WWE has made some changes to one match at SummerSlam, which will be a battle between Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose.
Originally, WWE touted this as a Hair vs. Hair match, but that has been changed. Instead, it will now be a No DQ match and the loser must leave WWE.
WWE made the match change during Friday’s episode of SmackDown, which was the go-home edition of SmackDown for SummerSlam.
There was a segment that saw Rose cut a promo in which she tried to settle things with Deville and go back to how they used to be. That didn’t work when Deville cut a heel promo about her former tag team partner.
She told Rose to bring her A-game. She stated that Rose is bothered about possibly being bald, while she doesn’t care if she’s bald. Then Deville stated that she’s sick of looking at Rose’s face, so the new stipulation was added.
It should be noted that during the broadcast, there were some references to the attempted kidnapping at Deville’s home last weekend. As noted, Rose was present as a guest in Deville’s home. WWE didn’t directly talk about it though.
Finn Balor has opened up on his decision to take time off from WWE last summer before deciding to make a return to NXT.
Balor was destroyed by the debuting ‘Fiend’ Bray Wyatt at the 2019 SummerSlam pay-per-view event. He had requested time off before the contest and disappeared from television after the bout.
Balor did so while talking with Dan Matha on Spark in the Dark. He started out by talking about how he had been working since 2000 without a break unless it was due to injury. Even when he had his shoulder injury, he was working harder than ever by doing rehab three times a day to get back and get going.
He stated that the stress of the injury and the pressure to come back, that felt harder than when you’re actually working.
“I had been going for 19 years straight and I came to a point where I needed a break, not just physically, it was more mentally to be by myself and be away from the boys. I love the boys, but it gets to a point where it’s just too intense. When you’re around them all the time, you just need some space. I needed space from everything; the business, bookers, writers, schedules, everything. It had become too intense. I was turning into a different person that I didn’t like.
I was snapping at people, I wasn’t giving people time in conversations. I was turning into a bitter dick and I could feel it building and building. Thankfully, the company gave me some time to get my head straight and get better. When I came back, the idea was pitched around to go to NXT.”
Balor took a few months off before he returned to television on October 2, 2019 under the NXT banner where he confronted Adam Cole.
He stated that moving back to NXT has been great for him because he went from working 172 matches a year and traveling to only doing 50 matches a year and doesn’t have to travel as much in NXT.
Randy Orton took part in a conference call on Friday ahead of his match at SummerSlam.
Around 4 minutes into the call, Orton was asked about his memorable segment on Monday Night RAW a few weeks ago that closed out the show. It saw him take out WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair with a low blow and punt kick.
This is where he revealed that original plans didn’t call for Flair to cut a full promo, but rather just to say a few weeks that the camera would pick up.
“I’ll tell you what he was never supposed to grab the microphone from me that night. He was just supposed to say a few things under his breath that the hand held camera in the ring may or may not have picked up.
You were supposed to see our facial expressions and get an idea that he was bringing me back in and eventually we had the hug. I turned on him but when he grabbed the mic I was thinking, ‘Ah, come on Ric you’re not supposed to grab the mic’, but then he went on to cut that promo and it was very touching.”
Orton stated that Flair meant everything he said and that’s why he’s so special to the business. Orton stated that Flair has always left his heart out there in the ring and every emotion you get out there from Flair, which is why Orton thinks it’s one of the reasons Flair is the best.
Orton will challenge Drew McIntyre for the WWE Title at SummerSlam.
As expected, Talking Smack is returning to WWE’s streaming service, WWE Network.
On Friday afternoon, WWE confirmed that the series is returning. The SmackDown review show will air each Saturday morning on the WWE Network. Just like Raw Talk, it will also be available on the free version of the WWE Network.
Obviously, with Renee Young departing from the company, she will not be reuniting with Daniel Bryan as the hosts. Instead, the new hosts for Talking Smack are Kayla Braxton and Xavier Woods.
WWE touted the first episode by writing, “Join hosts Kayla Braxton and Xavier Woods as they welcome your favorite Superstars and react to what promises to be an exciting episode of Friday Night SmackDown as it makes its debut inside the WWE ThunderDome just two days before SummerSlam.”
The former WWE Tag Team Champion is still out of in-ring action with an injury.
WWE is slated to film the first episode of the revival after tonight’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown from the WWE ThunderDome at the Amway Center in Orlando, FL.
It’s been reported that the reason Talking Smack is airing on Saturdays is to ensure that SmackDown can air in all markets first.
Austin Theory hasn’t wrestled for WWE since June. He is reportedly under an unannounced suspension and it is not clear when he will return to the company. Shortly before his unannounced absence began, Theory had joined Seth Rollins’ stable on RAW. Rollins’ small faction has included Buddy Murphy and the AOP in recent months as well.
Rollins spoke about Austin Theory’s absence recently during an interview with the Sporting News. According to Rollins’ comments, Theory had some personal issues to work through but they are looking forward to his return.
“He had some personal issues that came up so he took some time off to sort through them for the past month or two. It’s hard right now but we hope everything’s good for him so we hope to have him back sooner than later,” Rollins said during the interview.
Rollins’ faction is also missing the AOP at the moment. Rezar suffered a torn bicep in March that is expected to keep him out at least 6 months.
Theory was also briefly aligned with Zelina Vega’s faction of Andrade and Angel Garza. He was kicked out of the group shortly before aligning with Rollins, however. The 23-year-old is a former EVOLVE champion and was ranked 80th in last year’s PWI Top-500 rankings.
WWE will welcome everyone to the Thunderdome tonight for Smackdown. Ahead of tonight’s card from Orlando’s Amway Center, the company posted a teaser video with a sneak peek of what the new set will look like.
WWE has described its new Thunderdome set-up as a “state-of-the-art viewing experience featuring video boards, pyrotechnics, lasers, cutting-edge graphics, and drone cameras. “
“This structure will enable us to deliver an immersive atmosphere and generate more excitement amongst the millions of fans watching our programming around the world,” said Kevin Dunn in a press release to promote the new set.
A preview of what the Thunderdome will look like can be found in the below-posted video from WWE:
Tonight’s episode of Smackdown will feature Vince McMahon kicking off the show to introduce fans to the new visual experience. Two title matches have also been booked for tonight’s show. AJ Styles will defend the Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Hardy. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro will also defend their belts against The Lucha House Party. Additionally, Big E’s singles run continues tonight as he goes one-on-one with Sheamus.
TakeOver XXX tomorrow night will not air from the Amway Center. Rather, that show will still take place from Full Sail University. WWE will be back in the Thunderdome on Monday for RAW.
The recent break-in at Sonya Deville’s residence has shaken up some on the WWE roster. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the incident has led to multiple WWE Superstars applying for gun licenses and/or purchasing home security systems.
“Several women performers were shaken up by the story noting obsessive fans that have gotten their home addresses,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
“A number of talents, understandably so, have been shaken up by the incident,” he continued. “There have been some talents who applied for gun licenses on 8/17 after the incident with Berenato and others tho are installing or testing out home security devices.”
Several wrestlers have complained about fans finding out their home address. Impact’s Jordynne Grace has publicly complained about this happening to her.
The report continues to suggest some steps wrestlers can take to keep their home addresses private. For instance, a wrestler could form an LLC that they use to purchase the home. This would make it more difficult for someone to find out where they live.
Deville testified in court at a hearing yesterday. She also filed for a restraining order against him in civil court. Following the court hearing, the suspect was denied bail and will remain in prison for the time being.
Renee Young is said to be finishing up with WWE this weekend. Her departure from the company has many wrestling fans wondering if she could end up joining her husband, AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, in All Elite Wrestling.
According to an update from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, however, AEW was unaware that Young was leaving WWE until news broke recently, meaning the two sides likely have not had any conversations about her possibly taking up a role with the company. Not as of yet, anyway.
“We were told AEW was unaware she was leaving WWE until after the news broke,” wrote Dave Meltzer. He continued to say, however, that sources within AEW believe it is inevitable that she will end up doing something with the company at some point but no conversations have taken place.
Additionally, Young’s contract with WWE contains a non-compete clause that would prevent her from going to AEW anytime soon.
“It probably won’t be soon since her WWE announcing deal does have a serious non compete clause,” Meltzer continued. ESPN and Fox have both shown interest in Renee Young’s broadcasting talents.
It’s worth noting that she also has a background in comedy, having trained at Second City in Toronto as well.
Young began working for TheScore in Canada in 2009. At the time, theScore aired RAW and Smackdown. It has since been bought out by Sportsnet and is now known as Sportsnet 360. Young, along with Mauro Ranallo, hosted post-event shows on the network talking about WWE. She was then hired by WWE in 2012.
Sonya Deville testified in court yesterday at a hearing for Phillip Thomas II, the suspect charged with her attempted kidnapping and breaking into her home. Following the hearing, Thomas was ruled a threat to society and denied bail. He will remain in prison until his trial.
“I saw a man standing there and he had black clothes on and a black mask and he was just standing there staring at me,” Deville said on the stand. The incident occurred early Sunday morning after Deville had gone to bed after watching the UFC 252 PPV. Mandy Rose was staying in a guest room at her home that evening.
“I looked up, I saw him, I was terrified, I started screaming. I don’t even know what I said,” she continued. Deville has also filed for a restraining order against Thomas in civil court.
The judge ruled that Thomas provides a threat to the community even if monitored by GPS while on bail.
“I don’t see any way we can protect our community in Hillsborough County if we give him bail,” the judge ruled. “A GPS on him gives me no peace of mind. A GPS monitor does nothing for me.”
Becky Lynch proudly assumed the moniker of ‘The Man’ during her ascension within WWE. Although the nickname garnered popularity amongst the WWE Universe, it turns out that there were some WWE Superstars that took issue with her choice.
During an interview with Digital Spy, Stephanie McMahon revealed how ‘The Man’ concept was driven by Lynch. However, some female Superstars allegedly pushed back against it.
“(‘The Man) really was her idea. It’s funny because some women were very against it like, ‘Why do you have to call yourself the man? Why can’t you be The Woman.’ But she just didn’t take it, you know, too literally. The whole point was to turn that nomenclature on its ear, right, because everyone says, ‘oh the biggest, the most successful person in the room is The Man. Well, why can’t The Man be a woman?”
Becky Lynch is currently on hiatus from WWE and in-ring action since becoming pregnant. This will be her first child with her fiancé Seth Rollins. She is due to give birth this December.
Prior to the announcement, Lynch was the reigning WWE RAW Women’s Champion. However, her pregnancy forced her to relinquish the belt. Becky Lynch revealed on the 5/11 episode of RAW that Asuka’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match victory wasn’t for an opportunity at the belt, it was for the belt itself.
Shane McMahon recently returned to screens as the host and promoter of RAW’s latest segment, RAW Underground. Prior to this new on-screen role, Shane had been written off television since last October. This came in the wake of a storyline with Kevin Owens.
During that interim, Shane McMahon reportedly became much more involved in WWE’s creative output. According to Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT and Sportskeeda, there is speculation that Vince McMahon is contemplating putting Shane McMahon in charge of RAW.
McCarthy shared how a source informed him that Shane McMahon is being considered to take over RAW’s creative duties. If this occurs, he would take the reins from Bruce Prichard. This would allow Prichard to “lighten his workload” and focus primarily on SmackDown. He explained how Prichard has made no secret that he’d like to lessen his commitments as he has allegedly been “struggling with long hours.”
Prichard is WWE’s current Senior Vice President and RAW and SmackDown Executive Director. He assumed the role of Executive Director following Paul Heyman’s firing back in June. Eric Bischoff was originally SmackDown’s Executive Director. He was let go last October.
Shane McMahon assisted with the production of January’s Royal Rumble event. It is reported he has been at the Gorilla Position alongside Vince McMahon at several recent main roster events.
All Elite Wrestling’s Sammy Guevara has shared the pitch he made for Double or Nothing’s Stadium Stampede matchup. The bout saw Guevara’s Inner Circle stable compete against The Elite and Matt Hardy.
Guevara recently joined Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards on AEW’s official podcast, Unrestricted. During their conversation, Sammy Guevara explained how he repeatedly text AEW President Tony Khan expressing his interest in jumping off the stadium.
“The stadium is like 200 feet or something like that. I think he thought I was joking so I texted him again and said I was serious. They got this stunt coordinator. We were only approved for 40 feet, so the stadium was out of the question.”
Sammy Guevara explained how he wanted to do a “cool flip or dive” at first. The idea slowly evolved into him receiving a Canadian Destroyer before finally settling on Kenny Omega’s One-Winged Angel.
He detailed how it was raining during the entire filming process. They would finally start preparing for his spot at about 5 A.M.
“Kenny and I were standing up there and I was thinking, this is the way I go. This is it for me. It’s the last thing of the match,” Guevara explained. “We’ve been up forever and of course, it’s raining and wet. I remember being up there and looking down and thinking if this is it, I had a good run. It was a scary moment.”
Despite their best efforts, The Inner Circle would lose the matchup to Matt Hardy and The Elite after Guevara took the One-Winged Angel from Omega.
SmackDown Superstars The Usos have opened up about being able to deliver unscripted promos during a recent appearance on D-Von Dudley’s podcast, Table Talk.
They recalled how they were finally given promo time after finally ditching their colorful paint gimmick. The caveat to this, however, is that the Usos were only allocated 30 seconds. The twins revealed it was a struggle to determine what to say in such a short period of time.
“We put black on because we went from colors to straight black and white. We put our hoodies on. We said, it’s not paranoia, it’s the Usos. Then we ran with it. We started saying that we are locking this down like in the penitentiary. We were just talking like we talked back in the day, talking trash on the court. Once that came along, we got so comfortable with that and that’s when it started oozing out and it became so fun and so new.”
The Usos then reflected on the Rap Battle idea they pitched. The team would have several Rap Battles against teams like The New Day and The Bar. When they were in the ring, the brothers admitted that they didn’t want to know what their opponents would say and vice versa. They stressed that was the “fun part” and that they “killed it.”
D-Von revealed he had pitched for the Usos to get promo time following their gimmick change. He explained how he believed all they needed to do was let the Usos be themselves. D-Von stressed that WWE creative shouldn’t write a script or tell them what to do. If they trusted him and his faith in the Usos, he had no doubt the team would succeed.
NXT Superstar Johnny Gargano has commented on the injury scare he experienced during this week’s episode. Gargano competed against former NXT UK Superstar Ridge Holland. Their bout would secure the winner a spot at NXT TakeOver: XXX’s North American Championship Ladder Match.
However, during the match, Gargano would be spiked on his head and neck following a botched power slam from Holland. Taking to Twitter, Gargano stressed how “‘All Heart’ isn’t just a catchphrase. You only lose when you quit and I got a Ladder match to win in 3 days.”
After the scary moment, both Triple H and Shawn Michaels were among those to rush to check on Gargano. When it was confirmed that Gargano could continue, the matchup was re-started. WWE edited the match to remove any sort of break after the near-miss took place. It was determined that, because Gargano was thankfully okay after being spiked, it was acceptable to air the botched power slam on television.
Johnny Gargano competes against Bronson Reed, Damian Priest, Cameron Grimes, and Velveteen Dream at NXT TakeOver: XXX. The winner will claim Keith Lee’s vacated NXT North American Championship.
NXT TakeOver: XXX takes place this Saturday from Full Sail University at Winter Park, FL, and will air on the WWE Network.
Former WCW star Marcus “Buff” Bagwell was recently involved in an unfortunate car accident. He would be hospitalized with reported serious injuries on August 16.
Atlanta promoter Ron Gossett has provided a medical update on his friend in a recent Facebook post. He asked fans to send prayers in support of Buff Bagwell. According to Gossett, Bagwell messaged him and shared how he hoped to soon leave the hospital. However, because of the severity of the car wreck, he suffered several broken bones.
Gossett noted how Bagwell is currently dealing with broken ribs, a broken right hip, broken left socket bone, a broken nose, a torn right groin muscle, and heavy bruising. Thankfully, despite the reported seriousness of the incident, Gossett shared how Bagwell does not require surgery of any sort.
Bagwell was driving his 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe on Cumberland Boulevard this past Sunday at around 5:18pm local time when the collision occurred. Investigators believe he was impaired by prescription medication at the time of the accident. At the time of writing, the investigation is still underway, and Cobb County police have requested that anyone with further information get in contact with its investigators at 770-499-3987.
All of us at SEScoops wish Buff Bagwell the best during the time and hope he has a speedy recovery.
This week’s edition of WWE NXT on the USA Network averaged 853,000 viewers. The show did a 0.24 in the Adults 18-49 demographic and finished 23rd on cable for the evening.
NXT ran unopposed this week without competition from AEW, which was preempted due to the NBA playoffs on TNT. Dynamite airs this Saturday night at 6pm (Eastern).
This was the most-watched episode of NXT this year and ties for the 2nd best demo rating of 2020. Viewership was up 38% from last week, while the key demo rating was up 50%.
NXT featured Johnny Gargano defeating Ridge Holland in an NXT North American Championship Ladder Match qualifier, Legado del Fantasma in action, Shotzi Blackheart and Rhea Ripley teaming up and Velveteen Dream defeating Finn Balor in the main event in another NXT North American Championship Ladder Match qualifier.
Click here for our full recap and takeaways from this week’s WWE NXT.
The NXT show originally scheduled for Wednesday, September 2nd will now air on Thursday, September 3rd on the USA Network. The show is being moved to accommodate the NHL Playoffs broadcast schedule. This means that AEW Dynamite that week will run unopposed.
It is currently unknown if further episodes of NXT could be rescheduled as well. The NHL Playoffs are currently finishing up the Conference Quarter-Finals. The Stanley Cup finals are set to conclude no earlier than October 4th, 2020.
September 2nd will mark 3 straight weeks that AEW and NXT haven’t gone head-to-head. NXT ran unopposed last night, Dynamite will air on Thursday next week and NXT will be pushed back by a day the week after.
The September 2nd edition of AEW Dynamite will also be the go-home show for the All Out PPV on September 5th. Additionally, the September 16th episode of Dynamite will only be 1-hour but a 2-hour version will air the following night.
AEW has just announced that a limited number of fans will be permitted to attend beginning on Thursday, August 27th, 2020. Dynamite will air on Thursday next week due to the NBA Playoffs.
Former NXT head writer Joe Belcastro has left WWE. Triple H addressed Belcastro’s departure recently on a media call to promote TakeOver XXX on Saturday.
Trile was asked about a possible replacement for Belcastro, but according to Triple H – it will be ‘business as usual’ on the NXT creative team.
“As far as the writing of NXT goes, we shift around a little bit as things happen. I won’t necessarily comment on people that aren’t necessarily talent for us but we have a team that works with NXT that includes Shawn Michaels, Brian James, myself. So, it’s a group and the ideas all go through that. It’s really business as usual for us,” Triple H said.
Triple H also spoke about what he has learned from doing live television with NXT since October.
“There’s a dramatic difference between doing taped television, doing live television, doing 1-hour live television vs 2-hours,” Triple H continued.
“I think the biggest difficulty for us has been in this time frame is just the shifting of everything,” he said. “COVID has really made doing all of this, in a way, exponentially harder.”
WWE currently has a job ad up on LinkedIn looking for a new lead writer for Smackdown but nothing on NXT. Johnny Russo recently updated his LinkedIn to say he started as NXT’s lead writer in July after having been working as a producer for the last year.
Please join me in wishing a Happy Birthday ??? to my colleague and friend @AgentJRusso I hope you have a great day today Johnny! #CMON#RT#OUDK
AEW has announced the return of live events with fans in attendance.
Starting with the August 27th edition of Dynamite, AEW live events will be open to limited, physically distanced fans in compliance with state and local regulations, as well as CDC guidelines.
Tickets will be sold for shows at Daily’s Place Amphitheater and will accommodate 10-15% capacity. For the first ticketed show on Thursday, August 27, a maximum crowd of 10 percent capacity will be permitted. From there, as long as things go smoothly and safety guidelines are followed, they will increase the weekly capacity to 15%.
This special Thursday edition of AEW Dynamite is part of a revised schedule this month. Several episodes of Dynamite on TNT have been preempted due to the NBA playoffs.
Details on AEW Dynamite Preempted by NBA Playoffs This Month
AEW Taking Precautions
“Guests will be required to wear face coverings that cover the nose and mouth, and to physically distance from any person who is not a member of their pod. Guests will also be asked not to attend the day of the show if they have COVID-19, symptoms of COVID-19 or have had close contact exposure to someone who they know has COVID-19 or symptoms. In addition, all guests will have their temperature scanned prior to entry.
An increased number of hand sanitizing stations will be available, and floor markings will also be used to assist with physical distancing. Industrial fans were also added this past year to further improve air circulation at the open-air venue.”
AEW President and CEO Tony Khan commented on this development:
“We’ve missed the incredible energy of our fans at shows, and from what we’ve heard from them, they’ve missed being with us. With our enhanced safety measures and outdoor venue, we look forward to welcoming our fans back to become part of the action in-person.”
“Please be assured, we are mindful and respectful of the situation,” Khan added. “The health and safety of our AEW family and our fans remains our highest priority. Our leadership team and medical staff have adjusted our operations for limited, physically distanced fans in an outdoor, open-air setting in compliance with the most current state and local regulations and CDC guidelines. We can’t wait for the August 27 DYNAMITE, as the road to ALL OUT will represent the beginning of a new chapter in AEW history.”
The following is a look at the seating chart AEW will be using for these limited capacity shows at Daily’s Place:
This Sunday at SummerSlam, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre faces Randy Orton in what’s sure to be his most difficult title defense to date.
McIntyre has battled a wide array of competition since he dethroned Brock Lesnar for the gold back in April at WrestleMania. He defeated the Big Show the following night on Raw before moving on to a feud with Seth Rollins. McIntyre retained against Rollins when the two clashed in the main event of Money in the Bank. He beat Bobby Lashley at Backlash before most recently fending of Dolph Ziggler at Extreme Rules.
Randy Orton is a whole different animal. McIntyre has had a strong reign thus far, but the Viper is currently favored to walk out of SummerSlam as WWE Champion.
According to Sports Betting Dime, Randy Orton is favorite to defeat McIntyre for the WWE Championship this weekend. Orton’s odds are listed as -140, while McIntyre’s is the underdog at +100.
Even though McInture’s belt makes him the top dog on WWE’s Raw brand, there is no question that Randy Orton casts a big shadow as an 18-year veteran.
Orton is one of the most decorated champions in WWE history. He also has a strong record competing at SummerSlam, where he has captured world championships three times. In 2009, Orton beat John Cena to win the WWE Championship. In 2011, he took the [retired] World Heavyweight Championship off Christian. Two years later in 2013, he beat Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship once again.
Randy Orton’s last WWE Championship reign ended at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. As a 9-time WWE Champion and a 4-time World Heavyweight Champion, it’s almost unusual to see him with a bare waistline.
Drew McIntyre spoke with Mirror UK this week to promote his big showdown with WWE’s Apex Predator. He admitted, “Randy is completely on fire right now” and said Orton is on another level as a competitor and performer. “It was up to me to step up to Randy’s level and hopefully I showed that I’m truly capable of that, like I did on Raw, when let loose with a talent like Randy Orton.”
We will see what happens when Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton collide this Sunday at WWE SummerSlam. The show airs live on the WWE Network from the Amway Center in Orlando, FL. It will be the first WWE pay-per-view event to utilize the company’s new ThunderDome production setup.
Arn Anderson worked backstage as a producer in WWE during the main roster runs of Enzo and Big Cass. On a recent episode of the Arn Show, Anderson addressed a question on what went wrong for the tag-team after they were called up from NXT.
“(Enzo and Cass) came up to the main roster, they had a match or two, and the people were getting with the promos and getting with all the things but the second they put Cass in the program with Big Show, he quit listening. I know because I was the producer of that match,” Anderson said on the show. “And here’s the Giant willing to put this guy over and he was fighting us every step of the way.”
Arn Anderson On Enzo Amore In 205 Live
Anderson then spoke about Enzo’s time on 205 Live.
“I had (Enzo) in some 205 matches, on house shows, and he was just doing every stupid thing you could do to make a babyface look foolish. And it was some of the Lucha guys that he was working with, and they didn’t know the difference until I started pointing it out to them. And I think that the fact you don’t take the guidance from the people, the producers there that are there to help you and know a little bit better than you do what’s going to get over and what’s not.”
Double-A continued to say that Enzo and Cass then began making mistakes both inside the ring and in the locker room.
“They made some mistakes and it didn’t take very, very long before they had heat in the locker room, and then they started to fall apart out in the ring as far as production. Then they started to get heat in the office and that’s what happened, they self-destructed.”
Arn also addressed what went wrong for Enzo on the main roster during a previous episode of his show.
“You can’t be too hardheaded about that because there are people trying to help you. If you don’t listen to those people and you fail, it’s on you. If you do listen to those people and do everything you can possibly do to pull off what they are telling you to pull off, then you got a shot at it. I just think Enzo might have been a little too headstrong about how he felt things should go.”
You can listen to the full episode in the player embedded below. Arn Anderson’s comments about Enzo & Big Cass come in around the 1 hour 7-minute mark.
WWE Superstar Naomi recently appeared on WWE’s The New Day: Feel The Power podcast. The tenured Superstar discussed a number of topics from her career with the company, from FCW, to Team B.A.D and her current run with her ‘Glow’ gimmick.
The WWE Superstar would also talk about her time as a dancer for Orlando Magic. Naomi performed for Magic from 2007 to 2009, when she would sign for WWE.
Naomi would describe how she felt her tryout with WWE and (then) FCW didn’t leave her feeling she would get a job with the company. “‘I won’t be a wrestler, and I’ll keep dancing'” Naomi began on the podcast.
Naomi on Orlando Magic
“Then like literally the week before tryout FCW called and I was like ‘we want to sign you to developmental'” Naomi would continue. “I was so happy because, [Orlando] Magic was fun, but I was also at that point to where like ‘alright I gotta figure out what the hell I’m gonna do with my life.'”
Naomi would then reveal the absolutely tiny amount of money she received from performing for Orlando Magic. “Magic wasn’t paying the bills. It’s fun, it’s exciting and you get to experience so much. I got to travel, I just got to meet so many different, unique people and be in so many cool environments. But at the same time? It was a hustle, it was a grind. We got $50 per game.”
“You didn’t get to perform every game, because there was a roster of 20 girls” Naomi would elaborate further.”So we were rotating games, and there was only like during the season, maybe two to three games a week? And you’re lucky if you were on the game.”
Naomi would also reveal that while she got paid such a small amount she still had to keep a strict regime of workouts and dieting. “It’s a full time schedule, like we had rehearsals every week, several days a week. You still had to work out, you still had to train, you still had to look the part. You still you couldn’t gain a certain amount of weight while you were on the team.”
It’s worth noting if you aren’t a basketball fan that Orlando Magic are an NBA (National Basketball League) team. This would essentially be the equivalent of a company the size of WWE paying their peripheral talent $50 per appearance.
According to comments made by Triple H on a recent media call to promote TakeOver XXX, Triple H isn’t interested in fielding any more questions relating to the Velveteen Dream controversy. Triple H was asked about comments made online by Dream’s accusers on the call but Triple H said he’s ready to move on to other topics.
“Obviously, we take all of these things very seriously. Allegations, misconduct, of any nature, we take very seriously,” Triple H said.
“I’ll stand by what I said to CBS, we looked into it, didn’t find anything there in the manner of what we were looking for and we moved on. It doesn’t change the fact that we take it seriously. If there is something else there we’ll look into it.”
“We’ve already talked about it so I’d rather just move on to other topics,” Triple H concluded.
In light of the dismissive comments made by Triple H during the NXT media call, accuser Matthew Jimenez tweeted this:
Want more? Here’s @DreamWWE turning the conversation sexual immediately after I disclosed my age (17). He tells me I’d be “better off in porn” and that if I was “packing” I’d be better off. We have our evidence @WWE@TripleHpic.twitter.com/MQJ3CtTLVo
During a recent interview with Triple H took part in an interview with CBS Sports, Triple H said WWE investigated the matter internally and decided to simply move on.
“Everything that we have done, we are comfortable with him continuing to do what he does and everything else. But he had a car accident. It stemmed down to people thought we removed him from TV for different reasons. We didn’t. He was in a car accident. Once he was medically cleared to be able to return to the ring from his car accident, we continued forward the way we did. We looked into what was there and we didn’t find anything.”
WWE Superstar Riddick Moss was allegedly in line for a significant push in the company prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
When the pandemic hit, Moss was the WWE 24/7 Champion. However, with the pandemic risk, Moss wanted to protect his brother who has cystic fibrosis. Because of this, Moss wanted to shield as much as possible to help protect his brother from possibly contracting COVID-19.
WWE was reportedly respectful of his request. Moss subsequently dropped the belt to R-Truth on the 3/22 episode of Monday Night RAW.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, Paul Heyman did all he could to avoid Moss receiving any potential heat for his decision. It was reported that “Heyman was very high on Moss at the time and a big push was in order.”
Despite having been absent from WWE programming until recently, Moss’s decision allegedly hasn’t scuppered any long-term plans WWE has for him. Additionally, WWE officials are still said to see great potential in him.
Riddick Moss recently returned to television on the 8/10 episode of RAW. He participated in a RAW Underground segment, defeating Cal Bloom via knockout. On this week’s episode of RAW, he faced off against Arturo Ruas. Their bout would end after both men had to defend themselves from crowd members.
It is unknown if Moss will continue to participate in RAW Underground segments at the time of writing or if WWE will soon involve him with a new storyline or feud.
News broke recently that Renee Young is leaving WWE. According to comments made on Wrestling Observer Radio, Young is finishing up with the company this weekend.
“She gave notice last week, this weekend coming up is her last with the company,” said Dave Meltzer.
“As far as the reason, if you look at the timing I think it’s fairly safe to say the whole COVID thing is a huge part of this,” Meltzer continued. Young confirmed on Twitter in late-June that she had contracted the COVID-19 virus.
Man. What a few days. My show gets cancelled and I get Covid. Wear your masks and wash your hands. Stay safe, everyone ??
“She’s going to have offers, I don’t think there is any question that she is going to land on her feet somewhere. Where that will be, it could be many places,” Meltzer continued to say about Young’s future prospects.
The 34-year-old from Toronto has been with the company since 2012. Prior to signing with WWE, Young was a host on TheScore in Canada and worked with Mauro Ranallo and Jimmy Korderas covering WWE on Aftermath from 2009-12.
