WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with a new blog, which you can read in its entirety over at JRsBarBQcom. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:
The Rock Helping WWE: “People who feel that Rock isn’t good for WWE are missing a helluva story unfolding as he brings amazing PR and media coverage to WWE not to mention that he sells lots of PPV’s of which everyone on the team benefits. I’ve actually had Tweets from fans that feel that Rock returning to WWE hurts the biz and other talents which I believe is completely wrong.”
Undertaker’s Retirement: “If ‘Taker was retired or planning on doing so, don’t you think that WWE would have made a HUGE deal of it? Of course they would have. A man with, arguably, the most storied, tenured career in WWE, ever, will not go quietly into the night or without fanfare. I can easily see Undertaker defending ‘TheStreak’ on April 1, 2012 at WM28. Exactly when he returns isn’ t on my radar but he will return and, just as his retirement will be some day, it will be HUGE news.”
JR’s Future On RAW: “Am I returning to Raw? There are no plans of which I am aware that has me returning to RAW on a regular basis however things change on somewhat of an on going basis. I enjoy dropping by on Raw from time to time. I had a great time in Boston recently.”
Zack Ryder’s Status In WWE: “Do I think that Zack Ryder deserves to elevate on the WWE roster? Yes..I’d suggest giving him the ball and seeing what happens. Ryder has worked diligently to brand himself via social media but will have to be taken more seriously inside the ring to get to where he wants. However, that can’t occur unless his number is called. Ryder is one of many WWE talents that seem to be “this close” to moving on up to the East side. Sometimes it’s just a right place, right time sort of deal that brings everything together. Again, all talents should maximize the minutes of TV time no matter how short or the circumstances.”
– The script for Monday’s RAW from Hershey, PA was rewritten several times – which the reason that Brodus Clay and advertised guest host Jonah Hill did not appear on the show. Jonah Hill was never scheduled to appear at RAW in person. He filmed several taped segments for the show – but after all the rewrites, it was decided that his segments no longer fit with the show and the decision was made to not air them.
Jim Ross was reportedly backstage at RAW and originally booked to work an angle – but the segment was scrapped.
– Regarding Mick Foley’s status within WWE, creative team member Brian Gewirtz is a big supporter and feels Foley is creative and a good performer. On the other side of the coin, it’s said that Triple H always buries Foley, arguing that he doesn’t seem like a tough guy and fans don’t take him serious in the ring.
Foley performed a standup comedy show in New York City immediately after WWE Survivor Series last weekend – with Zack Ryder, John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler among the WWE superstars who attended.
– WWE has been holding announcer tryouts in recent weeks, with several former superstars being considered for the open spots.
– As noted before, WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels has signed a deal with Total Gym to star in a workout DVD. If the first DVD does well, they plan to do a series starring The Heartbreak Kid.
– WWE is looking to brand the WWE Network “the most interactive network on TV.” The idea is to feature programming that keeps people in front of their computers, cellphones and iPads.
One idea is to have tweets from fans scrolling at the bottom of the screen, like an ESPN news ticker.
– There’s a running joke going around WWE is that up-and-coming superstars should worry less about having good matches and interviews – and focus on being entertaining on Twitter.
– On a related note, Vince reportedly is wanting certain Superstars to change their Twitter usernames. Dolph Ziggler’s Twitter name @HEELZiggler is on the chopping block – since Vince doesn’t want to promote insider terms like “heel.”
After the latest round of surgeries on his hip and shoulder, the Undertaker is gearing up to push his WrestleMania undefeated streak to 20-0 next year.
Last year around this time, it was still too early to tell whether the Undertaker would be healthy enough to wrestle at WrestleMania. This year, the Dead Man’s health is in great shape and it’s virtually a lock that he’ll be wrestling in Miami on April 1st, 2012.
With just over 4 months to go, WWE has an opponent in mind picked for the Dead Man.
Prior to R-Truth’s failure of a recent WWE drug test, there were plans for Awesome Truth to capture the tag team titles from Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston) after Survivor Series.
Evan Bourne’s suspension put those plans on hold. After R-Truth also failed a Wellness test, those plans were scrapped entirely.
As previously reported, it’s believed that both Evan Bourne and R-Truth violated the Wellness policy by smoking synthetic marijuana together at a party several weeks ago. WWE suspended Bourne almost immediately while allowing R-Truth to remain active until after his main event match at Survivor Series – which rubbed many superstars the wrong way.
The real winner in the whole situation will be the Miz. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the former WWE champion and WrestleMania 27 headliner is headed back into the WWE title picture – with a possible title shot at the Royal Rumble.
A Miz vs. CM Punk feud over the WWE title? Yes, please!
After almost a decade with WWE, RAW superstar John Morrison’s days as a WWE superstar are almost over. His final scheduled appearance with WWE will be next Monday’s RAW Supershow.
According a source, Morrison’s WWE contract actually expired over the summer – and he signed a short-term extension that is now up.
Morrison has been unhappy with his role in WWE for quite some time – and the feeling is apparently mutual, with WWE not making much of an effort to keep the Prince of Parkour.
Word going around is that TNA is very interested in bringing in Morrison and Melina as a couple. With his star power coming off a lengthy run in WWE, TNA would make Morrison the centerpiece of the company’s X-Division. No word yet if Morrison has spoke with TNA yet, directly or in-directly.
At to whether Morrison would be interested in TNA, we’ve heard conflicting stories. Morrison has been dealing with nagging back and neck injuries and will likely take time off to heal.
One reliable source said Morrison is interested in leaving the wrestling business entirely and getting into acting.
We Want To Know: What do you think about Morrison leaving WWE? Did he reach his full potential – or could WWE have gotten much more out of him? Would he be a good fit in TNA?
WWE taped Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings from Wilkes Barre, PA. Credit to pwinsider.com for this report:
WWE SmackDown Spoilers (Airing This Friday)
– Mark Henry comes out on a crutch and cuts promo saying he will fight through his leg injury. Big Show comes out. H tells Henry that what he just did to him, Henry did to Show. Henry called Show the world’s largest loser. Show laid out Henry with KO punch. Daniel Bryan came out and cashed in MITB. We have a new champion.
Not so fast. Teddy Long comes out and says Henry was not cleared to compete. He takes Title off of Bryan and gives it back to Henry. This set up a Fatal 4 Way for the Number one contendership. The winner faces Henry for Title next week, then winner of that match faces Big Show.
– Hunico beat Justin Gabriel.
– Alicia Fox joins commentary. Divas tag match. Beth & Natty vs. AJ and Kaitlyn. Very quick. Natalya wins with The Sharpshooter on AJ.
– Zack Ryder was backstage playing the WWE ’12 video game. Sheamus comes in. Comedy ensues. They are tagging tonight vs. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. Now Long is on the screen and getting heavy boos. Henry comes in and is pissed about defending next week. Funny stuff from both. Long makes it a steel cage match for title next week.
– Ted DiBiase vs. Heath Slater. At the bell, Jinder Mahal pops up on screen speaking a foreign language. He is talking to DiBiase. He self translates saying that Ted turned his back on his wealthy family. The match begins while he’s talking. The crowd is not into this match at all. It’s almost as if we haven’t been given a reason to care about either of these two in years. It’s a shame, they are working their asses off. Decent match. Ted DiBiase goes over clean.
– Cody Rhodes cuts promo backstage. He talks about throwing water at an announcer. Then says he’s gonna win the 4-way.
– The Fatal 4-way is up next. Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Wade Barrett vs. Cody Rhodes.
– Daniel Bryan wins when Cody taps. Cody did a post match beatdown on Bryan until Orton made the save. That was the end of smackdown.
WWE has announced that RAW superstar R-Truth has been suspended due to a violation of the company’s Wellness Policy. The official statement from the WWE website reads:
“In accordance with the Talent Wellness Program, WWE has suspended Ron Killings (R-Truth) for 30 days effective immediately for his first violation of the company’s policy.”
This corroborates a weekend report here about one of the participants in the Survivor Series main event recently failing a drug test.
At the end of RAW, The Miz turned on R-Truth and delivered a vicious beat-down on his former tag team partner. Now, we know why.
Posted November 22nd, 2011 in News, WWE. Tagged: R-Truth.
– After undergoing knee surgery back in May for a torn ACL and MCL, WWE Diva Layla is almost ready to return to action. Layla took part in a live chat on the WWE website on Monday night and recently won a poll on the site about who should be the next challenger to Beth Phoenix’s Divas title.
– After Cody Rhodes threw a cup of water in Booker T’s face on RAW, Booker wrote the following on Twitter regarding the incident:
“What’s up universe hope all is well, just wanted to speak on that little drama that went down tonight, I’m really not what’s the problem is. Maybe Cody and I can sit down on FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN and talk about it we’ll see stay tuned…”
As we’ve been reporting recently, Booker T has been training for a final run as an active superstar – and will be feuding with Cody.
– Jim Ross feels that the younger WWE talents need to be more aggressive. He tweeted:
“Punk-Ziggler 1 of better matches on Raw in good while. Young, WWE talent needs 2 get HUNGRY/AGGRESSIVE. 2 many young guys on cusp of elevating in WWE aren’t aggressive enuf in their total approach 2 game WWE. Need squeaky wheels.”
– Former WWE Diva Trish Stratus spoke to WWE.com this week to promote the new WWE ’12 video game – and talked about a dream feud with [pregnant Diva] Kharma. Trish said:
“Oh, completely. When she debuted, I think it was one of the first times since I retired where I would have dropped it all to go back and step into the ring with her. That would have been an epic rivalry. I would have loved to have wrestled her. Hopefully, she’ll come back so the WWE Universe can see more of her.”
– WWE’s push with Twitter is paying off – because WWE had almost 30 wrestling-related phrases trending worldwide during the show. WWE’s influence over Twitter is so strong that even phrases like Brodus Clay and Little Jimmy which weren’t mentioned on RAW were still trending. WWE’s trending terms included:
CM Punk, Booker T, Punk vs. Ziggler, Zack Ryder, Alberto Del Rio, Kevin Nash, Jack Swagger, The Great White, Sheamus, Santino Marella, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Vickie Guerrero, GTS, Alicia Fox, Masked Kane, Big Show, Wade Barrett, Randy Orton, Barrett Barrage, Kofi Kingston, Brodus Clay, Fruity Pebbles, John Cena, The Miz, Awesome Truth and Little Jimmy.
– WWE has released a new video of Zack Ryder from after RAW. Ryder says he’s bummed about his submission loss to Alberto Del Rio on RAW, but is excited that he now has more Twitter followers than Kelly Kelly. Here’s the video:
At the end of Monday’s RAW, we saw The Miz unleash a brutal attack on his former tag team partner, R-Truth.
The former members of Awesome Truth wrote the following on Twitter last night regarding their team’s dissolution:
The Miz: “So in order to trend all I had to do is SCF Truth? #ThatsWhatsUp”
R-Truth: “Getting up to go get checked out,,but having balancing problem…can’t think straight…”
The WWE website has a new video of The Miz up after attacking R-Truth on last night’s RAW Supershow. Miz says he did what he did because he’s tired of people getting in his way and slowing him down.
As we wrote here on the site late on Monday night – Awesome Truth’s breakup comes right after a report that one of the participants in the Survivor Series main event recently failed a drug test. For more on that story, click here.
WWE legend the Ultimate Warrior is launching a new reality TV show that will feature the Warrior motivating training the mind, body and spirit of everybody people. The show synopsis reads:
“Sports Entertainment Living Legend THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR leads an extreme motivational mind/body/soul work-out combining intensity, passion, comedy and inspiration. The first two special guests are influential, cutting edge bands from today’s hard rock scene.”
Below is the official trailer for the new show, which contains some colorful language:
– It was announced on Monday’s RAW that former WWE champion Alberto Del Rio will get his rematch against new champion CM Punk next week on RAW.
– At the end of Monday’s RAW, we saw the breakup of the Awesome Truth duo – as The Miz viciously attacked R-Truth and left him laid out. According to a WWE source, there’s a “big reason” behind the beatdown on R-Truth.
This comes on the heels of this report yesterday about one of the participants in Sunday’s Survivor Series main event recently failing a WWE Wellness test.
— WWE ’12 has broken the record for the most pre-ordered WWE video game ever. The previous record holder was SmackDown vs. RAW 2008, which was released on six platforms. WWE ’12 is only available on three platforms.
— Despite being advertised as the special guest star of Monday’s WWE RAW, actor Jonah Hill did not appear. No word yet on why he was not there.
— Also advertised for RAW but not there was Brodus Clay. This is the third straight week where he’s been advertised and hasn’t returned.
Recently, the “Michael Cole Challenge” was scheduled for RAW and was delayed three weeks as well.
— After Monday’s WWE RAW Supershow from Hershey, PA went off the air, there was a six-man tag-team match featuring Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger and The Miz vs. Randy Orton, John Cena and The Big Show.
Cena took Miz out early in the match with a punch. Swagger came to the ring and was immediately hit with a WMD from The Big Show and then an Attitude Adjustment from John Cena. Orton then hit Ziggler with a RKO to send the crowd home happy. All the faces celebrated to their own music.
Record-Breaking Sales For THQ’s Newest WWE Video Game as The Baddest Man on the Planet Returns To Sports Entertainment … at least in the gaming world!
The news for WWE ’12 is huge. THQ’s brand new video game can already boast having the largest pre-sales of any WWE video game in history.
The game, which features Randy Orton on the box cover, also features Macho Man Randy Savage as a special guest character and the return of Brock Lesnar to WWE video games.
As part of the hype, Lesnar’s longtime friend Paul Heyman interviewed him and now comes the newest video, which is the promotional video for the game going on sale. Check out this new promo video hyping Brock Lesnar in WWE ’12, courtesy of Paul Heyman’s Looking 4 Larry agency:
On Monday’s RAW, when WWE was showing one of the Twitter on-screen graphics, the image got fuzzy and briefly showed a URL to a Youtube channel – “It Begins 2012.”
The URL revealed a cryptic video of a young student talking about something big occurring on Monday, January 2nd, 2012 – when RAW is live from Memphis, TN.
The boy who was narrating the video said:
“Come my people and shut thy doors about thee. For a power should come to punish the meek for their inequity. For on the second day of 2012, a familiar force shall arrive to claim what is his. And it will be the end of the world as you know it.”
The text “It Begins.” then appeared.
Here’s the video – what do you think it could be for?
COMMENT BELOW and tell us what “It Begins” signifies.
During a recent interview with the New York Daily News to hype the new WWE ’12 video game, CM Punk made some controversial comments about The Rock – and his “Hollywood megastar” ego.
“You know, the thing about that is, he’s not around. It doesn’t help morale when the guy goes right from his limo to the dressing room to the dressing room to the ring. He’s very bourgeois Hollywood.”
Punk thinks The Rock is back to help his own career and make sure WrestleMania is a success – without allowing any of WWE’s younger stars to benefit from his return.
“He came back, he did WWE Raw after that. He said he was never gonna leave. And the next time we saw him is a month later. Yeah, it does bother me. A little hello would have been nice. He could have run by with his own entourage.”
According to Punk, The Rock has made little effort to interact with the rest of WWE – and it’s caused a lot of resentment in the WWE locker room.
– Chicago Tribune writer Luis Gomez is not happy with how WWE has handled the CM Punk angle, including his win at Survivor Series last night. In his weekly column, Gomez noted that Punk’s title win didn’t have a big buzz like it did when he won earlier in the summer. He also noted that the angle was hurt by WWE bringing him back so soon. Gomez said:
“WWE’s best storyline in years has already been botched, and many of the casual fans who came back because of Punk have gone back to watching football on Mondays.”
– Financial website SeekingAlpha.com is reccomending that investors avoid WWE stock because the product is “dated.” SeekingAlpha wrote:
“WWE’s product is dated when compared to the various mixed martial arts formats available to the public. Overall weakness in the economy has not been helping matters, either.” Jim Cramer recently described WWE as a ‘wasting asset.’ I agree with that, and with Cramer’s opinion that there is no reason to own WWE. Avoid it.”
Posted November 21st, 2011 in News. Tagged: CM Punk.
Triple H was interviewed by The Morning Buzz over the weekend and spoke about WWE’s recent obsession with Twitter, working closely with Vince McMahon at WWE headquarters and his appearance this summer on Shawn Michaels’ hunting show.
Regarding WWE’s working relationship with Twitter, Triple H said, “You have to be at the cutting edge of that technology at all time. Kids today, they don’t watch TV like they did before. TV is almost a background device now. They’re on their phone, on their laptop, on their ipod… so that social media stuff becomes so important… Twitter and YouTube and Facebook are all just avenues to keep people involved in your product.”
HHH went on to say that while the company is embracing Twitter as a positive, equally it can also be a negative. He revealed that just the other day during a talent meeting he told everyone to be careful with their Tweets. “I said, ‘Guys, it’s not like your texting somebody. You’re putting it out to the entire world. If you wouldn’t say it on TV, don’t say it on Twitter.'”
He cited NFL football players making stupid comments every other week, and said the catch twenty-two is controlling it.
When asked about his new office role and working closely with Vince, he said he’s learned over time that when Vince is going nuts and yelling at people then it’s OK, but when you come up to him and he’s silent, then that’s very bad. Hunter also talked about his relationship with The Rock describing it as “unique” with “professional tension and weirdness.” He says they get along great today but aren’t buddies and never hung out back in the day. “We had such a professional rivalry, no matter what we did, it’s like screw him, I can do better than that.”
He closed the interview by talking about Shawn Michaels and appearing on his hunting show earlier this year. He joked:
“Shawn has gone from The Heartbreak Kid to being like Ted Nugent. He’s out there with high powered weapons, with the one googley eye, just shooting every furry thing that wanders by. He’s been dying for me to go on [his show]… I just don’t get sitting in a tree saying nothing waiting for a deer to wander by so I can cap it in the head… We used crossbows [to catch Alligator’s] and much to Shawn’s chagrin I caught the biggest Alligator, but yeah it was an awesome experience and I had a lot of fun.”
Check out this exclusive video we shot at Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view from New York City ..The Big Show channels Macho Man Randy Savage at Survivor Series 2011 – delivering a devastating top rope elbow smash to World Heavyweight champion Mark Henry. Who says big men can’t fly?
Tonight’s WWE RAW Supershow will take place from Hershey, Pennsylvania at the GIANT Center with the fallout from Survivor Series. Actor Jonah Hill will be the special guest host tonight.
WWE is teasing a confrontation between Triple H and Kevin Nash. Triple H has been off television for several weeks following a brutal beatdown at the hands of Kevin Nash on RAW last month. The two are scheduled to settle their issues in the ring at WWE’s upcoming TLC pay-per-view.
Last week on RAW, interim General Manager John Laurinaitis was shown telling Brodus Clay that he’d be making his return to action on tonight’s show. Clay’s return has been bumped several times already, so we’ll see if he actually wrestles tonight.
Smackdown stars advertised for Raw include World Hvt. champion Mark Henry, Randy Orton, Sheamus, IC champion Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan and Hunico. Sin Cara had also been advertised as well before sustaining a bad leg injury at Survivor Series.
Advertised locally is six-man action with Big Show, Randy Orton and John Cena vs. The Miz, R-Truth and Mark Henry.
