WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair is scheduled to appear on tonight’s RAW from Pittsburgh, PA, according to PWInsider.com.
Flair’s appearance comes just two weeks after he spoke out about the controversial contract signing angle between his daughter Charlotte and Paige, which led to several awkward mentions of Flair’s deceased son Reid.
No word yet on what Flair’s role will be on RAW this week, but he’ll most likely be involved with Charlotte’s feud with Paige.
Make sure to visit SEScoops.com later this evening for live WWE RAW results coverage!
WWE’s top female wrestlers continue to push for the return of the Women’s Championship.
The WWE website is running a poll asking fans which championship they want to see brought back. Choices include Hardcore, Women’s, Cruiserweight, European and Million Dollar titles. With over 25,000 votes cast, the Hardcore title has 48% of the vote, followed by the Women’s belt with 28%.
WWE Divas Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Bayely took to social media to make it clear they would much rather be competing for a WWE Women’s Championship instead of a butterfly Divas accessory.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley recently spoke with Digitalspy.com about working with Eva Marie in NXT. Here are some highlights:
Why she loves working with Eva Marie:
“I love being in a ring with Eva Marie because of the crowd reaction she gets. It also helps me feed off of it. Even being in the ring with her is something really special. This may sound funny – I’ve never heard fans boo somebody as much as they boo her. To me it’s amazing because the fans really care about what’s going on in the ring.
“Whether they hate her, or they love me, or they just don’t want this match to happen, or they do want the match to happen, whatever it is they care about it. It’s an amazing feeling that a person can get the reaction like she does from all these fans. They hate her and it just makes our job so much more fun. At least for me – I don’t know how she feels!”
Did Eva Marie deserve an NXT Women’s title match?
“Right… there’s tonnes of people who in my opinion deserve a match before her, but I know she’s been training hard. I guess she has her ways and just asks for the match. Our stories are very different, I had to work for it! But she can do whatever she wants… I’ll show her.”
ECW Original Raven recently appeared as a guest on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast and spoke about some issues he had during his early run in WWE, as well as his thoughts on a potential return to the company. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On what he felt the best match at WrestleMania 19 was:
“[Jericho] and Michaels had a phenomenal match, but I still thought that the best match, no offense, on the card was Hulk and Vince because Vince’s facials and they didn’t have 20 minutes of false finishes. I think they had just a comeback and go home, right? But I remember there was this one spot where Vince picked something up and he peers. Like, his head pops up and he’s peering over across the ring and the camera picks it up and I’m like, ‘oh, what a shot!'”
On leaving WWE during his run as Johnny Polo in the 1990s due to the company’s sex policy:
“Nobody leaves this company on their own terms. I did, so that was heat. Then, there [were] some other things that I can’t get into that were heat and so it was a whole confluence of things that were partially my fault, definitely partially my fault, and just circumstances. They made the policy that talent couldn’t sleep with the office people. I was proud of that.”
On getting heat with Vince McMahon for partying with Shane McMahon:
“They used to call me Johnny Port Chester Polo because Stamford [Connecticut], they rolled the sidewalks up at one o’clock, but Port Chester [New York] was open till, like, five in the morning. It’s, like, five miles away. My downfall was I’d bring Shane out with me, Shane McMahon. And the boys are like, ‘ah, you’re sucking up to him’ and I’m like, ‘no, I’m not! I’m burying myself’ because he’d call his dad, and on commentary, I’d call his dad ‘Vic’ instead of ‘Vince’, so he’d go, ‘hey, Vic,’ which is just horrible! He’d say, ‘hey, Vic, it’s,’ and it would be, like, four in the morning, ‘I’m just going to sleep at Johnny Polo’s tonight’ and so I just buried myself.”
On the possibility of a WWE return:
“Honestly, if I could go back, if I could go there now, I don’t think I would because I’d rather be semi-retired. If I had an opportunity to come in, which I don’t, but if I had an opportunity to come in and do what I wanted to do the way I wanted to do it, I’d take that in a heartbeat. But the odds of me ever getting that and the odds of them ever hiring me are [astronomically small], but the odds of me getting to do what I want to do are beyond [astronomically small].”
Well-respected trainer Rudy Boy Gonzalez recently spoke with The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast about his time working with Shawn Michaels in the TWA promotion, training Daniel Bryan and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On working with Shawn Michaels as the TWA wrestling school was launched:
“The time period you are talking about was that he had “the attitude” and “was hard to work with” and he didn’t want to drop the belt and he had the fight with Bret Hart. But at the wrestling school, he was just another guy. All the stuff that I had heard about him, we weren’t actually buddies although we lived in the same town. Whenever I did stuff with WWF we would see each other in the hall and just say whats up. The first day of training we just talked and it was me, Ken Johnson and Jose Lothario and we just talked about what we wanted and our ideas were all pretty much the same. Not that there is anything wrong with what Jose or Ken wanted but Jose wanted more of the old school style of beating guys up and making them earn it. But we taught guys and treated them as young men.”
On Shawn Michaels’ perceived attitude in the late 90s and how he carried himself at the TWA school:
“Shawn never or not once did he ever come in there as the Heartbreak Kid, he came in there as just Coach Shawn. All the stuff you saw on TV never came in there. He never had an attitude and just trained with everyone with what he could do because his back was still injured from his surgery. He was just one of the guys and it was just great. I wish he still had the school so I could work with him and so we could just talk. That Shawn Michaels, the Heartbreak Kid guy never existed at the school.”
On training Bryan and his superstardom:
“You knew he was going to have a spot because Bryan was just “that guy” and just a nice guy. He did everything that was asked of him and was always on time, trained hard and did things without an excuse. He was always asking questions. He and Brian Kendrick became very good friends and were also very competitive so if by chance I would say to Spanky that was pretty good, then Bryan Danielson would work twice as hard to out due Brian Kendrick. But both of those guys you knew would be able to compete but to be very honest I never knew he (Danielson) would become THE guy in WWE and at that time it was Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Kane, The Godfather I never thought I could see RAW and say I can see Bryan Danielson doing anything like that. But watching him rise the way he has, I see him and I am proud of him, wish him the best with his health issues and I hope he gets over it. Everything he was getting, he deserves.”
On working with Bryan Danielson:
“Bryan Danielson’s first match was against me. Shawn had asked to put him in a show and see how he does. He didn’t have any gear and had wrestling shoes a pair of shorts and a muscle shirt. Shawn wanted us to go like ten minuets, so I told him to do what ever he wanted to do. I wanted him to call the match and lets see what he can do. I’m not ashamed to say this but two minuets into the match I was blown sky-high. He just took off and I didn’t want to stop him. When we went home, I beat him and I have an undefeated record against Bryan Danielson. When I came through the curtain and I guess my eyes were blood shot and Shawn asked me if I was okay and I said; Jesus Christ that kid is good.”
Pop TV President Brad Schwartz recently spoke with Jim Varsallone of MiamiHerald.com to discuss how they became the official cable television home of TNA Impact Wrestling. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On how Pop TV became the new cable television home for TNA Impact Wrestling:
“Dixie and the Impact team were looking for a new home for their series. They had huge success on Spike. Millions of viewers watching every week, and they really enjoyed that success. In switching to another network [Destination America] which didn’t have the distribution that Spike had, they obviously noticed a little bit of a hit to the success that they had.”
On how their deal came about:
“So [TNA was] actively looking for a new television partner, and I think made the rounds and met with a lot of cable networks to see where a home might be. We were on their list of calls, and they came in [about a couple of months ago], and we had our entire team meet with them and listen to the pitch and listen to what they wanted to do — where they saw the company going, where they saw [pro wrestling] going. That’s how it came to our attention.”
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin was joined by Wade Keller on his latest podcast to discuss several topics. One subject the WWE Hall of Famer went off on was Cesaro.
Austin expressed disappointment that Cesaro is on the injured list right now, saying it’s unfortunate because it was time for WWE to “give him the ball” and run with it. Now that he’s forced to take time off due to a shoulder injury, Austin says Cesaro should use that time to sit back and come up with ideas to re-invent himself. Austin said,
“Time for this guy to come back both guns blazing. F**k all of the politics. I’m going to the top.”
Legend has it that Austin came up with his “Stone Cold” name and character while sitting at home when frustrated with what the WWF was coming up with for him.
Stone Cold also praised Cesaro’s in-ring work, but said he’s a guy who’s been “lost in the shuffle” of the storylines. Austin’s advice for Cesaro was to stay home and not only rest his body, but his brain, and use the time on coming up with something fresh for his character on WWE TV.
Cesaro underwent shoulder surgery on November 23rd, and is expected to be out 4 to 6 months.
As noted earlier, Matt Hardy was busted open the hard way on Saturday night during his match against Jeff Jarrett at WrestleCade IV. Jarrett captured the WrestleCade championship after cracking Matt Hardy over the heat with a guitar – which didn’t break upon impact. Hardy received 38 stitches in his head and was hospitalized due to the injury.
Thanks for all your concern, SMF. Staying overnight at the hospital for observation. Gotta take care of my brain. pic.twitter.com/LJuvGWVziu
Rhyno recently spoke with CultofWhatever.com about his time in TNA and more. Here are the highlights of what he said about:
TNA’s attempts to capitalize on ECW:
“I don’t necessarily think it was ECW, I think it was more the hardcore element and fans really enjoyed that moment. ECW was basically a group of men and women that were rejected and told they weren’t good enough and they were either let go from WCW/WWE or they couldn’t even get looked at by those two companies. ECW took in all the guys that were rejected and we all had something to prove and I think the fans could relate to it.”
His favorite things about working for TNA:
Again I had a fantastic time in TNA, I got to share a locker room with legends of the industry, Ric Flair and Kevin Nash. I got to pick their brains, Kevin and I became really good friends, it was quite surreal to be standing there with Ric Flair and just picking his brains. After several months I asked Ric if he knew what I was doing and he said yeah you’re picking my brain and that’s how you learn in this industry.
I talked to Ric about the matches with him and Harley Race and how they worked and he was just so generous with the information, I was soaking it all in and trying to figure out how I could fit it into my work.
Posted November 29th, 2015 in News, TNA. Tagged: Rhyno.
Noelle Foley, daughter of Mick Foley, recently spoke with Justin Labar of Chair Shot Reality about her future in the pro wrestling business. Here are some quick highlights of what she said about:
If she plans to make pro wrestling her full-time career:
“I think so. I’ve grown up. I was literally born into wrestling. It’s all I’ll ever know, well, I hope I’ll know more, but yeah I’ve just grown into it. I watch every week. Go to a bunch of shows.”
Training to become a WWE Diva:
“Yes, I did train a little, just a little. But I slowly got into other things so I’m going to try to do those other things and then really get into it when the time is right.”
NXT Champion Finn Balor recently appeared on The Taz Show: Bodyslams & Beyond show, a live two-hour daily show (NOT a podcast) hosted by the multi-time world champion.
Balor spoke about his transition from the independent scene to WWE. Not only was it a big change joining the NXT roster and working a different style than he was used to, but also moving to the United States. After living in Ireland (which was “peaceful”) and Japan, calling Florida home has taken some getting used to for him.
He also commented on the possibility of being called up to the main roster. Echoing what he’s said in previous interviews, Balor indicated he’s in no rush to leave NXT and takes a lot of pride in building the NXT brand:
“A lot of people keep bringing up that question, this ‘when are you getting called up to the quote, unquote main roster?’, but I really believe that the stuff we’re doing down at NXT is going to go down in history as a period of time that has changed the sports entertainment business and I want to be here in NXT and be a part of what we’re doing right now because it really does feel like something special. And there’s this real kind of camaraderie among the boys, [and] really, like, team effort. And it’s something that I’m not in a hurry to step away from. I’m here for the long haul.”
Bálor continued, “a lot of people are kind of always focused on what’s coming next and trying to get onto the next thing, but I’m very much living in the moment here at NXT and I’m happy to be flying the flag as NXT Champion.”
Finn Balor defends his NXT title against Samoa Joe at NXT Takeover: London on Wednesday, December 16th.
Jeff Jarrett defeated Matt Hardy to become the new WrestleCade Heavyweight Champion on Saturday night at WrestleCade IV from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It was actually the first time the two had ever squared off in singles action.
Hardy got busted open the hard way at end of the match when Jarrett cracked him over the head with a guitar that did not break. Hardy had a huge gash on his head (graphic)and was hospitalized after the show, where he received 38 stitches to close the wound.
Here are the complete results from WrestleCade IV: Showcase of Champions:
Reality of Wrestling champion Mysterious Q wrestled AML champ Greek God Papadon to a ten-minute time limit draw.
AML/NWA tag champs the Heatseekers defeated The American Wolves.
CW Anderson pinned 2 Cold Scorpio.
Shelton Benjamin beat Ken Anderson (w/Armando Alejandro Estrada) 2-1 in a best of three falls match.
Team ODB (ODB, Tessa Blanchard, and Taeler Hendricks) beat Team Havok (Havok, Barbi Hayden, and Amber O’Neal/Gallows) in a six-woman tag match.
GFW Nex*Gen champ Sonjay Dutt defeated Matt Sydal with a top rope splash.
Gunner beat Luke Hawx in a steel cage match by escaping through the cage door.
EC3 won a battle royal to earn a future AML Title shot after last eliminating Raj Singh (f/k/a Jinder Mahal).
John Morrison pinned PJ Black after hitting Starship Pain.
Jeff Jarrett (w/Karen Jarrett) defeated Matt Hardy to win the WrestleCade Championship.
Sami Callihan returned to the independent scene in a big way this weekend with a surprise appearance for Chicago’s AAW promotion. After being granted his release from WWE NXT, the former Solomon Crowe attacked new AAW Champion Eddie Kingston, who had just defeated Trevor Lee and Ethan Page to win the title.
WWE’s William Regal recently appeared as a guest alongside Sheamus and King Barrett on an episode of the WWE Network show, Table For 3. During the show, Regal revealed that dressing in drag during a RAW Roulette show was his favorite moment in his career. He also spoke about how wrestlers shouldn’t take themselves too seriously and how his old WWE character defined his career. Below are some of the highlights.
On dressing in drag on RAW:
“That was probably my favorite thing I’ve ever done in the entire time I’ve been in wrestling. Doing that was the most actual fun I ever had.”
“If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right. I want the full Vegas showgirl [regalia]. I want the thing, but where are we going to get [that]? I want red high heels. Where are we going to get that? It just happened that we were in Vegas. Well, actually, I’m nearly a [size] 12 [shoe], so they went and got me 13 size red [heels], but we were in Vegas, so it was okay. It all worked out nicely.”
On how his five week run as a “Real Man’s Man” gimmick in WWE has defined his career:
“It lasted five weeks. I had a 30-year solid wrestling career in 40 countries and I’d been pretty successful at lots of things, but that five weeks has defined my entire career. And people still sing that song to me every day and I’m not making this up, every time I call the office, and they put me on hold, it’s that thing playing down the phone line.”
On how wrestlers shouldn’t take themselves too seriously:
“If you take yourself too seriously, you’ve got no chance in this job. You cannot take yourself seriously. You’ve got to embrace whatever is given and make the most of every opportunity to make it funny or to make it memorable. [Austin and Angle are] two serious fellas, right? So comfortable with themselves they’re happy to do anything. That’s the key to it. When you’re happy and you’re comfortable with yourself and you’re not worried about being a top guy, you’ll make the most out of anything and make it work.”
This past week, I was looking at some clippings in old newsletters and found one of a Vince McMahon interview from some point in 1985 (it wasn’t dated) in the Boston Globe’s weekend magazine. Most of it was pretty run of the mill (his background in promoting, the appeal of pro wrestling, and so on), but there was one question and answer that stood out as especially interesting as well as relevant in 2015….
For those of you who need a text version for screen readers and the like:
Are you putting more effort into women’s wrestling these days?
“Yes. I see it as a growth area. I think that women’s wrestling was an area that was overlooked for many years, and it wasn’t until recently that a very attractive element, physically, began to enter ladies’ wrestling. And with the advent of Cyndi Lauper and Wendi Richter who now, there will be a deluge of female athletes who are nice looking as well. Not that all women wrestlers have to be nice-looking, because they won’t be. Just as all male wrestlers aren’t handsome devils.”
Richter’s last ever WWF match was not long after this, which was 30 years ago this past week. Having said she wanted time to read a new contract before signing it, a screwjob was pulled on her to take the Women’s Championship without her cooperation:
– Jim Cornette is getting some heat after WYMT-TV posted a 30-year old wrestling promo from Cornette where he mocks people buying their Thanksgiving meals with food stamps. You can check out the promo above.
– WWE appears to be going forward with a feud between The Wyatt Family and The Dudley Boyz following the attack angles on this week’s RAW and SmackDown shows. WWE.com posted the following teaser for Monday’s RAW:
“We don’t want to imagine what Thanksgiving is like in the Wyatt compound, but The Eater of Worlds and his cruel kin gorged themselves on destruction this past Thursday on SmackDown, where they destroyed D-Von Dudley and sent his brother Bubba Ray through a table — using The Dudley Boyz’ own pine-splintering pastime against them.
Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman have twice obliterated Dudleyville’s favorite sons since Survivor Series, but something tells us the macabre quartet is just getting started. What sinister plans do The Wyatt Family have for Raw?”
– The latest edition of WWE Top 10, which you can check out above, looks at ten underrated “table bashings” in WWE history.
– ECW Original Balls Mahoney missed the Pro Wrestling Syndicate event in New Jersey last weekend after being involved in a car accident. Mahoney was reportedly side-swiped by another vehicle on the Garden State Parkway and had to be hospitalized as a result. At last word, Mahoney was dealing with an injured hip as a result of the accident, but was in stable condition.
– WWE posted the following tweet to promote a new WWE.com feature on the 25 most personal grudges in history.
Former IWGP Champion AJ Styles was pulled from his scheduled booking at the New Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag League event on Saturday due to an undisclosed injury. The severity of the injury is also unknown at this time.
For what it’s worth, Styles also missed some time last month, including a set of Ring Of Honor television tapings, due to a back injury.
Styles did, however, inform fans that he would be ready to go for the ROH Final Battle pay-per-view in December, where he is scheduled to go one-on-one with Jay Lethal.
NXT Champion Finn Balor recently appeared as a guest on The Taz Show: Bodyslams & Beyond to discuss all things NXT. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On NXT talents that have ‘blown him away’:
“The growth that a lot of the boys have shown in the last year since I got here is just unbelievable. The likes of like Jason Jordan [and] Chad Gable, they’re two guys that, in the last year, have blown me away with their growth.”
On his demon body paint:
“Honestly, I’m just a fan of art. I’m a fan of expressionism. I’m a fan of changing things on the fly. I’m a fan of just going with the flow and being in the moment and that’s really what the demon is for me. It just kind of helps me channel, kind of, maybe an inner, darker side. People accuse me of being kind of too nonchalant or too laid back and too introverted and I feel like the demon definitely helps me bring a different side of my personality out.”
– WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus recently took part in a photo shoot for a future issue of Shespoke Magazine. Trish tweeted the following photos from the shoot.
– WrestleCade announced that WWE Hall Of Famer Harley Race has been pulled from their WrestleCade IV event in Winston-Salem, North Carolina due to health issues.
– The Undertaker is featured on the cover of the 2015 WWE Survivor Series DVD, which is scheduled for a December 22nd release. Below is the artwork for the DVD, courtesy of Amazon:
The first-ever Global Force Wrestling title change took place at the WrestleCade Showcase of Champions event in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Friday.
Sonjay Dutt defeated previous champion PJ Black (Justin Gabriel) to become the new NEX*GEN Champion.
Dutt is scheduled to defend the title against John Hennigan (John Morrison) at the WrestleCade event tonight in Winston.
Below are photos of the former and new NEX*GEN Champion.
– Lana has been cleared to return to WWE, according to a report by Squared Circle Sirens. She has been training at the Performance Center in Orlando and was backstage at Monday’s RAW from Nashville, where her and Rusev live. She has been off the road since undergoing surgery on her wristin early September.
– Former WWE star Brad Maddox is now taking bookings. Promoters can reach out to bradmaddoxbookings@yahoo.com. During his 90-day no-compete period, he is restricted from making any televised appearances for rival promotions.
As noted earlier this week, he was released from WWE as a result of him using the phrase “cocky pricks” while ripping on the Indianapolis Colts prior to his dark match at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings.
Posted November 27th, 2015 in News, WWE. Tagged: Lana.
Former WWE performers Chyna and Billy Gunn reunited this week. The two have been friends since their days as DX members and Chyna has credited Gunn for being a great friend to her during her breakup with Triple H and eventual departure from WWE back in the early 2000’s.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated his official blog at JRsBarBQ.com with his thoughts on how WWE should handle the build to WrestleMania 32, some of the big stars they could bring in and more. Below are some of the highlights.
On the WWE title being ‘tepid’ heading into WrestleMania season:
“I can’t recall the WWE Title being more ‘tepid’ than it is right going into [WrestleMania season] for WWE. This is not an indictment on Sheamus who I have great respect for and love his work ethic but the title lost a great deal of luster after Seth Rollins suffered an untimely, major knee injury.”
On the two biggest stars WWE can bring in for WrestleMania 32:
“The two most viable stars that WWE could bring in for WM32 or so it seems might be Goldberg and Batista. Austin and HBK are adamant that their wrestling days are history, Hogan is still on the outs with the company plus he doesn’t need to wrestle a match with his back condition and Rock has movie commitments I’m told as does Ronda Rousey.
For those that think that Austin and HBK would do ‘one more match’ for the right money, please, just stop it.”
On Daniel Bryan awaiting doctor’s clearance:
“As Dave Meltzer and I discussed this week on The Ross Report Podcast, if Dr. Joe Maroon, WWE’s medical guru, doesn’t clear Daniel Bryan we don’t think it matters how many other doctor’s say that it’s OK for DB to return to the ring. If I was still in charge of WWE roster, I’d go strictly on what Dr. Maroon says.”
