SEScoops

Category: WWE

  • Lilian Garcia Singing At NFL Game, WWE Superstars Preview

    — Former WWE Diva and ring announcer Lilian Garcia will be signing the national anthem prior to this Sunday’s New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

    — Chris Masters vs. Tyler Reks headlines tonight’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America. Also scheduled to take place is William Regal vs. David Hart Smith and The Usos vs. Yoshi Tatsu & Darren Young.

    — WWE Monday Night Raw on March 14, 2011 will be held at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Tickets go on sale January 15, 2011 via Ticketmaster.com.

  • WrestleMania Plans For Cena, Punk, Orton, Miz, Barrett & More

    As we’ve been reporting, WWE creative is currently planning out what the top matches will be for WrestleMania 27 in April. As of late last week, WWE had a tentative WrestleMania line-up that included WWE Champion The Miz defending against John Cena and Randy Orton vs. CM Punk. We’ve had also heard that the new John Cena vs. CM Punk feud would result in a match at WrestleMania, so the company is currently discussing a few scenarios.

    WWE had a major scare this week with John Cena suffering a leg injury at Tuesday night’s live event from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. While he is in a lot of pain and his condition is being monitored on a day-to-day basis, there has been no definitive word yet on whether he’ll be out of action for any significant amount of time.

    There is still talk of having Wade Barrett vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 27, if the Undertaker is healthy enough to return for a singles match. Based on what we saw on Monday’s RAW, it looks like Wade Barrett could be on his way out of Nexus, but there’s been no confirmation on his status. It’s possible he may end up on SmackDown. A babyface turn for Barrett has also been rumored, but that would likely take place after WrestleMania.

  • JR Blog: John Cena’s Injury, CM Punk’s Popularity, Michael Cole

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

    John Cena’s Injury: “I thought that John might have suffered a hip pointer which is a severe bruise. That speculation was erroneous on my part. He is day to day according to www.wwe.com. Knowing Cena he will be back in action much sooner than many, many others suffering the same injury. Athletic, hip injuries are hard to define or so they seem to be with football players. I certainly wish John a speedy recovery.”

    CM Punk’s Popularity: “What do I feel is CM Punk’s attraction to the WWE Universe? IMO, it’s simply his overall talent. Punk is simply being himself which translates well on the TV screen. His skill set is unique and he is extremely confident in his abilities. The guy is a student of the game and will do what ever [sic] it takes to be the top guy in WWE. Plus, he has great verbal skills.”

    Whether He Hates Michael Cole: “Of course I don’t ‘hate’ Michael Cole. He’s doing his job and has simply interjected more of his natural personality into his work than he did previously. Some folks like it and some don’t. People said the same thing about my announcing back in the day. My guess is that Cole doesn’t care what fans think of him. Cole is garnering more attention than ever before in his career so something must be working, right?”

    As always, visit JRsBarBQ.com for JR’s delicious line of BBQ products.

  • Backstage Details On Kaval’s Departure From WWE

    Brandon Silvestry (a/k/a Kaval) requested his release from World Wrestling Entertainment after being frustrated with his position in the organization. The company’s creative department was told to bury him after winning the second season of NXT, until a decision was made that he be built up for a few weeks for an Intercontinental Championship Match against Dolph Ziggler at the Survivor Series. After losing at the pay-per-view event, creative was told to resume burying him.

    Following his quick loss to Drew McIntyre on the Dec. 21 episode of SmackDown, he reportedly asked organization officials if he had any heat with them, to which he was told no. He then queried if they had any future plans for him and was told they didn’t. He subsequently asked to be released from his contract, which was officially granted two days later.

    Silvestry joined WWE in late 2008 while reigning as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in Japan. Original creative plans called for him to adopt a masked character and feud with Rey Mysterio. As he was awaiting his call-up to the main roster, he suffered a severe leg injury in January 2009, which sidelined him for nine months. Creative lost interest in utilizing the program by the time he healed and he remained in developmental until June, when it was announced he would be a participant in the second season of NXT.

    source: Pro Wrestling Torch

  • Big Show Replaces Cena At Live Events, WWE Interviews Sunny

    — Big Show is substituting for the injured John Cena at Raw live events for the remainder of the week. He is facing Wade Barrett in a Steel Cage contests.

    The remaining SmackDown live events will be headlined by Triple Threat matches featuring World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. CM Punk vs. Kane.

    — WWE has removed Ashley Valence’s profile from the company website’s Divas section. No official announcement was made her regarding her departure.

    — The self-proclaimed “Original Diva” Tammy Sytch (a/k/a Sunny) revealed today on her Facebook account that she was interviewed by WWE.com. It will be posted next month.

    source: PWInsider.com

  • WWE Addresses John Cena’s Injury, Scratched From Show

    The WWE website acknowledged John Cena suffering an injury at last night’s Raw live event in Wilkes-Barre, PA, claiming he has a ‘hip injury’. His return to action will be evaluated on a day to day basis.

    Fans at tonight’s live event in Baltimore, Maryland were informed that Cena would not be appearing as advertised. Ring announcer Justin Roberts said Cena had suffered a “serious injury” and was “medically prohibited” from competing.

  • Awesome Kong Believed To Have Signed With WWE

    WWE is believed to have offered former TNA Women’s Knockouts Champion Awesome Kong a contract.

    She wrote the following earlier today on her Twitter account:

    “My dreams just came true today. I got my dream job. Yes, THAT one.”

    WWE sources indicate there’s been discussion of Kong joining the organization in recent weeks. One source claims she paid a visit to WWE’s headquarters Stamford, Connecticut a month ago.

    While the signing has not been confirmed, sources believe it was finalized last week.

    source: PWInsider.com

  • WWE Announces The WWE Universe Website Is Shutting Down

    WWE announced on Wednesday that the WWE Universe community website is shutting down after Friday. Here’s the official announcement:

    We’ve had a great run WWE Universe … but all good things must come to an end.

    I’m writing to you all today to let you all know that WWEUniverse.com will be closing its doors this Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011.

    While the site is going away, some of the site’s most popular features will live on:

    * The popular Monday Night Raw and pay-per-view Live Chats, hosted by WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel, will move to a new location on WWE.com’s main site (WWE.com/social/livechat).

    * Finkel’s weekly blogs, as well as The Ross Report from Hall of Famer Jim Ross, will move to their Facebook pages.

    * Our make-your-own-highlight-reel video creation factory known as “Smash-Ups” will be added to WWE.com in the near future.

    While the site is going away, the WWE Universe will continue to live online. Please consider joining us on our popular outposts on the following social networks:

    * Twitter: twitter.com/WWE

    * Facebook: Facebook.com/WWE

    * YouTube: YouTube.com/WWE

    Our WWE Universe Twitter account, @WWEUniverse, will continue to provide answers to your fan questions, re-tweeting the best comments from our followers, Superstars and Divas, and provide live coverage and pictures from select WWE events.

    In parting, I just want to say thank you to all the dedicated long-time members of this site that participated, contributed photos, blog posts, and comments in the Forums.

    WWE appreciates your support over the past two years, and I hope you enjoyed your time on the site.

    Thank you all for supporting WWEUniverse.com. We’ll see you on Facebook and Twitter.

    Sincerely,
    Corey Clayton
    WWE Online Community Leader

  • Matches Announced For Next Week’s SD, Superstars Match Taped

    — It was announced at last night’s SmackDown taping in Rochester, New York that Alberto Del Rio would face Rey Mysterio in a 2 of 3 Falls Match and Kane would face Edge in a Last Man Standing Match on the following week’s show.

    — A match pitting Chris Masters against Tyler Reks was taped last night in Rochester, New York for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars.

    — Percy Watson beat Curt Hawkins in a dark match prior to last night’s SmackDown taping in Rochester, New York.

    source: PWInsider.com

  • Miz Talks About JBL Hazing Him, Working With Daniel Bryan

    WWE Champion The Miz was interviewed this week by Kevin Eck of the Baltimore Sun. Here are some highlights of what The Miz said about:

    Reports That JBL Hazed Him Backstage When He First Joined WWE:

    “It’s funny with JBL,” Miz said. “In front of all the boys back in the day he would always be making fun of me or saying [imitating JBL’s voice], ‘Miz, I look forward to your amazing work. You’re a gift from God.’ But whenever no one was around, he would come up to me and say, ‘You’re doing a good job.’

    “He’d always give me a little pat on the back. Most people think he was really, really bad to me and this kind of stuff – and, granted, there were times – but there were also times when he sat me down and said, ‘Listen, you’re doing a good job. This is what you’re doing wrong. This is what you have to do to get to the next level.’ So he has helped me as well.”

    Whether He’s Had His “Austin 3:16” Career Defining Moment Yet:

    “I think there are defining moments in everything. If you asked me a year ago, I could find a defining moment. But as of right now my defining moment was Money in the Bank. It kind of set the tone that I’m the next main-eventer, I’m the next “future of this business,” and it set the tone for me winning the WWE championship, which then became the next defining moment in my life. Not many people get to say “I’m a WWE champion.” It’s pretty incredible just to hear those words coming out of my mouth. But as for what happens next, there are going to be so many defining moments in my career. My career is just getting started.”

    His Time Working As Daniel Bryan’s NXT Coach:

    “We were very cordial with each other, but you could tell on the inside that we were both trying to one-up one another because I thought I was better than him and he thought he was better than me,” said Miz. He also went on to say, “I thought I was better than him just because I’ve been in WWE for four years now and how long had he been in WWE? Zero time. He basically performed in front of 25 people at a bingo hall and was called the best in the world…”

    You can check out the full interview at BaltimoreSun.com.

  • Watch This Week’s Episode of WWE NXT Here (VIDEO)

    NXT Season 4: Week 3

  • John Cena Injured At WWE Event Tuesday Night (Video)

    John Cena suffered an apparent leg injury during last night’s Raw live event in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He was working a cage match against Wade Barrett that was stopped abruptly.

    Below is a reader account of the ordeal:

    “The Main event was a steel cage match between John Cena and Wade Barrett. A back and forth match with Wade Barrett trying to get out and Cena stopping him. After about 20 minutes, Wade gets Cena in the Wasteland and puts Cena on the mat. Everything seemed to stop. The trainers came to the ring and were talking to both Wade and John. All the sudden John throws a Lebell Lock type of hold (it was not the STF) and Wade tapped out. Wade left the ring rather quickly.

    The announcer came out and brought the mic to John. John said, “I got a little beat up tonight and if I need to take some time off I will but I will not be carried from the ring.” The injury appeared to be to one of his legs. He wasn’t putting any weight on it. We couldn’t tell if was a hip injury, or something to do with his leg.”

    Here is video from after the match, where John Cena acknowledges the injury:

  • *SPOILERS* WWE SmackDown Tapings Results For Friday

    WWE taped this week’s Smackdown tonight from the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. Thanks to Wrestling News World for this live report:

    WWE Smackdown (Airing Friday on WGN America SyFy):

    * The show opens with WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler out with Vickie Guerrero. Excuse me, there’s so much heat her words are nearly inaudible. They talk down John Cena as Vickie says she has vertigo. Kofi Kingston interrupts and talks about their match at WWE TLC. Jack Swagger comes out to join the two. Ziggler and Swagger get into it but Kofi ends up cleaning house. Teddy Long comes out and announces a triple-threat rematch for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

    * Big Show b. “Dashing” Cody Rhodes. Rhodes walked out on Show, getting himself counted out.

    * Drew McIntyre vs. Trent Baretta ends when McIntyre flips Baretta over the top ropes to the outside. Baretta never got up and the referee called for the bell. Referees and trainers came out to check on Baretta but McIntyre pushed them out of the way and hit his finisher.

    * World Heavyweight Champion Edge & Rey Mysterio b. Kane & Alberto Del Rio. The finish saw Mysterio hit the 619 on Del Rio followed by a spear by Edge.

    * WWE Divas Champion Natalya & Beth Phoenix b. LayCool. The finish saw Natalya lock Layla in the Sharpshooter when Michelle McCool came in to break it up. Beth ended up getting tagged in and getting the pin.

    * WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler b. Jack Swagger & Kofi Kingston in a triple-threat match to retain the title.

    * Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio in a 2 out of 3 falls match and World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. Kane in a Last Man Standing match are announced for next week’s show.

    * Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero wearing jingle bells do a New Year’s singalong in the ring. Rey Mysterio comes out and hits a 619. Big Show comes out and hits a chokeslam. Edge gets out and hits a spear on Ziggler. Big Show gets on the mic and starts singing “goodbye” to Vickie with the crowd. He wishes everyone a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. They all three beat up on Ziggler and celebrate.

  • Ashley Valence Announces She Is Leaving WWE

    Ashley Ann Vickers (a/k/a Ashley Valence) announced today on her official website that she has decided to part ways with World Wrestling Entertainment.

    “As many of you know, I have had an amazing run the past 6 months with the WWE, but all good things must come to an end, and I am going in a different direction with my career at this time,” she explained. “I can’t express enough how appreciative I am of the experience and friendships I’ve made during my stay with WWE.”

    She added that she is moving to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.

    The former emcee of the Memphis Grizzlies debuted in June as the co-host of NXT season two. She disappeared within weeks, but would resurface in Florida Championship Wrestling as a ring announcer. She appeared recently on two episodes of WWE Superstars, but disappeared once again.

  • No More Raw Guest Stars, Phoenix Comments On Being Sidelined

    — After over a year and a half, the WWE Raw Guest Star concept has apparently come to an end. WWE.com has removed the Raw Guest Star section from its Raw section.

    — In May, Beth Phoenix suffered a devastating ACL tear during a WWE Superstars match against Rosa Mendes. She subsequently dropped the Women’s Championship to Layla and sat on the sidelines for six months to recover. “The Glamazon” spoke to WWE.com regarding her road to recovery and revealed that she initially feared that she would not be able to return to the ring.

    Click here to view the piece.

    — Local advertising for the Feb. 6 Raw taping at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is centered around The Miz defending the WWE Championship.

  • WWE Defends Decision To Hold Show Despite Weather Warnings

    World Wrestling Entertainment spokesman Adam Hopkins responded to Newsday.com writer Alfonso Castillo’s article questioning the company’s decision to not postpone its Sunday night live event at Madison Square Garden, despite forecasts of a severe blizzard and warnings by the Long Island Rail Road that it would suspend service if the weather became too severe.

    “WWE tries its best not to let down our fans due to the weather,” Hopkins said.

    “After weighing several factors and consulting with Madison Square Garden management, The Garden was in favor of us running the event as they have a good track record of doing so during inclement weather, rarely postponing them.

    “Public transportation was running, and this is a show in which a significant amount of ticket holders live in the city. All top WWE Talent had made it in to New York for the event.”

    Hopkins added that the event drew 13,600 people, “which was more than those that attended the respective Islanders and Devils games combined last night (according to attendance numbers on the boxscores of the team’s official websites).”

  • JR Blog: Lesnar Leaving UFC, Hardy Pleading Guilty, Punk-Nexus

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

    Rumors Of Brock Lesnar Leaving UFC: “Lots of crazy rumors floating around the MMA message boards about Brock Lesnar these days. Some fans feel that Lesnar is looking to leave UFC and return to WWE. That decision would floor me. It doesn’t seem to make sense at this time for Lesnar to leave UFC as there is too much Octagon money on the table for Brock to walk away at this time. I just can’t see the athletic freak going back on the WWE road for any significant length of time especially with young children at home and Brock being most comfortable when he is in the Minnesota woods enjoying family life and hunting. Don’t get me wrong, as a fan I would embrace a Lesnar return to WWE and it ‘might’ happen on a sporadic basis some day but not any time soon.”

    CM Punk Joining Nexus: “The CM Punk/Nexus affiliation is intriguing. More questions than answers which is good. There is strength in numbers and it certainly puts the ‘hero,’ John Cena, in an uphill struggle. Punk is excellent both in the ring and on the mic and I look forward to seeing how the Cena-Punk scenario plays out over time. If they don’t get it on until the Royal Rumble match, I wouldn’t be offended. Sounds like Cena-Punk could theoretically be a solid WM27 attraction. Time will tell.”

    Jeff Hardy Pleading Guilty To Drug Charges: “An emailer asked me what I thought about former WWE star Jeff Hardy’s ‘plea agreement’ to a variety of charges filed against him in North Carolina. I know only what I occasionally read on line about this unfortunate matter but if a plea agreement can bring this issue to an end and Jeff can move on with his life then it might be a good idea. Those types of decisions are better made by lawyers and the individuals involved and not by folks, like me, who are on the outside looking in.”

  • Brock Lesnar Reportedly Wants Out Of His UFC Contract

    According to Dave Meltzer of Yahoo Sports, former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar is looking for an “exit strategy” to get out of his UFC contract, which most believe currently has one fight left on it. Lesnar “badly” wants to work WWE’s WrestleMania 27 pay-per-view in Atlanta next year and has been talking with WWE officials about how a deal can be reached..

    In what sounds like a very telling piece of information, Brock Lesnar has not talked with anyone from UFC or answered Dana White’s phone calls since losing the UFC Heavyweight Title to Cain Velasquez last month. Sources also say that Lesnar has not been in the gym once since his devastating loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121.

    It’s said that Lesnar has lost some interest in MMA and has been been re-considering his future in the sport after his loss to Velasquez and the beating he took in the win against Shane Carwin before that.

    The MMA world has been buzzing about this story since Dave Melzer broke the news on Monday night. Meltzer said on his radio show that the fight with Velasquez has changed Brock’s attitude on fighting and he is at the stage in his life where he doesn’t want to get injured. He’s very well off financially and the business man in him apparently knows that it may be time to move on.

    Lesnar, who is known for being unbelievably competitive, does not seem like the kind of guy to just walk away from MMA after such a crushing loss without trying to get revenge or end his career with a win. On the other hand, he may have realized that the gap between his abilities and those of new champion Cain Velasquez is too big to overcome.

    Lesnar has been hunting and hasn’t even thought about his next fight. Lesnar apparently wants to do WrestleMania “badly” and will earn an estimated 2 million dollars for 30 minutes of work.

    Its widely known that Lesnar was miserable with WWE’s brutal travel schedule and vowed to never be on the road with WWE 200 days a year again. With the mainstream success he’s had in the UFC and the insane drawing power he’s displayed during his time there, he could make a truckload of money working WrestleMania and a few other limited appearances.

    COMMENT BELOW: What do you guys think – should Lesnar try to get out of his contract and return to WWE? Has he proven himself in the MMA world yet and earned everybody’s respect  – or would this be another move that MMA fans would heavily criticize?

  • What You Didn’t See On RAW & Next Week’s Main Event

    – After Monday’s episode of WWE RAW went off the air, Randy Orton and John Cena beat The Miz and Sheamus in tag team action with Michael Cole as the special guest referee. The win came when Cena made Sheamus tap out to the STF and Orton hit an RKO on Miz. Orton and Cena posed together to send everyone home happy.

    – Matches taped for this week’s WWE Superstars before RAW were The Usos vs. Yoshi Tatsu & Darren Young and William Regal vs. David Hart Smith.

    -The dark match before Monday’s RAW saw Primo defeat Abraham Washington, who cut a heel promo before the match.

    – It was announced on RAW that the main event of next week’s show will see WWE Champion The Miz defending against former tag team partner John Morrison in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

  • Elimination Chamber PPV Poster Featuring Randy Orton

    Pay-per-view provider iNDEMAND has released the official promotional poster for WWE’s Elimination Chamber event. The show takes place on February 20th, 2011 from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. It will be the final pay-per-view event before WrestleMania 27 in April.

    Here’s the poster:

  • CM Punk Joins Nexus: Joey Styles & Nexus Comment

    At the end of Monday’s WWE RAW from Albany, the Nexus crew attacked John Cena and beat him down badly. Out came CM Punk, who gave Cena the GTS, took a chair and sat in the middle of the ring. He took a Nexus “N” armband, put it on and saluted the rest of the Nexus crew on the stage – appearing to join the group.

    It should be interesting to see how CM Punk and Wade Barrett co-exist together with John Cena as their common enemy.

    WWE employee Joey Styles commented on Twitter about Punk joining Nexus, writing:

    “Nexus merchandise sales are ringing up on wweshop.com as we speak. CM Punk has just taken over Raw! Straight Edge Rules!”

    @TheNexusWWE, the official Twitter account of the Nexus group, wrote this after RAW:

    “SURPRISE!!! You just got “PUNKED” @JohnCena!!”

    We’ll have more on what led to CM Punk joining Nexus and where the angle is headed here on SEScoops.com later this week.

  • Rhodes Cuts Promo Bashing Mexicans, Rougeau Retirement Tour

    — Cody Rhodes cut a promo at last night’s SmackDown live event at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois saying he hates Mexicans. He subsequently lost to Chavo Guerrero.

    Video of the promo has surfaced online and can be accessed here.

    — Jacques Rougeau (a/k/a The Mountie), who held both the Intercontinental Championship and Tag Team Championship in WWE, has decided to conclude his legendary 33-year wrestling career and concentrate his efforts on his wrestling school in the Montreal borough of Laval. At the age of 50, he now feels it is time to pass the torch. Before he hangs up his boots for good, however, he will be holding a four-show retirement tour, which kicks off tomorrow night at the Verdun Auditorium.

    More information on the tour can be found here.

    Rougeau doesn’t feel it’s luck that he managed to avoid major injuries throughout his career. “I wasn’t better than anyone else, just more careful,” he theorized.

  • WWE Fans Stranded Near MSG Following Sunday’s Show

    Some WWE fans who took the Long Island Rail Road to attend last night’s Raw live event at Madison Square Garden in New York City were stranded near the venue as of Monday afternoon, according to Newsday.com.

    The Long Island Rail Road was shut down Sunday night after service was interrupted by heavy snow storms affecting the city and surrounding areas. Sixteen hours later, service had not resumed.

    LIRR spokesman Joe Calderone confirmed to Newsday that some “diehard wrestling fans” were still waiting at Penn Station for a ride home.

  • Jerry Lawler Listed In The “80 Greatest Moments in TV History”

    WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler made The Hollywood Reporter’s “80 Greatest Moments in TV History,” chart ranking at No. 30.

    “30. Andy Kaufman vs. Jerry Lawler on Late Night with David Letterman: Performance art at its finest. You could pick just about any Kaufman ‘hoax’ and appreciate its bracing nerve.”

    On the July 28, 1982 edition of Late Night with David Letterman, Lawler slapped Kaufman, prompting the comedian to throw coffee on the Memphis wrestling legend. The incident is considered one of the most memorable moments in the show’s history.

    To read The Hollywood Reporter’s “80 Greatest Moments in TV History” list, click here.

  • Two Matches Announced For Tonight’s Episode Of WWE RAW

    WWE employee Joey Styles posted on Twitter on Monday afternoon and announced two matches for tonight’s episode of RAW.

    – In a rematch from their RAW main event bout a few weeks ago, WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawlersquare of against WWE champion The Miz. This will be a non-title match. Lawler pinned Miz last week in the main event six-man tag match.

    – Also in action, Randy Orton will face Sheamus. Both men were recently in the WWE title hunt and will have to go through one another to get back on top.