shared their thoughts and feelings regarding the news.
On the latest edition of Human Podcast Machine with Taz the former ECW Champion decided to get a few things off his chest in regards to the comments made by Hulk Hogan.
Describing the whole thing as “very sad,” Taz revealed that in his opinion, this could be the very end of Hulk Hogan’s career in the world of professional wrestling.
“I just think it’s sad – I think it’s sad,” Taz explained. “I think it is sad especially for folks that he offended heavily, namely anyone that was a fan of his that maybe is African American or wrestlers that are African American.”
Taz went on to explain that he believes Hogan is “done” and that it’s a “sad way to go out” and while he wants to say he feels bad for him, he’s not sure how you can.
“I mean, he said this. You can hear it on tape. It’s like, how do you feel bad for the guy? You can’t! He said it. It was years ago and he [has] changed, I guess, and whatever, but it doesn’t matter. It’s reprehensible comments and it’s just not cool.”
You can listen to the rest of this episode by clicking on this link.
Bay News 9 uncovered additional racially charged comments from Hulk Hogan stemming from a jailhouse conversation he had with his son Nick in 2008.
Nick was in the middle of serving an eight-month sentence following an automobile accident that resulted in his friend, John Graziano, being seriously injured and requiring 24-hour-a-day care for the rest of his life.
Hulk Hogan, who was trying to use slang-speak when talking with his son, called him a “n*gga,” noting that it meant Nick was his “best friend.”
Below is a transcript of the conversation, which you can listen to as well by clicking here.
Hulk: “You and me been sitting on some serious phone, phone dialogue here n—a.”
Nick: “Yeah, nibb-ah.”
Hulk: “N—a, n—a, that means, that means you (are) my best friend.”
Hulk: “You know that God gave you this vibe and this, this, energy that you and I are going to live forever, bro. I just hope we don’t come back as a couple, I don’t want to say it, blizz-ack gizz-uys, you know what I’m saying?”
Nick: “Brutal” [Nick and Hulk laugh]
Nick: “It’s down in St. Pete and it’s mixed-race and we get along with everybody, so that’s fine.”
Hulk: “Your mom went there and said it was mainly blizz, you know what I’m sizz-aying?”
Nick: “Mm-hm.”
Hulk: “And that some of the ladies there that, you know, run the school are nice blizz lizz-adies, you know?”
Nick: “Mm-hm…. I would go down there, I would make friends with all those kids down there. I guarantee it. Because you know how all the blizz pizz love us.”
It has just been confirmed on the WWE website that Layla, who first appeared after winning the 2006 WWE Diva Search competition will be retiring from the company.
During her career in the WWE she managed to win the WWE Women’s Championship in 2010 making her the final champion before the title was retired that year.
In April 2012 she went on to win the WWE Divas Championship after returning from injury and she would go on to hold onto the title until September of that year.
She has given an exclusive interview to WWE.com which can be read in full by clicking on this link, below are some highlights.
Why walking away is going to be such a challenge:
“I feel like deciding to retire from the ring has been a hard decision to make because I’m passionate and I love performing. I’ve known everybody in that company now for nine years. They’re family. I spend more time with crew and Superstars and Divas on the roster than I did with anybody else. It becomes part of your life. And not only that, it’s hard walking away from the fans. Part of me feels a little bit guilty for walking away because [WWE fans] are 100 percent loyal and have supported me since 2006. I wouldn’t even have this job if the fans didn’t vote in the Diva Search. I was able to win that competition because of them and I was blessed. But sometimes you just need to step out and take a risk and move onto the next phase in life.”
The key factors that led to her decision to leave the WWE:
“I’ve been traveling the world for nine years now and sometimes it’s just time to start the next chapter of your life. Traveling on the road was fun, but the older you get, it takes more time for recovery. I just got tired of the travel part.”
What’s next for Layla? Where does she go from here:
“What’s next for Layla? To be perfectly honest, the first two weeks, I’m doing absolutelynothing. [laughs] No, I have stuff that I would like to do. I would maybe like to do some TV stuff, whether it’s in the States or in the U.K. I’ve talked a little bit about maybe going back into my dance background. I’m going to start choreographing and might even go back to the Heat to start choreographing with them.
And then, of course, I’m engaged now to my fiancé Richard. We’re going to get married and then later on, in a few years, I want to have some kids and start my family life.”
You can read the full interview and her final message to the WWE Universe at this link.
Posted July 29th, 2015 in News, WWE. Tagged: Layla.
– The Miz noted on social media that his “legal team” is working on getting current WWE Intercontinental Champion Ryback stripped of his title due to the fact that he is unable to defend it right now due to injury. Miz tweeted the following:
– Jeremy Borash took to social media to promote the new “Digital Originals” that TNA Wrestling will be releasing online. A commercial for the new online programs will air during tonight’s edition of Impact Wrestling on Destination America.
– Speaking of tonight’s edition of Impact Wrestling, the show will feature the return of Jeff Hardy, Brooke Tessmacher defending the TNA Knockouts Championship against Marti Belle, James Storm and Serena will team up to take on Mickie James and Magnus, Eric Young will go one-on-one with Chris Melendez, and we will have the TNA Hall Of Fame induction of Jeff Jarrett.
– The “Funny Or Die” website released a Hulk Hogan spoof video this week. In the video, which you can view below, the Hogan character shows up backstage at WWE RAW and is interviewed by a Renee Young character.
– The following matches are scheduled to air on tonight’s edition of NXT TV on the WWE Network.
* Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady vs. The Mechanics.
* Baron Corbin vs. Jesse Sorensen.
* Chad Gable and Jason Jordan in tag action.
* Charlotte vs. Dana Brooke.
* Kevin Owens vs. Martin Stone (may have been a dark match).
* Blake and Murphy vs. The Vaudevillains for the NXT Tag Titles
– The Tuesday, July 28th edition of WWE Tough Enough on the USA Network averaged 980,000 viewers for the first episode to air following the Hulk Hogan racism controversy. Viewership was down this week compared to the 1.144 million viewers who tuned into the program last week.
– This week’s edition of WWE Total Divas, which also aired on Tuesday night, drew 1.083 million viewers on the E! network. Viewership for Total Divas was up this week compared to last week’s show, which averaged 995,000 viewers.
Veteran pro wrestler Sonjay Dutt recently appeared on Main Event Madness Radio to discuss a number of topics. Below are some of the highlights from the interview:
On working with Amazing Red & early days of the TNA X-Division: “It was great, I was very young. So when you’re young and you’re put in that type of position you know, there really can’t be anything wrong. Everything is cool you’re in a different environment, a lot of fun in those early days in Nashville.”
On his feelings on Sabu & Raven: “I loved it because I was actually one of the biggest ECW fans there ever could be. I was fascinated by ECW. I watched it religiously, everything, anything I could get my hands on. I knew everything about everybody and Sabu was one of those guys I idolized and looked up to growing up watching wrestling. So just getting to work with him was a dream come true.
“[Opinion on Raven] It was awesome. He actually helped get me my job in TNA. He was a big proponent for me, and we had a real good relationship.”
On if the X-Division could’ve helped TNA, and his feelings on how it is today: “Yea absolutely. I think that was one of the main reasons people were watching. It was unlike anything else on television at the time.”
“[On how the X-Division is Today] Yea it’s definitely not what it was. I dont think it ever will be. I dont think they care to make it what it was. You’ve got to enjoy what’s put in front of you i guess.”
Check out the complete interview at MainEventMadness.com.
According to TMZ, former WWE Superstar Hulk Hogan is now blaming Gawker for leaking the information that led to him having his contract with the WWE terminated.
Hogan is reportedly blaming Gawker’s Nick Denton for leaking the story in an attempt to ruin the $100 million case he currently has against them and believes Denton should be thrown in jail.
The former WWE Superstar has reportedly filed new court documents in his sex tape lawsuit against Gawker and has asked for a full investigation to be launched.
He hopes this will prove that Denton and former executive A.J. Daulerio had leaked confidential information from not only the sex tape video – but also the ‘N’ word story.
Gawker have since released a short statement of their own to TMZ which denies that they had any role in the leaking of this information, it reads:
“Hulk Hogan has only one person to blame for what he said and no one from Gawker had any role in leaking that information.”
– Gawker’s President and general counsel Heather Dietrick.
– Here is the synopsis for Total Divas airing on Tuesday, August 11, 2015 at 9/8 CT on E!: “Nattie is caught in a web of lies after she invites her sister to move in with her; Nikkie is concerned that Brie isn’t taking Bryan’s health seriously enough; and Trinity’s future hinges on her inner bad girl.” The episode is titled “Good Diva, Bad Diva.”
– With the NBA off-season in full swing, Cleveland Cavaliers star forward LeBron James took a moment to connect with his fans as he held an impromptu Q&A session with his Twitter followers on Tuesday afternoon. James, a self-admitted wrestling fan, responded to a question asking who is his favorite wrestler of all-time.
@Briantelevision Ultimate Warrior, Sting, Ric Flair and Legion of Doom
While it has already been confirmed that Sting will be at the “Ultimate SummerSlam Weekend” next month, it doesn’t appear he’s set to appear on the PPV itself.
PWInsider have reported that at present – despite being in the area, WWE don’t have any current plans for Sting during the PPV next month at the Barclays Center.
It has been speculated over the past few weeks that Sting will feature in a match against The Wyatt Family, joining forces with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose.
Sting was also rumoured to be featuring in the feud between Arrow star Stephen Amell and Stardust which was due to build up to a SummerSlam encounter.
Hulk Hogan’s longtime business associate Eric Bischoff recently spoke to the folks at Under The Mat Radio about the controversy surrounding “The Hulkster” over the past week.
“Well, first of all, I think WWE handled it the only way they could,” Bischoff said. “In the entertainment business, especially when you’re a publicly held company, you have to be sensitive not only to your audience, but you have to be sensitive to your advertisers. You have to be sensitive to your business partners.”
Bischoff continued, “You have to be sensitive and respectful of so many different people within the business of the entertainment business that you have to be responsible and you have to take responsible action, and I think that’s exactly what WWE did. I don’t see how they possibly could have kept Hulk in the position that Hulk was in as a quote-unquote ambassador of their company with the kind of horrible publicity that is surrounding him now and will like surround him for quite awhile given everything that is going on.”
– The latest edition of Jim Ross’ “Ross Report” podcast, which is available now, features an interview with WWE Tough Enough’s Patrick Clark. You can download the show right now at PodcastOne.com.
– Speaking of Tough Enough, below is this week’s “Tough Talk” post-show from the WWE Network.
WWE issued a press release on Wednesday to announce that WWE Studios has acquired the rights to “The Resurrection of Gavin Stone.”
WWE® STUDIOS TAKES WORLDWIDE RIGHTS TO THE RESURRECTION OF GAVIN STONE
Brett Dalton, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, D.B. Sweeney, Neil Flynn and WWE Legend Shawn Michaels® Star in the Faith-Based Title< /B>
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (July 29, 2015) – WWE Studios (NYSE: WWE) announced today that it has acquired worldwide rights to The Resurrection of Gavin Stone, a faith-based title from the Harvest Bible Chapel’s Vertical Church Films. The film recently wrapped production and stars Brett Dalton (Marvel’s “Agents of Shield”), Anjelah Johnson-Reyes (Moms’ Night Out), D.B. Sweeney (“Suits,” “24”), Neil Flynn (“The Middle”) and WWE Legend Shawn Michaels.
Written by Andrea Nasfell (Moms’ Night Out) and directed by Dallas Jenkins (What If…), who joined the Harvest Bible Chapel and founded Vertical Church Films, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone tells the story of a former child star turned washed-up and troubled actor. After receiving a 200-hour community service sentence, Gavin Stone (Brett Dalton), pretends to be a Christian so he can play Jesus in a mega-church Easter production in order to fulfill his hours of service. Along the way, he reconnects with his past and builds upon his faith to discover that his most important role is far away from the shining lights of Hollywood.
“It is a privilege to be working with the Harvest Bible Chapel and Vertical Church Films, as they share our understanding of the importance of a strong foundation for storytelling,” said Michael Luisi, President, WWE Studios. “The Resurrection of Gavin Stone is a heartwarming tale of faith and redemption that will allow us to continue growing our audience as we expand into new genres.”
“We’re excited to combine resources with a dynamic company like WWE on such a funny, but meaningful project,” said Fred Adams, Harvest Bible Chapel Executive Business Pastor.Director Dallas Jenkins added, “Gavin’s story is such an entertaining one to tell because the ‘fish out of water’ aspect is so relatable, no matter what the setting.”
WWE Studios will leverage WWE’s extensive platforms from weekly TV shows, including WWE’s flagship programs, Monday Night Raw® and SmackDown®, digital, social media and WWE Network®, to market the title.
Bradley Buchanan negotiated on behalf of WWE Studios.
Former WWE Superstar and Crime Time member JTG recently spoke with our friends at WrestlingInc.com about the hot-button issue of racism in pro wrestling, among other topics.
JTG, who is promoting his new book, “Damn, Why Did I Write This Book?,” spoke about how he initially got the Crime Time gimmick.
“Well, there’s two aspects to the Cryme Tyme gimmick,” JTG said. “There’s the look of the characters. At first, I didn’t want to do it. My original partner was Abraham Washington. He called me up when we were in amateur class in OVW. He said we had an amateur show coming up, and he said if we were trying to get signed we needed to come out with bulletproof vests, fitted hats, a whole bunch of chains. We should wrestle in jeans and Timberlands. I said absolutely not, it’s too stereotypical, and I already bought tights and wrestling boots. He talked me in to it, and we did the amateur show. We blew the roof off at the amateur show.
“The characters, me and Shad came up with that. We did some vignettes down in OVW after we won the titles. Our trainer Al Snow said ‘you don’t have to wrestle every week to get over, do something to get your characters over, show some personality.’ Shad and I went out on your own and put those vignettes together that you saw on WWE. It was two different vignettes, but with WWE there was better production.”
JTG also stated that he feels African-Americans are portrayed in a way that is behind-the-times.
“I think the reason is that on the creative team there aren’t enough people of different backgrounds and age groups,” JTG said. “If they bring in someone who can bring in someone who can bridge that generation gap, I think the African-American wrestlers will have more up-to-date stuff.”
As reported on Tuesday evening, Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) and Trevor Lee, representing Team GFW, defeated The Wolves to become the new TNA Tag-Team Champions at the TNA Impact Wrestling television tapings in Orlando, Florida. However, that wasn’t the only title change that took place last night.
In addition to the tag-titles, Bobby Roode, representing TNA, defeated PJ Black (Justin Gabriel) to become the new King Of The Mountain Champion.
Another big GFW vs. TNA spoiler from last night’s tapings saw Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett cut “shoot promos” on each other. This led to Carter announcing a “Winner Takes All” Lethal Lockdown match for Wednesday’s Impact Wrestling tapings with the winner taking all of TNA’s shares and controlling the company.
The match will be Team GFW vs. Team TNA’s Bobby Lashley, Drew Galloway and The Wolves.
– During RAW it was confirmed that Becky Lynch would take on Nikki Bella in a non-title match on SmackDown however during last night’s tapings, that did not happen.
Instead, Becky Lynch took on Brie Bella as part of the Main Event tapings. No word yet on why the original plans were nixed.
– WWE NXT Champion Finn Balor posted on Twitter yesterday that Hideo Itami had got his Florida state drivers license after apparently 27 attempts:
– WWE has confirmed that Shawn Michaels will be replacing Hulk Hogan as the General Manager of the upcoming live events tour of Australia from August 6-8.
Michaels will be the GM for shows at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on August 6th, Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on August 7th and Sydney’s Qantas Credit Union Arena on August 8th.
Australian fans hoping to get their hands on tickets can do so by clicking this link.
– Following his elimination on Tough Enough, the WWE posted a number of videos featuring Mada speaking with Chris Jericho, Paige and his fellow competitors. Check them out below:
Hardcore Legend Mick Foley has taken to his Twitter to make a special request that on Monday fans join him in celebrating “Damien Sandow Appreciation Day.”
Foley wrote the following to all of his followers with Sandow later thanking him and Mick explaining that he deserves it:
It didn’t take long for Sandow himself to hear about #SandowAppreciationDay and he took to his own Twitter account to give his views on the fan reactions:
Lucha Underground released the following to promote Part one of ‘Ultima Lucha’ which begins tonight on the El Rey Network – with a two hour season finale airing next week:
The two-week mega-event begins on Wednesday with the start of “Ultima Lucha.” To kick it off, El Rey Network has released a 37 minute super cut pulled from 37 hours of the action-packed, high-flying “Lucha Underground.” The video highlights the season’s most thrilling moments with the Luchadores you love and those you love to hate.
The epic 39-episode debut season of “Lucha Underground” closes with the unforgettable two-week event beginning with “Ultima Lucha – Part I” airing Wednesday, July 29th at 8:00 PM ET/PT and the two hour finale “Ultima Lucha – Part II” on Wednesday, August 5th at 8:00 PM ET/PT.
WWE taped the following matches on Tuesday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
– Seth Rollins kicks off this week’s show by coming out to the ring. He talks about John Cena and what happened on Monday’s RAW. Eventually, Rollins is interrupted by Cesaro. Cesaro comes out for our first match of the evening.
– Cesaro def. Seth Rollins via Disqualification in the first match taped for this week’s SmackDown. Kevin Owens joined the gang on commentary during this match and became involved in the finish, which saw Owens attack Cesaro for the DQ. Rollins teased a showdown with Owens but they ended up double-teaming Cesaro instead.
– Los Matadores & The Lucha Dragons def. The New Day & The Ascension in eight-man tag-team action in the second match taped for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
– Summer Rae and Rusev come out for a promo segment in the ring. They address what went down on Monday with Lana and the dead fish at RAW.
– Rusev def. Jack Swagger in the third match taped for SmackDown. Swagger got a big hometown pop since he is from Oklahoma. After the match, which Rusev won, he tried to attack Swagger some more, however Swagger ended up countering him and applying the Patriot Lock.
– Stardust def. R-Truth in the fourth match taped for this week’s SmackDown. Stardust was cutting a promo in the ring after the match when Neville ran out and attacked him.
– Cesaro & Dean Ambrose def. Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins in the fifth and final match taped for this week’s show. Cesaro picked Ambrose as his mystery partner. The finish of this match saw Ambrose counter a Pop-Up Powerbomb attempt by Owens, which allowed Cesaro to roll Owens up for the 1-2-3. This is how SmackDown will go off the air this week.