SEScoops

Category: WWE

  • Mick Foley’s WWE Return, Big Show’s Time Off, Sheamus A Face?

    – Former WWE champion Mick Foley was backstage at Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown taping from Philadelphia – and we can now confirm that Foley is in negotiations to return to the company.

    Foley was asked today by a fan on Twitter whether he would consider working for WWE again. Foley responded:

    “Sure, I would – I’m considering it right now.”

    – SmackDown star the Big Show is taking a few months off to rest his body. At 39 years old, Big Show is at the point where he can prolong his career by taking time off every now and then for the benefit of his long term health.

    – There have been talks of turning Sheamus babyface and having him heel with Mark Henry this fall.

    – Here are some recent WWE attendance figures:

    * RAW on July 22nd in Springfield, MA drew 4,000 fans for $120,000.
    * RAW on July 23rd in Wildwood, NJ drew 6,000 fans for $195,000.
    * SmackDown on July 23rd in Pittsburgh, PA drew 4,300 fans for $156,000.
    * RAW on July 24th in Upper Marlboro, MD drew 3,300 fans for $112,000.
    * SmackDown on July 24th in White Plains, NY was a sellout of 4,300 fans for $180,000.
    * Monday Night RAW on July 25th from Hampton, VA was a sellout with 8,000 fans.

    (Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

  • Details On Plans For Del Rio To Win The WWE Championship

    Over the past several months, there have been various reports claiming that Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank winner Alberto Del Rio has been slated to win the WWE championship a few times this year. Thus far, those plans changed each time and he has yet to capture WWE’s top prize.

    As noted in an earlier report, WWE’s original plan for Summerslam was for Alberto Del Rio to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and challenge John Cena for the WWE title at SummerSlam. With SummerSlam taking place from Los Angeles, WWE saw dollar signs in their top heel Mexican star wrestling for the WWE title at a major pay-per-view in a strong hispanic market.

    Additionally, WWE had discussed the idea of Del Rio holding the WWE championshpi heading into the company’s tour of Mexico in October.

    Plans for Del Rio at Summerslam changed when the decision was made to bring back CM Punk sooner than expected.

    According to Dave Meltzer, this is at least the 4th time Del Rio had been scheduled to win the WWE or World Title and it didn’t end up happening.

    (Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

  • Original Plan For RAW: Triple H Supposed To Lay Out CM Punk

    Monday’s RAW featured Triple H’s first night in charge as well as the surprise return of WWE title holder CM Punk.

    According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there were actually six different scripts written for RAW – one of which would have resulted in Triple H laying out CM Punk with a pedigree.

    Although the obvious scenario would be for WWE to capitalize on CM Punk’s recent popularity and push him to the moon, most of the scenarios presented for Monday’s RAW were not to get Punk over, but to emphasize Triple H’s new role as Vince McMahon’s successor.

    Prior to WWE settling on what we saw unfold on Monday night, the original plan for CM Punk’s return was for him to get attacked and pedigreed by Triple H. Alberto Del Rio then would have come out, cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase against John Cena at SummerSlam.

    While this would have certainly put Triple H over as a major heel and led to an eventual program with a babyface CM Punk cooler heads prevailed and the angle of Punk getting squashed on the night of his return was scrapped.

    (Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

  • AUDIO: CM Punk Interviewed By ESPN’s Bill Simmons

    CM PUNK appeared on the BS Report radio show this wee, hosted by ESPN’s Bill Simmons. You can listen to audio of the interview at ESPN.com. Here’s a recap of what CM Punk said about:

    His new theme song “Cut of Personality“:

    He’s a big advocate of wrestlers changing their characters – their look, their music, etc. It was time to change. It probably cost WWE a lot of money to license the song and he’s worth it.

    * LISTEN HERE: “Cult of Personality” Music Video

    Why he returned so soon:

    It would be cool to stay off television for a while but SummerSlam is now and he wanted to capitalize on the momentum of the angle. He enjoys working with John Cena and likes their feud. He still loves what he does.

    Wrestlers boring him:

    He grew very bored of pro wrestling and still is at times. Certain guys on the roster do the same thing day-in and day-out and that’s not him. He questions everything and tries new things – and whatever he’s doing right now is working.

    His epic shoot promo on RAW several weeks ago:

    He knew WWE would cut him off at some point – but he wanted to push the envelope as much as he could. It was not scripted – everything he said was from the heart. He understood certain things are off limits – and he did go too far with a few of his comments.

    Whether he was really leaving WWE:

    His mind was made up to leave WWE. He made the decision to stay in WWE the day of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. He wasn’t playing games or trying to get more money from WWE – he was very burnt out and spent a lot of time weighing his options.

  • JR Blog: His Return To RAW, Punk vs. Austin, Samoa Joe In WWE

    WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross is back with another blog update, which you can read in its entirety over at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what JR wrote about:

    His Return To RAW This Week: “It was very exciting Monday night getting a shot to work back on Monday Night Raw which was my broadcast home for so many years. I felt a little rusty at times but getting a strong main event with time in which to invest, Mysterio vs. Cena, was helpful and was also really fun to call.”

    “I arrived at the Hampton Coliseum after the matches had started Monday night and stayed on a TV crew bus until just moments before I was introduced by HHH. Sort of flew by the seat of my pants for the broadcast which keeps one of their toes. Bottom line is that I had a blast and can’t wait to do it again next week even though I fully realize that Michael Cole won’t make things easy at the announce table.”

    CM Punk vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin: “Do I think an Austin vs. Punk match would ever happen? Same old story, never say never. Punk would love it and Austin likely would as well if all the pieces fell into place such as Steve’s professional schedule, etc. I don’t know the answer but right now I’d say it’s somewhat of a long shot. ”

    Austin Wanting Samoa Joe In WWE: “Do I share in @steveaustinBSR take on Samoa Joe? I like Joe’s in ring work and his potential plus he has a unique body type that I feel is an asset.”

  • Latest On KOW Joining WWE, Laurinaitis Added To WWE Site

    — Multiple sources believe Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero, who perform as The Kings of Wrestling for Ring of Honor, will conclude their obligations with the organization next month and join WWE immediately thereafter.

    Though they are advertised for the August 13th Ring of Honor television taping in Chicago Ridge, Illinois, one source says it’s possible they will debut for WWE—bypassing developmental—before the end of the month. There are also rumors that they could be involved in CM Punk’s current storyline.

    — A profile on John Laurinaitis, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent Relations, has been added to the Alumni section on WWE.com.

    Contrary to CM Punk’s derisive remarks concerning the corporate executive during a pseudo-shoot promo last month on Raw, Laurinaitis is referred as “a respected WWE employee” in his bio. His previous life as “a successful sports-entertainer” in both Japan and the United States is also acknowledged.

    source: ProWrestling.net

  • Mick Foley Attends SmackDown Taping, Miz To Appear On ‘Psych’

    — Photos have surfaced online of Mick Foley purportedly leaving last night’s SmackDown taping at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

    The Hardcore Legend was asked on Twitter earlier this week if he would be returning to WWE. Foley replied, “VERY soon, but just as a fan. I’m taking my kids to a show this summer – they are HUGE fans.”

    — The Miz has landed a guest starring role on the USA Network detective comedy-drama series Psych. The former WWE Champion plays Mario, who is described as a “bros before hoes” type of gentleman.

    — Dolph Ziggler celebrates his 31st birthday today.

    source: PWInsider.com

  • WWE PPV Buy Numbers Improve, Sin Cara Advertised For Event

    — WWE’s Capitol Punishment pay-per-view event featuring R-Truth vs. John Cena drew approximately 200,000 buys, according to business figures released for the month of June 2011 on their corporate website.

    The preliminary figure is up from 143,000 buys for the previous June’s pay-per-view event, Fatal 4-Way.

    Capitol Punishment was also up from the previous month’s pay-per-view, Over the Limit, which drew approximately 150,000 buys. Cena was also featured in the main event, but against The Miz in an “I Quit” Match.

    — Sin Cara, who is currently serving a 30-day suspension due to his first violation of WWE’s Talent Wellness Program, is advertised for an event WWE.com has just listed; a SmackDown taping in St. Louis, Missouri taking place September 27.

    Regarding the masked grappler’s status with WWE, many employees are under the impression that management “had decided to cut bait on him.” Creative wasn’t informed until a day or two prior to Money in the Bank that he needed to be written off television and were also told to not “put any thought into any scenarios for him going forward.” A final decision regarding his immediate future has not been made.

  • The Miz On MTV & Lopez Tonight, Punk’s Theme, Triple H

    – WWE’s “new CEO” Triple H turns 42 years old today.

    – Reader Stan sent word that Monday’s RAW featured 40 minutes and 6 seconds of in-ring action, up a bit from the week before.

    – The Miz will be on MTV tonight hosting “MTV’s The Challenge: Rivals.” After that, at midnight (EST), Miz will be appearing on George Lopez’ late night TBS show, Lopez Tonight.

    – Following CM Punk’s return to WWE on Monday’s RAW his new theme song “Cult of Personality” skyrocketed on the iTunes sales charts, breaking the Top 200.

    – Tyler Reks wrote the following on Twitter last night in response to fans that commented to him about an apparent babyface turn this week after he was seen celebrating with Rey Mysterio on RAW:

    “Lotta talk about me celebrating Rey’s win with everyone last night. Bottom line is that Rey is my friend & I wanted to say congrats. No crime in that.”

  • Backstage VIDEO: Billy Gunn Lays Out A Match At Indy Show

    Sean “X-Pac” Waltman posts a backstage video of Billy Gunn laying out a match with two indy workers. It’s an interesting look at how matches are put together.

  • Kevin Nash Puts Over CM Punk & Teases A WWE Return

    Kevin Nash is the latest WWE personality to give praise to CM Punk, offering the former WWE champion his protection services:

    “Still up trying to unwind from todays shoot.2-3 days left on Rock of Ages. Enjoying Raw, Punk doing a great job. Punk if you want back up you got my number. Your worth me going back on the road full time. Offer stands understand if you want to go it alone.”

    He added that he misses that rush he felt when he made a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble.

    Nash is currently filming the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway show Rock of Ages, which stars Tom Cruise, Mary J. Blige, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones..

  • Maryse Has A Stalker & Fears For Her Life

    WWE diva Maryse Ouellet has filed for a permanent restraining order against an “extremely disturbing and delusional” fan who she claims is obsessed with her and has threatened to “take her to heaven” with him.

    According to a report on TMZ.com, the freakshow in question is 61-year-old Lee Silber, who Maryse claims has sent “numerous terrifying letters to my home and left more than 50 voicemails on my personal cell phone all of which are extremely disturbing and delusional.”

    Maryse tells the  L.A. County Superior Court that she fears for her life and wants the stalker kept away from her at any cost.

    She’s due back in court on August 3rd to follow up on the restraint order request.

  • WWE Overhauls SummerSlam Card Hours Before Raw

    Alberto Del Rio has once again been victimized by WWE’s haphazard booking as his long planned match with John Cena at SummerSlam was nixed hours before last night’s Raw telecast in Hampton, Virginia.

    Creative overhauled the match line-up for SummerSlam Monday afternoon after deeming their creative plans for CM Punk for the event as “awful.” Del Rio was effectively removed from the title picture as a result. WWE’s braintrust felt that had Punk not been slotted in the title match, his much talked about storyline would extinguish.

    Though Del Rio had the rug pulled out from under him once again, creative has the 34-year-old pegged for a title run this fall. WWE announced today they will present a landmark tour across Mexico this October and a number of high ranking officials feel the countryman returning as a conquering hero will garner a great deal of media attention.

    Meanwhile, The Miz was at one point scheduled to reign supreme in the WWE Championship Tournament on Raw. Creative later changed their mind and the WWE Championship was awarded to Rey Mysterio, who got to hold the belt for approximately an hour and a half.

    source: F4WOnline.com

  • Raw Stars At SmackDown, FCW Star Works Dark Match, More

    — Both John Morrison and R-Truth are backstage at tonight’s SmackDown taping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

    — A match pitting Heath Slater against Trent Barreta was taped for this Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars.

    — Justin Gabriel beat WWE developmental wrestler Hunico in a dark match prior to tonight’s SmackDown taping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gabriel hit the 450° splash on the masked grappler for the win.

    — The July 23 episode of A.M. Raw did a 0.37 rating, with 452,000 viewers.

    source: PWInsider.com

  • Ratings Are In For Monday’s Episode of WWE RAW

    The ratings are in for Monday’s episode of WWE RAW.

    The July 25th edition of WWE RAW drew 3.2 rating with 4.8 million people watching.

    A trend worth noting is that show opened with a 3.01 in the first hour and climbed to a 3.4 for the final hour.

    This week’s viewership was virtually even with last week’s post-Money in the Bank RAW.

  • PICTURES Of Zack Ryder As The Ultimate Broski

    At Sunday night’s WWE house show in Upper Marlboro, MD, Zack Ryder dressed up as the Ultimate Warrior and wrestled as the Ultimate Broski.

    The Ultimate Warrior himself responded to the situation -writing the following on Twitter on Tuesday:

    “..another one of the ALL TIME GREATS making my “talentless” UW look like a million bucks. Awesome belly laughs! No abs 4 me 2day.”

    Now pictures have been sent in, courtesy of SEScoops.com reader @EllisMbeh:

  • CM Punk T-Shirt Now On Sale, Warrior Responds To Ryder

    — The T-Shirt CM Punk donned at Money in the Bank, “Best in the World,” is now on sale via WWEShop.com. The shirt has been slightly modified from the original sold at the pay-per-view event as the date of 7/17/11 and “Chicago” have been removed.

    The original shirt is a hot seller on eBay, regularly fetching between $300 and $500. Some sellers have even manufactured counterfeits.

    — Ultimate Warrior responded to Zack Ryder’s impersonation of him in the latest episode of Z! True Long Island Story (available here). The former WWE Champion wrote via Twitter: “..another one of the ALL TIME GREATS making my “talentless” UW look like a million bucks. Awesome belly laughs! No abs 4 me 2day.”

    — The entrance theme CM Punk debuted last night on Raw, “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour, has hit iTunes’ Top 200 Songs chart. The song, which was originally released in 1988, ranked as high as #126.

  • John Cena Sets Record, Greatest WWE Superstars Highlighted

    — John Cena has now held the WWE Championship a record nine times following his title victory last night on Raw . The previous record holder was Triple H, who held the WWE Championship on eight occasions.

    If Cena holds the belt through Thursday, he will move past Pedro Morales into fourth place as most combined days as WWE Champion at 1028.

    — Greatest Superstars of the 21st Century is officially out today on DVD and Blu-ray. Twenty of the greatest WWE Superstars of the new millenium are profiled including Chris Jericho, Edge, Triple H, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, Kane, Kurt Angle, The Rock, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Trish Stratus, Jeff Hardy, Big Show, Eddie Guerrero, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Batista and John Cena.

    — WWE has a SmackDown live event scheduled for Saturday, October 9, 2011 at the Century Link Center in Bossier City, Louisiana. Tickets go on sale Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. Randy Orton, Christian, Kane, Big Show and Sin Cara are advertised to appear.

  • VIDEO: CM Punk’s “Cult Of Personality” Theme Song

    CM Punk returned to RAW with a “new” theme song – “Cult of Personality”  by the group Living Colour ..

    We put “new” in quotes – because this is not the first time Punk has used the song as his entrance theme. Punk used the theme during his final days in Ring of Honor back in 2005.

    Here’s the music video for “Cult of Personality” –

  • WWE Booking Long Term, Punk’s Return, Santino Broken Nose

    – In a move that is sure to please many fans, WWE is planning to make changes to its booking philosphy, namely, focusing on more long-term booking. WWE made an unprecedented move several months back by announcing John Cena vs. The Rock for next year’s WrestleMania a full year in advance – and it appears we’ll be seeing more big matches set up this way.  This is somewhat of an “old school” approach – with the company deciding on a featured match and then ‘working backwards’

    – Santino Marella suffered a broken nose during a match taped prior to RAW for Thursday’s Superstars. Santino and Chris Masters wrestled WWE Tag Team Champions David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty.

    – According to reliable sources in WWE, the decision to have Punk return on this week’s RAW was not made until Monday afternoon. There had been some discussion about keeping him off television until next week, but WWE hit the “fast forward” button and brought him back earlier than originally planned.

    It’s being teased on the WWE website that Triple H signed CM Punk to a new contract over the weekend after Punk confronted Triple H at Comic-Con last week. (VIDEO)

    (Source: PWInsider.com, f4wonline.com)

  • What Happened After RAW, JR, Cena & Miz Tweet RAW

    – After Monday’s episode of WWE RAW went off the air, CM Punk cut a promo and told the crowd that HE was WWE Champion and was back on RAW for good. The crowd went nuts for punk, who was way more over than John Cena.

    – WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross was trending worldwide on Twitter during RAW after making a surprise return.  Other WWE-related topics that were trending on Twitter on Monday night include CM Punk, Kelly Kelly and Zack Ryder.

    – Jim Ross tweeted after RAW:

    “Thx to everyone for the response re: my return to Raw. Its good to be ‘Home.’. Hopefully I’ll get to stay a while.”

    – New WWE Champion John Cena wrote the following on Twitter about last night’s RAW:

    “CeNation. The champ is here. The champ is there. Looks like we may have a situation on our hands.”

    – The Miz also chimed in on last night’s show:

    “Oooooo…Punk and Cena. Triple H’s new WWE seems a hell of a lot like the old one. Yeah I got two words for ya…”

  • VIDEO: CM Punk Appears On Jimmy Kimmel Live

    WWE star CM Punk appearaed on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” last night. Kimmel announced that show regular ‘Cousin Sal’ has a six-year-old son named Archie that is a huge John Cena fan – and strongly dislikes CM Punk. This leads to Punk paying Archie a a surprise visit at his home – and hilarity ensues. Check it out here:

  • SmackDown Preview, Last Week’s Rating Improves & More

    – WWE will tape tonight’s NXT and this week’s SmackDown from Philadelphia, PA tonight. Confirmed for TV is an appearance by Triple H and more on Mark Henry’s recent devastation. Advertised locally is Randy Orton vs. World Heavyweight Champion in a Street Fight.

    – Last week’s July 22 episode of SmackDown scored a 1.89 cable rating, the program’s best mark since May 20—also a 1.89.

    SmackDown had not scored in the 1.80 range since May 27, with the number fluctuating between 1.63 and 1.77 during that time.

    Friday’s show averaged 2,821,000 viewers over the course of two hours.

    — Tyler Reks, who has portrayed a sinister heel character since debuting last October on the SmackDown brand, was among the numerous babyfaces celebrating Rey Mysterio’s WWE Championship celebration last night on Raw. To add further confusion, he performed as both a babyface and heel at this past weekend’s live events.

    (Credit to PWInsider.com for the SmackDown ratings data)

  • VIDEO: CM Punk’s Return To WWE On RAW

  • VIDEO: Zack Ryder’s “Ultimate Broski” Warrior Gimmick

    Check out this video of a battle royal at a recent live WWE event from Maryland’s Show Place Arena.

    Zack Ryder is apparently now experimenting with an Ultimate Warrior gimmick – the Ultimate Broski.

    Are you feeling the power of the Ultimate Broski?