– WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus’ WWE Network “Pick of the Week” was his own victory over Roman Reigns at this past Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view. You can watch his comments on the pick above.
– Lance Storm took a light-hearted shot at Tyler Breeze when responding to a fan on Twitter who recently asked him how it felt to train some of the best talent in the world. Storm sarcastically replied with the following, which Breeze also reacted to.
– In honor of his birthday, Tyson Kidd posted a photo on Twitter of a pair of boots that were given to him by the late WWE legend “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith back in 1998.
Davey Boy Smith gave me these boots in 1998. They're one of my most prized possessions. Happy Birthday, Davey pic.twitter.com/IxbvPbPGkm
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated the Q&A section of JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights from this latest installment:
Vince McMahon being blamed for WWE’s lackluster product:
JR: “Vince is the General and he does not back away from responsibility. He should take the responsibility and he does. There is one boss in WWE and that’s Vince McMahon.”
Can WWE put together a good enough WrestleMania card to draw 100,000 fans?
JR: “I still feel WWE will do over 100,000 fans at WrestleMania in April. How the card shapes up is a mystery to me at this time.”
Roman Reigns’ 5-minute WWE title reign:
JR: “As I have said on numerous podcasts and in many blogs here on the site, I have always thought that Reigns should have been a villain champ but that’s not what is occurring. Not wild about the minutes long title reigns. However it seems like Roman is beginning to gain a foothold.”
– The Gobbledy Gooker returned on Thursday’s Thanksgiving edition of WWE SmackDown. Featured above is a SmackDown Fallout video with The Usos backstage, with one of them in the Gobbledy Gooker costume.
– Also featured on SmackDown Fallout this week, as seen below, is Jack Swagger promising that “We The People” isn’t dead.
– As we reported as a spoiler earlier this week, Dean Ambrose defeated Dolph Ziggler and Tyler Breeze in a triple-threat match on this week’s SmackDown to become the number one contender to the WWE Intercontinental Championship. With the win, Ambrose earned himself a shot at Kevin Owens and the I-C title at next month’s WWE TLC pay-per-view.
– NXT Champion Finn Balor is on the road with the main WWE roster for this weekend’s non-televised live events.
– Instead of shopping on Black Friday, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan is supporting International Buy Nothing Day. He posted a photo of someone holding a “Buy Nothing Day” sign on his official Instagram page today, accompanied by the following write-up:
“Today I’m participating Buy Nothing Day, an international protest against consumerism. And more than just this one day, my goal is to buy much less and to give/experience much more this holiday season. One of the most radical things we can do in today’s society is to buy nothing.”
– Speaking of Black Friday, coincidentally enough, Bryan’s wife — Brie Bella — is featured on the advertisement WWE has been pushing today to promote their Black Friday specials at WWE Shop. WWE tweeted the following:
Ring of Honor sent out a press release on Thursday announcing that new ROH TV Champion Roderick Strong will be putting his gold on the line against Bobby Fish at next month’s Final Battle 2015 PPV. With that match set, here’s the updated card:
ROH World Championship Jay Lethal (c) w/ Truth Martini vs “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles
ROH World Tag Team Championship The Kingdom (c) w/ Maria vs War Machine
ROH TV Championship Roderick Strong (c) vs. Bobby Fish
ROH Final Battle ’15 airs live Pay Per View on Friday, December 18th from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA.
Sean Waltman is no stranger to dealing with the size issue in the wrestling industry, particularly in WWE. The former nWo and D-X member recently spoke to WrestleTalk TV about Daniel Bryan’s recent issues with size in WWE.
“I went through a lot of the same things. It’s a personal thing. You can’t fault somebody for having perfect personal preference. What did it for Vince was a big guy with a great physique, clean cut. He’s had to let this thing go, but Vince hates tattoos.”
Waltman went on to use Bret Hart as an example of someone who by boxing and MMA standards would be considered a heavyweight, but in WWE, was one of the smaller champions in the history of the company.
“It kind of reminds me of Bret a little bit. Bret was always Vince’s standby guy. When he went with Lex Luger, that didn’t pan out. Part of it wasn’t Lex’s fault. When you put a guy in red, white and blue and put him on a bus and say ‘this is our guy!’ No it’s not! That always fell back on Bret. I would resent that, like I’m the second choice all the time. Good ol’ standy Bret will always be there. Kind of like Daniel, cause Daniel is smaller. They’re forced to listen to the people.”
Bret “The Hitman” Hart recently did an interview with Sports Illustrated where he gave his thoughts on Roman Reigns, and who he thinks is the best wrestling manager ever. Here are some highlights:
On Paul Heyman:
“Paul Heyman is the best manager in wrestling, ever,” said Hart. “But he also loves the business. In order to be as smart a guy as he is about wrestling, you need to first be a really big wrestling fan. He was a kid who grew up watching wrestling. We share that, and we both have an appreciation for everything–from guys like Abdullah the Butcher to Rey Mysterio, and all kinds of different styles, shapes, and sizes. You need to have a whole assortment of chocolates in the box.”
On Roman Reigns:
“Reigns is just like Kevin Nash,” said Hart. “If you look back at Reigns, his character was getting over really good on his own. Then they rushed him into a babyface turn and crammed him down everybody’s thoughts, and people rejected him. It wasn’t his fault. It was kind of like with Kevin Nash. He was slowly getting over, and I wrestled him at [the 1994] King of the Ring and we had a really good match. All of a sudden, by August, they were ready to make him the new champion. And I’m going, ‘He’s not ready yet. Give him a little time and let him get even more over.’ Why is there a rush? Reigns got dealt a bad set of cards. It has nothing to do with his work rate–he’s a really good worker and his style is really good. He just needs to be himself.”
You can read the full interview where he speaks on Triple H, Daniel Bryan and others here.
On episode 28 of Ric Flair’s WOOOOO! Nation podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer recalls his match with Shawn Michaels in 1991, and being in Evolution with HHH, Batista and Randy Orton. Here are some highlights:
If he knew Shawn Michaels had something special after their first encounter:
“Yes, I sure did. We only had four minutes to wrestle [on WWF Prime Time], but I knew. I’d seen him and he was still in the tag team situation. But yeah, he was tremendous. Yep, I sure did.”
On how Evolution came together:
“Evolution, [the] complete idea came about as a result of Hunter wanting to bring up some young guys. And Hunter and I were very close friends and he said, ‘what do you think about this and that?’, and I didn’t know Randy [Orton] and Dave [Batista] at the time. And they got there, Hunter came up with the name, and talked about different names. And it just was a fresh start for those guys, a fresh start for me, it gave me an opportunity to position myself with some great young athletes and, at that time, probably the best worker in the business, Hunter, either it would be Hunter or Shawn, and I couldn’t be in a better place. But we had a lot of fun together. Just Randy and Dave were just great guys and to this day, I remain very friendly with them.”
“There [are] not any Evolution stories. I couldn’t get Hunter to have a glass of wine if I had a million dollars. It didn’t happen. Now, Dave Batista, I did go out with a few times, Randy a few times, but I was very conservative. Those guys, both wonderful guys. Now Dave, I did get him to take off his shirt a few times in a bar when Hunter wasn’t around.”
– Dolph Ziggler recently spoke with The Herald Dispatch to promote the WWE live event at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, West Virginia. During the interview, Ziggler spoke about being paired on television with Lana.
“It took us (Ziggler and Lana) time to develop chemistry. When we had that bond, it was OK,” Ziggler said. “I like to be in control, be the leader, do things myself. You know look out for myself. If Summer’s with Tyler, so be it.”
– ECW Original Taz has a Thanksgiving theme for the latest edition of “The Taz Show: Bodyslams & Beyond” podcast. The official description for the episode reads as follows:
Tazgiving Hump Day Promos!
It’s a Tazgiving Hump Day special! This week’s topic: why your Thanksgiving is going to be the best. In addition, a possible new faction arises to compete with the Tazmaniax!
– WWE posted the following tweet to promote a new WWE.com feature that looks at the history of WWE World Heavyweight Champions, including current champion Sheamus.
– In the “holiday spirit” department, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, along with longtime top WWE Superstar and the star of the new FOX reality show “American Grit,” John Cena, posted the following Thanksgiving messages on Twitter today.
Today is the day to truly remember what we’re thankful for in life. Happy Thanksgiving to the WWE Universe.
– In keeping with the Thanksgiving theme, WWE.com is running a poll today asking fans which WWE Superstar they are the most thankful for. The options include Roman Reigns, John Cena, Dean Ambrose, Charlotte, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, The New Day, Dolph Ziggler, Paige, The Dudley Boyz, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, The Usos, Kane, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Ryback, Natalya and “Other.” Leading the pack with 17 percent is The Undertaker, followed by Roman Reigns (14%), Dean Ambrose (12%), John Cena (10%), Cesaro (7%) and The New Day (7%).
– SEScoops.com would like to wish everyone a healthy and happy Thanksgiving!
Tommy Gilbert, a regular in Tennessee wrestling from the 1960s through the 1980s, passed away on Thursday at age 75.
Gilbert and Eddie Marlin were a regular babyface tag-team in the 1960s, working against many of the top heel tag-teams of the era like The Interns and The Von Brauners. He was also part of other championship tag-teams with the likes of Bearcat Brown, Ricky Gibson, Sputnik Monroe, Ron Wright, Tojo Yamamoto.
Tommy Gilbert also worked a father-and-son tag-team act with his son, fellow wrestling star Eddie Gilbert.
Gilbert’s son, Doug, wrote the following about his father’s passing on Thursday:
“Earlier this morning, my dad Tommy Gilbert left us and is now home in heaven with Eddie. Prayers during this difficult time are appreciated.”
WWE confirmed on this week’s episode of NXT that Sami Zayn will be returning soon. He’s been out of action since undergoing shoulder surgery back in June.
The former NXT Champion returned to training at the WWE Performance Center earlier this week and is advertised for December’s NXT UK tour.
– Following her loss to Bayley in the NXT Women’s Championship match on this week’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network, which aired on Wednesday evening, WWE Diva and Total Divas star Eva Marie spoke to WWE.com about coming up short and how she’s earned everything she’s gotten while in WWE, noting that nothing has been “handed to her.” You can check out the new Eva Marie interview above.
– On next week’s edition of NXT, Samoa Joe and Tommaso Ciampa will go one-on-one. In an interesting statistic, both Joe and Ciampa have worked for WWE, ROH and TNA during the 2015 calendar year.
– WWE posted the following video showing NXT Women’s Champion Bayley struggling to her feet after being attacked by Nia Jax on this week’s edition of NXT TV.
The TNA World Title Series continued on this week’s edition of Impact Wrestling, which aired on Destination America on Wednesday evening.
Matches scheduled to air on next week’s show for the round of 16 includes:
* Bobby Roode vs. Matt Hardy
* Jessie Godderz vs. Awesome Kong
* Eric Young vs. Kenny King
* Gail Kim vs. Tigre Uno
* Mahabali Shera vs. Eli Drake
* Bobby Lashley vs. Drew Galloway
* Bram vs. Davey Richards
* Ethan Carter III vs. DJ Zema Ion
Coming out of week eight on Wednesday night, below are the final standings for the TNA World Title Series.
Tag Team Specialists Group: Eddie Edwards (1 point), Davey Richards (4 points), Robbie E (3 points), Matt Hardy (9 points)
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley recently sat down for an in-depth interview on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast to talk about a number of topics related to her career. Below are some of the highlights.
On being separated from the rest of the Four Horsewomen and becoming the focal point of the NXT Women’s division:
“It’s kind of bittersweet. It’s really weird and hard to [explain] because I grew up with them. We started in NXT together and Full Sail [University] together. To watch them go off [to the main roster], like, it’s amazing and I’m so proud [of them], but it’s kind of like, ‘man, I miss having them around!’ I miss having matches with them, but at the same time, it’s all eyes on me [now] and I’m like the front end of this new era of women coming up in NXT. And it’s like, man, there are so many amazing performers coming up and I’m so happy that I’m the [NXT Women’s] Champion and get to be a part of it and get to work with them.”
On becoming a locker room leader in NXT:
“It’s really cool because now I’m literally the one who has been here the longest out of the women who we train with. And, so, I try to be the best leader in the locker room that I can.” Bayley continued, “I really enjoy helping and teaching and stuff. And when we’re training with Sara Del Rey, if she misses something, she asks me if there’s something that I saw that maybe she didn’t catch. And, so, it feels really cool. I’m kind of like a little assistant [coach] sometimes. It’s a whole new level of learning when I’m able to help someone else out.”
On avoiding getting a big ego:
“At the [WWE] Performance Center, we’re all at the same level. We’re all at NXT. We’re all wanting to get to the main roster. That’s the way I see it. That’s the way Coach [Matt] Bloom always says it. We’re all right here. Whether we’re the champions or not, we all need to treat each other equal.”
On her feelings that WWE would try and change her character:
“It was really, really weird. I felt like they were going to try to change me and if I didn’t change, I wasn’t going to succeed. That’s how I felt coming in, but I knew I was going to try no matter what. Like, ‘I’m going to give this a shot. This is where I want to be, so I’ve got to try to fit into wherever they want me to be to be this huge Diva.'” Bayley added, “I didn’t think I was this amazing wrestler. It’s just wrestling is all I knew and I kind of felt like, ‘I don’t have the look for that anyways. They probably wouldn’t want to use me for those type of things,’ so I didn’t even expect them to want to put me on these bikini posters and stuff like that, so it wasn’t really something that I was too worried about.”
On how the Divas Revolution came about:
“It was kind of like a combination of everyone’s work because, obviously, Sasha and Charlotte, and when Becky came, we were all just wrestlers. And I think we were listening and kind of taking everybody’s [advice], the coaches opinions, and we were learning and stuff. We weren’t ignoring what they wanted. We were still [saying], ‘okay, that’s what you want me to do? I’ll do that.’ But we were still having these matches and the crowd was getting into it. I really think it was the fans that helped the Revolution. They loved watching us wrestle! It kind of seemed like it turned everybody’s heads, and especially Triple H.”
On how the inflatable tube men became part of her entrance:
“So the tube men, they kind of like surprised me with that one day, where they were like, ‘we have something really cool for your entrance. We think it will match you perfectly.'” Bayley continued, “so they were just like, ‘we want to do this rehearsal with you, so we’ll surprise you. Just do the rehearsal.’ It was before the show, so I come out, I’m doing my entrance, and then they pop up and I’m like, ‘oh my God! This is perfect!’ It was such a legit surprise and the colors [matched] with my [ring] gear and all that. It just seemed like so perfect.”
On “Macho Man” Randy Savage influencing some of her ring gear:
“‘Macho Man’ was who drew me to wrestling. The first time I saw him, I was like ‘oh my gosh! He is so cool!’, so that’s just something I wanted to kind of carry on and nobody does it. It’s different, so that was going to stand out on it’s own and it’s my own little ‘Macho Man’ thing.”
– The Thanksgiving edition of “This Week In WWE History,” which you can check out above, features Corey Graves and Kyle Edwards looking at a “Turkey-On-A-Pole Match” featuring Team Sgt. Slaughter vs. Team Larry Zbyszko from the AWA.
– WWE’s official website has confirmed Apollo Crews vs. Baron Corbin for the NXT TakeOver: London show on December 16th. They are billing the match as a battle of two of NXT’s hottest prospects.
– WWE taped the following matches on Tuesday evening in Indianapolis, Indiana for tonight’s Thanksgiving edition of WWE SmackDown:
* The Dudley Boyz vs. Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman
* Paige vs. Becky Lynch
* The First Annual New Day Potluck Dinner
* Jack Swagger vs. WWE United States Champion Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match
* The Lucha Dragons vs. Big E and Kofi Kingston with The Gobbledy Gooker in a non-title match
* Dean Ambrose vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler in an Intercontinental Title #1 Contenders Triple Threat
– Titus O’Neil once again helped feed the homeless as the WWE Superstar posted a photo on his official Instagram page of himself with some of the NBA’s Orlando Magic players.
– Below are the dates and locations for WWE’s WrestleMania Revenge tour of the U.K., which kicks off in April of 2016 and will feature RAW and SmackDown television tapings from the O2 Arena in London, England on April 18th and 19th.
• Saturday, 16 April, 7:30 p.m.: Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, England
• Sunday, 17 April, 5 p.m.: Nottingham Capital FM Arena, Nottingham, England
• Monday, 18 April, 7 p.m.: Monday Night Raw at O2 Arena, London, England
• Tuesday, 19 April, 7 p.m.: SmackDown taping at O2 Arena, London, England
• Tuesday, 19 April, 7:30 p.m.: Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
• Wednesday, 20 April, 7:30 p.m.: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, England
• Wednesday, 20 April, 7:30 p.m.: The SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Thursday, 21 April, 7:30 p.m.: 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland
• Friday, 22 April, 7:30 p.m.: Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England
• Saturday, 23 April, 7:30 p.m.: The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland
TNA has issued a statement on the status of their tour of India.
We reported earlier that the tour has been indefinitely postponed for “logistical issues.” Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported that a TNA source told him the real reason for postponing was “safety concerns,” although Meltzer noted he doesn’t entirely believe the source’s claim.
Here’s TNA’s statement they sent out about the postponement on Thursday:
Postponement of ‘TNA One Night Only: Mumbai’ Event
Information note:
Mumbai, Thursday, 26 November, 2015 – 11 AM IST:
Multi Screen Media (MSM) and TNA Wrestling, the international professional wrestling entertainment organization, jointly announced today that the TNA One Night Only: Mumbai live event has been postponed.
The live event that was scheduled to take place on December 4, has now been postponed to 2016 to a yet-to-be decided date. The postponement is primarily due to logistical issues around the timing of the event.
As soon as the new dates are firmed up, it will be announced in an update.
While TNA is looking forward to coming to India soon, MSM is geared up to host the entire entourage of TNA in India.
Event background:
MSM & TNA Wrestling announced their partnership for India’s first ever LIVE televised wrestling event last month in a pioneering move to bring an internationally broadcast sporting event to India featuring the Stars and Knockouts of IMPACT WRESTLING, TNA’s flagship, to be broadcast LIVE in India, the United States and all around the world.
About Multi Screen Media (MSM):
MSM is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation which owns and operates the Sony Entertainment network of television channels. As a leading television network in India, MSM comprises of Sony Entertainment Television (SET), one of India’s leading Hindi general entertainment television channels; MAX, India’s premium Hindi movies and special events channel; MAX 2, a second Hindi movie channel showcasing great Indian Cinema; SAB, a family comedy entertainment channel; PIX, the English movie channel; AXN, the leader amongst English Entertainment Channels; AATH, the Bangla movie channel, MIX a refreshing Hindi music channel; SIX, India’s Premier Sports Entertainment Channel; KIX, a youth-centric sports channel focusing on high adrenaline, fast-paced content and LIV – the Digital Entertainment Channel.
And, MSM Motion Pictures is the company’s venture in film production.
The Network is in its 21st year in India.
About TNA ENTERTAINMENT, LLC
TNA Entertainment, LLC, is a privately held sports entertainment company represented by United Talent Agency and based in Nashville, Tennessee, specialising in television properties, events, products, merchandise and music, as well as the management and promotion of professional wrestlers.
The roster features such greats as Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, EC3, Matt Hardy, Lashley, Bobby Roode, the high-flying X-Division including Tigre Uno, and Gail Kim and the lovely and lethal Knockouts, through its highly successful flagship IMPACT WRESTLING weekly broadcast. The product is the world’s most innovative experience in professional wrestling and is broadcast in more than 120 countries.
TNA wrestlers were scheduled to fly to India this weekend, but instead are now looking for new bookings in the U.S.
TNA’s deal with Pop TV may not be a very lucrative one for the #2 wrestling company in America. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that Pop TV is not actually paying TNA for their programming under their new deal.
This appears to put TNA in a worse position than when they were on Destination America, as they were being paid by them for their programming. The cancelled shows in India could also be more bad news for TNA. The tour of India was being organized with their sponsor Sony Six, and losing them could be a major financial blow.
TNA has cut most of their expensive contracts, and more budget cuts may be on the way with no cash flow coming in from television programming in the U.S.
Pop TV brought in $71 million dollars in ad revenue in 2014, and they get just 2 cents monthly per home from cable & satellite providers. Destination America had $55.4 million in ad revenue in 2014, but got 7 cents monthly per home from service providers.
TNA’s big tour of India has been postponed. TNA sent an email out to their talent last week, explaining that they had to postpone the tour due to “logistical issues.”
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that a TNA source told him “safety concerns” were the real reason. Meltzer said he does not entirely believe what that source told him. It’s worth noting that in the past when TNA has cancelled domestic shows for “logistical issues,” it really meant poor ticket sales.
This tour is said to be important for TNA’s relationship with their TV partner India Sony Six. It will be interesting to see if the tour being postponed indefinitely has any effect on their deal together.
Many members of the TNA roster are now scrambling to find bookings for that weekend on short notice. TNA talent was supposed to fly out to India this weekend.
Former NXT tag team champion Wesley Blake was arrested for DUI on July 3rd in Orlando. The news went unreported until the above video surfaced online on Wednesday.
Blake was reportedly arrested for driving while under the influence at 3 AM, and his license was subsequently suspended. He is instructed in the video above that if he does not take a blood alcohol content test, his license would be suspended for a year.
Court records say Blake must enter a court-ordered rehab program, which likely includes community service hours. Blake and Murphy lost their tag team titles the week after the arrest.
– There are those who are adamant, despite claims to the contrary, that Alberto Del Rio is in fact earning a seven figure downside guarantee in WWE right now. Mexican wrestling legend Konnan is among them, as he and others close to Del Rio say he’s very clear he got in excess of double-to-triple what WWE claimed he makes. Those who are under this impression point to the fact that he was about to make at least $600,000 to work half the amount of dates as a WWE schedule, so why would he go back to WWE and that road schedule for less than seven figures guaranteed.
– Stephanie McMahon, who hasn’t been featured on WWE television as much as of late, will now be back as a regular on RAW each week as her Eisenhower Fellowship ended this past Sunday, November 22nd. Stephanie had been in Brazil for the past few weeks.
– A new episode of WWE’s new original series, “WWE Breaking Ground” will premiere next Monday night on the WWE Network immediately following RAW. The official synopsis for the show reads as follows:
“As Cal Bishop continues his injury-plagued return, Tino is helping his brother start his own journey to NXT. Tyler Breeze helps the Divas.”
Although it hasn’t been officially announced, it’s possible that Brock Lesnar will be appearing at the WWE Slammy Awards themed edition of RAW in December.
The show takes place in Minneapolis, Minnesota on December 21st, and in addition to it being the Slammy Awards show, it will also be the RAW episode that starts the build to the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, which Lesnar is expected to work.
The next RAW that Lesnar is advertised to work is the January 11th RAW in New Orleans, Louisiana, which is the second-to-last RAW before the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 24th.
– In an interesting note, WWE’s new contract with NBC Universal no longer includes two shows per year on NBC, which means NBC will not be airing the WWE “Tribute to the Troops” shows any longer.
– As noted, WWE Hall Of Famers Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels will be the guests on the next two editions of fellow WWE Hall Of Famer Steve Austin’s “Stone Cold Podcast” on the WWE Network. Unlike Austin’s past podcasts where he would do the shows live on the WWE Network after RAW from the city that RAW was in that particular week, the Flair and Michaels podcasts were taped ahead of time, which is why WWE was able to show promotional clips of the shows during this past Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.
– WWE posted the following tweet to promote a new WWE.com feature looking at current WWE Superstars with the longest tenure in the company.
