– WWE is currently planning to launch the WWE Network in the fourth quarter of this year, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
– Former WWE star Bobby Lashley could be headed to the Bellator MMA promotion. Lashley tweeted this week that he recently met with Bellator VP of Talent Relations Sam Caplan.
– Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon will participate in the first 90-minute Republican Senate debate for the state of Connecticut tonight in Norwich. The debate will stream live at 7pm EST on norwichbulletin.com.
– The WWE website held a poll asking fans who will win at Extreme Rules between John Cena and Brock Lesnar. John Cena won the poll with 60% of the votes.
– With just a few weeks before their WWE contracts expire, the Bella Twins continue to pick up wins against Eve Torres and Divas champion Beth Phoenix on WWE’s overseas tour.
– WWE stars Titus O’Neil and Darren Young say they are headed to SmackDown and are looking to become the new WWE Tag Team Champions. Titus O’Neil wrote:
“Me& @DarrenYoungWWE put the issues of @TaminaSnuka behind us&We are headed 2 @WWE Friday Night Smackdown!!We will be Tag Team Champions Soon”
His partner Darren Young added the following:
“The #realdeal @TitusNXT & #nodaysoff @darrenyoungwwe WILL change the face of @WWE & the question is who gon stop us HUH? #ImpactPlayers”
Many fans have been emailing in asking when the 2012 WWE Draft will take place.
Monday’s 3-hour RAW Supershow was originally scheduled to host the Draft, but WWE would have made an announcement by now if that was the case. The next 3-hour RAW after that takes place on June 11th from Hartford, Connecticut, but there have been no indications that the draft will be held then.
There has also been talk of doing away with the Draft concept entirely. With WWE re-branding RAW as a a “Supershow” each week featuring SmackDown talent, the brand separation has never meant less.
That said, WWE feels that several superstars (Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler and The Miz) are desperately in need of a “change of scenery” – so we could see various trades take place to shake up the rosters.
COMMENT BELOW and tell us who YOU think should switch brands.
– Joey Styles mentioned on Twitter this week that he’s still hoping to induct Paul Heyman into the WWE Hall of Fame next year.
– Alberto Del Rio wrestled at Wednesday’s live event in Sheffield, England, winning a quick match over Mason Ryan. Live reports that we’ve read stated that it looked like Del Rio was working very “safe” and not taking any risks.
– WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Jim Ross attended the Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion show on Wednesday night from Las Vegas last night. Austin was introduced by Jim Ross and received the Iron Mike Award. Ross wrote on Twitter that it was an honor to introduce Austin and that Austin asked him to do it.
Speaking of Austin, he was interviewed for the latest issue of Men’s Fitness Magazine.
Following this week’s news that WrestleMania 28 was the most-ordered pay-per-view in pro wrestling history, the chances of a Rock vs. Cena rematch at next year’s show have increased. Whether or not the match takes place at next year’s WrestleMania, Rock and Cena will almost certainly have a rematch over the next 12 months.
The Rock dropped a bombshell on RAW the night after WrestleMania 28 when he revealed his “vision” to once again win the WWE Championship. As of this week, WWE’s plan for the main event of WresteMania 29 is for The Rock to wrestle either John Cena or Brock Lesnar for the WWE title.
Several factors will decide whether The Rock wrestles either Cena or Lesnar, most notably, how Brock Lesnar’s next few months go. WWE officials want to see how Lesnar handles his [limited] schedule and how over Lesnar is after his match with John Cena at Extreme Rules.
While there was early talk of announcing the WrestleMania 29 main event one year in advance like they did with Rock-Cena, it’s now looking like WWE will hold off until the fall before making anything official.
– WWE announced this week that they will report their First Quarter 2012 financial results on May 3rd. WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon will host a conference call on 5/3 at 11am (Eastern) to discuss the results.
Considering the fact that WWE’s stock hit its 9-year low this week, it will be interesting to see how Vince assures investors that WWE is still a company worth investing in.
– Several fans who have attended live WWE events this week in Europe have reported that WWE officials have asked the audience to stop chanting “YES!”
– Following his storyline departure from NXT this week, Tyler Reks tweeted the following:
“1st @TheCurtHawkins turns on me. Then that piece of crap @RealKingRegal fires me from NXT. Well, here’s a middle finger to all y’all.”
We reported earlier this week that Evan Bourne is still on crutches and has several more months before he can return to the ring. Bourne tweeted another update on his status on Wednesday, stating that he still has “no idea” when he’ll be healthy to return and will be meeting with doctors again soon:
“I wish I was on the #RAW European tour. It’s grueling but #WWE superstars live and breathe for these semi-annual extravaganzas. #jealous”
“My foot should* be healed by November! I would love love love to be on #RAW or #SMACKDOWN international tours. #ineedfrequentflyermiles”
“To clarify: I have no clue when I’ll be 100% healed. I follow up with the doc in a few weeks and I may have a better idea then. #endofsummer”
Christian made his long-awaited return to the ring this week during WWE’s ongoing tour of Europe. At this week’s SmackDown show from Sheffield, England, Brodus Clay and Booker T defeated the team of Christian and Mark Henry.
Christian sprained his ankle several months ago and has been out of action ever since. He was booked to compete in the Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy match at WrestleMania 28, but the decision was made to pull him from the match and give him a few more weeks to heal up.
The feud between Mick Foley and Dean Ambrose continues. In his latest blog, Mick Foley provides new insight into their dispute – and maintains that he won’t work with Dean Ambrose because he doesn’t trust him. He also says that Ambrose has “friends in high places” that could work with him to make him a star, because he’s not interested. Here’s what Foley wrote:
“Sports-entertainment has to involve a certain amount of respect and trust. It’s pretty obvious Dean Ambrose doesn’t have any respect for me, my requests, or what I have done in the wrestling business. Therefore I can’t place the slightest amount of trust in him. Has anyone wondered if I’m feeling better following the concussion I spoke of in that December 2010 TNA Impact promo with Flair? I’m not feeling too much better. I tend to have two types of days when it comes to that muted, under-water feeling I spoke of in that promo – bad and worse. I’m just not the same guy who took 11 chair shots from the Rock in 1999. I haven’t been that guy in a long time. Given my history of concussions, I would have to be a fool to place my future in the hands of someone I don’t trust. Perhaps I do have another decent match left in me. If so, it will be with a guy like Dolph Ziggler, who might well be the best worker in the business, and just needs that ONE little something to allow the WWE Universe to see how talented he really is. Or a guy like the Miz – one of the best heels of this generation. Say what you want to about Miz, but the guy is damn good at what he does.
But Dean Ambrose? No. I may not have the power I once did in the business, but I still have the power to say no to things that just flat-out seem wrong. Like trying to put Dean Ambrose on the WWE map. A few weeks ago, it seemed like an interesting challenge. Now, it seems like an insult. A few weeks ago, it seemed like cutting-edge stuff. Now it just seems like bullshit. He is a very good talent. He has those supporters in high places. Let them wrestle him. Maybe they can put him on the WWE map. Good luck.”
The following article contains a minor *Spoiler* for Friday’s SmackDown, taped Tuesday from London, England
Following the recent SmackDown debut of Damien Sandow, WWE has called up yet another wrestler from developmental.
FCW star Antonio Cesaro, formerly known as Claudio Castagnoli, will make his WWE television debut on Friday’s SmackDown in a backstage segment with Aksana and William Regal.
Cesaro, who was at SmackDown to meet with John Laurinaitis, now has a gimmick of a European Rugby player.
– Monday’s taped WWE RAW Supershow from London drew a 3.08 rating with 4.4 million viewers. This is essentially even with last week’s show, which drew a 3.10 and 4.3 million viewers.
– There are currently no firm plans for WWE to move SmackDown to Tuesdays on a regular basis, according to f4wonline.com. WWE has been running live Tuesday SmackDown specials in recent weeks, but ratings have not been strong enough on Tuesdays to warrant the change.
– William Regal wrote on Twitter that he had to leave WWE’s current Eurpean tour to take care of “family business.”
Here are spoiler results for Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling, courtesy of SEScoops.com reader Eric:
* Bobby Roode opens the show and talks about his win at Lockdown. Mr. Anderson interrupts him and then Jeff Hardy. Hulk Hogan appears on the big screen and wants all the champs in the ring later.
* Crimson and Bully Ray beat Matt Morgan and Austin Aries
* Garett Bischoff comes out to celebrate with Rob Van Dam, Anderson and AJ Styles.
* Borash is out next to remind everyone that Eric Bischoff has lost the right to his name and is off the air. Garett is out next for a celebration. Ric Flair interrupts and rips Garett. Flair will host a party for Eric Bischoff next week.
* Kurt Angle beat AJ Styles.
* Devon, Gail Kim, Samoa Joe and Magnus all come to the ring. Austin Aries and Bobby Roode joins them. Hogan is out next and says change is in the air. Impact will be dubbed “Open Fight Night” once a month where talent outside of TNA can show up to have a match. Three judges and Hogan will decide if the person gets a contract. Hogan tells Devon the TV Title will be defended every week.
* Miss Tessmacher, Velvet Sky and Mickie James beat Sarita, Rosita and Madison Rayne.
* Devon beat Gunner.
* James Storm comes out next and talks about Lockdown. Storm says Roode didn’t beat him, he beat himself.
* Rob Van Dam beat Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson to become the new #1 contender to the TNA World Title.
A United States Marine has challenged John Cena to a pushup contest for Charity.
In the video below, US Marine Corps Sgt. Enrique Trevino issues his challenge Cena. The challenge is being done as a fundraiser to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, which provides assistance to soldiers wounded in combat.
Sgt. Trevino has set a goal for himself to complete 1 million pushups this year.
– WWE announced this week that WrestleMania 28 drew an estimated 1.3 million pay-per-view buys, which would make it the highest grossing wrestling PPV in history. While this is a major accomplishment for WWE and a credit to The Rock’s drawing power, it’s important to note that a more “firm” number will not be announced until May/June, when WWE releases its next SEC filing. Even then, it will be several more months until the final numbers come in.
– WWE’s Bella Twins are still expected to be on their way out of the company. Nikki and Brie are currently overseas for WWE’s European tour and defeated the team of Phoenix and Eve Torres at Tuesday’s show from Rome, Italy.
Marty Jannetty recently spoke to Not In Hall of Fame about WWE’s company policy to only offer rehabilitation assistance to former talent struggling with drug abuse, but not assist wrestlers with degenerative injuries caused by their time wrestling for the organization.
“It is really hard for me to say, because I am not the person in charge of something like that. But I think that if someone is working for a company full time, especially with the money that is involved if we are talking straight WWE…I may be getting myself in trouble saying this, but in my opinion; and it is just that one goofy Rock and Rollers opinion; if you pretty much committed your life to working for that company for a period of time than the answer is yes. You are going to get hurt wrestling. Every match is at least a bruise. There are fractures and breaks, and often you work through it.”
“Why does the WWE spend money on those who did stuff recreationally. I’ll use Scott Hall as an example. He is a friend, but it is out there, it was on ESPN, so it is no secret. From what I understand, he has been in and out of rehab ten times. That was from the partying and choices made that had nothing to do with what was work related.
“Using myself as an example, I have asked them (WWE) if there is anything that can be done about my ankles. I have to take a lot of pain medication for it; way more than what is an average dose. Really, no more than anyone else who is in full contact sports. We all (wrestlers) have a very high threshold of pain to begin with and we are in good condition. We can handle more than most. Where one person can take a Vicodin and have the pain go away, a highly trained professional athlete has to take four or five times that dosage, and that is where you are getting into a danger zone. If I’m trying to take care of everybody pain, and walking is something we take for granted and I need pain medication just for that and it is work related than the answer should be yes.”
TNA star Austin Aries, the only man to ever hold the ROH World title twice, recently spoke to Sports Vibe UK to promote this past weekend’s TNA LockDown pay-per-view. During the interview, Aries had a harsh critique of today’s Ring of Honor product, saying it’s a far cry from its glory days:
“I’ll be really honest with you, the Ring of Honor today is not anything like the Ring of Honor that the likes of C.M. Punk, Daniel Bryan, and myself came from. Obviously they are still operating under the same name, but the company has changed so much over the years and it’s really a shell of it’s former self in terms of the vision and thought process.”
He added, “The original Ring of Honor and the Ring of Honor today are two completely different things, I like to call it Smokey Mountain of Honor.”
Aside from the creative aspect of the company being in bad shape, Aries also thinks [the lack of] money is a big issue that could lead to ROH losing it’s most important asset – talent.
“There is no money in Ring of Honor, and that means they will only be able to secure talent for a certain amount of time before they move somewhere else.”
– The bar that CM Punk walked into on RAW was The Pilot Inn in Greenwich, about a 10 minute walk from the O2 Arena. A reader who was at the pub when Punk and the WWE camera crew arrived says Punk did not have any fish & chips like he said because the bar wasn’t serving food at that time.
The WWE website continues to speculate whether Punk drank alcohol while at the bar and says we’ll find out more about Punk’s struggle to remain sober on next week’s 3-hour show.
– Kevin Nash is the latest WWE legend to publicly endorse WWE Champion CM Punk. Nash tweeted after RAW:
“just got done with Raw.Punk needs to keep the belt at least till next May”
A fan replied that WWE would never have anyone hold the WWE Title for that long. Nash replied:
“what is old is now new. let him have that love affair with the fans make them pat to see him get beat make it epic. Make a heel”
– We published a picture on Monday of Brock Lesnar’s new WWE ring gear, which consists of MMA-style trunks with sponsor logos on it. Lesnar’s new WWE t-shirt also features the logos of Lesnar’s various sponsors, including Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches. A WWE superstar wearing sponsor logos is unprecedented – so it appears Lesnar’s team negotiated a very unique agreement with WWE.
Speaking of Lesnar, WWE officials were said to be very happy with the Lesnar promo that aired on Monday’s RAW. The video was taped last week.
Lesnar has also been added to the RAW Supershow opening video.
– Tickets are still available for the RAW brand’s upcoming tour of Brazil. Tickets are also now on sale for WWE’s upcoming Over The Limit PPV on 5/20 from Raleigh, North Carolina.
– The Bella Twins were backstage for Monday’s WWE RAW Supershow in London but did not appear on television. Over the weekend, there were plans to use them on television this week. Despite the fact that the Bellas have been making various storyline-driven comments about wanting to challenge for the Divas title, they are still expected to leave WWE when their contracts expire later this month.
In his latest blog at MickFoley.Typepad.com titled, “An Answer For Ambrose,” Mick Foley says he could never work with Dean Ambrose because he does not trust him. Foley wrote:
“Look, sports-entertainment has to involve a certain ammount of respect and trust. It’s pretty obvious Dean Ambrose doesn’t have the slightest ammount of respect for me, and therefore I can’t place the slightest ammount of trust in him. Anyone wondering if I’m feeling better following the concussion I spoke of in that promo with Flair? I’m not. I tend to have two types of days when it comes to that muted, under-water feeling I spoke of in that promo – bad and worse. Given my history of concussions, I would have to be an absolute idiot to place my future in the hands of someone I don’t trust. Since I like to think I am not an idiot, I won’t be placing any trust in him. He had the golden ticket, and he blew it, because he would not honor the simple request I made – to his face – to not include my children in any way in his tweets. If I can’t trust him to honor that simple request, I certainly can’t trust him not to take liberties in the ring. It’s tough to get over in WWE. I certainly wouldn’t want to be one of the young guys facing someone like Skip Sheffield (yeah, I know he has a new name, but I don’t know it yet) knowing that the priority placed on getting over will be somewhat higher than looking out for the well being of an opponent. I went through that with The Dynamite Kid in 1986, when I was 21 years old. I could do it then. I can’t do it at 46..especialy not for someone like Dean Ambrose. To quote the original Willy Wonka movie, “You get nothing! You lose! Good day sir!”
Former WCW star Konnan recently appeared on the MLW.com podcast and stated that Alberto Del Rio was ready to quit WWE and return to Mexico before he was called up to the main roster:
“The trainers over at FCW told me that when [Del Rio] came in, he was terrible. He said basically, I’m not making any money here [in developmental], I’m going home. My wife is pregnant and I’m out. I’m going back to Mexico.”
“John Laurinaitis told one of the trainers, we’re going to be inducting Mil Mascaras into the Hall of Fame and we kind of want someone to induct him. We need to push a Latino guy. Just put him on the road and see how he does.”
– Evan Bourne is still on crutches after breaking his foot several weeks ago. Bourne, who has two Wellness Policy strikes against him, tweeted on Monday:
“Getting very good at hopping around on one foot. Friends report my crutching skills are 8/10. #mobile”
– ECW original “Tajiri” was trending worldwide on Twitter on Monday night after Lord Tensai spit green mist (one of Tajiri’s signature moves) at John Cena. Other terms that trended on Monday night were Chief Jay Strongbow, Yes Lock and fish & chips.
– Michael Cole announced on RAW that Daniel Bryan has renamed his LaBell Lock submission finisher. It will now be known as the Yes Lock.
Speaking of Bryan, he spoke to HuffingtonPost.com this week about his vegan lifestyle:
“My health is so much better. I’m bigger now than I was eating meat. My lifts in the gym are better. I’m in better shape. A lot of people thought you couldn’t be a top-level athlete as a vegan, but people like Mac Danzig and Jake Shields are proving that’s wrong. And it’s better for me as a performer. The other wrestlers just think it’s weird. They don’t understand it.”