NXT Champion Finn Balor recently appeared as a guest on The Taz Show: Bodyslams & Beyond to discuss all things NXT. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On NXT talents that have ‘blown him away’:
“The growth that a lot of the boys have shown in the last year since I got here is just unbelievable. The likes of like Jason Jordan [and] Chad Gable, they’re two guys that, in the last year, have blown me away with their growth.”
On his demon body paint:
“Honestly, I’m just a fan of art. I’m a fan of expressionism. I’m a fan of changing things on the fly. I’m a fan of just going with the flow and being in the moment and that’s really what the demon is for me. It just kind of helps me channel, kind of, maybe an inner, darker side. People accuse me of being kind of too nonchalant or too laid back and too introverted and I feel like the demon definitely helps me bring a different side of my personality out.”
– Following her loss to Bayley in the NXT Women’s Championship match on this week’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network, which aired on Wednesday evening, WWE Diva and Total Divas star Eva Marie spoke to WWE.com about coming up short and how she’s earned everything she’s gotten while in WWE, noting that nothing has been “handed to her.” You can check out the new Eva Marie interview above.
– On next week’s edition of NXT, Samoa Joe and Tommaso Ciampa will go one-on-one. In an interesting statistic, both Joe and Ciampa have worked for WWE, ROH and TNA during the 2015 calendar year.
– WWE posted the following video showing NXT Women’s Champion Bayley struggling to her feet after being attacked by Nia Jax on this week’s edition of NXT TV.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley recently sat down for an in-depth interview on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast to talk about a number of topics related to her career. Below are some of the highlights.
On being separated from the rest of the Four Horsewomen and becoming the focal point of the NXT Women’s division:
“It’s kind of bittersweet. It’s really weird and hard to [explain] because I grew up with them. We started in NXT together and Full Sail [University] together. To watch them go off [to the main roster], like, it’s amazing and I’m so proud [of them], but it’s kind of like, ‘man, I miss having them around!’ I miss having matches with them, but at the same time, it’s all eyes on me [now] and I’m like the front end of this new era of women coming up in NXT. And it’s like, man, there are so many amazing performers coming up and I’m so happy that I’m the [NXT Women’s] Champion and get to be a part of it and get to work with them.”
On becoming a locker room leader in NXT:
“It’s really cool because now I’m literally the one who has been here the longest out of the women who we train with. And, so, I try to be the best leader in the locker room that I can.” Bayley continued, “I really enjoy helping and teaching and stuff. And when we’re training with Sara Del Rey, if she misses something, she asks me if there’s something that I saw that maybe she didn’t catch. And, so, it feels really cool. I’m kind of like a little assistant [coach] sometimes. It’s a whole new level of learning when I’m able to help someone else out.”
On avoiding getting a big ego:
“At the [WWE] Performance Center, we’re all at the same level. We’re all at NXT. We’re all wanting to get to the main roster. That’s the way I see it. That’s the way Coach [Matt] Bloom always says it. We’re all right here. Whether we’re the champions or not, we all need to treat each other equal.”
On her feelings that WWE would try and change her character:
“It was really, really weird. I felt like they were going to try to change me and if I didn’t change, I wasn’t going to succeed. That’s how I felt coming in, but I knew I was going to try no matter what. Like, ‘I’m going to give this a shot. This is where I want to be, so I’ve got to try to fit into wherever they want me to be to be this huge Diva.'” Bayley added, “I didn’t think I was this amazing wrestler. It’s just wrestling is all I knew and I kind of felt like, ‘I don’t have the look for that anyways. They probably wouldn’t want to use me for those type of things,’ so I didn’t even expect them to want to put me on these bikini posters and stuff like that, so it wasn’t really something that I was too worried about.”
On how the Divas Revolution came about:
“It was kind of like a combination of everyone’s work because, obviously, Sasha and Charlotte, and when Becky came, we were all just wrestlers. And I think we were listening and kind of taking everybody’s [advice], the coaches opinions, and we were learning and stuff. We weren’t ignoring what they wanted. We were still [saying], ‘okay, that’s what you want me to do? I’ll do that.’ But we were still having these matches and the crowd was getting into it. I really think it was the fans that helped the Revolution. They loved watching us wrestle! It kind of seemed like it turned everybody’s heads, and especially Triple H.”
On how the inflatable tube men became part of her entrance:
“So the tube men, they kind of like surprised me with that one day, where they were like, ‘we have something really cool for your entrance. We think it will match you perfectly.'” Bayley continued, “so they were just like, ‘we want to do this rehearsal with you, so we’ll surprise you. Just do the rehearsal.’ It was before the show, so I come out, I’m doing my entrance, and then they pop up and I’m like, ‘oh my God! This is perfect!’ It was such a legit surprise and the colors [matched] with my [ring] gear and all that. It just seemed like so perfect.”
On “Macho Man” Randy Savage influencing some of her ring gear:
“‘Macho Man’ was who drew me to wrestling. The first time I saw him, I was like ‘oh my gosh! He is so cool!’, so that’s just something I wanted to kind of carry on and nobody does it. It’s different, so that was going to stand out on it’s own and it’s my own little ‘Macho Man’ thing.”
Contract negotiations for a new deal between Ring Of Honor and the tag-team of Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly have reportedly stalled as the two sides are still far apart.
According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there have been a few WWE wrestlers who have tried to recruit Fish and O’Reilly, particularly because WWE is looking to load up the NXT roster with talented in-ring performers for a more extensive schedule of big shows around the country.
As noted, WWE is looking to take NXT on the road more in 2016, with their aim to be to draw a similar type of audience that Ring Of Honor draws when they take shows on the road.
The crew at WrestlingDVDNetwork.com continued their week of match reveals for the upcoming NXT’s Greatest Matches Vol. 1 DVD and Blu-Ray set today by announcing that these three will be included:
NXT Championship Finals: Seth Rollins vs. Jinder Mahal (NXT August 29, 2012)
Ladder Match for the NXT Championship: Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville (NXT ArRival February 27, 2014)
NXT Championship Match: Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens (NXT Takeover: Rival February 11, 2015)
– Featured above is the latest edition of WWE’s “Five Things” YouTube show, which takes a look at five love affairs fans may have forgotten about.
– The following is scheduled for tonight’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network:
* Guest general manager due to William Regal recovering from surgery
* Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe contract signing
* Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder vs. The Vaudevillains for the NXT Tag Titles
* Asuka vs. Dana Brooke
* Apollo Crews vs. Jesse Sorensen
* Bayley vs. Eva Marie for the NXT Women’s Championship
– WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to the SmackDown television taping in Indianapolis, Indiana on Tuesday evening:
* Titus O’Neil def. Stardust via count out in the first of four matches taped for this week’s show.
* Ryback def. Heath Slater in a quick match. This basically amounted to a squash match, with Ryback dominating throughout.
* Rusev def. Zack Ryder in another quick match. The fans in Indianapolis were into Ryder here, and also gave Rusev good heat.
* Brie Bella def. Charlotte in a non-title match after Paige caused a distraction that allowed Brie to get the win.
Former NXT Champion Sami Zayn is being advertised for the NXT tour of the U.K. coming up in December, including all of the regular live events and the NXT TakeOver: London special on December 16th.
It’s possible that Zayn is just appearing at the shows in a non-physical capacity, as we haven’t heard that he is ready to make his in-ring return just yet.
Other talents advertised for the NXT tour that is scheduled to kick off on December 10th in Newcastle, England include NXT Champion Finn Balor, NXT Women’s Champion Bayley, NXT Tag-Team Champions Dash and Dawson, Neville, Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews, Samoa Joe, Dana Brooke and Emma.
The folks at WrestlingDVDNetwork.com are announcing new matches for the upcoming NXT’s Greatest Matches Vol. 1 DVD and Blu-Ray set this week. Today’s matches include quite the notable one: A 2012 dark match featuring CM Punk & Seth Rollins vs. Antonio Cesaro & Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero). This match is probably the last time Punk and Hero, who had a famous feud in IWA Mid-South, will ever wrestle each other.
– NXT Diva Alexa Bliss’ new theme song is called “Spiteful,” and is now available on iTunes. You can also check out the song above.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Bret Hart is undergoing surgery to repair his injured hand today in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The hand injury is reportedly an old injury Hart suffered during his active pro wrestling career that he has dealt with for years, but as of late has been bothering him to the point that he felt he needed to take care of it.
– WWE teamed with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks to create a special commemorative t-shirt for this year’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view, which for the first time in its’ 29-year history emanated from Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday. The official Twitter account of the Hawks posted the following photo of the shirt.
Our co-branded @WWE Survivor Series shirts are on sale now at the Hawks Shop in advance of the big event Sunday! pic.twitter.com/kXC86vvGCb
As noted, Triple H was a guest on Z107’s Greg and the Morning Buzz radio show and spoke about feeling blessed to be in the position he is in and Vince McMahon’s thoughts on NXT. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On never dreaming he’d be in the position in WWE that he’s in now and feeling blessed:
“You hate to use the word ‘blessed’ or anything like that because it’s just so overused and all that. But you hear so many people say it all the time. You hear it in sports and ‘I’m so blessed to do this’ and I guess the guy you just beat wasn’t quite as blessed. But it’s just used and it’s a cliche, right?”
On Vince McMahon’s feelings about the NXT brand:
“Look, at the end of the day, [NXT]’s his company, right? I mean, I’ll see people say, ‘oh, NXT is the second biggest promotion.’ Well, no, it’s part of the biggest promotion in the world. We’ve just kind of created our own thing in our own niche. And to be able to take it from what it was, a developmental thing and trying to get people to that next level, which is still the goal, right? It’s still the goal. To take it to where we have is huge. We’re just giving [the audience] an opportunity to have another brand and another thing to watch and enjoy. And if you’re a fan of what we do, then that’s awesome. And, look, it’s designed to fill that niche. That’s exactly what it’s designed to do.”
– As reported earlier this week, WWE signed CMLL star La Sombra. As is the case with most high-profile NXT acquisitions, Triple H took to social media to post a photo of the two together and welcome him to the company. HHH posted the following on Twitter:
Some are just born with the business in their blood…it is my pleasure to welcome Manuel Oropeza to @WWENXT.https://t.co/iPbJQh0eXB
– As “The Undertaker week continues to roll on the WWE Network, WWE posted another video looking back, this time at The Undertaker’s theme song. Check out the above video as Jon Stewart, Sasha Banks, John Wall and other celebrities and WWE Superstars an d Divas talk about “The Dead Man’s” iconic theme song.
– NXT Diva Gionna Daddio is now going by the name Liv Morgan in NXT. Liv Morgan will face Emma on the December 2nd edition of NXT on the WWE Network.
– The Rock took to social media on Thursday to unveil the official promotional poster for his new movie with Kevin Hart called “Central Intelligence.” He wrote the following in addition to posting the photo of the poster.
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: The only one of its kind Central Intelligence teaser poster! Me and Kevin Hart teamed up to make an iconic, global action comedy the world could enjoy. As y’all know saving the world takes a Big Johnson and my friend Kevin is exactly where he belongs… behind me and sh*tting himself. We’re both excited to bring y’all this movie! Summer may never be the same… #CentralIntelligence #BigJohnson #ScaredHart JUNE 17th
Two familiar faces made their respective NXT returns at the NXT television taping on Saturday night, as Blue Pants (Leva Bates) and former TNA World Heavyweight Champion James Storm both worked matches.
A while back, it was reported that Blue Pants had backstage heat on her in WWE and would not be brought back any time soon, due to an incident involving alcohol during SummerSlam weekend in Brooklyn, New York.
Blue Pants taped a match on Thursday night with Nia Jax that will air on the December 2nd edition of NXT. Her last match with NXT was a loss to Alexa Bliss at the August 13th NXT tapings. Her last NXT appearance was at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.
In Storm’s case, he recently made his NXT debut at the NXT tapings held October 8th. Storm beat Danny Burch that night. On the 12/2 edition of NXT, Storm will return on NXT television for the first time since his 10/8 debut, as he taped a match with Adam Rose.
A few weeks ago, it was reported that Storm had yet to actually sign an official WWE contract. Whether or not that remains the case now that he has been brought back to NXT TV remains to be seen. We’ll keep you posted.
As noted, former TNA and ROH star Austin Aries is backstage at the NXT television tapings at Full Sail University this evening, however he isn’t the only former TNA star at the show.
It was rumored earlier this week that James Storm would be making his NXT return after debuting a few weeks ago. As it turns out, Storm is indeed backstage at the show and is expected to wrestle during tonight’s taping.
Finally, Storm’s former TNA World Tag-Team Champion partner Gunner is backstage at the show in Winter Park, Florida as well.
In the case of Gunner, much like Aries, it isn’t exactly clear what he is doing at the show and is in no way confirmed that he will be debuting for NXT tonight.
Former TNA and ROH star Austin Aries was spotted arriving at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, the site of tonight’s NXT television tapings.
Aries, who has been part of both the TNA and ROH rosters during the 2015 calendar year, stopped briefly to sign a couple of autographs on his way into the building.
Although Aries is at the taping, his reason for being there is unclear and it is not confirmed that he will be part of the taping.
Make sure to visit SEScoops.com later this evening for spoiler results from the NXT television tapings.
UPDATE: Two more former top TNA stars backstage at the NXT television tapings this evening as well. Find out who by clicking here.
– In the video featured above, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan talk about defeating The Ascension on this week’s edition of NXT.
– Announced for next week’s NXT is a contract signing between NXT Champion Finn Balor and Samoa Joe for their match at the upcoming NXT TakeOver: London special, which takes place on Wednesday, December 16th at SSE Wembley Arena in London, England. As noted, the special will air live on the WWE Network at 3pm EST. / Noon PST. on 12/16.
– In addition to the contract signing, the following matches were announced for next week’s NXT, which will be taped on Thursday night, November 19th from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
* Bayley vs. Eva Marie
* Asuka vs. Dana Brooke
* The Mechanics vs. The Vaudevillains
WWE has been more aggressive as of late when it comes to contacting contracted stars in both Ring Of Honor and Lucha Underground about coming into the company through NXT.
All the top names you’d expect that WWE might be interested in are being contacted, without the previously held “looks” and “size” limitations that the promotion has been known to be biased about in the past because the plan is to load up on the NXT roster.
WWE wants to add a lot of top workers to the NXT roster in 2016 for more extensive touring with what would basically be a WWE branded and WWE-level production type of show, but with ROH level main event matches.
A key, as was explained to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, is that Vince McMahon didn’t want ROH or TNA talents on the main WWE roster if they had been exposed on national cable television already, and if they had been merchandised.
The issue with ROH talent, which is said to be changing, was the fact that the promotion blindsided WWE when they got on Destination America. This is reportedly not an issue when it comes to those same talents working in NXT, where there is more of an emphasis on it being a work-rate promotion.
Because some people ask for a label: Yes, this is an editorial.
Last night’s show-closing segment on Monday Night Raw was not the first time WWE has, uncomfortably, worked someone’s real life death into an angle. That goes back a decade to Eddie Guerrero’s death, and you can go back further for them using it outside of the storyline context, like the Raw interview with Brian Pillman’s widow in 1997. It’s never a good thing and it’s always uncomfortable, but what they did last night was, in its own unique way, the worst of them all.
“You know what, Charlotte? You’re wrong sweetheart. ‘Cause your little baby brother? He didn’t have much fight in him, did he?” -Paige
It’s been over two and a half years since Reid Fliehr’s death at just 25 years of age from an overdose of heroin and prescription medication. Ashley/Charlotte considers her wrestling career, in large part, her way of fulfilling his dream and keeping his spirit alive, .as he had been working for independent promotions and All Japan Pro Wrestling. As you might think from the cause of death, he had been battling drug addiction for years. Which is the beginning of why last night’s scripting stands out as so objectionable.
The Eddie Guerrero exploitation was terrible and crass, but was never really about demeaning him in a direct way. The same goes for the Paul Bearer stuff, and that at least had th slight improvement of it being more clearly delineated that the Paul Bearer character was killed off because William Moody had actually died. How they died was off limits.
Last night? It wasn’t.
As bad as it is to invoke his death for some lame pro wrestling angle in the first place, here, the inference is, effectively, “Ha-ha, your junkie brother ODed!” It prostitutes his worth as a human being and the mental illness he struggled with from his teens (and yes, addiction is as much a mental illness as OCD, depression, or bipolar disorder are). And for what? Some doomed to fail skit put at the end of the show because the third hour is siphoning viewers anyway?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2WR40HgDbU
What gives this more wide-ranging, real world consequences that past WWE death exploitation angles is that mental illness is heavily stigmatized, especially in the United States. Die from cancer and the perception is that you lost your valiant battle. Die from a mental illness and the perception is that you’re weak. Unless, by some small chance this storyline ends with a passionate Charlotte promo about destigmatizing mental illness, then what exactly is the point?
No, most viewers don’t know how Reid Fliehr died. But plenty do: Charlotte talks about him all the time when she does media appearances and more fans than ever follow wrestling news online, anyway. Being cryptic helps WWE, because, like with Lana’s promo last year that viewers thought was about the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, you can always say that’s not what they meant.
As for Charlotte, it’s really quite simple: If it wasn’t her idea, it’s disgusting as her employer to script her to take part in last night’s angle. If by some chance it was her idea, and her mom’s tweets certainly suggest that it wasn’t, then she should have been vetoed anyway.
To think this company wonders why they have trouble getting advertising rates at the level of non-wrestling programming with the same viewership. They’re in the bubble. Nothing will ever change.
Triple H announced earlier today that NXT will be holding a special TV taping in Orlando, FL on Friday, January 22nd during Royal Rumble weekend.
Instead of holding the taping from Full Sail University, NXT will be invade the CFE Arena on the campus of the University of Central Florida. The venue has a capacity of approximately 10,000 for MMA events.
A ticket pre-sale will be taking place this Friday, November 20th at 10AM (EST).
On 1/22 @WWENXT is coming to CFE Arena/UCF Campus for the biggest Orlando taping ever. Pre-sale tickets on sale 11/20 at 10am ET. #GetReady
As noted, Billy Gunn was fired from his job as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center over the weekend after he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs at a power-lifting competition back in July. WWE was unaware of Gunn’s suspension or the fact that he was active in power-lifting competitions.
Bryan Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live that it’s believed WWE only tests contracted talent, not the WWE coaches or staff at the WWE Performance Center. This is likely why there was never a negative WWE Wellness test for Gunn.
WWE officials were forced to release Gunn when they became aware of the situation, as they felt they couldn’t have one of their trainers testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs without it making their entire developmental program look bad.
No official decision has been made regarding Gunn’s replacement, however WWE is reportedly considering two people for the job.
NXT Diva Alexa Bliss has responded to rumors spreading online that were apparently started by another WWE developmental talent.
The rumors were started on a gossip website called TheDirty.com, which is a website that allows people to anonymously submit “dirt” on other people. The website has been in the center of many big scandals involving athletes and other celebrities in the past.
The anonymous user who submitted the information on Bliss claims to be a talent currently training at the WWE Performance Center and claims Bliss needs to be called out for being a “ring rat.” A ring rat is a pro wrestling insider term that refers to someone, generally female fans or wrestlers, that is known for sleeping with the wrestlers on a regular basis.
The post regarding Bliss read as follows:
“THE DIRTY ARMY: Nik, I am currently training with WWE to be a wrestler. We train at NXT in Orlando. A great group of men and women are down here but I have to call out one girl, Alexa Bliss. I wish to stay anonymous but this needs to be out. She is a ring rar as we call it. She sleeps with just about every person who walks in the door here and has slept with trainers, higher ups, wrestlers and whoever else she can get her hands on. I have heard nasty stories I refuse to share. She is cute and nice but is a total slore. She is not very good in the ring but isn’t bad as a manager. I hope she sees this and cleans her act up asap.”
Bliss acknowledged the post on her Twitter account, writing “All false” in one tweet before deleting it and simply leaving this one up:
One Thing my mother always taught me… "Your reputation is something you will NEVER out grow, so make sure it's one you're proud of"
WWE announced this week that the next NXT TakeOver special, which is scheduled for Wednesday, December 16th, will air live on the WWE Network from the SSE Wembley Arena in London, England at 3 p.m. Eastern time and Noon Pacific time.
Although an official lineup has yet to be released, the card is loooking like:
NXT Champion Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe
Apollo Crews vs. Baron Corbin
Asuka vs. Emma
The 12/16 TakeOver show is also expected to include NXT Tag-Team Title and NXT Women’s Title matches. Those two title matches should become clear on November 19th when the final television tapings leading up to the show are taped at Full Sail University.
Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com on Wednesday, December 16th for the best NXT TakeOver: London live results coverage on the web!
WWE has officially confirmed the release of their new “WWE NXT’s Greatest Matches Vol. 1” DVD and Blu-ray set for the United Kingdom and Europe. The set is scheduled to be released on March 7, 2016, one day before the North American release date.
Additionally, WWE has released an official trailer for the DVD and Blu-ray, which you can see above. They also confirmed the following matches for the set.
NXT Title Match: Big E vs. Seth Rollins, 1/9/2013
NXT Title Match: Sami Zayn vs. Neville, Takeover: R Evolution
NXT Title Match: Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens, Beast In The East
NXT Women’s Title Match: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks, Takeover: Brooklyn
NXT Women’s Title Match: Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte, 7/15/2015 (Blu-ray exclusive)
Tyler Breeze vs. Apollo Crews, Takeover: Respect (Blu-ray exclusive)
