As we’ve previously reported, former WWE Champion Kane has won his Republican Primary for the race for Mayor in Knox County, Tennessee. He will move on to the General Election in November to take on the Democratic Primary winner to decide who Knox County’s next mayor will be.
TMZ Sports posted a video in which they catch up with WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan and discussed Kane’s campaign. Hogan noted that Kane handles everything backstage and is very involved with the business aspect of things. Check it out:
Austin Aries To Challenge For The ROH World TV Title
Ring Of Honor (ROH) has announced that Austin Aries will challenge Silas Young for the ROH World TV Title at ROH War Of The Worlds next weekend on Sunday, May 13th from Chicago, Illinois. They also announced Cody vs. Jushin Thunder Liger for the Friday night before on May 11th in Toronto, Canada. You can get more information at this link.
Scott Hall posted a photo on Twitter this morning in which he is reunited with fellow Kliq members Shawn Michaels, Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman. The four were reunited at the 53rd Cauliflower Alley Club Reunion yesterday and this past weekend in Las Vegas. Hall noted that Triple H was missing from the photo, captioning it “Miss you @TripleH”:
Summer Rae Returning To Wrestling After Nearly Two Years
Former WWE Superstar Danielle Moinet (a.k.a. Summer Rae) will return to the wrestling ring at Battle Championship Wrestling in Melbourne, Australia on Friday, May 25th from the Whitehorse Function & Convention Centre. Moinet is set to face Ivelisse in the second half of the first round of the BCW Women’s Championship Tournament.
Moinet was released by WWE last October and hasn’t wrestled a match since August in 2016. Her career has been plagued by neck and back injuries and had been cleared to compete by WWE since May of 2017 but was never used, thus leading to her subsequent release.
WWE United States Champion Jeff Hardy posted a video on Instagram that referenced his old fan favorite “No More Words” theme song that he used from 2008 to 2009. Fans have been calling for Hardy to revert back to this theme song on social media lately since he’s receiving a singles push on SmackDown Live:
Liv Morgan & Sonya Deville Exchange Words On Twitter
Liv Morgan recently took to Twitter to poke fun at SmackDown Live General Manager Paige telling Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose that Absolution is dead. Morgan is currently a member of Monday Night RAW’s six-woman stable The Riott Squad.
This led to a brief exchange of insults between Morgan and Deville. At one point Morgan even called Deville “lousy Ronda Rousey.” Check it out here below:
WWE COO Triple H recently did an interview with Sky Sports to talk about several professional wrestling topics. One such topic was future WWE Hall Of Famer The Undertaker and where he’s at at this point in his professional wrestling career.
The Undertaker comes off a squash win over John Cena at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans, followed by a Casked match win over Rusev in Saudi Arabia at the Greatest Royal Rumble last weekend.
Triple H explained why he believes, at this point in his career, Undertaker has earned the right to call his own shots:
“I think there’s one person who has the rights to call the shots and that’s the Undertaker. I think it will all depend on him and I think it should all depend on him. At this point, it should be what he wants to and feels comfortable doing. I know that he, as a performer, always wants to be able to give his best and, if he can’t then he doesn’t want to do it.
“When he’s in a position where he is right now, I think he feels great and wants to be able to be out there and show the Undertaker to the world, but it really comes down to himself, as it should.”
You can read Triple H’s full interview with Sky Sports by clicking this link here.
The advertised main event for last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW from Montreal, Canada was a Six Man Tag Team match between Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe, Sheamus and Cesaro.
The entire team of Joe, Sheamus, and Cesaro are now on SmackDown Live by way of the Superstar Shake-Up. Instead, Seth Rollins got on the mic after successfully defending his Intercontinental Title against Finn Balor.
The entire Bell Centre was chanting “Thank you Rollins” as he stood in the ring. Rollins said that he wasn’t lying earlier in the night when he said the travel his job requires is strenous, and he wasn’t lying when he said there’s nowhere else he’d rather be. He then said the WWE Universe is like family and they make the ring feel like home.
After winning the RAW Women’s Title from Alexa Bliss at WrestleMania 34 earlier last month in New Orleans, Nia Jax has finally received her custom title plates. Jax will defend her RAW Women’s Title against Bliss at Backlash this weekend:
WWE Monday Night RAW stars Fandango and Tyler Breeze were recently guests on Edge and Christian’s E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Breeze and Fandango’s tag team saw a huge rise in fame due to the success of their Fashion Files segments.
Breeze said that Vince McMahon didn’t really understand the segment, but said to keep it up due to how much success they had on social media:
“A lot of the reason why it was a success and that it became a thing was because of social media.” Breeze recalled, “I guess we did one episode and it was kind of supposed to end after that, but I guess it was the number one trending thing on SmackDown or something like that. And even Vince, he was like, ‘I don’t get it, but the people like it, so keep doing it.’ And it was all-of-a-sudden eight months later because of social media.”
While Breeze was never considered a top talent during his developmental days, it turns out that a spot he had with a young Cesaro during a match actually saved his job:
“I’ve never been the chosen one or however you want to say it, so when I got hired, I kind of had been working for about four years.” Breeze elaborated, “Cesaro, it was his debut in FCW. He just got signed and I had his first match on FCW TV at the time, which got viewed by like 50 people in Florida.
“And they put all this emphasis on it, like, ‘okay, this guy’s special. We’ve got to make it a big thing.’ Whatever. So he did a thing where he threw me up in the air and uppercutted me out of the air and I guess it looked really cool, but I guess the people literally went, ‘okay, don’t fire him yet. There might be something here,’ so one little thing like that saved me for another year.”
Breeze was again almost cut from the company, but he impressed Triple H enough in a match that The Game saved him from receiving his walking papers:
“We end up having the first NXT pilot at Full Sail [University] to test out and see if Full Sail work work for the venue for NXT.” Breeze remembered, “and I ended up having a match with one of the guys in Ascension. He was just basically going to kill me, but he was my friend so he goes, ‘no, let’s have a match.’
“So we have this match and Triple H happened to be there and he just kind of looked over at Dusty [Rhodes] and he goes, ‘who’s this guy? Like, why have I never seen anything of his?’ And, all-of-a-sudden, I got saved again. I just kind of keep getting saved along the way. All-of-a-sudden, Dusty says Hunter liked what he saw and I’m off the list again.”
It turns out that when Breeze was supposed to be cut, it was going to be used as footage for the E:60 special on NXT:
“I was picked on it and it was revealed to me after from Triple H that I was supposed to be the guy who doesn’t make it.” Breeze admitted, “I was supposed to be like, ‘hey, let’s follow you around for ESPN and at the end, you’re getting fired.’ And, of course, I had no clue, so I’m think, ‘oh, that’s awesome – this ESPN thing is going to be really cool.’”
You can listen to E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness by clicking this link here.
Last night’s crowd in Montreal, Canada showed a ton of love for their fellow Canadians – but Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens received some major pops. Roman Reigns’ promo opened up the night but was soon interrupted by Jinder Mahal, Zayn, and Owens – all of whom wanted a piece of The Big Dog.
Ultimately all three men jumped Reigns and Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman came out for the save. This led to a Six Man Tag Team match being made later on in the night between the teams of Reigns, Strowman, and Lashley vs. Owens, Zayn, and Mahal.
The match actually proved to be a very entertaining one, and during a physical exchange outside by Owens and Reigns, Owen’s father (Terry) and The Big Dog playfully exchanged words.
Reigns was working on Owens agains the fan barrier when the pair began jawing off at one another. You can check out the video here below:
On last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW, recent NXT call-ups The Authors Of Pain squashed a pair of local talents by the name of Jean-Paul and Francois. Akam and Rezar completely dominated the local Canadian talents before cutting a promo afterwards, putting the RAW Tag Team Division on notice.
It turns out that Jean-Paul and Francois go by the name “3.0.” They’re each billed as Scott Parker and Shane Mathews. Fans may recognize them from their work in the CHIKARA and International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) promotions.
This isn’t the first time 3.0 has been used in a squash match to make a top tag team look strong. Back on the April 2nd, 2016 episode of NXT, The Revival Squashed 3.0 as well. You can check a photo out form that here:
The Revival derrotaron a Matt Lee & Jeff Parker con total contundencia tras 'Shatter Machine' sobre Matt Lee. pic.twitter.com/1ZOgKFvsfb
Perhaps after being squashed by both AOP and The Revival in recent years, WWE could consider bringing in these young men for an opportunity in NXT. We’ll keep you updated.
Last night former NXT star No Way Jose made his way to the ring in Montreal, Canada, along with his conga line, to take on Baron Corbin. Jose has been dubbed by many the next Adam Rose, who used to make his way to the ring accompanied by his Rosebuds.
It seems that two members of Jose’s conga line have been identified, and they’re quite famous on the local scene in Montreal. The duo go by the name of Tabarnak De Team, and they are one of International Wrestling Syndicate’s most popular teams. They can be seen below (the two men with beards):
Why Sumo Wrestler Worked The Greatest Royal Rumble Match
Many fans were a bit confused when Sumo wrestler Hiroko Sumi appeared in the Greatest Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia. Dave Meltzer recently discussed this in the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Apparently when the member of the royal family who booked the show was talking to Vince, he wanted names like Ultimate Warrior and Yokozuna wrestling. Unfortunately both of those men are no longer with us. Hiroko Sumi’s appearance seems to be a way to give that member of the royal family a taste of a Yokozuna-type character.
WWE Hall Of Famer Bully Ray (a.k.a. Bubba Ray Dudley) recently spoke on Busted Open Radio about the possibility of Braun Strowman taking Roman Reigns’ spot in WWE. Ray seemed to suggest the image of Strowman holding the belt for the Greatest Royal Rumble over his head in Saudi Arabia could’ve been a test. Here’s what he had to say:
“What a great experimental picture to paint. There was no prize for the [Greatest] Royal Rumble victory, but they made up this belt, and Braun holding the belt over his head, with the people popping, that was a hell of a picture, right? What a great experiment — well, let’s see how he looks with the championship belt over his head with the people— and it really worked.
“[Jim Ross] recently did an interview where I believe he said Braun could be or would be the face of WWE. I know that’s a discussion we’ve had, whether or not he could be the face—I don’t mean babyface, I mean the ‘face’ ala John Cena or a Hulk Hogan—face of the company. They are obviously on the right track with Braun. In a weird way, Braun is the next Daniel Bryan, because he got over very organically, right? It’s what the people want.
“I can definitely see them—after seeing the Jedda match and seeing how things didn’t exactly go great with Roman, and we’ve given them a chance after chance after chance, and obviously this is not a knock on Roman [Reigns] as a person or a wrestler— it’s just not working. But it really is working for Braun, and I think that they will run with him.”
WWE and WCW Legend Lex Lugar was recently a guest on the Cigars, Scars and Superstars with Terri Runnels podcast to discuss several professional wrestling topics. Lugar first discussed his longtime friendship with WWE Hall Of Famer Sting, who he became friends with back in 1987:
“Well, he was with Bill Watts in that territory, which then merged with the Crocketts. He and I didn’t get along at first. I came across as cocky, go figure. He thought I was the cockiest guy he’d ever met. He had asked him a question about how I stayed so lean on the road. He was trying to break the ice a bit because he was in good shape too, He was just trying to break the ice because we didn’t know each other yet.
“I was taking my boots off and I never looked up at him, I just said, ‘Stoley’s [Vodka] & M&M’s.’ He just walked away shaking his head,” Luger said. “We became friends because we’d be at the hotels in the morning, all the other guys would be flying in somewhere, or driving really late at night trying to get to the hotel. Other guys would be going to bed if they flew in, or sleep in if they drove the night before to the next city, so he and I would be up really early having breakfast so we can carb up and get ready for our workout.
“He would be across the restaurant, and I would be on the other side, and finally after a couple of months, we thought it was ridiculous so we merged and had breakfast together, went to the gym together, and up until this day we are the best of friends. We really hit it off; we became business partners and best friends.”
When asked if he loves the Attitude Era more than today’s era of wrestling, Lugar admitted that while he loved his era of wrestling it doesn’t impact his ability to enjoy the work that’s done inside the ring today:
“No, I don’t. I loved wrestling back then, and I loved our era, but at the same time I do love the progression and how it has evolved into a complete global entity,” he said. “I loved my era, but I love what they are doing today with the Women’s division and the era we have today.”
You can listen to Lugar’s full interview on the Cigars, Scars and Superstars with Terri Runnels podcast by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstar John Cena recently did an interview with Entertainment Tonight to promote his upcoming Transformers spin-off of Bumblebee. Cena was first asked about his recent split with longtime girlfriend Nikki Bella:
“Oh, it sucks. No, there’s no other way to say that. I love Nicole with all my heart and that’s that.”
As for his upcoming Transformers spinoff, Cena recognizes this is a huge opportunity and is extremely humbled by it:
“It is and I say that the most humble way I can. To be asked and honored to be involved in Transformers, it truly is a major thing. I’m very happy to be a part of this, especially dissecting the move back to its roots. Bumblebee is such a popular Transformer and now we’re going to go on a journey with Bumblebee to answer a lot of questions about Bumblebee and I’m just happy to be along for the ride.”
Ring Of Honor (ROH) World Champion Dalton Castle recently did an interview with Chris Van Vliet at ROH’s Bound By Honor event. Castle was asked if he think there are any similarities between his character and WWE NXT’s Velveteen Dream:
“I don’t see that. He’s kind of playing up a Prince thing, right? Is he coming out with Boys? Then alright, we’re cool.”
Castle then discussed the pressure he has felt since becoming ROH World Champion. Where it didn’t matter too much if he messed up before winning the title, now, it’s all very different:
“Before I was Champion, it didn’t matter if I messed up. I could go out there and if I pulled off a really great match, that was great, but if I didn’t that was fine too because there was no risk. Now that I’m the Champion, I feel like every time I’m out in the ring I have to prove to everybody that I belong there.
“There’s no room for error anymore. I have to be the best wrestler I can be every time I hit the ring because as long as that Championship is around my waist, people are going to be doubting me or looking at me or wondering why.”
He was then asked if he watches WWE, to which Castle admitted that he watches all of professional wrestling:
“I watch all wrestling, it doesn’t matter what company it is. I’m the World Champion of Ring of Honor and I love this place and I’m very, very proud to be a part of it but let’s not forget I love wrestling so if there’s wrestling to be seen, I’m going to watch it.”
The Bullet Club has had a huge impact on professional wrestling over in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). While he believes it’s mathematically impossible for all members of The Bullet Club to be cool, he says he’s extremely impressed with The Young Bucks’ rise to fame:
“It’s mathematically impossible for every member of the Bullet Club to be cool, but they’re all great wrestlers. I respect the hell out of all of them. The Young Bucks have taken all of us and wrestling in general to the next level. To see how they’ve elevated themselves on their own and as they’ve elevated, I feel like all wrestling around them has elevated and I feel like we all owe them a great gratitude for that.”
NXT North American Champion and leader of The Undisputed Era, Adam Cole, recently did an interview with Sam Roberts on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast to discuss several professional wrestling topics. Cole first discussed his popularity growing since having joined WWE on the NXT brand:
“It’s definitely a lot more since starting with NXT. Even post-Royal Rumble definitely more often that people come up to me asking to take a picture with me and wanting an autograph. It just shows the scale at how many people do watch WWE.”
Cole then opened up about wanting to be just as good, if not better, than the previous group of NXT talents who have since been called-up to the main roster:
“There absolutely is that pressure. Any time guys move to Raw and SmackDown, I think that is what has kept NXT so relevant and has kept the fans so invested because they are now conditioned that whoever leaves or comes in, NXT, as a product, is going to give really exciting sports entertainment every time.
“You do have your different generation of guys, and those generations before did an excellent job, so it does put pressure on guys like me, Aleister [Black], Bobby [Fish] and Kyle [O’Reilly], and everyone else involved in NXT now. I think that is when guys are at their best, when you put pressure and have something to work towards and have something to compare yourself to, or try to best them, it really does make you better.”
You can listen to Cole’s interview on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstar John Cena recently did an interview with the ID10T with Chris Hardwick podcast to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Cena first discussed a unique correlation between professional wrestlers and comic book characters, and explained why some wrestlers can be considered nerds:
“We are in the business of imagination, and a lot of that creativity rests on your own shoulders. When you say ‘nerdy,’ and the things that nerds are drawn to, the creativity to video games or comic books, if that is what defines a nerd then we are all nerds because our job is to go out there and be a superhero and a super villain. It’s not like, I want to run a 40-yard dash as fast as I can.
“Now, creating a superhero character, if your character can look muscular or big, then you have the advantage of having your character look like a superhero. So, it’s only in your best interest to be in superhero shape, so that comes with the territory. We are not in a pure sport environment,” Cena said. “It’s a comic book existence, so that is why we share on certain views on culture and that is why we are so nice about everything because we shouldn’t be doing it as a job. It’s not an occupation that should exist.
“I think all of us should earn a living because we are never home, and our body certainly takes a beating, but I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. I think any of my colleagues would be saying the same thing. It’s like, the joke is on them for paying us to do it. I know personally that i wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. I know that it is a time-dependent thing, so I am going to enjoy as long as I am on it.”
The Leader Of The Cenation then explained how some people get into the professional wrestling business with the sole purpose of becoming famous:
“If your goal is, ‘I want to be famous’, what the f**k is the tangible of that? I don’t understand that. When I see a ring and I get in, and I say that I just want to learn, and I just want to sustainably do this for my entire life, for as long as I physically can, then the ups and downs will come.
“When it is up, you can keep the perspective of saying to yourself that you shouldn’t be here anyway, it’s a great perspective to have because it keeps you working hard,” he said. “Sometimes you see complacency in our workplace, and I don’t understand that, because if you really wanted to be here, and when put a microphone in front of them, and when they say that they have wanted to do this since they were a kid, then you have to take the bad s**t with the good stuff because it’s not all good, and it’s tough work, but you should enjoy all of it.
“You really get to test a person’s mental when things aren’t going their way. Oftentimes that is the case, but at the end of the day, you are a freaking pro wrestler. You may not have been paired with the person you wanted to work with, but at the end of the day, you are getting paid to perform in front of people, which is a good thing.”
Cena then commented on his status as a “company guy” and also explains how he has grown over time in the WWE:
“For the longest, my goal, I’m a weird case because I love the company I work for. I am a company man. I know that I will not perform anywhere else in Pro Wrestling outside of the WWE because I love the company I work for. You have this life ark of I would like to become a Professional Wrestler. I would like to earn a WWE contract. I would like to become a champion. Then, when you ask yourself why you would like to become a WWE Champion and when you broke that down, it was so more people could enjoy WWE,” he said.
“I hate the fact that Pro Wrestlers are judged a certain way. I hate the fact that when you walk into a room and people scour and say, ‘Oh, it’s those guys.’ That is fact. That is the way it is. We run episodic television, with no reruns, no off season. We have an incredible global reach. We have a streaming model that is off the charts. Just now, after 40 years of doing this, people are like, oh, wow, okay, this kind of works. The acceptance is due to the fact that YouTubers can be successful. I guarantee YouTubers face the same stigma of only being popular because of YouTube.
“That just hit me the wrong way early on in my career and it made it a goal of mine early on that I would like to leave this place better than I found it, which is why I did The Marine early on. I didn’t want to do movies. I enjoyed living the life, and going town to town feeling the heartbeat of the excitement of that animal. You guys know that if you are out there and telling a joke, or if they are buying the bit, you get immediate satisfaction; or, if you are bombing, it’s also immediate notice, like, I’m going to change this.
“It is always another town, and it’s always another chance,” he continued. “It’s the passion of the live animal that is unlike any other thing in this world, but the business model made sense. If I take a WWE performer and make him a movie star, then that is more eyes on WWE. Got it! That works with my mission statement, I am going to do this. I did a string a movies that were unsuccessful, and I gave it everything that I had, but my heart wasn’t into it. My heart was in the ring, and now after 15 years of being in the ring, I have to strip it down to the bear minimal of why I keep coming back to this thing?
“I don’t need to. I have been well taken care of by the WWE, so what it is? Why am I not able to have myself drift away? I love the storytelling aspect of it. It’s not the physical bumps, it’s not like I’m going to do a stunt better than the next guy so that people can appreciate my athletic ability. I am in the twilight of my athletic ability, but I am drawn back because of the material. This guy hates you for this reason, or, if often than norm, when the Creative Writer comes to you and says that you are going to be working with this guy, you guys figure it out on what to do.
“A lot of our guys frown upon that, but I literally take the guy and go into a room and ask him why we are fighting. We can come up with anything. Did I look at your girl the wrong way? Are you jealous of me, am I jealous of you? That is the imagination aspect, which is what makes us nerds. We can take something out of nothing. That is what reintroduced me to film, and I have used my fortunate career in the WWE to not have to do movies. To be handed a script, to read a script, and be like, that was great.
“I can be whatever they want me to be in it because i just read the story. If the story is good, then you just tell me whatever piece I am and I will be that piece. It is a different thing because you don’t have the heartbeat of the live audience, but I get to still be creative in my own way, but to answer your question, I never thought of crossing over other than the reason to change perception of what it means to be a WWE performer. Now, I can get the thing I am most passionate about, which is telling stories for the audience, but under a different format.”
You can listen to Cena on ID10T with Chris Hardwick by clicking this link here.
Advocate for WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Tweeted out a never-before-seen photo of former WWE star Summer Rae for his Heyman Hustle website. Check it out here:
WWE Superstars and their work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation is unprecedented. With stars such as John Cena and Daniel Bryan having granted plenty of wishes in their day, a new Superstar has joined the club – former SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Naomi.
She Tweeted out this photo with Make-A-Wish kid Arianna:
“Thanks to @MakeAWish@WWE for allowing me to grant my 1st wish & meet Arianna! I truly made a new friend. Although i surprised her tonight, I couldn’t feel more rewarded bc I was impacted by her strength & joy.?? Tonights moments & memories I will never forget!”
Thanks to @MakeAWish@WWE for allowing me to grant my 1st wish & meet Arianna! I truly made a new friend. Although i surprised her tonight, I couldn’t feel more rewarded bc I was impacted by her strength & joy.? Tonights moments & memories I will never forget! pic.twitter.com/uwsCecfJ33
WWE Superstar Luke Harper recently did an interview with Rochester First to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Harper first discussed his old job as a librarian while chasing his dream of becoming a professional wrestler:
“My wife told me she was pregnant and I lost my job, I was a librarian at Frederick Douglas Middle School and so I thought the world was over and they called and said, “Hey, can you come for a trial and I said, ‘No, I have a broken leg,’”
It turns out Harper was ready to walk away from professional wrestling when his wife became pregnant. Harper intended to find a real job to support his family, but that’s the same day WWE came calling:
“My wife was 8 months pregnant and I was just coming back from Japan and I said, ‘Honey, I’m done, this is it, I’m just going to go get another real job and we’ll make do here,’ and that’s the day (WWE called saying), ‘Hey, can you come for a tryout?’”
You can read Harper’s full interview with Rochester First by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstars travel anywhere upwards of over 300 days a year for out entertainment. If anyone in sports and entertainment deserves an “off-season” it’s professional wrestlers who work for WWE.
In a recent edition of their E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, former WWE Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian discussed this possibility. Christian first explained why he thinks the concept is impossible:
“I feel like you can’t do that – you can’t just stop WWE and have it like a sports league for three or four months. It’s an entertainment company. It puts on a live show every week and it prides itself on being out there and working.
“Yes, the wrestlers themselves could benefit from time off; but, it’s hard when you have certain guys in top angles who are relied on to draw houses and be the main events on shows, pay-per-views and live events and all this job entails.
“For the body, yeah, it would be a great idea to cycle having certain guys off and when they come back certain other guys off for a certain amount of time. I don’t know if that is the way; but, to me you can’t just stop the show for a certain amount of time.”
The Rated-R Superstar explained how the idea seems nice on paper, but the company has TV contracts to obligate:
“There are just so many different things that go into it. Yeah, it sounds great on paper and all of those things; but, you have tv contracts. There are so many different layers to this thing that the laymen doesn’t necessarily think of that factors into this decision.
“It’s not as easy as that and it is a completely different beast altogether than every other sporting league or any other touring thing. It’s not like a band and there’s an album cycle. It’s not like that. It’s just different than that and that’s the way it’s set up.
“I don’t know what the quick answer is to that; but, I know there’s a lot more to be thought of, even though it sounds great on paper.”
You can listen to E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness by clicking this link here.
Many fans noticed that former WWE NXT Champion Drew McIntyre, who was recently called up to the main roster on Monday Night RAW, wasn’t in Saudi Arabia for the Greatest Royal Rumble.
PWInsider reports that McIntyre wasn’t at the show because he had an issue with his visa. McIntyre made his main roster debut a few weeks ago and there wasn’t enough time to get the issue sorted out.
The Rock Trolls Kevin Hart On Social Media
Former WWE Champion The Rock recently welcomed a new baby girl into the world, and a photo of himself and the newborn has gone viral from his Instagram account. Many have photoshopped the image as a popular new meme.
Rock seems to have gotten in on the fun, and photoshopped his good friend Kevin Hart’s face in place of his daughter’s. He joked that Hart was his son and vowed to always protect him. Check it out:
It seems that several of Monday Night RAW’s stars have faced issues getting to tonight’s show in Montreal. After arriving back from Saudi Arabia a few stars flew to New York to get in some brief family time before heading off to Montreal.
Their connecting flights were cancelled, however, and they were forced to rent cars and drive several hours into Canada instead. Here are a few Tweets from those Superstars:
Our 6 hour road trip is almost over @AlexaBliss_WWE …. when a flight gets canceled, you roll with the punches! Nothing’s gonna stop us from making it to Canada for #Raw tomorrow! ? I ?? Montréal #HartCountry
It seems that the real-life break up of WWE Superstars John Cena and Nikki Bella has had some lasting affects on the upcoming season of Total Bellas on E!. Scenes from the upcoming season reportedly had to be re-filmed after the break-up.
The season was originally planned to be focused on John and Nikki’s wedding being planned, however, now it will focus more on their separation. The season premieres on May 20th.
Brie Bella recently did an interview with Sports Illustrated to discuss the upcoming season. Here’s what she had to say:
“So many people have so many questions where John and Nicole are at, and why everything happened, and I think this season will answer a lot of those questions. I give them a lot of credit for opening up their lives. We all told ourselves we had to be an open book.
“If you’re going to do reality, you need to do the good and the bad. I think that’s why so many people love Nicole and me. We’re real and honest. There are some really intimate conversations between Nicole and John. I think my sister is just like, ‘Other women go through this,’ and she wants them to feel like they’re not alone.”
Former NXT Champion and current SmackDown Live star Samoa Joe recently did an interview with The National to promote tomorrow’s WWE Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia. The Destroyer first opened up about competing in Saudi Arabia for the first time in his career:
“It is going to my first time in Saudi Arabia and I am over the moon and excited about it. To have the chance to experience a new place and a new culture first hand is always a great opportunity.”
He also discussed his heated feud with Brock Lesnar last year and why he doesn’t fear the former UFC heavyweight champion:
“I watched grown men tap dance around Brock Lesnar because they are scared of him. There is an edict in the company that Brock Lesnar is a thing to be feared at all times and all this. I fear no man. I don’t believe in and respect anyone who fears other men. You know, Brock Lesnar is like everybody else in the world.
“You go out, you smash him in the face, get in the grill. You have to get up close and personal with Brock Lesnar. If you are going up against a monster you better be a monster yourself. You have to have a monstrous fury in your heart because that is what it is going to take to beat that guy. I am not done with Brock Lesnar. Brock Lesnar knows that. He knows I am not scared of him.”
You can ready Joe’s full interview with The National by clicking this link here.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently did an interview with MMA Junkie Radio to offer his thoughts on the professional wrestling debut of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Rousey partnered up with Kurt Angle to defeat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a Mixed Tag Team match at WrestleMania.
Ross explained why, in 40 years of his professional wrestling career, Rousey’s debut was the most impactful he has ever witnessed:
“I thought that Ronda’s debut was the most impactful pro wrestling debut that I have seen in my 40-plus year career. If you look at her skill set, experience-wise, from this genre in pro wrestling, it was almost non-existent,” said Ross. “But she had so much pressure on her. The hype was amazing. The expectations were mixed.
“Some die-hard wrestling fans don’t even like her being there, which is absolutely insane. They are [sic] and goofy, no doubt about that. So, I was absolutely blown away by what she did and how she executed. She looked like an athlete; we knew she is an athlete. She’s a winner.”
As for those who aren’t a fan of Rousey and use her two back-to-back losses in mixed martial arts (MMA) as talking points, Ross has a message for them:
“Now look, some say, well, she lost her last two fights. Kiss my a**,” said Ross. “How’s that? C’mon. She won a lot of fights, guys. You know what I mean? She’s a winner. She goes to the Olympics and medals. She’s a winner. So I knew that she was not going to drop the ball.”
Ross said that Rousey handled the pressure of performing at WrestleMania in front of 70,000 people rather impressively:
“It’s WrestleMania, guys. If you’re an MMA fan, then you say, ‘Well, what does it matter? It’s still pro wrestling.’ There was almost 80,000 people there,” Ross said. “She had so much pressure at this massive event, it would’ve been very easy for her to slip the bit and not have a great outing. If she continues to train as diligently and as ferociously as she has been, the sky’s the limit for her. She can be really, really good.”
You can read Rousey’s full interview with MMA Junkie by clicking this link here.
Former WWE Champion Chris Jericho recently did an interview with ESPN to promote tomorrow’s Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia. Jericho last appeared on WWE TV for the RAW 25 episode earlier this year. He had a backstage segment with Elias in which he added him to The List:
“Once again, go with the flow. Make it good. It was fun. He’s got a lot of steam. He’s a great character. It was cool, but it was not planned until three hours beforehand … that’s how the business works.
“Let’s move on to the next thing. And that’s the best way to exist in the business and stay on top is to be diverse and always go with the flow, no matter what it is that you’re given.”
Y2J commented on getting the call to participate in the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. He explained why he accepted the offer:
“It’s one of those things — I would have rather been a surprise, but I think WWE is going in there with all guns blazing and all hands on deck. When I got the call to do this, I was like, ‘It doesn’t get any bigger than that.’
“It’s much bigger than showing up even at Madison Square Garden, where we’ve been there a hundred times before. But doing it over in Saudi Arabia, it’s very majestic and very mysterious, adventurous, and that’s kind of what I’m all about.”
He then commented on his working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) ending for now:
“Things change. That’s how it goes. Sometimes things seem like a good idea at the time, and then when you look at it a little bit deeper and a little bit further, you realize it’s not gonna go the way you want it to go.”
You can read Jericho’s full interview with ESPN by clicking this link here.
WWE Hall Of Famer and former World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry recently did an interview with The National to promote tomorrow’s Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia. He explained why he thinks the show is just as special as WrestleMania:
“You have a a lot of guys who have not wrestled in a long time in the WWE competing. Great Khali, Kurt Angle, Bobby Lashley, Rey Mysterio and myself and many others. It is an unbelievable thing. You also have the Undertaker up against Rusev. Triple H against John Cena. This is special. It is like WrestleMania in some of the special events we have going on here.”
As for the historic 50-Man over-the-top-rope battle royal main event in Saudi Arabia, Henry will be competing in the match and wants to have immortalized as the victor:
“If I am in it I want to win it. I am not here to look pretty. It is a historic event and if I win it my name will be immortalized in the record books so it is something that I am aiming for.”
Henry then discussed his 2011 feud with Randy Orton. The World’s Strongest Man has a huge amount of respect for Orton, who he won the World Heavyweight Title from at Night Of Champions 2011, and retained it at Hell In A Cell:
“Randy Orton is one of the people in the industry I respect the most. Not many people can be as smooth and polished in the ring as Randy is, and still be over with the fans, and he is one of the very best in the industry. For me to able to win over him twice in a row was one of the biggest things in my career as I have so much respect for him.”
You can read Henry’s full interview with The National by clicking this link here.
WWE’s Triple H recently appeared on the “Tafaolkum” show in Saudi Arabia to promote tomorrow’s Greatest Royal Rumble event. The Game has some great words about the Saudi Arabian fanbase, and also said he believes Saudi Arabia is “misunderstood”:
“I’m always amazed when I come here, that the fanbase is so deep and their love for WWE is so intense. It’s such a welcoming place. To be honest, I think it’s misunderstood in a lot of the world when you come here to Saudi Arabia,” he said. “It’s just a wonderful place and the people are so friendly here, and they’re excited to see you.
“Especially when it comes to WWE. We are like superheroes come to life and they can see you walking down the street in front of them, they kind of look in awe. It’s a wonderful feeling. I know the WWE Superstars that are arriving today and tomorrow to come here for this event are really looking forward to being here and putting on a show for the fans.”
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
Former WWE Star Now Taking Bookings
It looks like recently released WWE Superstar and former Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann is now accepting bookings again. This past March he had announced his retirement from wrestling, but he returned to the ring at a CZW event earlier this month. Swann can be booked via DM on Twitter @GottaGetSwann.
