WWE NXT debuts on February 23rd and the company is promoting the new show as innovative and even revolutionary. There has been talk that WWE NXT will feature young superstars from WWE’s developmental system such as Bryan Danielson and Kaval (formerlyLow Ki) in a show that’s a hybrid of pro wrestling and reality TV.
Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) sent out a press release today discussing its involvement in NXT show, writing:
“With speculation rife regarding the imminent debut of WWE’s new television show ‘WWE-NXT,’ all FCW Superstars are sure to be at their best as they attempt to impress top brass
in WWE and secure spots on the new show’s roster. And with Edge watching over the evening’s proceedings, the stakes have never been higher.”
WWE superstar Edge will be appearing at Friday night’s FCW show in Melbourne, Florida and was quoted in the press release talking about Florida Championship Wrestling and WWE NXT:
“In a couple of years, the majority of the Superstars you see on the show this Friday will have been drafted up to Raw or Smackdown, so I suppose it is also a great opportunity for me to get the scoop on who I’m going to be facing down the line.”
Tonight’s edition of WWE RAW takes place from The Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana. With the local New Orleans Saints winning their first Super Bowl last night – expect a hot crowd.
The show will be hosted by NASCAR driver Carl Edwards.
The main event for tonight’s Raw will be a Triple Threat tag match for the Unified Tag titles. Champions Triple H and Shawn Michaels will defend against the teams of Big Show & The Miz and the Straight Edge Society’s CM Punk & Luke Gallows. UPDATE: This match will now be an elimination-style match, according to WWE.com.
The advertised dark match main event will have Sheamus defending the WWE Championship against John Cena, which live Raw crowd have seen the past few weeks after the show goes off the air.
There’s also talk that WWE will announce another inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2010.
For those wondering, the future of the ECW Championship has not yet been decided on. Though ECW will cease to exist next week, the belt may linger on in some fashion.
Internally, some are lobbying to keep the belt, but ultimately, Vince McMahon will decide its fate and he hasn’t made a decision yet.
Those pushing to keep it feel it can still be used as an attraction for undercards of secondary pay-per-view events.
(credit to PWInsider.com for the information used in this report)
— WWE sent out a press release on Monday announcing that Triple H will be appearing at New York Toy Fair this Friday morning at the Javitz Center in New York City. Triple H will be there to promote WWE’s new line of Mattel toys and is advertised to appear at 9:30am.
— WWE star the Big Show will be starring in the upcoming WWE Studios comedy “Knucklehead,” which hits theaters in October. Big Show posted a picture on Twitter of himself dressed in a pink tutu with a wig on. The caption reads, “Thanks for all the Birthday wishes, guys! Here is a funny pic from Knucklehead. Pink is not my color.” To see the picture, click here.
— Upcoming WWE Raw guest hosts Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong appeared on Arizona’s KQRS-FM radio station this morning. According to a reader who heard their appearance, the duo was funny and barely had any idea what WWE RAW was. (Source: Prowrestling.net)
— SmackDown Diva Beth Phoenix had a run-in with police last night while driving through Dallas, Texas. She noted the following on her Twitter account: “Just got pulled over while driving to Dallas by a Walker Texas Ranger wannabe. he wrote me a ticket. I gave him the Glamastare..he cried.”
— Brie and Nikki Bella give their Super Bowl pick via video footage at the following link.
They also gave their Super Bowl pick on Twitter, writing: “Wow SuperBowl Sunday! Feelin’ like a good day! We’re excited for both teams, but the Bella Pick is The Colts, Have a fun and safe SuperBowl!”
Meanwhile, former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler picked the Colts to win 34-28. She told ESPN.com: “I think this game has the chance to be one of the most exciting Super Bowls yet. Two fantastic offenses vs. two underrated defenses. I am secretly rooting for New Orleans because I know Reggie Bush, but in the end, though, I think Peyton Manning’s experience will be the difference. I just don’t think that New Orleans will be able to stop him consistently.”
— Former WWE performer Armando Estrada’s Baby’s Steak and Lemonade restaurant based in Glendale, Arizona has a sandwich called the CM Punk. Its description reads: “The Straight Edge Sandwich Wrestles Grilled Chicken Breast, Marinara Sauce, Provolone Served On Fresh Baked Bread.” The restaurant also has a sandwich called Big Vito. You can view the menu at the following link.
– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be appearing on Friday’s edition of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” It will be Johnson’s first time on the program. Musical star Pink, whose Grammy performance grabbed headlines last weekend, will appear as the music guest. For more information, visit Oprah.com.
– After Beth Phoenix made comments about Chyna this past Sunday night, she wrote the following on her Twitter yesterday:
“I’m told I hurt Chyna’s feelings with my comments. Oops!”
– WWE Studios will be holding open casting calls this weekend for the lead role in their upcoming “Big Red” movie. The part calls for a male between the ages 13-16. The casting calls take place in Los Angeles on Saturday and New York on Sunday. If you fit the bill and are interested, visit WWE.com.
– The official theme song for WWE’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view is Rise Up by Cypress Hill.
– John Cena will be appearing on Nickelodeon’s True Jackson VP soon.
– Triple H will be at the International Toy Fair in New York City next week to promote WWE’s new Mattel Toy line.
Shortly after WWE announced ECW is being shutting down to make way for the “NXT” generation of programming, a light was shined on an existing NXT – NXT Wrestling, an independent promotion based out of Scotland. NXT Wrestling sent out the following today:
NXT Wrestling. Established 2006.
A Renfrewshire-based company in Scotland has come under threat from US media giants after a global enterprise decided to use their name and tagline.
Global media giants World Wrestling Entertainment have recently announced their plans to launch WWE:NXT, the NXT Generation of wrestling. This has since been a cause for concern for Scottish promotion NXT Wrestling, a local company who risk getting squashed in favour of the multi-million dollar WWE headed by Vince McMahon.
NXT Wrestling was announced in 2006 and launched in 2007 as a way of giving young men with dreams their chance to break free from their lives and live for a few moments in the spotlight. NXT and it’s associated promotion the Scottish Wrestling Alliance have strived to bring quality family entertainment to towns and halls across the West of Scotland, culminating in the struggle to bring an ailing genre into the spotlight with events in Kelvin Hall, and has helped raise funds for charities including Torkhill Childrens Foundation.
When WWE announced their new brand as NXT, using the same tagline ‘NXT Generation’ and emphasis on developmental talent, staff and employee’s began to worry when they woke up to the new on Wednesday morning.
“We have had no direct contact from WWE regarding this matter but we welcome any conversation or resolution they would like to put forward.” Commented Peter Murphy, owner of the Scottish Wrestling Alliance.
“Everyone at the Scottish Wrestling Alliance is honoured that WWE have decided to name their latest product after SWA’s feeder programme, NXT. We would like to assure our fans that the original NXT is still leading the way for trainees in Scotland and the shows on 6th February, Spittal Community Centre, Rutherglen, 19th February, Bargarran Community Centre, Erskine, March 6th, Viewpark Community Centre, Uddingston and March 19th, Links Community Centre, Cumbernauld are all still due to go ahead as advertised.”
After long and careful planning, SWA:NXT made it’s debut in January 2007 as a promotion designed to showcase up and coming talent within Scotland in conjunction with SWA’s Area 52 wrestling school. In 2009 NXT Wrestling split from the Scottish Wrestling Alliance to stand on it’s own two feet, taking it’s own creative direction in September last year.
The goal within the company is to give younger talent an opportunity to showcase their abilities and get noticed. Several of our NXT talents over the years have gone on to work across the UK, gain international interest and win NWA Heavyweight championships. NXT promoted shows across the West of Scotland with our next event scheduled this weekend, February 6th in Rutherglen which features some fresh young talent who have risen through the ranks of their training facility and earned their place on the event.
Contact:
Peter Murphy
Scottish Wrestling Alliance & NXT Wrestling
07877461913
fanaccess@scottishwrestling.co.uk
http://nxtwrestling.com
http://scottishwrestling.co.uk
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his JRsBarBQ.com blog. Some highlights:
The End of ECW: “I will always have great respect for the Original ECW because of the passion and work ethic of all involved. Paul Heyman had great vision for what he wanted to create and his talents bought into that vision. I bring this up because the letters “ECW” will leave weekly TV in 3 weeks and will be replaced with a new, WWE produced program. Anxious to see what they come up with for Sy Fy.
His Health: “I am excited about the future primarily because I’m feeling so much better physically and am presently in a great place mentally.”
His Future: “Must be lots of new rumors on the ‘net about my future. If any of you get some concrete info on what I will be doing for a living in the coming months, years, etc, please let me know because my status, goals for the future, etc are the same as I have repeatedly stated for months … I have actually been discussing some projects totally unrelated to the wrestling biz which are intriguing.”
As we reported here earlier in the week, WWE superstar Gregory Helms was found with a Soma pill (a schedule four narcotic muscle relaxer) in his bag when arrested with Chris Jericho. Helms was unable to produce a prescriptionfor the pill at the time of arrest, but it did not get him into any trouble with the police.
If Helms didn’t have a prescription for the drug as he told police, WWE would be forced to suspend him for 60 days on his second Wellness violation. WWE’s current policy says that every prescription a wrestler has is supposed to be filed ahead of time with Dr. David Black. All prescriptions are supposed to be written by the company doctors who travel with the WWE crew. Helms has a previous violation against him for his name coming up in the Signature Pharmacy scandal in 2007 and has never failed a WWE drug test.
There has been a lot of talk backstage regarding Helms’ future with WWE after the incident. It’s estimated that Helms missed out on a $5,000 payday when he was pulled from the Royal Rumble PPV days after the arrest. Helms was said to be apologetic to WWE officials for the incident. He appeared on this week’s ECW show, getting beat down by Ezekiel Jackson and William Regal after they talked about his “rough week.”
— WKYT-TV/CWKYT is reporting that the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view on May 23rd, 2010 has been moved to Detroit, Michigan. The originally announced location was Oakland, California. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
— Chris Jericho announced on his Twitter account that “Fozzy” will be doing a U.K. tour this May.
Four shows have been for announced for Glasgow, Scotland on May 13, Nottingham on May 14, and two shows in London on May 15. Ticket information has not yet been announced.
“Fozzy” released its Chasing the Grail album last week.
— Muscle & Fitness is running a contest to determines its 2009 cover of the year. You can make a champion out of Triple H’s September cover via poll at the following link.
WWE superstar John Cena took part in a live chat session Monday night on WWE.com. Visit WWE.com to read the full transcript. Some highlights:
– Cena was asked whether he’s interested in fighting Hulk Hogan, He responded with a jab at Hogan and TNA, saying, “Yes. I just don’t think that’s going to happen right now. He’s too busy wasting his time.”
– He has no current plans to release another rap album, but will be working again with rapper Bumpy Knuckles for a song on the soundtrack of his upcoming WWE Studios film, “Legendary” (previously titled “Brother’s Keeper”).
– When asked who he’d like to wrestle at WrestleMania, he stated, “The Rock.” As Cena answered another question about his movie career, host Joey Styles chimed in by saying Cena’s next movie will be better than The Rock’s recent “Tooth Fiary” movie.
February 22, 2010: Jewel & Ty Murray
What does two-time Grammy Award winner Jewel and nine-time bull riding world champion Ty Murray have in common? They are a celebrity power couple ready to bring even more action and excitement to Monday Night Raw live from Indianapolis.
March 8, 2010: Criss Angel
Raw will bring extra magic and quite possibly blow your mind only three weeks before WrestleMania as the “mindfreak†himself, Criss Angel, hosts Raw from Portland, Ore.
— While watching Raw last week, Joey Styles took aim at D-Generation X on his Twitter account, writing: “Is anybody else besides me sick of DX?”
He posted several other tweets commenting on the show, but they have all since been deleted.
— An apparently upset Tyson Kidd expressed his disappointment on being left off Sunday’s Royal Rumble match with the following message on his Facebook account: “Guess they found 30 guys better, either that or I drew number 31.” Fellow Hart Dynasty member David Hart Smith was also left off the card.
— It was recently reported that Maria Kanellis would not be appearing on WWE programming while the new season of Celebrity Apprentice airs due to a clause in her contract with NBC prohibiting her from appearing on other television shows during the first run of the reality series. A fan mentioned this to Maria on Twitter with the SmackDown Diva responding, “I am not going anywhere.”
— For those curious, you can keep tabs on what the one and only Vickie Guerrero is up to on Facebook. To visit her page, click here.
— William Shatner discusses his experience guest hosting Monday’s Raw at the following link.
WWE superstar Big Show will star in the WWE Studios comedy “Knucklehead,” set to be released later this year. Big Show will be joined by Mark Feuerstein (USA Network’s Royal Pains) and Melora Hardin (HBO’s Hung).
In “Knucklehead,†fight promoter Memphis Earl (Feuerstein) is in debt and thinks his luck is about to change when he comes across the 7-foot lifelong orphan, Walter Kronk (Big Show). He tries to convince Kronk to wrestle professionally and Kronk finally agrees to wrestle on behalf of his fellow orphans, setting up a road trip. Filming kicked off this week in New Orleans.
It’s official – the ECW brand is shutting down for good in 3 weeks. The final ECW broadcast will air on Tuesday, 2/23.
Vince McMahon appeared on this week’s ECW on SyFy broadcast to make the announcement, thanking the superstars and crew who made ECW the success it once was.
McMahon promised a “new, innovative, never before seen program broadcast” that will debut on 3/2 and take over the old ECW timeslot.
There are reports that the new brand will be dubbed WWE Next Generation (“NXT”) and will feature almost exclusively young talent from WWE’s developmental system.
More on the end of ECW and the start of WWE NXT later this week.
This week on RAW, we may have seen the groundwork laid for one of the top matches at WrestleMania XXVI. It’s been assumed for months that Bret Hart’s return to WWE would culminate at WrestleMania in some sort of match with Vince McMahon. Bret’s physical abilities are not what they once were due to a series of concussions and a stroke several years ago, so his physical involvement would be limited and a Street Fight match was discussed.
On RAW, Bret Hart confronted Vince McMahon and was ready to extract revenge before he was attached by none other than Batista. McMahon ordered Batista to restraint Hart and then got his own revenge on Bret Hart for something he did at Survivor Series 1997 by spitting in the Hit Man’s face. The crowd in Nashville went wild, chanting for John Cena as the show went off the air. (What Happened After RAW) The angle was red hot and unfolded with a level of excitement rarely seen on WWE television these days.
With that match looking likely, here’s an updated list of WrestleMania matches we’ve heard talked about among WWE employees:
Bret Hart and John Cena vs. Vince McMahon and Batista
Former WWE Diva and actress Stacy Keibler played in the 2010 Celebrity Soccer Challenge last month (1/16) at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles, California.
The event was hosted by soccer stars Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciapara to raise funds for the Mia Hamm Foundation.
Keibler wrote on about the event on Twitter, saying, “Goin 2 Mia Hamm & Nomar Garciaparra Celeb Soccer Challenge. Nervous! Last played in 11th grade .. 4 Childrens Hospital LA, so I’m lacin up!”
Check out these pictures of Stacy Keibler playing in the 2010 Celebrity Soccer Challenge:
WWE has announced that McMahon will be appearing on tonight’s edition of ECW on Syfy to make a big announcement regarding the future of the ECW brand.
The WWE.com episode preview reads:
FUTURE OF EXTREME Tonight Mr. McMahon himself will appear in the Land of the Extreme to address the WWE Universe on the future of ECW! Don’t miss this important announcement, tonight at 10/9 CT on Syfy!
With all the talk that the ECW brand will be undergoing big changes very soon, it appears those changes could begin tonight.
— WWE star Chris Jericho is getting tired of TMZ.com’s ongoing coverage of his and Gregory Helms’ arrest last Wednesday for public intoxication. Earlier today, TMZ posted an update, noting that Greg Helms was in possession of a Soma pill (a muscle relaxer and a schedule four narcotic) at the time of his arrest and was unable to produce a prescription for it at the time.
Jericho posted a message on Twitter in response to TMZ’s latest coverage: “This just in TMZ charged with beating a dead horse and grasping at straws.” To read more tweets from Jericho, visit PWTweets.com.
— Movie website Cinematical.com features a fan rant questioning the success of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s movie career. The article flashes back to Johnson’s 2003 action movie “The Rundown,” which featured a cameo from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who told Johnson to “Have fun” in a symbolic passing of the “action hero” torch. Since then, Johnson has only done two other action movies (Walking Tall and Doom) and has settled into a career of comedies and kids movies.
The author questions whether the era of action movie stars is over and suggests that The Rock’s upcoming return to WWE is a result of his movie career not taking off as he had hoped.
TMZ.com has provided some new details on the January 27 arrests of WWE superstars Chris Jericho and Gregory Helms. According to the police report, Gregory “Hurricane” Helms was in possession of “one white round pill” at the time of his arrest for public intoxication. Police determined the white pill was the muscle relaxer Soma, the generic version of the muscle relaxer Carisoprodol and a “schedule four narcotic.”
Helms told police he had a prescription for the pill but was not able to produce any proof of it at the time of his arrest. Cops did not press charges against Helms over the single Soma pill. Should Helms be unable to produce a prescription for the narcotic found on him at the time of his arrest, he would be in violation of WWE’s Wellness policy and more importantly, the laws of the state of Kentucky, where he was arrested.
It’s worth noting that Gregory Helms was pulled from the Royal Rumble on Sunday after being advertised for the show.
TMZ reached out to WWE about these new details but did not hear back. The wrestling industry is all too familiar with muscle relaxers such as Soma. Dr. Phil Astin was recently jailed for 10 years after he was busted for prescribing Soma (among other drugs) in large quantities to Chris Benoit before he died.
Thanks to reader James Beckwith for sending in this live report from last night’s WWE RAW from Nashville. If you attend a live WWE show, send in your live reports to SEScoops@gmail.com.
– Raw was a virtual sellout including the upper decks. The only area tarped off was near the hard camera and that is normal for television tapings.
– I don’t know how it came across on TV, but the crowd was hot and had high energy for most of the night. John Cena was way over with this crowd. I’m talking close to Austin/Rock levels. They popped every time his image was on the Titantron and for every time he came out in the arena.
– The crowd chanted huge for Cena during the Batista beat down of Bret Hart. I believe that Cena came running out after Raw went off the air. Batista and McMahon bailed and returned to the back immediately. Eventually, Bret got to his feet and made his way to the back as well. Then, the locally advertised main event took place. It was John Cena vs. Sheamus for the WWE title.
– Dark Match main event: John Cena beat WWE champion Sheamus via DQ, Sheamus retained the WWE Title. I expected an extremely short match or a Dusty Finish, but Sheamus and Cena put on a good 10-15 minute match. It ended when Cena had Sheamus in the STF and Batista ran in and broke the hold causing the DQ. Batista then went on an extended beat down of Cena with Sheamus incapacitated on the outside.
Batista beat Cena with the ringside steps and then put the steps in the ring. He set up the Batista Bomb on the steps in the ring (which I expected Cena to power out of since they weren’t on television) and he powerbombed Cena onto the steps in a wicked looking spot. No comeback for Cena against Batista. Finally, Sheamus came back in the ring and stood over Cena while holding up the WWE Title. When he stepped away, Cena popped to his feet and gave Sheamus the Attitude Adjustment to send the crowd home happy.
Lots of Cena’s new shirt in the crowd and tons of glowsticks. WWE is making a fortune off those glowsticks.
Biggest Pops
— Anything Cena
— Triple H
— Edge after he speared Sheamus.
Most Heat:
— Edge before spearing Sheamus
— Mr. McMahon
— Sheamus
— Batista
