We are sad to report that former WWE superstar Lance Cade (real name Lance McNaught) was found dead today. He was 29 years old and leaves behind two young daughters.
Cade was trained by former WWE superstar Shawn Michaels in late 1990’s at Michaels’ wrestling academy in San Antonio, Texas. He held WWE tag team gold with his partner Trevor Murdoch and had a brief run as Chris Jericho’s protege during Jericho’s feud with Shawn Michaels a few years ago. During that program, he was released from WWE after an incident on an airplane where Cade took too many painkillers and went into a seizure. He was brought back to WWE developmental last year but was never used on television and was released again earlier this year.
Cade spoke openly in several interviews about his struggle with sleeping pills. He had been working for independent promotions and in Japan over the past year.
We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Lance McNaught.
Thanks to B. Morris for the following WWE SmackDown tapings from last night’s show in California.
* Kane defeated Kofi Kingston in the opener.
* Drew McIntyre defeated Matt Hardy.
* Cody Rhodes defeated Christian.
* MVP defeated Jack Swagger.
* A segment was shot where Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler fought. Tedd Long announced they will face each other for the Intercontinental Title at SummerSlam.
* Big Show defeated three local stars in a handicap match. CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury exchanged words with Show after the match.
* Rey Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match in the main event. Rey won the match. Kane had brought the casket down to ringside and after the match, he and Rey fought some.
Tampa Bay Online reports that WWE has signed Andrew Leavine to a developmental deal and he will report to FCW next month.
Leavine is 6-foot-5 292 pounder that spent the past four years playing football on the offensive line at Florida International University. After graduating with a degree in Parks and Recreation, Leavine was briefly signed to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins with a few other undrafted rookies.
Leavine wrestled in high school and finished his senior year with a record of 33-4 with23 pins. While at FIU, he trained some in jiu-jitsu and other forms of MMA. He had the following to say about those skills and stepping into the world of pro wrestling:
“It helps tremendously. But at the same time, I’m walking into a whole different animal here. It’s going to be a process of watching film, watching guys in front of me, like Husky Harris. It helps to watch those guys and see what I have to do to get to the next level.â€
– WWE has cancelled the December 11 house show event that was scheduled for St. Joseph, Mo. They have cited a “scheduling conflict” as the reason for the cancellation. [Thanks to Devin Cutting]
– Mick Foley noted on his Twitter page that former WWE performer Luna Vachon lost everything relating to her wrestling career due to a recent house fire. He asks people send action figures, magazines, photos, videos, DVDs, etc. to Vachon to the following address: Luna Vachon, PO Box 5813, Spring Hill, Florida 34611.
– Jim Ross noted on Twitter this week that he and others would be filming new segments of WWE’s Legends Roundtable soon. Ross said that two hot topics are being considered for discussion.
– Former WWE Diva Chyna recently joined Twitter. Her account is located at twitter.com/9thwonderchyna.
– MSN.com has a “Where Are They Now?†feature on pop culture icons from the 1980s with professional wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan, “Rowdy†Roddy Piper and Ultimate Warrior among those profiled. A photo of Randy Savage is featured on the front page of the website, not to mention that he is first 1980s-era wrestler highlighted in the feature.
– The following bouts are being advertised to take place at the duel brand WWE live event taking place on Saturday, Oct. 23 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba:
* Edge vs. Sheamus (WWE Championship Match)
* Kane vs. Big Show (World Heavyweight Championship Match)
* Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio vs. The Nexus
– The most recent episode of Florida Championship Wrestling features Mason Ryan beating Alex Riley to become the new Florida Heavyweight Champion. The title switch took place on July 22 during a Triple Threat Match also involving Johnny Curtis. The Welsh born wrestler used a modified uranage on Riley to become the 10th FCW Champion.
– NXT hostess Ashley Valence recently appeared in a movie called “A Fine Step†with actor Luke Perry of 90210 fame.
– A match pitting John Cena and Randy Orton against members of Nexus is being locally advertised to take place at the Monday Night Raw taping taking place on Sept. 6 at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C.
– This week’s episode of WWE NXT on SyFy scored an 0.96 cable rating with 1,277,000 viewers.
– Beth Phoenix will be appearing at the WWE developmental show on Wednesday, August 18th in Orlando, Florida to meet the fans. The main event that night will be an O-Town Street Fight.
WWE’s 23rd annual Summerslam will emanate this Sunday, August 15th, from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, it’s home the last two years and likely for many years to come. Summerslam has had its share of great matches and memorable moments over the last several years, but I can’t help but think the event has lost much of the luster it once had. On top of that, WWE pay-per-view buyrates have hit near rockbottom lows these past few months. On a positive note, we’ve also had a focused, lengthy storyline that revolves around a bunch of fresh faces in the main event picture, which has been a welcome change. But now, these rookies need to actually, you know… work a real match, and a PPV main event at that.
Will Summerslam mark the end of the Nexus storyline, or do they have an ace up their sleeve and a way to drag this out for another couple of months while keeping them strong with a victory? Let’s run down the card with some predictions:
Dolph Ziggler (c) v. Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Title
Congrats to Dolph, who while he can’t sing for shit, finally won the big one when he defeated Kofi Kingston for the IC title. Of course, when you keep feeding title shots to the same person over and over, he’s bound to win one at some point. Hence why titles mean nothing. Regardless, it would be ridiculous to take the title off Ziggler so soon after finally capturing it, so he has my vote to retain.
Big Show vs. CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury, 3-on-1 Handicap Match
CM Punk has been fantastic these past few months, in spite of his elbow injury, and his facials during the unmasking a few weeks back on Smackdown was a true gem. That said, I know he’s been hurt, but it makes me sad to see where Punk is on the card this year relative to where he was just one year ago, winning the World title from Jeff Hardy in a fantastic TLC Match. It would be far worse to see he and his Straight Edge Society squashed 3-on-1 by Big Show in this match. They may not be made to look strong, but I can’t see them losing in the end, so I predict victory for the SES. For the love of god, re-hire Colt “Don’t Call Me Scotty Goldman” Cabana and have him interfere as the newest member of Punk’s crew because, shaved head or not, he deserves the chance and is to Punk what Abbott was to Costello. What an act those two would make.
Alicia Fox (c) v. Melina for the Divas Championship
Melina made her triumphant return to Raw two weeks ago and was immediately thrust into a non-title match with the champion… on free TV one week before the PPV. Alrighty then. Now the title is on the line and Melina has her hands full in trying to avoid Alicia’s AXE KICK OF DEATH, which has overtaken Randy Orton’s punt as the most dangerous maneuver in WWE (at least in terms of the way it is executed). I honestly believe she is going to accidentally decapitate someone one of these days with that kick and heads are going to roll… literally, roll right out of the ring and onto the floor. Anyway, Melina just came back and they really don’t have another big name diva for her to feud with just yet unless they turn Eve heel, so my bet is that Alicia retains here.
Kane (c) v. Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship
Kane fans rejoice, he has held on to the World title for longer than 24 hours… eat that, Stone Cold! With that out of the way, I don’t think anyone expects Rey Mysterio to cleanly defeat Kane for his THIRD World title reign. Note my use of the word “clean” – it’s painfully obvious that VEGETABLE UNDERTAKER will (sprout?) from the grave once more and make his presence felt either during or after this match. Does he have to be there in the flesh? Of course not. We’ve seen Kane get flummoxed before just by the sound of his brother’s dong (boy, poor choice of words there) or the sight of a spooky TitanTron video, so perhaps a well-placed distraction allows Mysterio to cradle Kane for the victory. Or maybe Undertaker does, in fact, show up and beats the piss out of his younger brother. I predict Undertaker WILL make his presence felt in some way, shape or form, which is hardly a shocking prediction. However, I say Kane retains the title. I didn’t say he wins the match, per se, but no way he drops the strap here. It’s just too soon and dammit, he deserves more time before Undertaker obliterates him!
Sheamus (c) v. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship
The stipulation here is that if anyone interferes in the match on the champion’s behalf, they will be suspended. Conversely, if Orton should lose, he gets no rematch and moves back down to the bottom of the food chain. And really, why not? If you are the challenger to the title and you fall short, what entitles you to a rematch, anyway? I must say, their first singles encounter earlier this year at the Royal Rumble did not blow me away, but it wasn’t a bad match. Sheamus has improved a great deal since that time and I think this could be the sleeper match of the show. He and Orton shined big time during their segment on Raw this past Monday, which essentially was just each man saying he’s going to beat the other because the title means that much to them. Quite a simple formula, no? Sheamus retains, perhaps on some sort of flukey DQ finish that allows Orton to get a rematch anyway at the Night of Champions PPV.
7-on-6 Elimination Match
Team WWE (John Cena, Bret Hart, Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth and ?) vs. Nexus (Wade Barrett, David Otunga, Michael Tarver, Skip Sheffield, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater and Darren Young)
Survivor Series comes early with this rare elimination tag bout that may have big-time storyline repercussions, unless they kill it dead. This will be a huge test for Nexus, who find themselves in the biggest match of their lives. Barrett has clearly been the standout performer on the mic, and from what we’ve seen of him inside the ring, he’s acceptable. But the rest of the group is a big question mark. Fortunately, any weaknesses they may have can more easily be hidden in a format like this.
Meanwhile, after weeks of falling apart at the seams, Team WWE appeared united at the end of Raw this past Monday. Bret “Batman” Hart takes the place of an injured Ricky Steamboat as the resident legend on this team, and while he won’t be able to do much, he still brings some added starpower to this match. The question is, unless his team wins and he is one of the lone survivors (which would be a mistake), how do you eliminate him? A count-out or DQ of some sort would seem to make sense. Unless of course, Bret were to cost his team the match and go heel. General consensus seems to be that someone is turning heel this Sunday, which doesn’t mean it will happen, but it would certainly add intrigue to things and give Nexus the win they need to keep this storyline going for a few more months. For what it’s worth, I don’t believe it will be Bret Hart. If anyone’s going heel, it’s John Morrison. As if the scruffy beard on Monday wasn’t a sign, it’s painfully obvious that when it comes to promos at least, Morrison is much better as a heel. Would Cena screw over his own team? That would hardly make sense, and while I’d love to see him go heel, it doesn’t seem like the right time for it.
Which brings us to the seventh man. Last Monday, Nexus became babyfaces (to me anyway) by taking The Great Khali out of this match by attacking his knee. That leaves Team WWE at a disadvantage and the question is who, if anyone, will fill Khali’s shoes? Well, literally, nobody can fill his shoes, but I do expect Miz to play into this. Whether he actually accepts the spot or not, he should be there and deserves to be there. It makes for an interesting little twist, regardless of who it turns out to be, and it should be fun to see how they handle this. Remember, Evan Bourne doesn’t have a match on Sunday… just saying.
This entire Nexus angle appears to be building to something bigger, and before Triple H went down with yet another injury, there was serious talk of either he or John Cena going heel to align with the group. That could still happen, but it’s unlikely to happen on Sunday. Whatever happens, Nexus HAS to win this match. This show should do a far better buyrate than their most recent PPV offerings and there is more money to be made if they play their cards right. Remember, Team WWF got screwed over by Steve Austin and lost to Team WCW/ECW at the Invasion PPV back in 2001 (a show that did the company’s biggest buyrate ever for a non-Mania show). Granted, they greatly bungled the invasion storyline after that, but they were able to keep things going through Survivor Series that year. Being that they’re already giving away the elimination match, why not build to a WAR GAMES match in November? Make it happen!
So, what do YOU think will happen this Sunday at Summerslam? Will you be ordering the event and why? Leave your comments below and let your voice be heard!
Influential Capitol Hill news operation Politico has a story on Linda McMahon entitled WWE just a ‘soap opera’. It is titled as such due to the Republican Senate candidate referring to World Wrestling Entertainment as a soap opera upon being asked on Nightline if she was “creeped out” by an instance in which her daughter Stephanie walked into the ring as the crowd chanted “slut.”
“You have to think about… the WWE as soap operas,” McMahon responded.
“It was acting and WWE is the longest-running weekly episodic program in television. Sure, there are story lines that are better than others,” she said, adding that voters in Connecticut “are not concerned about soap opera story lines.”
World Wrestling Entertainment spokesperson Robert Zimmerman contacted the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday to dispute elements of its story on Nightline profiling former WWE CEO Linda McMahon.
Zimmerman disputed a note on WWE lacking adequate steroid testing and Nightline referring to the lack of health care and pensions for former performers. Zimmerman said WWE does have an abuse and drug testing policy, which was reinstated in 2006.
He also noted that its Talent Wellness Program provides some medical services for performers under contract, but they are expected to pay for any non wrestling related health care services. Retired performers are not covered.
Among the topics discussed in Chris Jericho’s upcoming autobiography, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Steps, is that of Chris Benoit. He offers insight into the man he previously considered a friend.
Regarding Benoit’s peculiar sense of humor, the rough draft states: “Not a giggle, not a chuckle, not a tee-hee…never went ‘Ha.’ But when somebody threw up or fell down the stairs, he would laugh out loud for hours on end.”
On being his friend, Jericho said while they were close, it wasn’t easy.
The rough draft states: “I considered Chris to be one of my closest companions, but it wasn’t always easy to be his friend. You had to take the good with the bad when it came to his friendship.”
Upon learning of the Benoit family death, Jericho notes: “My gut feeling was Chris had killed them.”
The book also features discussion of his arrival to WWE, the highs and lows, his relationship with Vince McMahon, the creation of Fozzy, and more. The book is set for release on February 16, 2011.
— Sky TV noted in an e-mail promoting Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view that Lay-Cool would be wrestling Tiffany and Kelly Kelly in a tag match at the event. It was also said that a Six-Pack Challenge for the Intercontinental Title involving Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Christian, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and Matt Hardy was on tap for the show. However, it appears there has been a change of plans in regards to the Six-Pack Challenge as it was announced at last night’s SmackDown television taping in San Jose that Ziggler would solely be defending his belt against Kingston. Meanwhile, the Lay-Cool vs. Tiffany and Kelly Kelly was reportedly not announced at the taping.
— Matches scheduled to take place on tomorrow night’s episode of WWE Superstars are as follows:
* Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu vs. Jimmy & Jey Uso
* Chavo Guerrero vs. Chris Masters
* Michelle McCool vs. Kelly Kelly
— The July 30 edition of Friday Night SmackDown scored a 1.6 rating with 2.76 million viewers. The episode featured Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger in a No Disqualification Match.
— Regarding Ricky Steamboat’s health, he is expected to make a full physical recovery but will never wrestle again. The WWE Hall of Famer has been able to work out on an elliptical machine, but is prohibited from lifting anything heavier than five pounds.
— Tickets to Sunday’s SummerSlam at the Staples Center in Los Angeles are sold out.
— Saturday’s Raw live event in San Diego, CA drew 5,500 paying $215,000. Sunday’s show in San Bernardino, CA drew 2,000 people for $65,000.
— Beginning with a SmackDown live event on Dec. 4, WWE will hold all Las Vegas shows at the Orleans Arena Thomas, as opposed to the Thomas & Mack Center. The Orleans Arena is approximately half the size of the Thomas & Mack Center as the multi-purpose arena holds 9,500.
Earlier today, reports surfaced that Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were leaving TNA Wrestling.
A Twitter account that claimed to be Hulk Hogan (and was verified & linked to on Eric Bischoff’s Twitter page) announced that he and Eric Bischoff were parting ways with TNA Wrestling. The person claiming to be Hulk Hogan eventually admitted that he was a fake – but had ‘worked’ Eric Bischoff, Dixie Carter, Bubba The Love Sponge.
The fake Hogan wrote:
“I know you’ve heard the rumors brothers and they are true. Eric and I are leaving TNA on a mutual basis. I just got out of meetings now.” TNA has a new leadership coming in. Make sure you Hulkamaniacs still support them. TNA needs the power of Hulkamania to live on brothers.”
“Thank you Dixie and Bob Carter for the wonderful and positive experiences in TNA. Nothing but the best to you guys. Brothers, this isn’t the last of me though. You’ll be able to see me at “Hulk Hogan & Friends” events on tour soon.”
Eric Bischoff has posted on his Twitter page that the Hulk Hogan Twitter page saying that he and Bischoff were leaving TNA is a fake.He wrote:Â “The Hogan twitter site that I posted is a fake one. Hulk IS getting a Twitter page up, but the most recent post is a fake. I will post the REAL page info as soon as we get it. Sorry for the confusion. The Hulk Hogan twitter posts are fake. Hulk IS in the process of setting up a page, but has not as yet. The rumors of us leaving TNA are bogus. ”
The funny thing is – Bischoff himself is the one who announced “Hulk Hogan joins Twitter” on his own Twitter page, with a link to the fake Hogan’s page.
Dixie Carter wrote: “Recent twitter of Hulk Hogan leaving TNA is bogus. To what extreme people will go.”
The guy who is running the fake Hulk Hogan Twitter is now claiming to be a disgruntled TNA employee upset with the Hogan-Bischoff regime, writing:
“I am not Hulk Hogan, but I am a TNA wrestler who got Eric, BTLS, Jarrett, and Dixie to think I was Hogan.. I rallied everyone in to get my true message out in anonymous fashion, b/c any other way on any media platform there would be consequences. ”
“@EBischoff GOT WORKED BROTHERS! He publishes information before even verifying its accuracy. How can someone like this even try to run TNA?!” and “That piece of s*** @BTLSRadio GOT WORKED TOO!”
On the basis of Eric Bischoff’s original announcement that Hulk Hogan’s Twitter account was “realhulkhogan” – SEScoops ran with the story that Hogan & Bischoff were leaving TNA. We apologize for the confusion – this has been a wild story to watch develop to say the least!
Linda McMahon is the Republican nominee for the vacant United States Senate seat in Connecticut. Following her big win on Tuesday night to secure that nomination, Linda McMahon spoke to CNN.com about whether her Democratic opponent will use her wrestling past against her.
“As my opponents talked more and more about the WWE and issues that may have been relative to programming content …instead of focusing on the issues, I talked about tissues and continued to gain momentum,” McMahon told CNN Wednesday morning.
“If my opponents want to talk about soap opera content instead of focusing on issues, I will win again in November,” she added.
Democrats have already drawn attention to WWE’s controversial programming and the countless wrestler deaths in recent years. Linda says it’s more important to focus on what WWE is doing today to protect its workers.
“The men and women that perform at WWE really are the primary assets of the WWE. And we want to protect them at all costs,” she said. “Doctors that travel with them…trainers that travel with them. We have a very comprehensive drug testing program. Let’s look at where WWE is today.”
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog once again at JRsBarBQ.com.
Here are some highlights of what JR said about:
Missing SummerSlam: “Because of the short work day re: West Coast time this Sunday and with Summer Slam starting in LA at 5 Pacific, I won’t be traveling to the event. I will watch it on PPV from the old, La-Z-Boy and, like any die hard fan, expect plenty of bang for my PPV dollar in the form of surprises, shockers, and stout bouts. “
Brock Lesnar’s Next Fight: “Brock’s next fight vs. Cain Velásquez is going to be massive and likely will garner over 1M PPV buys. Velásquez, the Hispanic superstar, has a spotless record and according to Herschel Walker is one of the best conditioned athletes on the planet. At 240, Cain is built to go 25 minutes if necessary. I’m still a solid, Lesnar guy but even those close to Brock know that this fight will be a huge challenge for the UFC Heavyweight Champion. The good news for Lesnar fans, based on my past relationship with the former Golden Gopher, is that Brock loves a challenge. He actually thrives on them. “
SummerSlam Main Event: “It will be interesting to see what bout closes the show Sunday. my money is on the Team WWE vs. Nexus tag. That bout has gotten by far the most significant, TV time.â€
WWE’s New “All Stars†Video Game: “We recorded over 400 lines of copy in a little over two hours today for the WWE All Stars video game. I really feel that THQ and WWE will field a hit with this concept. It’s a fantasy bookers dream and will be out prior to WM27 in Atlanta sometime in early 2011.â€
– WWE brought its NXT contestant total to five this week, officially eliminating Lucky Cannon from the show.
While Cannon’s elimination was reasonably expected, the NXT Poll was not entirely in line with predictions–Alex Riley, considered a frontrunner to at least make it to the final elimination, dropped to number five in the poll, falling behind even Husky Harris.
The poll results were as follows:
1) Kaval
2) Michael McGillicutty
3) Percy Watson
4) Husky Harris
5) Alex Riley
6) Lucky Cannon
Two wrestlers will be eliminated next week.
– Randy Orton appeared on TBS’ Lopez Tonight on Tuesday and gave a very candid interview. Orton showed photos of him as a baby being held by Andre The Giant. Orton also talked about how his daughter is a fan of Big Show, Sheamus and John Cena before him and how she calls Cena “The Naked Baby.â€
R-Truth also appeared on Lopez Tonight last night and took part in WWE Karaoke Week. Truth performed the song Kryptonite by the band Three Doors Down. David Otunga will be appearing tomorrow night and The Miz will be on Thursday night.
Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon won the Republican US Senate Primary in Connecticut on Tuesday night, taking almost 50% of the vote. She will now have to face Democrat Richard Blumenthal in November with the winner getting a US Senate seat for that state.
Linda released the following statement after her victory last night:
“Tonight, I am honored to have earned the support of Republicans around Connecticut. Since I entered this race eleven months ago, we have crisscrossed this great state and attended over 660 meetings and events, where I have had the opportunity to hear from voters and better understand their issues and concerns. And unlike someone else in this race, I didn’t need to fly to Vancouver to do it. I understand that people are hurting because I see it all around this state. And I know what that feels like because I’ve been there before.
“This election is about jobs. The American Dream is threatened, but Washington continues its reckless spending, massive debt, and tax increases. Washington is suffocating small businesses and killing jobs. This is not only threatening our well-being, but also the well-being of our children and grandchildren. It’s time for something different.
“I’m honored to have earned my Party’s nomination, and I am determined to lead our Party to victory in November.â€
Congratulations to Linda and good luck to her in November!
SUMMERSLAM LIVE COVERAGE THIS SUNDAY BE HERE Sunday – Nonstop Detailed Updates During The Whole show!
At Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings, it was announced that new Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler will defend against Kofi Kingston.
With that match set, the following is the updated line-up for WWE’s SummerSlam 2010, taking place this Sunday, August 15.
Elimination Tag Team Match
Team WWE (John Cena, Bret Hart, R-Truth, John Morrison & ???) vs. The Nexus (Wade Barrett, Skip Sheffield, Michael Tarver, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Darren Young and David Otunga)
WWE Championship Match
Sheamus (c) vs. Randy Orton
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Kane (c) vs. Rey Mysterio
WWE Divas Championship Match
Alicia Fox (c) vs. Melina
WWE Intercontinental Title Match:
Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
3-on-1 Handicap Match
Big Show vs. The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury)
– This week’s episode of WWE RAW, the “go home” show before Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view, did a 3.3 cable rating and averaged 4.6 million viewers. The show did hours of 3.23 and 3.45.
– Randy Orton has been one of the top three trending topics on Twitter for the last four weeks. Orton is the only wrestling-related term that’s been trending.
– Dolph Ziggler kicked off “WWE Superstar Karaoke Week” last night on George Lopez’s TBS show as a promotion for SummerSlam. Zigler sand Right Said Fred’s song “I’m Too Sexy.” Randy Orton and R-Truth appear on the show tonight.
WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was interviewed this week by the The UK Sun.
Here are some highlights of what Austin said about:
WWE’s PG Product: “You will hear wrestling fans all over the world groan when they hear me say this but I think WWE is doing the right thing. Cena is leading the way now. It is a PG flavored WWE theme and I think it’s great for the longevity and the growth of their product in today’s world.”
Why MMA Is Taking Older Viewers From the WWE: “UFC interviews are based on a shoot and they are non-scripted. Those guys out there are trying to sell tickets for a fight and they talk accordingly. It’s a serious product that’s in the ring. Wrestling is supposed to be that serious product in the ring as well. That’s not to say that you can’t laugh, smile, and have some humor in there, but you don’t want to do slapstick Three Stooges comedy while you’re trying to draw main event money at a big PPV.”
Whether They Pushed Things Too Far in the Attitude Era: “I remember one time Vince came up to me, I was flipping the middle fingers and all that. Vince said ‘Steve, we were wondering if you could come up with a different hand signal than the middle fingers. Something that everyone watching could do.’ I guess it’s not so politically correct for a six-year-old kid to throw up the middle finger. I said, ‘No. I’m going to be who and what I am.’ And Vince kind of said, ‘Okay’ – or at least the ratings and the merch sales said ‘okay.’ So that’s the direction we went with the WWE, and everybody else followed suit.”
WWE has announced that the stars of the new movie “Going the Distance: – Justin Long, Charlie Day & Jason Sudeikis – will be hosting next week’s episode of Monday Night RAW.
In Going the Distance, which hits theaters Aug. 27, Long plays Garrett, a newly-single New Yorker who hits it off with Erin (Drew Barrymore), a young woman from San Francisco. Neither thinks this apparent summer fling will last, but when Erin heads home to California and Garrett is forced to stay in Manhattan for his job, they soon learn that their feelings for one another are deeper than they imagined. Although his best friends Box (Sudeikis) and Dan (Day) give him grief for investing in a long-distance romance, Garrett is determined to make it work – even if it requires a full-time relationship with his cell phone. Can Long, Day & Sudeikis maintain some semblance of order on Raw 24 hours after SummerSlam? Tune in to find out.
WWE has also removed celebrities Penn and Teller from the upcoming RAW host listing. The duo was scheduled to host the September 20th episode of RAW but apparently that’s changes.
The only hosts listed after the cast of Going The Distance is Bobb’e J. Thompson on October 18th and Toby Keith on October 25th.
Here’s a recap of what you didn’t see at Monday’s WWE RAW:
Dark Match:
Vladimir Kozlov beat Primo
Superstars Matches:
Yoshi Tatsu and Goldust wrestled The Uso Twins
After RAW Went Off The Air:
Nexus ran back to the ring to brawl with Team RAW. The RAW stars cleared the ring except for Justin Gabriel. They all took turns beating Gabriel up before Edge speared him, John Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment and Bret Hart applied the Sharpshooter. The RAW stars then posed for the fans and went around ringside.
– As we reported here over the weekend, reigning Ring of Honor World Champion Tyler Black has reportedly agreed to a developmental deal with WWE. There is talk that Black will go to Florida Championship Wrestling and then be one of the featured talents on NXT Season 3.
– Speaking of NXT Season 3, WWE is already looking for contestants. One plan is for the show to feature four male wrestlers and four women wrestlers from developmental. There’s still no word yet on where NXT Season 3 will air once SmackDown comes to SyFy in the fall. (Source: f4wonline)
– WWE Monday Night Raw on November 1st, 2010 will be held at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, New York. Tickets go on sale August 21st, 2010. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
— As announced during Raw, actor Justin Long will serve as guest host on next week’s show. The official WWE website notes that Long’s Going the Distance co-stars, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, will host Raw alongside him.
— A match for Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars was taped before tonight’s Raw broadcast. The match featured Goldust and Yoshi Tatsu vs. Jimmy and Jey Uso. An apparent dark match took place as well, between Vladimir Kozlov and Primo.
— WWE Monday Night Raw on November 1st, 2010 will be held at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, New York. Tickets go on sale August 21st, 2010. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
– According to Mediaweek, Saturday’s WrestleMania 26 special on NBC posted a terrible 0.65 broadcast rating and 1.78 million viewers. The WrestleMania special had NBC draw the lowest ratings on Saturday night among the 4 big television networks (ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC). Ouch!
– John Cena appeared at Sunday’s Teen Choice Awards show and posted a message on Twitter about his encounter with reality TV stars The Kardashians.
“CeNation. Just leaving teen choice headed for sac town. Cannot believe how downright beautiful the kardashians are. Wow.â€
Chris Jericho re-tweeted Cena’s message, adding, “maybe they can join ur [Summerslam] team.â€
– The Miz appeared on Sacramento, California’s KCRA morning show to promote tonight’s RAW. Miz, who brought his belt and his briefcase to the interview, was in character during the appearance. He did his “I’m Awesome” line and acting like a cocky heel. The host asked Miz to rap or sing his theme song, but the Miz refused. Miz said that he’s on the road to winning the WWE Championship. Overall it was a short but entertaining appearance.
