Yahoo! Sports has an article up about Brock Lesnar “finally being back in his comfort zone” under the bright lights of WWE. WWE superstars Triple H and Rey Mysterio spoke to Yahoo! about Lesnar leaving WWE back i n and his return to WWE the night after WrestleMania 28 back in April. Here are some highlights of what they said about:
Rey Mysterio on Lesnar Leaving WWE in 2004: “We were kind of disappointed when he left and just didn’t know what was going to happen with him trying out for the NFL and then shocking the world with the UFC. Overall, he did what he wanted to do and you can’t take that away from any man or human being who wants to accomplish something or prove themselves in a certain sport.”
Triple H on Lesnar’s Return: “Brock reached out to us when his UFC contract was done and I think he was just sticking his toe in the water to see if there was any interest, We spoke and the rest is history. There was a time where WWE fans thought they would never see Lesnar back with the company. There had been some animosity a little bit in some ways between Brock and the WWE at various points,” Levesque said. “Some of that was real, some of that was media.”
– Paul Heyman’s future in WWE is up in the air after his appearance alongside Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam and Monday’s RAW. It has been reported for months that Heyman’s WWE deal was set to expire at or around SummerSlam. Especially with Brock Lesnar “quitting” WWE on Tout on Monday night, it remains to be seen whether we’ll see Heyman on television in the coming months.
– The recent sit-down interview that Jim Ross moderated between CM Punk and Steve Austin for the WWE ’13 video game was designed to be like the Shawn Michaels & Bret Hart “Greatest Rivalries” interview that was filmed last year.
Punk and Austin talked about who would win a match between the two of them and how that will come across in the WWE ’13 game. While Austin and Punk are believed to have a great deal of respect for one another in real life, the interview was said to be very heated at times, with with Jim Ross calling it a “classic” on Twitter over the weekend.
– Cody Rhodes posted a video on Tout and says it’s his “responsibility” to unmask Sin Cara and show the world his face. (Pictures of Sin Cara Unmasked)
– Just days after the release of WWE’s new mobile app, the app is already 14th most downloaded app in the Apple App Store and the 21st most downloaded app in the Google Play store. For those who haven’t downloaded it yet, it’s absolutely worth a look and one of the most content-rich, polished apps we’ve ever seen.
– Damien Sandow will be appearing at the upcoming NXT live event from the Orlando Armory in Orlando, Florida on September 7th.
After Monday’s WWE RAW went off the air, WWE Champion grabbed a microphone and said the word “Respect” before walking off and leaving Jerry Lawler laying in the ring.
CM Punk was interviewed by WWE.com backstage after RAW and said Lawler got what he deserved. From now on, everyone else is going to get the same treatment for turning their backs on him. Jerry Lawler tweeted the following response to Punk’s attack at the end of RAW:
Thanks to all my friends for your concern tonight…I'm OK.
According to PWInsider.com, this angle is building up to a match between Lawler and Lawler, which will likely take place on next week’s WWE RAW from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
– RAW General Manager AJ Lee tweeted the following message on Monday night, congratulating Kaitlyn for winning the Divas Battle Royal on RAW to become the new #1 contender to Layla’s title:
I know we’ve had some small issues in the past @KaitlynWWE , but I’m so happy for you. Look at how far we’ve come. #chickbusters4life
– Following his appearance on Monday’s WWE RAW [via satellite], WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels says he’s leaving the spotlight once again and is looking forward to returning to his private family life:
Well, the upside is this…the noisy trucks are gone & tomorrow I go back to my life of ranching,family & #MRA…one handed for a while!!:-)
– Speaking of the Divas Battle Royal, it’s worth noting that Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix were featured on the preview graphic for the match, despite the fact that neither of them was at RAW.
– Among the WWE-related terms that trended on Twitter last night were Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Zack Ryder, CM Punk, Big Show, Damien Sandow, Brodus Clay, Jerry Lawler, Kaitlyn and Scott Armstrong.
– Floyd Mayweather was among the celebrities backstage at SummerSlam.
– Tonight’s WWE SmackDown tapings take place from the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, California. This wek’s show will feature General Manager Booker T responding to Alberto Del Rio’s formal complaint regarding the controversial finish of his SummerSlam match with Sheamus.
John Cena and Triple H are advertised for the show, with John Cena vs. Big Show (No DQ) scheduled as the dark match main event.
– Hornswoggle will be throwing out the first pitch at tomorrow’s Milwaukee Brewers game.
– WWE’s upcoming RAW 1,000 DVD set will feature a countdown of the Top 100 moments in RAW history.
– Actor Dominic Monaghan of the WWE Studios movie, “The Day” will be the social media ambassador for next week’s WWE RAW from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. WWE’s announcement reads:
“Actor Dominic Monaghan will be right alongside the rest of the WWE Universe next week, tweeting about the action of Raw as he serves as WWE’s official Social Media Ambassador.
Best known for his role in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Monaghan stars this summer in the WWE Studios apocalyptic thriller “The Day,” which opens in theaters Aug. 29. But next Monday, Aug. 27, he’ll keep the passionate WWE fans up to speed with his thoughts on all the excitement of WWE’s flagship show!”
As we saw on Monday’s WWE RAW, Chris Jericho lost a “WWE Contract vs. Money In The Bank Briefcase” match on RAW to Dolph Ziggler, effectively ending his current WWE run.
Following Monday’s RAW, Jericho tweeted a farewell message to his fans:
Thanks to all of my Jerichoholics for an amazing 9 months! I have the BEST fans and I promise u haven’t seen the last of Y2J! See u on tour?
As we’ve been reporting for months, Jericho is leaving WWE to tour with his metal band, Fozzy. WWE talent and employees have been saying their goodbyes to Jericho over the weekend at SummerSlam and last night at RAW. Jericho assured people that even though he has other goals to achieve with Fozzy, he’s not retired from WWE and will be back.
Dolph Ziggler responded to Jericho’s tweets, complimenting his rival while getting in one last dig:
.@IAmJericho you are one of the best ever & im better just for being in the ring with you, but its just my time
In the closing segment of Monday’s WWE RAW, the stage was set for CM Punk to defend the WWE Championship against John Cena at Night of Champions on September 16th. The match was not made official, but it will be finalized soon.
New local advertisements for WWE’s upcoming live events through the remainder of 2012 are listing CM Punk vs. John Cena as the main event for these shows.
This includes WWE’s return to Madison Square Garden on December 27th.
– Kaitlyn is the new #1 contender to Layla’s Divas championship after winning a Divas Battle Royal on RAW.
– Chris Jericho’s contract was “terminated” on RAW after he lost a Summerslam rematch to Dolph Ziggler.
Earlier in the show, AJ Lee made the rematch with the stipulation that if Ziggler won, Jericho’s WWE contract was terminated. If Jericho won, he would receive Ziggler’s Money in the Bank title shot.
Jericho is being written off television will soon begin touring with his metal band Fozzy.
Several WWE superstars and divas tweeted their reactions to the Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H match at Summerslam the news that Brock Lesnar “broke Triple H’s arm.” Here’s what the following people said about the situation:
Chris Jericho: #SummerSlam was amazing! Great match w @HEELZiggler and I proved my point! And if that was HHH last stand…what a way to go out! #truewarrior
Mark Henry: Triple h and Brock was very good I expected such a match.H is long from done gladiators die in the ring.That man is not dead by a long shot.
Cody Rhodes HHH would be just fine not getting paid long as he still was able to walk down the ramp…I feel the same, so I can’t imagine hanging it up.
Santino Marella I’m concern for HHH, back stage he looked . . . its hard to put in words but there seemed to be no wind in his sails, if that make sense
R-Truth: Big win for the tag team champs,,but I’m worried about HHH,,he’s really banged up bad,,not to mention a broken arm..
Vickie Guerrero: Triple H is built of steel, he will recover and face Brock once again!
Natalya: Can’t help but wonder what is going to happen to HHH after his loss to Brock at SummerSlam. Maybe it’s his last match as it was so intense.
– As previously reported, WWE Champion CM Punk will be at Thursday night’s WWE NXT taping at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Jim Ross will also be on hand to call some of the action.
Because WWE are so far ahead in taping NXT shows, the next taping won’t take place until September 20th.
– “WWE” was the second most-searched item on Google on Sunday in the U.S. with about 100,000 searches. This is on par with how previous big WWE PPVs have performed and includes searches for “SummerSlam”, “WWE” and other WWE-related phrases (like wrestler names).
– On Monday afternoon, WWE announced that “Brock Lesnar broke Triple H’s arm” at SummerSlam. This is another indication that last night was not the last we’ve seen of this feud and WWE is likely building up to a Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H rematch.
Former WWE superstar Chris Masters Tweeted a photo on Sunday afternoon that got a lot of people questioning his mental state and his well being.
Masters tweeted a shirtless picture of himself holding a gun to his head with the caption, “My only fear of death reincarnation!” If holding a gun to his head isn’t a bad enough sign, he was also holding a drink in his other hand, which could mean he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the stunt. Here’s the picture:
Masters posted an apology on Monday:
I apologize to those who took the gun pic serious.Wasnt real!And I am not suicidal at all.But why are we all so uptight nowadays.Just a pic!
– The WWEShop.com website has released new merchandise commemorating Sunday night’s WWE SummerSlam 2012 PPV.
– Ric Flair’s daughter Ashley, who is now billed as “Charlotte” at WWE developmental, has been doing ring announcing at WWE’s recent NXT live events.
– Following his victory over Triple H in the main event of WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view, Brock Lesnar is not expected to wrestle for WWE again until Survivor Series in November. Despite online reports that WWE burned through virtually all of Lesnar’s contracted appearances already, the latest is that Lesnar still has plenty of dates left on his contract and WWE won’t have a problem booking him in a few more feuds.
– Triple H got emotional after losing to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, telling the live crowd, “I’m sorry” as Michael Cole speculated whether we’ve seen the last of Triple H.
Fans of Triple H will be happy to know that Triple H has no plans to retire from in-ring competition and still has several matches left in him before he retires for good. Triple H will likely take several months off and is expected to wrestle again later this year.
– Goldust noted on Twitter over the weekend that he left WWE on good terms.
– TNA star Chavo Guerrero tweeted the following message regarding WWE Hall of Famer The Iron Sheik being upset about Jinder Mahal using “his” Camel Clutch finisher in WWE:
Yes, theres only 1 @the_ironsheik & few apply the camel clutch as well as he did but theres only 1 person who invented it. Gory Guerrero!!
– After he failed to capture the WWE Championship at SummerSlam, John Cena spoke to the WWE website and was asked whether he now considers CM Punk to be the “Best in the World.” Cena said that CM Punk got lucky at SummerSlam and Punk will be seeing him tonight on RAW.
CM Punk heard Cena’s comments about him getting lucky at SummerSlam and posted this message on Twitter in response:
I Love @JohnCena saying I got lucky. It's not luck, it's skill. With the odds against me, I won. Not once, but twice. Gotta #respect that.
– The biggest WWE star to not compete at Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view was Randy Orton. After returning from his 60-day WWE suspension, WWE was considering adding Orton to the Sheamus vs. Alberto World Heavyweight title match, but the feeling was that the match didn’t need the extra star power (due to it not being one of the top matches on the card) and WWE went with the WWE title match being a triple threat match instead.
Even though he just returned to television, Orton will likely take some time off soon to begin filming the WWE Studios movie, “12 Rounds: Reloaded.”
– RAW General Manager AJ Lee says Kane will have to face consequences after attacking Josh Matthews backstage at Sunday’s SummerSlam PPV:
Oh, I dont know if I would've put my hands on a WWE announcer, Kane. I will deal with you tomorrow on #RAW.
Here are some live notes from Mick Foley’s comedy show on Sunday night from Los Angeles, California
– Mick Foley spent about an hour telling stories of his experiences on the road.
– Foley took several shots at TNA and Al Snow, a longtime target of his jokes.
– The show was to raise money for the RAAIN charity and Foley announced they raised around $3,000 from the show.
– Foley invited William Regal on stage to tell stories.
– Jim Ross and Diamond Dallas Page also joined Foley on stage and answered questions from the crowd.
– Billy Corgan and Chris Nowinski were also in attendance. Foley announced that after he passes away, he will be donating his brain to Nowinski’s Sports Legacy Institute for concussion research.
Check out this picture of Mick Foley, Jim Ross, DDP and William Regal at Foley’s comedy show:
– During an interview with the Los Angeles Times, The Miz revealed that WWE has begun voice-over work for the company’s new Scooby Doo movie, due out in 2014:
“I just did voice-over work for it [last week], and it was fun. But, you know what is weird about that? You are doing voice-overs, and you are just standing there with a microphone. To get you into the character, like say my character was running, then I would be running in place next to the microphone. It doesn’t look that cool. But, I guarantee you that the movie will be laugh-out-loud funny and the movie seems like it will be really good. It’s going to be weird to see myself animated, although I am already pretty animated in real life.”
– The 30-minute WWE SummerSlam pre-show is now online and can be viewed at YouTube.com. The pre-show includes Antonio Cesaro defeating Santino Marella for the United States Championship.
– Here’s the latest episode of WWE Download featuring Dolph Ziggler:
WWE RAW General Manager AJ Lee was interviewed by Esquire.com over the weekend in Los Angeles. Here are some highlights of what AJ said about:
Being RAW General Manager: “I’m the boss! I run our flagship program, and it’s a huge weight to carry. It’s hilarious that the tiniest person has the most power. It came completely out of left field. I had no idea that they were looking for a general manager for a really long time. They felt that it would be really surprising and unpredictable. So, you know, I book matches. I’m the boss of all the guys. It’s fun because a lot of them have wronged me.”
Sticking To Her Tomboy Roots & Not Being A Typical Diva: “I heard a million times to clean up, but not be too much of a tomboy. I heard, ‘This is what you have to convert to, this is the formula,’ A.J. said. “And you know, it’s wrong. There was something in me where I knew that people wanted someone that they could relate to. I was able to show that I was goofy and dorky, and right away, people embraced that. The company noticed and they were like, ‘Let’s just go with that.'”
Posted August 20th, 2012 in News, WWE. Tagged: AJ Lee.
– The controversial finish of the Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio match at SummerSlam, with the referee counting the 3-count despite Del Rio’s foot being on the bottom rope, was the planned finish all along. This was done to set up a rematch for the World Heavyweight title at September’s Night of Champions pay-per-view, according to f4wonline.com
– WWE and the Save Mart Center in Fresno have announced the following promotion for the first 1,000 cars to arrive at tonight’s WWE RAW:
“The first 1,000 vehicles to arrive at the Save Mart Center in Fresno for the Monday Night Raw Supershow on August 20, 2012 will receive free event parking. Additionally, the first 1,000 fans to arrive outside of the Save Mart Center between 3:30 and 4:30 pm can claim a $10 WWE merchandise gift card, which can be redeemed at any of the WWE merchandise booths throughout the building.”
– WWE Superstar Tensai spoke to theScore’s Arda Ocal (@arda_ocal) over the weekend at SummerSlam Axxess and talked about how the Tensai character came about and how its still a work in progress, his response to fans chanting “Albert” and a hobby he shares with Aftermath analyst Jimmy Korderas!
WWE.com is reporting that Triple H suffered a broken arm at the hands of Brock Lesnar at WWE SummerSlam. An article at WWE.com speculates that Triple H’s arm was broken by Lesnar’s Kimura lock and also states:
“It has also been released that The King of Kings broke his left arm in the same place that he did when Brock attacked him of the April 30 episode of Raw, an assault that lit the fuse on their tremendous rivalry. Although Triple H had initially refused medical attention last night, an examination this morning confirmed the severity of the injury.”
Lesnar and Paul Heyman will open tonight’s RAW at 8PM EST.
– Kevin Dunn, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Television Production, reportedly went ballistic on Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst at SummerSlam for flashing the middle finger when he was shown at ringside last night, according to f4wonline.com. WWE reportedly blurred out the middle finger on some delayed PPV feeds and the replays of the show.
– WWE superstar Ezekiel Jackson noted on Twitter that he watched WWE SummerSlam from a Hooters restaurant.
– During an interview with theScore’s Arda Ocal (@arda_ocal) over the weekend in Los Angeles, WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes graded his Intercontinental title run and talked about what’s next for him, whether or not he is ready for the main event and an interesting revelation about “Dashing” Cody Rhodes’ grooming tips.