– John Cena, Seth Rollins, Sasha Banks, Sheamus and the Bella Twins will be appearing at this weekend’s ‘Wizard World Philadelphia’ convention. For more information, visit WizardWorld.com.
Rollins returns to the house show loop this weekend. Friday’s show from Odessa, Texas will see WWE World Heavyweight champion Roman Reigns defend against Rollins and AJ Styles in the triple-threat main event. On Saturday from Lubbock, Texas, the main event will be a Fatal Four Way featuring Reigns, Rollins, Styles and Sheamus. These will be Rollins’ first matches involving AJ Styles in a decade.
– Last week, WWE announced The Miz will star in the fifth installment of WWE Studios’ The Marine franchise. Marine 5 begins filming tomorrow in Vancouver, British Columbia, so it will be interesting to see if Miz drops the Intercontinental championship prior to working on the movie.
– Ric Flair is not currently backstage at the Resch Center, site of tonight’s RAW from Green Bay, WI, according to a report at PWInsider.com. Flair was written off television last week [in a “real bad” segment Steve Austin called “hard to watch.”]
Kurt Angle posted a message on Facebook on Monday afternoon stating his goal to “make wrestling great again.” Angle mentions the different eras in wrestling that he’s been a part. Despite the huge pool of young talent out there, he feels something is missing from today’s landscape. Angle says it’s time to “ignite the Universe” and believes he’s the person to lead the charge.
While he says he’s a fan of the Flairs, Steve Austin says he wasn’t a fan of their segment on last week’s RAW. On episode 328 of The Steve Austin Show, Stone Cold says the segment where Charlotte kicked her Hall of Famer father out of the ring was “real bad.”
Austin explained that within 10 or 15 seconds of The Nature Boy grabbing the mic, he could tell what was going to happen next. “[Ric Flair] spilled the beans as soon as he went out there. He had only been talking 10 to 15 seconds and I said, ‘oh, he’s getting fired or she’s going to kick him out of the damn ring’ and that’s exactly what happened,” Austin said.
Austin says after Charlotte’s turn on her father, “she got lost” and tripped up because of the crowd’s reaction. Austin seems to put most of the blame on the WWE creative team, as he believes they over-scripted the segment.
“Whoever wrote that, and you know Ric is one of the best promos in the history of the business and you don’t need to be writing for Ric Flair. Just let him go out there and do his thing. But, so he’s going out there and he’s trying to memorize this script that someone wrote him and he spilled the beans, started tripping all over himself, and then, it only got worse from there. And then, Charlotte’s trying to recoup and she gets lost a couple of times and goes at the crowd and then kind of misspeaks and then it was extremely awkward and it was hard to watch because I’m such a fan of the Flairs.”
– WWE 2K17 is now available for pre-order at WWEShop.com. The game will be available for current and previous generation systems. The posted release date of “December 31, 2016” is a placeholder until the official release date is announced. (Thanks to reader @WWETOWNnation for the tip).
WWE has announced Cesaro, Dean Ambrose, Sami Zayn will team up on RAW against Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Alberto Del Rio. Plus, Natalya will square off against Charlotte’s new protégé, Dana Brooke:
Ahead of his return to WWE RAW later tonight, John Cena guest-hosted NBC’s Today show. Cena appeared in their Celebrity Fishbowl segment, chimes in on the hot dog – sandwich debate and learns to “booty pop” from musical group Fifth Harmony:
Super Strong Style 16 favourite Mark Haskins has been officially pulled from the tournament due to an undisclosed ‘serious illness.’ No further details have yet been given by PROGRESS officials:
BREAKING: @Mark_Haskins has been forced to withdraw from the #SSS16 due to serious illness. More shortly.
— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) May 30, 2016
Canadian based promotion Smash Wrestling have agreed a deal with PROGRESS to co-promote some shows going forward, the first major announcement from this deal is that Smash Wrestling Champion Johnny Gargano will be defending his title at Chapter 32 – ‘5000-1’ (a joke for all you Leicester City fans out there):
The Rock announced on Monday that he’s signed on to portray the superhero Doc Savage (“Man Of Bronze”) on the big screen. Man Of Bronze is known as the ‘world’s first superhero’ and the inspiration for the Superman character. The Rock commented on the new project:
“Doc was physically and mentally trained from birth by his father and a team of scientists to become the perfect human specimen with a genius level intellect. His heightened senses are beyond comprehension. He can even identify a women’s perfume from half a mile away. He is literally the master of everything.
But here’s the #1 reason I’m excited to become Doc Savage.. HE’S A F*CKING HILARIOUS WEIRDO!
Confidently, yet innocently he has zero social graces whatsoever due to his upbringing so every interaction he has with someone is direct, odd, often uncomfortable and amazingly hilarious.
After speaking for hours w/ Shane Black I can see why the creator of Superman took only the best parts of Doc Savage and leaving the “weirdo” part behind. But to us, it’s that “weirdo” part that makes Clark “Doc” Savage dope! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into this one of a kind character.”
– Ahead of his return to WWE television tonight on RAW, John Cena is teasing that he’ll be wearing these shorts given to him by Ellen Degeneres during his appearance on the Ellen show last month. Cena has been out of action since undergoing shoulder surgery in late 2015.
WWE’s latest “#Hatch” teaser on social media features the caption, “Extracting” and today’s date (5/30), an indication we will learn more on tonights’ RAW.
Here’s the full batch of #Hatch tweets so far, comment on this article and let us know what you think WWE is teasing.
Former WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes tweeted a checklist on Saturday with the caption, After 8/19. The list appears to be Cody’s upcoming ‘wish list’ of opponents and accomplishments, including talent in ROH, NJPW, TNA and more. Based on the list, its clear that Cody still has big aspirations in the business outside the auspices of WWE. He’s instantly one of the hottest free agents anywhere and has over a dozen very intriguing opportunities ahead of him.
Will Ospreay and Ricochet competed at night 6 of NJPW’s Best of the Super Juniors on Friday, but not everyone was a fan of their match. Former WCW and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader, known as Vader in WWE, was among those who didn’t enjoy their efforts. Vader took to his official Twitter account on Sunday to criticize the two performers. The legendary big man indicated that what he saw reminded him of “high school gymnasts.”
Blantant acrobatics,no story,is there anything done in this video that relates to winning u could get 2 high school gymnast and put ona show
Tony Schiavone, former WCW announcer, was interviewed by WAVY-TV recently. Schiavone is currently the play-by-play broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves, a minor league baseball team in Georgia. Schiavone also revealed that he is training to be a barista at Starbucks, due to having time on his hands and the benefits the company offers.
– Wrestling Observer Live reports that there will indeed be split referee crews for Raw and Smackdown when the brand split kicks off in July. Referee Brian Nguyen tweetd:
– It took Murphy a few minutes to get to his feet after being knocked loopy in his loss to Tye Dillinger at Friday’s NXT house show in Cocoa. Murphy was checked on by a doctor and a referee before leaving on his own.
– Lana spent the week training at the WWE PC in Orlando and thanked coach Del Rey with this tweet:
I love learning ? Thank you @WWEPerformCtr & @TheSaraDelRey for this week !!!
Here are highlights from John Cena’s new IGN interview:
Shane McMahon Back With WWE:
“I was in the company of the “never,” but I guess this goes to Vince McMahon’s old adage, “never say never.” It’s good to have Shane back. I think it’s a renewed energy in not only the program but the audience, as well. Shane’s been really proactive about showing a lot of new faces and I said for a long time that there’s a bunch of talent that was in NXT and it’s good to see them get their chance on WWE Monday night RAW.”
His Thoughts On The Women’s Championship:
“You know, the WWE is constantly evolving and if they want to make the move, it seems like an obvious jump. WWE is really focused on empowering the women. They did a wonderful job branding the women as Divas, as Superstars, but I think it’s a company initiative to make them equal to what the men do and [having] the men’s championship and the women’s championship, I think it’s a logical progression.”
– WAVY-TV recently spoke to former WCW announcer Tony Schiavone at this link. Schiavone still works for the Gwinnett Braves minor league baseball team and does work with the Georgia Bulldogs baseball and basketball teams. He told them that he’s also training to be a Starbucks barista:
“To add to all of that, and not many people know this, I’m training to be a barista at Starbucks. The reason I’m doing that is because they have great benefits, it’s a great place to work, I’ve always loved Starbucks. I’ve got time and I want to fill up my time working, I really do, I want to stay busy.”
– Below is more video from the “WWE 24” documentary on Seth Rollins, which airs after Raw on the WWE Network this Monday:
– Cesaro mentions that his shoulder is still not 100% in this new Tapout promo:
– Dana Brooke is reportedly expected to continue receiving a push as she has support from WWE officials, including new main roster writer Ryan Ward, who recently came up from NXT.
– Corey Graves looks at WWE returns that “blew us away” in this new video:
– After defeating Zack Ryder to qualify for MITB on this week’s Smackdown, Alberto Del Rio spoke to Tom Phillips on why he has an advantage going into this year’s ladder match. Video is below:
– Thursday’s episode of John Cena’s “American Grit” on FOX set a new record low for the show – 1.730 million viewers, down from last week’s 1.878 million viewers. The episode was the 2nd least-viewed show in the 9pm timeslot on all major networks, next to The Flash on CW, which averaged 1.098 million viewers.
– As seen below, WWE Hall of Famer Larry Zbyszko was backstage for Friday’s NXT house show in Cocoa:
– Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley are working main roster WWE house shows this weekend. “The Hype Bros” lost to The Club on Friday night in Sprinfield. Mojo tweeted this clip earlier in the day:
Here are highlights from Bayley’s recent interview with talkSPORT’s “Gorilla Nation” podcast. The full interview is here.
WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte on the main roster:
“I think she’s doing an amazing job, it’s been really cool to watch her grow because I was in FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling) for her first match and NXT TV for her first match with her dad in her corner, so to see how far she’s come to be able to be like, ‘I don’t need you anymore’, and knowing she’s going to be on her own now, I’m excited to see what her next move will be. I think she’s doing a really great job, she’s been put in this position to carry on her legacy and name, I know it’s so much pressure but she’s doing a great job. If I were to make it up to the main roster sometime soon I think she’d be a perfect person to target!”
Who else she wants to wrestle when called up:
“Nattie is one of them. I’ve had plenty of matches with her but I’ve only been able to team with her, I’ve never been able to have a match one-on-one against her. That’s one of the matches I’ve always wanted and she’s kind of been saying the same thing for a while since she was in NXT for a little bit. I remember watching one of her matches from the independents when she was like, an ECCW (Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling) SuperGirls Champion against Ivory. One day I want to have at least one match against her. Nikki Bella as well, when she comes back from her surgery and everything. She’s the longest reigning Divas Champion, so I feel like she’s someone I can learn from. I know we would have a lot of fun in a match together.”
WWE Studios and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions partner for ‘The Marine 5: Battleground’
WWE Studios and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) today announced that the two studios will partner on the upcoming action film, “The Marine 5: Battleground.” Directed by James Nunn (“Eliminators”), the film will feature WWE Superstars The Miz, Maryse, Heath Slater, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel and Naomi. The film will begin production this Tuesday, May 31, in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
The Miz returns as Jake Carter, an ex-Marine who served in the Middle East and is now saving civilian lives stateside as an EMT. After responding to an emergency call in an abandoned parking lot, Carter finds himself protecting an injured man from a ruthless biker gang. With the odds stacked against him, Carter utilizes his unique Marine skills to stop the bikers’ rampage before any more innocent blood is shed.
“The ‘Marine’ series is a true fan-favorite and we are thrilled to join with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and director James Nunn to launch this next installment,” said Michael Luisi, President of WWE Studios. “For the first time ever, we will have six WWE Superstars in one live action film to ramp up the excitement and thrill audiences worldwide.”
The film is written by Ed McHenry and Rory McHenry.