James Storm made an impact last week when he attended NXT Takeover: Respect and then made his NXT in-ring the following night at the NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University.
It turns out that it was actually Billy Gunn who was instrumental in Storm working with WWE. The two are good friends behind the scenes and as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center, Gunn helped open the lines of communication between the two sides.
There had been some reports that TNA made a last minute ‘big money’ offer to get Storm back, but PWInsider states that TNA simply reached out to Storm in hopes of getting him to join their upcoming tour of India, without any promises of a bump in pay.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley was not at the NXT live event in Winter Haven, Florida because she was at the American Combat Wrestling event in New Port Richey, Florida.
Bayley was at the ACW show on behalf of WWE, as camera crews were present, likely filming some footage for the WWE Network original series, “Breaking Ground.”
ACW is a WWN Live affiliate promotion, and as noted, WWN has been in talks with WWE about the possibility of a working relationship. Triple H confirmed that there is something to the recent WWE-WWN Live online reports during his NXT Takeover: Respect conference call.
Additionally, Bayley’s real-life boyfriend Aaron Snow wrestles for ACW, so it’s possible that he was included in some of the filming.
WWN Live official Sal Hamaoui noted on social media, and made an announcement during the event itself that WWE had cameras present to film the show.
The following are some tweets from Bayley and others who attended the event.
– In Winter Haven, Florida last night Kenneth Crawford successfully cut his first WWE NXT live event promo. He made his debut in the ring a few weeks back during a battle royal. Crawford declared we were entering the “era of Ken” and that he was sent to NXT to clean it up on account of his military background. He took shots at NXT Champion Finn Balor, NXT Tag Team Champions The Vaudevillains and Tyler Breeze. Crawford is a United States Marine from North Carolina. He was signed to NXT back in April of this year with the rest of the new recruits. Crawford was a high school Athlete of the Year, however he has no wrestling experience.
– There may be a new agreement between WWE and Hulu as NXT Takeover specials are now available on the official Hulu website. The most recent “Takeover: Respect” special is already available.
– As noted earlier, Sunday would have been the 70th birthday of the late WWE Hall Of Famer, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. In addition to Triple H acknowledging “The Dream’s” birthday on social media yesterday, Corey Graves tweeted this one out.
Tell someone you love them today. Remember the Dream, smile, & know that "you can't roller skate in a buffalo herd."#HappyBirthdayDusty
– WWE had camera crews at the NXT live event in Winter Haven, Florida this weekend filming matches for the WWE Network show, “Breaking Ground.” They have had the same crews at the WWE Performance Center and other recent NXT live events for the same reason.
– Speaking of the NXT live event in Winter Haven, Billy Gunn made an appearance in front of the crowd and the aforementioned camera crews at the end of the show. Finn Balor invited Gunn to the ring after his match, and while Gunn declined at first, the fans in attendance eventually changed his mind. Gunn went on to hit Blake with a FameAsser before closing out the show doing the D-X routine alongside Balor and The Vaudevillains.
– Triple H posted the following on Twitter to the late Dusty Rhodes on what would have been “The American Dream’s” 70th birthday.
After much speculation, top independent women’s wrestler Athena has arrived in NXT.
Athena made her debut last night in Winter Haven, Florida at the NXT live event that took place there. She teamed up with Gionna Daddio and ultimately lost to Peyton Royce and Alexa Bliss. Fans and spectators in attendance agreed Athena looked great in the ring.
Photos were shared on several Twitter feeds, a few can be viewed below:
After making a surprise appearance at Thursday’s NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University, it’s being reported by Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheetthat Storm has yet to sign a deal with WWE – and TNA is still very interested in bringing their former World Champion back in.
Last week TNA offered Storm a substantial pay increase, however Storm visited the NXT live event in Nashville last Friday and was then invited to Takeover: Respect on Wednesday. Storm spoke with WWE officials while there which led to his debut at last night’s taping.
Though there was no contract signed before or after last night’s match, WWE officials are reportedly interested in signing Storm to a deal similar to that of Samoa Joe’s, which would allow him to continue working independent shows.
WWE officials indicated they may in fact want Storm at the next set of NXT TV tapings set for later this month.
Storm is reportedly considering his options right now, as TNA officials reached out to Storm on Thursday morning after reports came out that he was at Takeover. TNA reportedly offered Storm even more money to re-sign this week, however he has yet to sign the dotted line.
– Although he hasn’t been a character on television in what seems like forever, Zeb Colter is still under contract to WWE. Colter is currently listed as “out of action” with the reason listed being that he is recovering from surgery.
– Former TNA star James Storm has been in talks with WWE as of late regarding a possible role as a player/coach kind of figure in NXT. If he were to get the job, he would be working matches as a talent in the company, but would also work to help some of WWE’s up-and-coming developmental talent.
– WWE has inked a new deal with Pez. The candy company is scheduled to make brand new Pez dispensers using the likeness of such WWE stars as John Cena, The Rock and The Undertaker.
At Wednesday’s NXT Takeover: Respect special on the WWE Network, the first-ever “Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic” tournament winners were crowned.
The teams of Finn Balor & Samoe Joe, The Mechanics, Baron Corbin & Rhyno and Chad Gable & Jason Jordan advanced to tonight’s WWE Network special, with Balor and Joe eliminating The Mechanics in the opener, and the team of Corbin and Rhyno taking out the team of Gable and Jordan to advance to the finals.
In the finals, which were held in the co-main event spot of the NXT special, Balor and Joe ended up defeating Corbin and Rhyno, who put up a good effort.
Cody Rhodes came out to do the Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic Cup presentation to Balor and Joe. He mentioned that tonight everyone is a “Rhodes” member as “The American Dream” theme music played and the fans echo’d chants of “Thank You Dusty! Thank You Dusty!” to close out the first ever Dusty Classic Tournament and move on to the 30-minute “Ironwoman Match” for the NXT Women’s Champion.
NXT Takeover: Respect takes place tonight from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Stay right here throughout the evening as we will be providing quick match play-by-play results of the show.
The show kicks off with an elaborate video package and then we are welcomed to Full Sail University by Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton as fans chant for Dusty Rhodes.
– Finn Balor and Samoa Joe def. The Mechanics to advance to the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic. We went straight to the ring for our first match of the show, which is a Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic semi final, as Finn Balor and Samoa Joe take on The Mechanics. They gave this opener a little time, and had Balor selling his leg throughout. In the end, Joe hit a Muscle Buster and Balor hit the Coupe de Gras for the 1-2-3 to advance.
– Baron Corbin and Rhyno def. Chad Gable and Jason Jordan to advance to the Dusty tourney finals. This match was given a good bit of time as well and had a lot of back-and-forth action, however after a spear from Rhyno and an End Of Days from Baron Corbin, this one was over. Rhyno and Corbin win and advance.
– Asuka def. Dana Brooke in NXT Divas action. The crowd at Full Sail was hot for Asuka throughout the match, and she definitely looked good here on the big stage for what this match was. Dana Brooke got in some offense throughout due to outside help from Emma, who was out at ringside during this one. In the end, Asuka got Brooke in the Asuka Lock — a crossface chicken wing and body-scissors combo — for the victory.
– Apollo Crews def. Tyler Breeze in singles competition. This one went a little bit and both guys got in an equal amount of offense, despite the fact that Crews is clearly one of the next projects that management is going to be focusing on. In the end, Crews hit his powerbomb finisher for the 1-2-3 in what was a good match.
– Finn Balor and Samoa Joe def. Baron Corbin and Rhyno in the finals to win the first annual Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic tournament. This match was also given some time and featured a lot of action, double teams and near the end, a lot of saves. Eventually, the team of Balor and Joe were too much for the Corbin-Rhyno duo. After the match, Cody Rhodes came out and presented the official Dusty tournament cup to Balor and Joe. He tells all the fans that for tonight, they are all Rhodes’ members. Dusty’s music plays, “thank you Dusty” chants echo from the fans and that about does it.
– Bayley def. Sasha Banks in a 30-minute Iron Woman Match to retain the NXT Womens Championship. We see Stephanie McMahon, Lita, Becky Lynch and WWE Divas Champion Charlotte all seated at ringside for this, our main event of the evening. They gave this one the big build up with the lengthy video packages and formal ring introductions in the arena. The NXT Divas made it to the victory lap split 2-2, as Bayley tied things up after starting out down 2 falls to 1. She won two in a row and managed to retain the NXT Women’s Championship 3-2 in what was no surprise to the fans — an excellent effort by Sasha Banks and Bayley to headline NXT Takeover: Respect. Like NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, when this was done it felt like the main event, but unlike Brooklyn, tonight, it actually was.
Tonight, NXT presents the latest Takeover event live on the WWE Network titled, “Respect.” The show kicks off at 8pm EST and runs 2 1/2 hours.
History will be made when NXT Women’s Champion Bayley defends against former champion Sasha Banks in a 30-minute Iron Man match. Plus, the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic culminates tonight with the semi-finals and finals.
Here’s the final card for tonight:
30-Minute Iron Man Match for the NXT Women’s Title
Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals
TBD vs. TBD
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Finals
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder vs. Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Finals
Chad Gable and Jason Jordan vs. Baron Corbin and Rhyno
With NXT TakeOverL Respect taking place tomorrow night, NXT Women’s Champion Bayley did some media to push the show, which she’s main eventing against Sasha Banks in a 30 minute Iron Man Match. As has become common on WWE media days, one of those interviews was with RollingStone.com. Here are some of the highlights:
On who she wants to work with and why:
And this might sound bad, but I really want to work with Eva Marie, just because it seems like that’s what people want. [“Why would that sound bad?”] [Bayley laughs] My fans don’t like her, so I don’t want them to be like, “Oh, why do you want to work with her?” But the reason is because she’s a different competitor and I think we’d have an interesting dynamic. I get a lot of tweets about Eva, and I can’t blame the fans, because all they really know is what they see on Total Divas, and they base their cheers on that, I guess. I’ve never personally had a problem with her; I don’t see her much, but the shows that she has done, I’ve seen her progressing each match, each show, each training session. I know that the drive is there to get better, so it’s up to her to see how far she can go.
The responsibility of being NXT Women’s Champion:
I feel like this is a very important part of my career. With the top three girls gone, and me being the champion, I’ve never been the person in the locker room who’s been here the longest – it was always Sasha and Charlotte. And now that I’m literally the leader in the locker room, and the champion, it’s a huge opportunity for me to help girls while I have the chance. Girls who don’t have any experience at all, I’m asking to get matches with them, so I can help them and bring them up. Paige and Charlotte were very helpful to me when I first arrived. It’s really important; you can be the best wrestler in the world, and make the most money, but if you’re not a good person in the back, that says a lot about you. I’ve never wanted to be that person, because I’ve had so much help along the way and I want to continue that. I want everyone to be comfortable in the locker room and the ring, and be hungry to make this division even bigger than it already is.
There’s much more in the original article, including Bayley’s thoughts on her friends leaving for the main roster, the term “diva,” and much more.
At last night’s WWE NXT live event in Nashville, TN, Carmella sustained a stinger during her match with Eva Marie. Eva Marie got the pin, won the match and afterwards the doctor threw up the “X” sign signaling for the doctors backstage to make their way out to the ring.
Carmella was reportedly upset and crying in the ring and did leave the ring with some help meanwhile Eva Marie was met with “please retire” chants.
– It’s not uncommon these days for WWE talent who are on the main roster to visit NXT and it seems that if a new tweet from Goldust is anything to go by, that’s what’s happening.
It’s not clear whether or not he’s hinting that he’s going to appear on a TV taping, TakeOver or he’s just heading down to work with some of the new guys in Florida.
– Elsewhere in the WWE Universe, Stardust teased on Twitter yesterday (September 25th) that his tailor is hard at work and that new ring gear is on the way.
– Finally, Chris Jericho has posted a photo Instagram celebrating a massive milestone with regards to his podcast Talk Is Jericho where he interviews guests from the wrestling world, the music world and beyond.
In the 22 months the podcast has been active Jericho has recorded 180 episodes and has now confirmed that he has reached 100,000,000 downloads on PodcastOne.
NXT Champion Finn Balor teamed up with Samoa Joe at last night’s NXT Live Event in Lakeland, Florida (24th September) to take on the team of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder.
Towards the end of the match with Dawson and Wilder on top of each other Balor took the opportunity to plant them with the Coup De Grace for the win, taking out a ceiling tile in the process.
A similar incident occurred during NXT’s Live Event last month but as shown in the photos, the venue does have a low ceiling so most top rope moves are likely to be a risk.
After the match his partner Samoa Joe checked him out for any potential injuries and Balor later tweeted that “Ratings are through the roof”:
NXT Champion Finn Balor recently spoke to Title Match Wrestling about the NXT brand’s success and whether we’ll see an NXT live event during WrestleMania 32 weekend.
Balor said it’s hard to believe how far NXT has come in the past year. “For a lot of the boys at NXT, we feel like we’ve captured lightning in a bottle. A year ago we were wrestling in front of 30-40 people in Florida. Now we’re in Texas, and we’re blowing the roof off.”
After selling out the Barclays Center last month for NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, NXT is keeping the momentum going and has already sold out the SSE Arena for December’s NXT Takeover: London event. Balor is hoping they can keep the momentum going with another NXT special event from the Dallas area next year for WrestleMania 32 weekend.
“A lot of us believe we’re completely separate from what they’re doing on the main roster, and some of us don’t necessarily want to be on WrestleMania. We’re going to have our own card, hopefully, the night before. We’ll sell out a building, and saying to the boys follow that.”
It was announced on this week’s edition of NXT TV that the final four teams in the Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic will advance to NXT Takeover: Respect on October 7th to compete in the semi-finals and finals in the same evening.
NXT Tag-Team Champions The Vaudevillians will take on The Mechanics at this week’s NXT live event in Texas, while The Hype Bros vs. Jason Jordan & Chad Gable is also expected to happen this week. With Rhyno and Baron Corbin advancing this week, below are the updated brackets.
Bracket A – First Round Matches
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady defeated Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton
Finn Balor and Samoa Joe defeated The Lucha Dragons
Bracket B – First Round Matches
The Vaudevillians defeated Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder defeated Tucker Knight and Elias Samson
Bracket C – First Round Matches
Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder defeated Noah Kekoa and Alexander Wolfe
Jason Jordan and Chad Gable defeated Neville and Solomon Crowe
Bracket D – First Round Matches
Rhyno and Baron Corbin defeated The Ascension
Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa defeated Tyler Breeze and Bull Dempsey
Bracket A – Second Round Matches
Balor and Joe defeated Enzo and Cass
Bracket B – Second Round Matches
The Vaudevillians vs. The Mechanics
Bracket C – Second Round Matches
The Hype Bros vs. Gable and Jordan
Bracket D – Second Round Matches
Rhyno and Corbin defeated Gargano and Ciampa
Semi-Finals
– Balor and Joe vs. The Vaudevillians or The Mechanics
– Rhyno and Corbin vs. The Hype Bros or Gable and Jordan
There was an NXT talent meeting held on September 3rd having to do with what we reported previously about talent not getting paid on the house for the successful NXT live events, including a $200,000 plus gate in San Jose, California.
The question was whether or not the talent would get paid for the huge gate in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center the night before WWE SummerSlam, as they sold out the venue as well, producing what had to be in the high six-figure range in terms of the gate.
Canyon Ceman told talent that they would not be paid for the Brooklyn show, or paid extra for the upcoming U.K. tour, noting that the overall NXT business model is losing money and they are all still getting paid their guarantees.
It was also noted that unlike the main roster talent, who have to pay for their road expenses, WWE does cover travel expenses for NXT talents when they work WWE live events, where they also get paid extra, and they also get road expenses covered for the first 90 days once they are on the main roster.
Several NXT talents took the idea of NXT being positioned as an alternate touring brand, which it basically is, seriously, and figured that they would be paid like an alternative brand, at least on the bigger events. Essentially, it is a third touring brand for the public, but to the talent, it’s still a developmental system.
Triple H returned to his old home, the WWE.com sit-down interview, in the 100th episode of Michael Cole’s weekly segment on WWE.com and WWE’s official YouTube Channel. This time out, Triple H (mostly out of character as Paul Levesque but still called Triple H)shared some of his thoughts on his baby, NXT.
When asked if he thought it was possible in advance that NXT could sell out the Barclay’s Center, he said:
I think you want to shoot for the stars with that stuff. And, yeah, I wanted to create sort of a counter brand, another brand for the WWE that we could build the future in and try to make it as big as possible. A lot of people even asked me just going into Brooklyn when Brooklyn was suggested, I originally balked at the idea. I felt like we could sell it out, I felt like the interest in the brand was there, and I felt like the desire to see it would be there, especially in the New York area being Brooklyn, but I was hesitant to do it. What I didn’t want to do is disappoint people and have them think it would sell out and then sell 10,000 tickets and have that be seen as a disappointment. So I played up [that] I didn’t believe in it a little bit but was excited that it did as well as it did.
In the interview, Triple H also talks about the presence of NXT alumni on the main roster, Sting’s impact on WWE, and more. There’s also a reference having lost 65 pounds in the last 11 months, which is pretty impressive of his part.
– The Dudley Boyz worked a dark match at the television taping on Tuesday night. Bubba Ray and Devon defeated the team of Heath Slater and Brad Maddox prior to the start of the Main Event and SmackDown tapings.
– The band “Bring Me The Horizon” from the United Kingdom will be at the NXT Takeover: Respect event on October 7th. Below they are with Corey Graves making the announcement.
– NXT Women’s Champion Bayley is getting prepared for her upcoming 30-minute Ironwoman Match against Sasha Banks at the NXT Takeover special in October. Below is a photo of Bayley studying the Rick Rude vs. Dustin Rhodes 30-minute Ironman Match from 1993.
Part-time NXT performer Blue Pants recently appeared as a guest on The Roman Show to talk about a number of topics. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On her WWE status: “I am something they never really have happened before, I’m a free agent. I come and go. You really never know when I’m going to pop up that’s the kind of appeal of Blue Pants. She’s the wacky next door neighbor. You really never know when she’s going to show up.”
On how the character came about: “It was kind of an accident, to be honest. They called me in. I was just going to be a girl to wrestle Carmella for her debut. I was standing there wearing the blue pants, while they were going over the promo and they decided, creative decided, well instead of having a normal debut, where she comes out I’m already out. Cass had a match and it didn’t really happen because their opponents turned on each other, so they didn’t even wrestle. They had all this time, and asked us if we wanted to wrestle. I asked Carmella if she wanted to wrestle and that’s how it literally happened.”
On who she wants to face: “I wrestled her in tag matches, I haven’t really wrestled her in singles matches, I would love to wrestle Paige one on one. I think that would be a really cool match. It’s been so long since we wrestled each other. Every time we wrestled, it was more like Re-Generation X vs the Knight Dynasty, so we never really had a one-on-one, so I think that would be really cool, plus we both have black and blue hair, so it’ll be kind of a cool pairing up.”
WWE taped another match for the NXT “Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic” tournament at the NXT live event this past Saturday night in Gainesville, Florida.
The match saw the team of Jason Jordan and Chad Gable defeat “The Mechanics” Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder to advance in the tournament.
With that now known, the following is a look at the updated brackets.
Bracket A – First Round Matches
– Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady defeated Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton
– Finn Balor and Samoa Joe defeated The Lucha Dragons
Bracket B – First Round Matches
– The Vaudevillians defeated Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy
– Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder defeated Tucker Knight and Elias Samson
Bracket C – First Round Matches
– Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder defeated Noah Kekoa and Alexander Wolfe
– Jason Jordan and Chad Gable defeated Neville and Solomon Crowe
Bracket D – First Round Matches
– Rhyno and Baron Corbin defeated The Ascension
– Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa defeated Tyler Breeze and Bull Dempsey
Bracket A – Second Round Matches
– Balor and Joe defeated Enzo and Cass
Bracket B – Second Round Matches
– The Vaudevillians vs. The Hype Bros.
Bracket C – Second Round Matches
– Gable and Jordan defeated The Mechanics
Bracket D – Second Round Matches
– Rhyno and Corbin defeated Gargano and Ciampa