– WWE announced on RAW that a permanent General Manager for RAW and SmackDown will be announced in 4 weeks at the 1,000th RAW Celebration on July 23rd.
– Joey Styles is encouraging fans on Twitter to purchase the new ECW Unreleased: Volume 1 DVD/Blu-Ray set if they want to see a Volume 2 released in the future. So far, we’ve heard sales have been strong for the first installment.
– Brodus Clay tweeted the following on Monday night after RAW after losing to the Big Show, which officially ended his winning streak:
Funkateers Thank u all! lil dizzy and icing my knee see what dr says in am
Speaking of Brodus Clay, he’ll be doing an autograph signing with Naomi and Cameron at Steiner Sports Store in the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, New York on 9/22 from 1-3pm.
It was announced on Monday’s RAW that Brock Lesnar will respond to Triple H’s SummerSlam challenge on next week’s show.
During the show, local commercials aired in St. Louis promoting an appearance by Brock Lesnar at the upcoming 1,000th episode celebration on 7/23 from the Scottrade Center.
The commercial stated that Lesnar would be in St. Louis and questioned, “but what part will he play?”
Lesnar is also advertised for the August 13th edition of RAW, the final show before SummerSlam.
No word yet on whether Lesnar will be at RAW next week to answer Triple H’s challenge in person.
– Triple H appeared in front of the live crowd at Monday’s RAW during a commercial break.
After Santino Marella defeated Jack Swagger, Triple H came out and hit Swagger with a Pedigree.
– After RAW went off the air, a dark match main event took place: John Cena vs. Big Show and Tensai in a handicap match. Believe it or not, John Cena won after hitting Tensai with the AA.
John Laurinaitis then hit the ring and attacked Cena with a steel chair. Cena got fired up and hit Laurinaitis with the AA to end the show.
— Despite being advertised for Monday’s RAW, Kelly Kelly was not there. She Tweeted a message from Cabo, where she is vacationing with her boyfriend, NHL hockey player Sheldon Souray. Kelly is taking time off from WWE.
— The upcoming The Rock vs. John Cena: Once In a Lifetime DVD set will be released on September 11th, 2012.
— The main event of Friday’s Smackdown show will be Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler in a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight championship. The show will be taped on Tuesday from Evansville, Indiana.
– Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown did a 2.0 cable rating, with 2.97 million viewers. Those numbers are both up big from last week’s rating and viewership and were the most for both since March 9th. The show ranked #1 among the adult male demographics, #2 among male teens and was up bigin all key demographics, according to PWInsider.com.
– It was announced on RAW that WWE will present a special Super SmackDown Live: Great American Bash show next Tuesday night July 3rd at 8/7c.
– WWE Champion CM Punk will defend against Daniel Bryan at next month’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view.
– In a dark match that took place prior to Monday’s RAW went on the air, FCW wrestler Bray Wyatt (former NXT wrestler Husky Harris) defeated Alex Riley in approximately 5. Our live correspondent said that Wyatt got “tremendous heat” from the crowd and Riley got a good reaction as well.
– The following matches were taped for this week’s WWE Superstars, airing this Thursday online:
* WWE Tag-Team Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Michael McGillicutty
Actor Charlie Sheen will be attending WWE’s 1,000th RAW Celebration on July 23rd and will serve as the “Celebrity Social Media Ambassador” for the three hour broadcast.
During RAW, Sheen will give his unique perspective in 140 characters or less about the action. WWE.com wrote about Sheen’s role:
“During the three-hour milestone event July 23 at 8/7 CT on USA Network, the “winning” actor will entertain his 7.5 million Twitter followers and the WWE Universe all night long with his unique 140-character analysis of the action.”
Sheen will be promoting his new show, Anger Management, which premieres this Thursday on FX.
– Chris Jericho’s metal band Fozzy will be playing at Pop’s Nightclub in Sauget, Illinois on August 21st. According to Poprocks.com, fans who have ticket stubs for the Uproar Festival will get free admission to the Pop’s Nightclub show on 8/21.
Fozzy is booked for several dates on the Uproar Festival, but will not be playing on Sunday, 8/19, the day of SummerSlam.
Jericho, who returns to WWE tonight after serving a 30 day suspension, is advertised for SummerSlam.
It’s been widely speculated that Morgan is interested in returning to WWE when he is contractually able to do so. No word yet on the nature the “business” Morgan conducted while in town, but we’ll post an update on this story when it’s available.
– As reported earlier, WWE is teasing that Paul Heyman will be at RAW tonight to react to Triple H punching him out last week.
Heyman’s current deal with WWE runs through SummerSlam and he’s expected to be a regular on WWE television through then as a representative of Brock Lesnar.
Former WWE SmackDown head writer Alex Greenfield appeared on the MLW Radio show over the weekend and says he almost got into a physical altercation with Vince McMahon after a disagreement over a proposed SmackDown storyline.
Here’s what Greenfield said about the incident:
“We’re standing right outside the arena. There are fans way back behind the fence wondering what Mr. McMahon is yelling at this little Jewish kid for. I just refused to back down. I was like, my way is the right way. You did it wrong. He said, Damnit, I wish you were 6′ 7″ and I said, I’m not, but I’m standing right here.”
“And there was a moment in that conversation where I thought he was just going to haul off and punch me in the face. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking like a badass here like I would have won this confrontation necessarily. He probably would have broken my jaw.”
“But he really thought about it. I’m convinced to this day that he thought about knocking the [expletive] out of me.”
Part 1 of the MLW Radio interview with Alex Greenfield can be heard here (.MP3).
— WWE is launching a new weekly one-hour show called “WWE Main Event” that will air Wednesday nights (8/7 central) on ION Television. In a press release sent out on Monday, WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon says:
“WWE looks forward to this new partnership with ION Television. We are excited about producing this new television show, WWE Main Event, and bringing our fans to ION Television every Wednesday.”
WWE Main Event debuts on October 3rd and will feature “a big arena experience with live audiences like current WWE weekly programs from both RAW and SmackDown.” There is no mention of the show featuring first-run programming, so it might be a highlights show.
For more on WWE Main Event, visit Zap2It.com.
— WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & R-Truth will be doing an autograph signing this afternoon from the Glenbrook Dodge dealership in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
— ECW original Tommy Dreamer is launching a new promotional called “House of Hardcore” (the same name of the former ECW training academy). The first HoH show will take place on October 6th from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Below is Tommy Dreamer’s official announcement of the new company:
– FCW Diva Raquel Diaz (daughter of Vickie & Eddie Guerrero) is now the longest-reigning Divas Champion in FCW history. The previous record holder was WWE Diva Naomi, who now dances with Brodus Clay.
Diaz captured the gold back in December 2011, when she defeated Audrey. Diaz, who worked this weekend’s WWE SmackDown events as ring announcer, tweeted the following about her milestone:
With WWE currently finalizing plans for the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view on July 15th, some fans will find it surprising that Cena might not be booked on the show.
WWE’s top draw is not currently scheduled for a match at Money in the Bank, but will be returning to the WWE title picture this summer.
As of this weekend, WWE is considering a double main event for SummerSlam that would feature Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H and John Cena challenging CM Punk for the WWE Championship.
While WWE’s plans are always subject to change, advertising for September’s WWE’s Night of Champions pay-per-view suggests that Cena will not be capturing the WWE title at SummerSlam. A commercial airing in the Boston area promoting Night of Champions states, “John Cena returns to his hometown of Boston to try and re-capture championship glory.”
John Cena has been out of the WWE title picture for quite some time and is expected to be chasing the gold for the latter part of the year.
– Rey Mysterio’s 60-day suspension ends today and is able to return to action this week. He is expected to return to television next week.
– Carl Dantes sent in the following preview for Tuesday’s night’s Season 2 premiere of Shawn Michaels’ MacMillan River Adventures hunting show:
Shawn Michaels’ MacMillan River Adventures begins its second season this June 26, 2012 on The Outdoor Channel every Tuesdays at 11:30pm eastern (8:30 pm pacific), Wednesdays at 8:00am eastern (5:00am pacific) and Saturdays at 7:00pm eastern (4:00pm pacific) Ch-606 on DirectTV, Ch-396 on Dish Network, Ch-406 on XFINITY TV.
The premiere episode will feature hosts Shawn and Keith stalk the world’s largest land animal with a crossbow in this African adventure. They are hunting for elephant in Zimbabwe, Africa. See just how dangerous it can be when they have a close encounter with a big elephant.
– Suspended WWE superstar Randy Orton continues to get heat with WWE officials, with his latest offense being recent comments he made on Twitter.
Earlier this month, Orton responded to a fan question and said “we can only pray” that he’ll be returning as a heel. WWE is still firmly behind using Orton as a babyface on SmackDown and was not pleased with him venting about being unhappy with his role on television.
As we’ve been reporting in recent weeks, despite the Orton’s recent differences with management, he’ll return to the main even scene due to WWE’s current lack of roster depth.
– WWE diva Kharma continues to train for her upcoming return and is said to be very close to ring shape.
There are still plans to bring her back as a babyface and slowly build to a Kharma vs. Beth Phoenix match.
– Today’s wrestling birthdays include WWE Divas Champion Layla (34) and Damien Demento (54).
– The WWE Shop website is selling new sunglasses for various WWE superstars.
– Lilian Garcia did some charity work over the weekend, appearing at the 10th Annual LOPen Charity Golf and Concert. She noted on Twitter over the weekend that the event raised over $100,000 for Ohio’s Akron Children Hospital, with WWE donating $14,000 for the cause:
What an amazing magical wkend. We raised over $100,000 for @LopenCharity 2 benefit Akron's Children Hospital in OH! #GreatCause
– Despite being fired by Vince McMahon at No Way Out (and getting disposed of by John Cena on RAW), John Laurinaitis continues to work WWE live events.
The main event of this weekend’s RAW shows (Bethlehem, PA on Friday, Wheeling, WV on Saturday and Huntington, WV on Sunday) will be John Cena vs. Big Show and John Laurinaitis.
The storyline behind Laurinaitis still appearing at live events is that WWE’s Board of Directors are “making him fulfill his contract obligations.”
Fans attending these RAW-brand shows expecting to see WWE Champion CM Punk will be out of luck, because this weekend’s SmackDown shows (Springfield, IL & Bloomington, IL) will feature CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane and Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio as the top matches.
– After finishing up shooting scenes in Philadelphia, Wade Barrett is headed to New York this weekend to continue filming for WWE Studios’ Dead Man Down, due out in 2013.
– Chris Jericho’s WWE suspension ends tomorrow and WWE is advertising that he’ll be at Monday’s RAW Supershow. With just one day to go until he’s cleared to wrestle again, Jericho continued his countdown on Twitter:
One man, one goal One mission One heart, one soul Just one solution One flash of light One God, one vision One flesh, one bone…
It’s expected that Chris Jericho will be working as a babyface when he returns to action. WWE showing footage of Jericho performing with Fozzy on RAW was the first step in portraying him in a more positive light.
– The theme song for the new season of WWE NXT is “Welcome Home” by Coheed and Cambria.
Warning: The following contains a *Spoiler* for Tonight’s SmackDown:
WWE’s third annual Money in the Bank pay-per-view will feature MITB matches for both the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight title.
At the start of tonight’s WWE SmackDown show, the Big Show will announce that he is first participant for the RAW brand’s Money in the Bank match for the WWE Championship.
While the line between the RAW and SmackDown rosters has been blurred more than ever this year, it’s expected that each show’s respective match will only feature participants that are officially on that brand’s show.
– A TNA Wrestling live event is scheduled for September 7 at The Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale June 29 at 10:00 a.m.
– Former TNA Knockout Chelsea was in attendance for last night’s Impact.
– Former WWE superstar Luke Gallows wrestled in a dark match prior to Impact. He wrestled as Isiah Cash and lost to Kazarian.
– After Impact went off the air, AJ Styles came back to the ring and continued to beat down Daniels and Kazarian. When Styles left, Daniels and Kazarian talked trash to the fans before heading to the back.
TNA Impact Wrestling star Jeff Hardy joined “Monday Night Mayhem” on Thursday (6/21). Hardy addressed a number of TNA related topics including his return to Buffalo on Friday, Impact Wrestling going live in the summer on Spike TV and more.
To listen to the entire show, click here (.MP3).
Here are some highlights of what Jeff Hardy said about:
On returning to Buffalo this Friday night for a TNA Wrestling live event: “We are doing so many fresh new things. We will rock the house this Friday night. The fan interaction is amazing. You would never experience this over there (WWE). It’s how I’ve been my whole career. The fans come first and I always take time to communicate with the fans. At our shows the fan interaction is so cool and so beyond anything else in pro wrestling. You get so close to your favorite stars.”
On returning to TNA following the “Victory Road 2011” PPV incident: “I honesty think and feel I’m at the top of my game. I’ve been through the hard times and dark times. Now being a father I’m so inspired with music, painting and wrestling. Once you see me that is a moment that you will never forget. I’m having the best matches in my life and wrestling the smartest ever. I’m in love with life again.”
Why he enjoys the TNA working schedule: “It’s huge for the quality of life. Every now and then, the human body needs that week off. At least at TNA when you have six or seven straight days off. Your body needs that. I’m extremely proud of TNA and we are doing a lot of shows that aren’t televised. We are working our asses off to get things done. For the quality of life, it is a huge difference to be in TNA.”
If he has anything left to accomplish in TNA or pro wrestling: “Nothing – there is nothing more I want to do. I’ve done everything I’ve dreamed up. It would be nice to become TNA Champion and end the selfish generation. Man, I can’t complain. I have a great life and have a beautiful family. I love TNA and what we are doing. If I never won the title again, I’m fine. I just want to keep my health and avoid any kind of surgeries.”
On Impact Wrestling going live in the summer on Spike TV: “It’s a huge step for TNA and Impact Wrestling. I couldn’t be more happier. I love the fact that if you make a mistake it will be witnessed by everyone who watches that night. I used to be on a show on Monday night that was live and was always excited about it as well. There is no editing involved. It’s a huge step and (we will) take it week by week.”
Other topics discussed:
* If he has any interest becoming part of the TNA or WWE Hall of Fame
* His honest thoughts on the Bound for Glory Series
* An update on “The Hardy Show” series
* Why he isn’t a fan of Facebook
The WWE’s website has an interview up with ring announcer Justin Roberts, who celebrated 10 years with WWE this past Monday. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Celebrating 10 Years With WWE:
“It’s really cool have accomplished 10 years of ring announcing with WWE. I was a wrestling fan who lived for WWE. I didn’t watch any other sports; WWE was all I wanted to watch.”
Advice He Received from Stephanie McMahon:
“When I started here, I had been listening to Howard Finkel. So when I previously announced at independent wrestling events, tough man contests, University of Arizona women’s softball games, basically anything I could announce … I was utilizing a bit of The Fink’s ‘cool announcer voice,’. I didn’t even realize that I was doing it.”
“One day, Stephanie McMahon came up to me and said not to go out there and be Howard, but to be me. I didn’t understand it at first, and then it hit me. I went back, watched some of my work, and thought, ‘That that isn’t my voice, that’s not how I sound.’ Once she said that to me, the light went on and I just became me. So every introduction that I do has its own flavor. I don’t go out and give the same introduction to everybody.”