Following a series of injury-related setbacks, Hideo Itami wrestled for the first time in over a year at tonight’s NXT live event in Winter Haven, Florida.
He joined TM-61, the tag team of Shane Thorne and Nick Miller, for a match against NXT Champion Samoa Joe, Wesley Blake and Tino Sabbatelli.
Itami has been out of action since May of last year due to a shoulder injury that required surgery. He was only expected to be sidelined for six months, but complications from the procedure delayed his return.
Last night’s Lucha Underground episode on The El Rey Network drew 116,000 viewers for the first showing and 103,000 viewers for the replay. Last week’s first airing drew 104,000 viewers and the replay drew 62,000 viewers.
The total for this week’s episode was 219,000 viewers, up from last week’s 166,000 viewers.
Lucha Underground did not rank on the Cable Top 150 this week.
A man shot and arrested by Orlando police outside of the WWE Performance Center in 2015 has been ordered to stand trial.
Armando Montalvo has been found competent to stand trial for an incident last August. Montalvo was reportedly showing up at the Performance Center repeatedly and was “fixated” on a female performer. WWE had called police to help them with the Montalvo on occasions prior to that incident.
On August 21st, a staffer at the performance center called police nad said Montalvo was acting “deranged” and was seen holding what looked like a knife. Two detectives responded to the scene, and Montalvo was seen charging at one of them after being instructed to stop. The suspect reportedly followed the deputy up to 75-100 feet in the parking lot before he was shot once.
Click Orlando reports that a doctor evaluated Montalvo and the judge ruled that he’s competent. The doctor diagnosed Montalvo’s behavior as being consistent with a personality disorder. Montalvo’s family members say he suffers from bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.
The pre-trial hearing is scheduled for this coming August 31st.
– Brock Lesnar is scheduled to return to WWE television on the WWE Draft edition of SmackDown on Tuesday, July 19th. This is earlier than he was originally booked to return. Lesnar returns to UFC just 10 days prior at UFC 200 on 7/9.
– Despite the fact that WWE is advertising Randy Orton for live events in August, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that his shoulder is still not 100%.
– WWE has uploaded this video looking at 7 forgotten finishers. “Do you know what move The Rock did before the People’s Elbow? Or what preceded The Undertaker’s Tombstone? We reveal the signature moves used by seven WWE Superstars during the first days of their career.”
During a recent edition of Talk Is Jericho, Chris Jericho said that the average career in WWE for a performer is four years. Jericho, who has been with the company for the better part of the last 17 years, feels his endeavors outside of the ring have contributed to his longevity.
“You look at my WWE activities since 2010 — and when I come back I’m not a part-time performer – but if you look at the overall schedule over the last six years, it’s part time. I’ll never be a full-time performer again and who knows how much longer I’ll do it for,” he said in an interview with For The Win.
“Ten years ago, I foresaw my own future and didn’t want to be at the mercy of the wrestling business. I wanted to come and go as I pleased and so I found ways to do that. Fozzy is bigger than it’s ever been before. I think the Jericho Network has the potential to be huge.”
“I’m 45 years old and pretty soon, I’m not going to want to take any more bumps. But if you look at the arc of entertainment, you can go until you’re 75 years old or beyond. There’s no limit to what you can accomplish in the world of entertainment. It’s all I’ve ever known since I was 19. I’m writing my fourth book, I’m doing more acting. I’m keeping all those balls in the air. It was a smart move on my part and I’m not going to stop. If I stopped wrestling tomorrow, I’d still be out there providing things for you guys to do to enjoy your lives.”
Jericho also offered his thoughts on Roman Reigns’ 30-day suspension for his first violation of WWE’s Talent Wellness Program.
“Reigns is a great guy and a great worker. That he was suspended shows there is no BS or (messing) around when it comes to the policy. There are things on (the banned list) that are not anywhere but on the WWE list. You see the things that happened 10, 15 years in the past that don’t happen anymore. You don’t see guys dying young,” Jericho said.
“Reigns is a cool cat. He’ll own it, come back and be a bigger star in the future. I’m a huge Reigns fan and continue to be.”
Jericho also discussed his latest venture with PodcastOne, the upcoming WWE Draft, Brock Lesnar at UFC 200 and more. You can check out the interview here.
Following his high-profile suspension from WWE for violating the company’s talent wellness policy, Roman Reigns was ordered to address the entire roster and apologize for his actions before flying home.
In the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer states that WWE employee Mark Carrano gave Reigns the order, believed to have been a decision by Triple H, not Vince McMahon. There were mixed reactions to the situation, with some appreciating it and others feeling that it was done to humiliate Reigns.
Roman Reigns is expected to lose around $100,000 as a result of missing a month’s worth of live events that he was scheduled to headline. WWE superstars are paid for merchandise sold while they suspended, but Reigns would have banked 6 figures working house shows during this time away. He would have missed out on a lot more had he missed Battleground.
WWE held a rare live event from Honolulu, Hawaii on Wednesday night. Thanks to reader Sean Michael Ishii for this report:
– Titus O’Neil defeated Curtis Axel by pinfall.
– Baron Corbin defeated Dolph Ziggle by pinfall.
– The Usos defeated The Club (pin-fall)
– Asuka successfully defended her title against Natalya. Natalya did not tap but the ref stopped it and announced Asuka the winner by submission
– The New Day successfully defended their titles against the Vaudevillians. Pretty funny match. Had a scene where Big E almost T-bagged Simon Gotch. lol
– Charlotte successfully defended her women’s title against Becky Lynch
– Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kevin Owens. Real technical match that slowly built momentum.
Main Event: Dean Ambrose successfully defended his WWE championship against Chris Jericho, AJ Styles, & Seth Rollins in a Fatal-Four Way match. Really entertaining, Jericho cut a heel promo. There was a really funny scene where AJ attempted to sunset flip Jericho, and while under his legs trying to pull him down, Rollins would lift AJ’s legs and pull it down causing AJ’s face to hit Jericho in the groin.
Brock Lesnar and John Cena were absent in the event, so it was not the dream matches everyone hoped. Little disappointed, but still a great show.
New Japan have announced the blocks for this year’s G1 Climax tournament. The prestigious annual event will be taking place from July 18th to August 14th and will be available to watch in full on the NJPW World Service.
– Sasha Banks was Michael Cole’s guest for this week’s WWE.com sitdown interview. The Boss discusses her Muscle & Fitness Hers cover shoot, paying tribute to Eddie Guerrero at WrestleMania 32 and how she helped transform a Divas Revolution into a Women’s Evolution in WWE.
– The final rating for Monday’s WWE RAW from Tampa was a 2.21, down from last week’s 2.44. As noted, the show drew 3.093 million viewers, down from last week’s 3.467 million.
– Darren Young recently paid his respects at a local memorial for the Pulse nightclub terror attack victims and met survivor Angel Santiago, seen below in this tweet from WWE Community:
– WWE has announced that Rusev will defend the United States Championship against Cesaro this coming Monday when RAW takes place from Columbus, Ohio. Monday is July 4th and the holiday show could see RAW’s rating finally dip below 2.0.
– The Wyatt Family was scheduled to speak with Jonathan Coachman on last night’s ESPN SportsCenter “Off The Top Rope” segment but the interview has been delayed due to coverage of coaches Buddy Ryan and Pat Summitt passing away. Coachman noted the interview should air next Tuesday.
– WWE posted this video of Tajiri and William Regal reuniting at the Cruiserweight Classic:
– Playing off the “Surprise John Cena” Internet meme, the Cricket Wireless mobile carrier teamed up with Cena himself to surprise fans at an in-store promotional event. It’s a really cool video that once again demonstrates how Cena is larger than life and an inspiration to fans of all ages. As WWE looks to coronate Roman Reigns the next “face of the company,” it becomes even more apparent what an uphill battle they’re facing.
– Heath Slater has launched a GoFundMe to raise money for victims of the severe flooding in West Virginia, where he’s from. The campaign has a goal of $25,000 and can be found in the tweet below from Slater:
Chris Jericho is teaming up with America’s largest podcast network to take his podcasting game to the next level.
On Wednesday it was announced that Jericho will be teaming up with Podcast One to launch The Jericho Network. The deal was formulated due to the success of his Talk Is Jericho podcast. PodcastOne will handle Jericho’s production, distribution, and product marketing. The first host on the network will be former WCW star Konnan, who will have his own recurring podcast.
According to PodcastOne founder Norm Pattiz, Talk Is Jericho is one of the most popular podcasts on his company’s lineup. All podcasts on the new Jericho Network will be available exclusively on PodcastOne.com and their mobile app.
In an official statement released on Wednesday, Jericho said he’s stoked to bring some of the most talented, interesting, and “hilariously ridiculous” hosts to PodcastOne via his new network.
“My overall plan is for TJN to be an extension of the diverse array of subjects and guests I already feature on Talk Is Jericho twice a week,” Jericho said. “Get ready to be amazed, amused and entertained by ALL of the hosts and programs that will be added to TJN over the upcoming months…and don’t forget to wear a helmet!”
In a new interview with Kayfabe Commentaries, former WWE star Hornswoggle talks about the incident that apparently ruined his friendship with CM Punk.
When asked about why his friendship with Punk ended, Swoggle says it was all over a phone number. Swoggle says he lost his phone and asked Punk for a mutual friend’s number, and it set off Punk. He says Punk took it as Swoggle “using” him, and that was the end of the relationship.
CM Punk was released by WWE in 2014 and Swoggle was released in May of this year.
– Alicia Fox will be returning to the ring soon as she is advertised for a WWE live event on Saturday, July 30 in Savannah, Georgia.
According to the official website of the Savannah Civic Center, she will be teaming up with Paige to face WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte and Natalya.
Fox last wrestled in April during WWE’s European tour.
– WWE Network subscribers can now watch the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro (airdate March 26, 2001). The historic program was added to the vault this week, along with other episodes from 1999, 2000 and 2001.
– WWE’s Community website posted photos of Darren Young meeting Pulse nightclub survivor Angel Santiago and paid his respects to those lost during the Orlando, Florida, shooting at a local memorial.
– Randy Orton is being advertised for another WWE live event in mid-August, a virtual guarantee that he’ll be back on television prior to SummerSlam on 8/21. Raziel Cano, the marketing director for the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, tweeted the following lineup for WWE’s 8/13 live event from the venue:
– NXT star Billie Kay tweeted the following about her WWE debut, which took place at Tuesday night’s SmackDown tapings from Miami, FL and will air Thursday night on USA:
– NFL star Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots discusses a possible WWE career in this new interview with Access Hollywood.
– In Nielsen’s nightly Twitter TV ratings for series & specials, this week’s RAW had 146,000 tweets with 35,000 unique authors. The show ranked #1 for the night.
– Ad Week has named Stephanie McMahon to their 30 Most Powerful Women In Sports list. They included the following on her:
“Stephanie McMahon is the woman behind—and in front of—the curtain at WWE. Over the organization’s 36-year history, few executives have been as important to its growth than McMahon, who is the daughter of CEO Vince McMahon. After starting there as an account executive, McMahon now sits on the WWE’s board of directors, following a two-decade rise through the ranks that has put her hands into virtually every facet of the business, including creative, talent relations, digital and her current role overseeing WWE’s brand efforts and brand reputation among investors, media, business partners and advertisers. And with her dad now in his 70s, McMahon, along with her husband Paul Levesque (better known as “Triple H”), could be poised to inherit the keys to the powerful WWE kingdom.”
– Next week’s episode of “Unfiltered with Renee Young” on the WWE Network will feature her boyfriend, WWE Champion Dean Ambrose.
– The Rock’s mom Ata Johnson was ringside for Tuesday’s WWE TV tapings in Miami and it sounds like Bubba Ray Dudley took the chance to heel on her. He tweeted the following to The Rock:
@TheRock Went for the cheap heat last night in Miami…had to berate a nice Samoan lady in the front row. ?
Stephanie McMahon e-mailed Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer after the terror attack at Pulse nightclub earlier this month and offered to “do everything we [WWE] can to help support you and your efforts to rebuild the constitution of your great city.”
WWE hosted RAW from Orlando just one day after the attack and Stephanie told Dyer that they consider the city a “second home” due to the Performance Center and NXT.
Stephanie also asked what the company could do to help the victims and the city: “We are already brainstorming ideas to help raise money for the OneOrlando fund, and I wanted to know if there was more we could be doing.”
Dyer replied: “Thank you Stephanie for your kind words and your generosity. Someone will be in touch with you.”
The attack left 49 people dead and 53 more injured.
Last night’s episode of TNA Impact Wrestling on Pop TV averaged 322,000 viewers, up from last week’s 304,000 viewers.
The show featured EC3 vs. Drew Galloway vs. World Champion Lashley in a three-way main event, which Lashley retained in. Impact was the 113th most-watched show on cable for the evening in the 18-49 demographic.
Click here for spoiler results for the next several weeks of Impact Wrestling tapings.
Former WWE World Champion Dwanye “The Rock” Johnson is scheduled to headline next year’s Hollywood Walk of Fame induction event. Johnson will be inducted in the motion picture category alongside Amy Adams, Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, and Chris Pratt among others. Other inductees next year include Hall & Oates, Ice Cube, and *NSYNC.
There are 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard in California that feature stars with celebrity names on them. There is a fee of $30,000 charged to the inductee to have their star placed on the walk.
The Rock’s latest movie Central Intelligence is currently in theaters. Universal has already tapped The Rock for the next installment in their Fast & Furious franchise and built two personal gyms for him near their filming location.
WWE has released the above trailer for their upcoming DVD set Living on a Razor’s Edge – The Scott Hall Story. The 3-disc set will be released on July 5th in the U.S. and July 4th in the U.K., with an extended preview hitting the WWE Network this week.
The documentary portion of the set will deal with Hall’s rise to fame, his personal demons, and now training his son to carry on his legacy in the wrestling business.
Here is the entire content listing for the set:
Disc 1
MAIN FEATURE (DOCUMENTARY):
A Life-Changing Event
Back in Orlando
A Storybook Life
Moving to Florida
Second-Degree
Getting His Start
AWA Experience
It Ain’t New York City
Razor Is Born
Another Level
Humble Superstar
A New Situation
Making Things Bigger
Falling Apart
A Dark Place
Fighting On A Daily Basis
Just What I Needed
One Place To Go
Bad Times Don’t Last
Back in the Family
Disc 2
DEBUT VIGNETTES:
From The Gutter
El Jefe
Chicas Are For Fun
Taking What You Want
Cleaning The Table
Beach Bully
Making A Wish
Forget The Past
Razor Ramon Outtakes
STORIES:
Just As Big As The Wrestlers
The Oz Mask
Scott Ramon
Let Them Be Kids
Don’t Ever Leapfrog Again
Weekend in ECW
Wake Up Call
WrestleMania 31
MATCHES:
American Starship vs. Inferno #1 and Inferno #2
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling • December 25, 1984
Scott Hall vs. Michael ‘P.S.’ Hayes
AWA Championship Wrestling • November 19, 1985
$100,000 Battle Royal
AWA Championship Wrestling • November 28, 1985
“In This Corner” with Scott Hall
AWA Championship Wrestling • December 20, 1985
AWA Tag Team Championship Match
Scott Hall & Curt Hennig vs. The Long Riders
AWA WrestleRock • April 20, 1986
The Diamond Studd vs. Tommy Rich
WCW Clash of the Champions XV • June 14, 1991
The Diamond Exchange vs. Brian Lee & Chris Sullivan
World Championship Wrestling • December 7, 1991
Razor Ramon vs. Paul Van Dale
Superstars • August 8, 1992
WWE Championship Match
Bret “Hit Man” Hart vs. Razor Ramon
Royal Rumble • January 24, 1993
Razor Ramon vs. The Kid
RAW • May 17, 1993
Intercontinental Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon
Saginaw, MI • September 1, 1993
Intercontinental Championship Match
Razor Ramon vs. Rick “The Model” Martel
RAW • October 11, 1993
Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship
Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania X • March 20, 1994
Disc 3
Intercontinental Championship Match
Razor Ramon (w/ Walter Payton) vs. Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels)
– WWE Hall of Famer Bobby “The Brain” Heenan is now on Twitter @Realbobbyheenan. Heenan’s wife and Mick Foley have confirmed the account is legitimate.
During WWE’s recent promotional trip to China, John Cena spoke to Inquirer.net about the company’s bright future and which Superstar he wants to work with in this next phase of his career.
Cena has been the face of WWE for well over a decade, which means he’s seen a lot of talent come and go. Cena feels that WWE’s current roster is stacked with more talent than ever and sees a few performers in particular who have what it takes to make an impact with the audience.
“I look at Enzo Amore and Big Cass only because they are so immediately identifiable as characters,” Cena said. “It kind of reminds me when I was doing hip-hop piece of my persona. I like that because Enzo is not necessarily a typical mold of, ‘Hey, this is going to be awesome.’ But even back in his early days in NXT, he caught my attention.”
Cena has been in the ring with some of the biggest stars in the company’s history, including The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Batista, Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan. As for which WWE Superstars he wants to work with, Cena named his heir apparent, Roman Reigns.
“I know that I always kind of test myself, whether it’s new superstars or established superstars, and I know Roman Reigns has carved up quite a niche for himself and he has all the attributes to be a successful WWE superstar for some time to come,” he said. “I’ve heard he’s good. I’d like to find out how good he is.”
A John Cena vs. Roman Reigns feud seems inevitable, especially if WWE stays the course with Reigns being the new face of the company. However, we might have to wait years for that feud if Cena and Reigns are drafted to different brands next month.
Dave Bautista was the guest of former WWE writer Alex Greenfield on the latest episode of the MLW Writers’ Room podcast. The Writer’s Room is typically a “VIP” show and the second part will be for members only. Head over to MLWRadio.com for details on how you can sign up for only $1.99 a month.
During the 50-minute interview, Batista spoke at length about his displeasure with his most recent WWE run, giving countless examples of why it was a bad experience and why he repeatedly felt disrespected by the company. You can listen to the 50-minute interview below.
Here’s a full recap of the appearance, courtesy of Reddit user GoodGuyRev:
Batista was discouraged from the moment he returned. He wanted to come back as a heel and cut a promo in the ring re-introducing himself to the audience, WWE wanted him to be a babyface and brought him back in a segment involving several other people.
Looking back, he is not happy with his physique and wishes he would have gotten himself into better shape before returning. In an effort to get more acting gigs, he stayed away from bodybuilding prior to the return.
He argued with Vince and creative virtually every day.
When he left WWE shortly after WrestleMania XXX, he wanted to return around SummerSlam to cross promote his movie, Guardians of the Galaxy. He spoke to Triple H and Stephanie about it, knowing Guardians would be a major hit and could get WWE some publicity, but they doubted him and completely blew him off. They snidely told him, “We don’t even know if the movie is gonna be any good” and that was the end of it. He felt they didn’t have any faith in him or his potential as an actor.
Batista and Randy Orton did a number on Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, but he couldn’t believe that WWE told Daniel Bryan to no-sell the effects. He felt this buried him and Orton. He was also pissed off The Shield split up literally the night after Evolution them look like a million bucks.
He thinks The Shield was split up way too soon. After Evolution made them look like a million bucks, the only thing fans were talking about was his #Bluetista outfit.
Batista thinks it became trendy to boo him and he couldn’t understand that. He came back for the fans and had no problem putting guys like The Shield and Daniel Bryan over. He was really confused by the reaction.
During his first big run with the company, when he was on par with John Cena, he strongly resented that WWE gave Cena all the movie roles and had nothing for him. Batista saw that WWE wasn’t looking out for him in that way, so he started auditioning on his own in hopes of landing some movie roles. WWE told him, “You are our property. Get dressed and get to work.” He was denied lots of money and opportunities, which is what led to his initial departure.
He suffered a broken back in his last match (during his first run) against John Cena.
On his last day with WWE (during his first run), virtually nobody said goodbye to him or thanked him for his contributions. Security escorted him out of the arena – no “Let’s keep in touch” or “See you later.” This put everything into perspective.
CM Punk continues to do the media rounds to promote his upcoming UFC debut on September 10th from Cleveland, OH. Punk’s appeared on ESPN Radio’s Russillo and Kanell Show and spoke to the hosts about his future in professional wrestling.
Punk sounded like the prospect is highly unlikely, but clarified that it’s a “never say never” situation. When people ask him about returning to wrestling, he said he likes to leave the door open because “internet dweebs” will rub it in his face if he ever does return after claiming it would never happen.
Punk said he will absolutely never return to WWE, but could “pop up here and there” after his MMA career is over. He joked that he could see himself wrestling somewhere and not even promoting his return to the ring. “It’s not going to even be televised, it’s going to be me in a ninja f*****g outfit wrestling one of my buddies, nobody’s ever going to know. It’s going to be very ‘Monty Python’, so to speak.”
Punk also commented on Daniel Bryan’s retirement, noting that it sucks Bryan can’t do what he loves, but living a healthy lifestyle is more important than “silly pro wrestling” and he knows Bryan will find another passion.