Samoa Joe, who finally made his WWE debut at the NXT Takeover: Unstoppable event on Wednesday, is expected to work tonight’s NXT television tapings at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
For those wondering, Joe indeed agreed to a deal with WWE to work in NXT, and the effort to bring Joe in was said to be spearheaded by Triple H.
For now, Joe is scheduled to continue working existing and future independent dates that he has on the books. For example, Joe is still scheduled to work the JT Lightning Memorial Tournament this weekend in Cleveland, Ohio. Joe’s deal also includes a merchandise agreement.
While the deal could always grow into a full-fledged, exclusive-WWE deal, as of last night, it’s believed that Joe has not signed an exclusive deal with the company. While it is a new type of deal for WWE, they clearly thought Joe was someone that they could try this type of deal out with.
Speaking of Joe’s debut, he tweeted the following after appearing at the NXT special last night.
Wake up every morning KNOWING you are the Author of your own story. Your actions are the pen, make it interesting.
Samoa Joe addressed the NXT arena after last night’s TakeOver: Unstoppable show went off the air. Joe said it’s always been his point to compete in the hottest promotions in the world – and lately, people have been telling him NXT is the place with the most hungry, vicious, violent and excellent professional wrestlers in the world.
The show kicks off with Hideo Itami being attacked and injured in the parking lot. They announced on the show that he suffered a torn rotator cuff.
#1 Contenders Match – Tyler Breeze vs. Finn Balor
Breeze came out first, followed by Balor, who did his usual PPV entrance, which garnered “Holy Sh*t” and “That Was Awesome” chants before the match even began. In the end, Balor scored the pin to become the new number one contender for the NXT Championship.
Winner and NEW #1 Contender To NXT Championship: Finn Balor
Emma & Dana Brooke vs. Charlotte & Bayley
It’s time for Divas tag-team action. They kept this one short, with the ending seeing Charlotte using the Natural Selection on Emma while Emma hit Bayley with a “Belly To Bayley” suplex. Emma, by the way, has changed her look a little bit, wearing a new outfit and sporting a new hair style. Stephanie McMahon was shown in attendance before this match.
Winners: Charlotte & Bayley
Rhyno vs. Baron Corbin
Uhaa Nation is shown in the crowd, leading to a big “Uhaa” chant. Next up is Rhyno vs. Baron Corbin. In the end, Corbin picked up the “W” when Rhyno went for a Gore but Corbin clotheslined him and hit him with the End Of Days for the 1-2-3.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Backstage: Kevin Owens
Backstage, we get a Kevin Owens promo. Owens talks about defending his NXT title and dropping John Cena on Monday’s RAW, noting that he sent a message that his title is the real prize by stepping on Cena’s U.S. title. The fans chant “NXT.” He warns Sami Zayn not to show up tonight or it will be the last time anyone sees Zayn.
NXT Tag-Team Championship – Blake & Murphy vs. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy
This was kept pretty short for a title match. The finish saw Enzo and Cassidy set up their Rocket Launcher finisher when Alexa Bliss came out and turned heel, attacking Carmella. This distracted Colin, as he went out of the ring and ate a super kick from Murphy. Bliss pulled Enzo off the top, crotching himself, leading to Blake scoring the pin. Afterwards, Blake, Murphy and Bliss celebrated together.
Winners: Blake & Murphy
NXT Women’s Championship – Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch
Up next is the NXT Women’s title match. This was an excellent match. Banks ended up scoring the win after hitting Lynch with the Divorce Court off of the top rope and applying the Bank Statement cross-face for the tap out victory.
NXT Championship – Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
These two had an excellent match. The story at the end was that Owens hit his power bomb on Zayn on the apron, which led to the announcers selling it like Zayn’s shoulder went out and the match pretty much ended at that point. Owens continued to attack Zayn and refusing to stop until Samoa Joe came out. Joe and Owens go face-to-face. The crowd went nuts, but ultimately, Owens backed down and walked away.
Samoa Joe made his NXT debut at the conclusion of Wednesday night’s NXT Takeover: Unstoppable live WWE Network special.
Kevin Owens was mercilessly beating down Sami Zayn as multiple referees and NXT GM William Regal getting involved. As Owens was getting ready to finish Zayn off with a chair, music began playing and out walked Samoa Joe. He was wearing a t-shirt that said “Samoa Joe” and the announcers referred to him as Samoa Joe, so he thankfully won’t be getting a new NXT name-generator ring name.
The crowd went apesh*t as Samoa Joe and NXT Champion Kevin Owens went face to face in what was truly a mark out moment. Owens eventually backed down, saying “not now” to a feud that could be the best thing WWE produces this year.
It’s worth noting that Triple H was asked about Joe signing with WWE earlier this week. He put Joe over as a tremendous performer, he said that he wasn’t sure if they would do business together or not.
Regarding the injury situation in WWE right now, the company is remaining very quiet in terms of disclosing information on the status of Daniel Bryan’s condition.
While specifics aren’t quite clear just yet, the word going around is that things are looking negative regarding Bryan’s future as an active pro wrestler. It’s been said that he is expected to be out a long time and it’s possible he may never be able to return, however as of May 18th there has been no definitive medical update on him.
Triple H acknowledged that Hideo Itami was injured during his conference call to promote the NXT Takeover: Unstoppable live WWE Network special, noting that he would be on the show in some capacity, but not actually wrestling.
It’s said that Itami’s injury was a fluke situation and not a case of wear-and-tear, which is said to be an issue troubling WWE these days among many of the wrestlers.
– Chris Jericho noted via social media that his rock band Fozzy will be going on tour with legendary rock and roll group Kiss as part of their “The Kiss Kruise V” tour. Jericho tweeted the following:
– After teasing that he could be the ECW surprise at the NXT live events in Philadelphia and Albany this past weekend, Bully Ray is back to leading fans to speculate with his latest social media appearance. On Twitter today, Bully teased a potential feud with NXT Champion Kevin Owens. He tweeted the following:
– The A.V. Club website is listing tonight’s NXT Takeover: Unstoppable special as their “Top Pick” for what to watch on television for Wednesday, May 20th. The blurb on the site reads as follows:
WWE NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable (WWE Network, 8 p.m.): TV Club sports entertainment coverage expands with the introduction of NXT to the A.V. Club Universe. Tonight marks the latest live NXT TakeOver special—in a month where the WWE Network is free, by the way—which is guaranteed to be the best WWE has to offer for weeks (maybe even months). The main event is part of a story 15 years in the making, as long time best friends and rivals Kevin Owens (father of Owen Owens) and Sami Zayn (protegé of El Generico) face-off in a NXT Championship rematch. LaToya Ferguson begins her weekly coverage of WWE NXT with this event, because sometimes dreams do come true.
– Speaking of tonight’s NXT special, WWE.com is reporting that Tyler Breeze will be using the social media App “Periscope” to provide a special look at his ring entrance at tonight’s show. Periscope is a new App that allows you to live stream video from your Twitter account.
– Stephanie McMahon tweeted a link to her father Vince McMahon appearing on the David Letterman show back in 1985. Check out the video below.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated his official blog with some of his latest thoughts. Below are some highlights.
On NXT Takeover: Unstoppable: “I will catch the WWE NXT Takeover show on the WWE Network late tonight but I fully expect it to be a stellar show. Not sure of the heath of Sami Zayn as he’s set to take on Kevin Owens but if both are 100% this could be the best match in WWE this year on any event. Loved Owens impactful debut on RAW this week and he’s ready to continue to get himself noticed with a great performance tonight. I’m a big fan of both talents and only hope that they have long term creative plans in place which is imperative once the newness of their TV personas wear off and it will.”
On Samoa Joe: “If WWE eventually signs Samoa Joe, a no brainer to me, and he’s added to the talents that are already in NXT turning heads, this brand takes another giant step forward. In a perfect world and putting my old creative hat back on, tonight would be a wonderful opportunity to debut Joe on live tV on the WWE Network. That may not be in the cards just yet but one can fantasy book all one wants which is one way that I can fulfill my own personal needs to stay involved in the business that I love in addition to our Ross Report Podcasts and our RINGSIDE w/ Jim Ross Shows. Once the biz is in one’s blood, it’s hard to simply walk away and stop thinking about it. I don’t see that ever happening to me, for better or for worse.”
On Impact Wrestling changing nights: “Does TNA’s mov to Wednesday nights on the hard to find Destination America spell the death knell for the battling brand? Many industry insiders think so but I certainly hope not. Destination America did TNA no favors by making this move even though airing on Wednesday night is a better night of the week than Fridays. Good luck to my many friends at Impact Wrestling as 2015 is a critical year for their survival.”
– Nikki Bella will be defending the WWE Divas Championship against Naomi and Paige in a triple-threat match at the WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on Sunday, May 31st in Corpus Christi, Texas.
– Following his conference call on Wednesday, Triple H will be hosting a Twitter Q&A this afternoon to promote tonight’s NXT Takeover: Unstoppable event.
– Speaking of tonight’s NXT event, NXT Champion Kevin Owens tweeted the following to hype his main event match against Sami Zayn.
– Stephanie McMahon is scheduled to be at NXT Takeover: “Unstoppable” tonight.
– Ahead of tonight’s NXT special, WWE has released new t-shirts for Hideo Itami, Enzo Amore and Big Cass and Becky Lynch, which says “Lass Licker.”
– Real-life WWE couple Stardust (Cody Rhodes) and ring announcer Eden recently bought a house together in Texas and noted that they plan to move into the home this week.
– On social media, WWE Diva Paige praised third generation wrestler Tessa Blanchard, daughter of WWE Hall Of Famer Tully Blanchard. Paige tweeted the following:
WWE NXT presents TakeOver: Unstoppable tonight live on the WWE Network. Previous TakeOver events have set the bar incredibly high and there’s no doubt we’re in for another can’t miss show.
The action kicks off at 7:30pm EST with the TakeOver: Unstoppable Pre-Show, hosted by Corey Graves, Renee Young and Byron Saxton.
Following Triple H’s announcement that Hideo Itami has been pulled from the #1 Contender’ match due to his shoulder injury, here is the updated lineup:
NXT Championship Match
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Sami Zayn
NXT Women’s Championship Match
Sasha Banks (c) vs. Becky Lynch
NXT Tag Team Championship Match
Blake & Murphy (c) vs. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady
NXT Championship No. 1 Contender’s Match
Finn Bálor vs. Tyler Breeze
Triple H noted during today’s conference call that Sami Zayn has been cleared and will face Kevin Owens on Wednesday night at the NXT Takeover: “Unstoppable” live special on the WWE Network.
“The Game” also noted during the call that Matt Bloom has officially been promoted to head coach, which we had already pretty much known, and that Sara Amato will be the number two trainer as assistant coach, as well as working as an agent and producer.
– In addition to the previously reported Chris Jericho vs. Finn Balor match scheduled for an upcoming WWE live event, Jericho is also officially booked to work a match against “King” Bad News Barrett at the San Diego live event on Friday, July 31st.
– Tommy Dreamer, who worked the NXT live events in Philadelphia and Albany this weekend, losing to Baron Corbin at both shows, acknowledged the fact that he appeared on a NXT show and a TNA show (Impact Wrestling) on the same night this past Friday. Dreamer compared it to Rick Rude appearing on RAW and Nitro on the same night during the Monday Night Wars. He tweeted the following:
I appeared on @IMPACTWRESTLING & @WWENXT last night. I'm just like Rick Rude minus the muscles & abs. What I'd like to have right now is..
– Speaking of the NXT Albany event on Saturday night, Triple H tweeted the following photo of Kevin Owens making his entrance for the triple-threat main event with Finn Balor and Tyler Breeze, which he went on to win via pinfall.
– Finn Balor’s ring entrance was screwed up during the NXT live event in Albany, New York on Saturday night. NXT had a few issues with the sound system throughout the show, but the most glaring issue came during Balor’s entrance for the main event. Tyler Breeze came out first to his usual ring music and had to stall in the ring for several minutes while the NXT production crew was presumably working on fixing whatever the issue was. Unfortunately, they didn’t fix it fast enough, so Balor ended up coming out to no music. By the time he hit the ring and was posing in the corners, his music finally played. Kevin Owens would follow as the third competitor in the triple-threat main event, and by that point, the audio issues had been cleared up.
Balor tweeted the following about his entrance mix-up on Saturday, and re-tweeted the following video of the entrance itself.
– NXT Diva Bayley’s boyfriend Aaron Solow posted the following audition video for the new season of WWE Tough Enough. In the video, Solow addresses the fact that he’s dating Bayley in real life.
– Brie Bella ended up working the WWE live event in Atlantic City on Saturday night, so apparently whatever injury she suffered during the Friday show wasn’t that bad, or she wasn’t injured at all and it was simply part of the match.
– WWE filed a trademark for former NXT Champion Sami Zayn back on May 12th.
– The new NXT head trainer Jason Albert tweeted the following message about NXT’s three live events outside of Florida this weekend. WWE ran two NXT events in Philadelphia and one in Albany, New York this weekend.
So very proud of all the men and women of #NXT. For 3 straight nights they all tore the house down and left it all on the line. #proudcoach
– Triple H will be hosting a conference call on Tuesday morning to promote Wednesday’s NXT Takeover: Unstoppable live special on the WWE Network.
– Speaking of Wednesday’s “Unstoppable” special, the pre-show is scheduled to begin on the WWE Network at 7:30pm EST. The hosts of the pre-show will be Renee Young, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton. There is no post-show scheduled at this point.
– Tommy Dreamer announced that The Young Bucks and Rhyno will be appearing on his next “House Of Hardcore” event, which is scheduled for Saturday, July 18th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Former TNA star Jesse Sorensen recently appeared as a guest on the Pancakes and Powerslams Podcast to talk about how he parted ways with TNA and if he has interest in joining NXT.
Below are some highlights from the interview:
On whether there were legitimate hard feelings with Zema Ion: “It was up and down. The thing that fired me up and wanted to wrestle again was TNA used my story of breaking my neck to get Zema over, which was cool. Owen Hart did it with Stone Cold, so it happens, but I hadn’t talked to anybody from TNA about that or anything. I was like, ‘oh I’ll watch TNA,’ and I turned it on and watched that and was like, ‘Oh, wrestling is gonna get a bit real when I come back.’ I didn’t talk to him for probably six months after I broke my neck. Him and I got on the phone and talked for about an hour and squashed everything. I think we both kinda put each other in each other’s shoes. From my situation, I thought I was just sitting at home with a broken neck and this dude just didn’t call me, and the way I thought of it is if I did that to him, I would be calling everyday. He felt so bad that he didn’t know what to say, so that was why I never heard from him. So we squashed it and we’re cool now.”
On what happened in between that time that eventually led to his TNA release: “I did learn a lot from [the backstage position], but I always wanted to wrestle and be a wrestler. I remember sending videos like every week to Bruce Prichard and Dixie [Carter] of me wrestling, but it never seemed to go anywhere. I don’t know on there end if creative just didn’t have something planned for me or what the deal was. But I was appreciative of my time there, doing the production thing, and although I did want to come back and wrestle there, I guess it wasn’t what they had planned at the time. I guess they were doing budget cuts and my position wasn’t really needed.”
On whether it’s a desire of his to be on NXT: “Actually, I watch NXT every week and that product has gotten huge. It’s its own WWE, pretty much. The people they have there are really talented wrestlers. They have a lot of names that came from Ring of Honor and the indy scene that are really cool, and I see a lot of guys on there that I know I can have good matches with. And, if that opportunity presents itself, that would be something I’d definitely consider. I know there was a point were people were kinda wondering who the next stars are gonna be, but NXT stepped up and showed them that they’re gonna be just fine.”
NXT Diva Bayley recently spoke with AfterBuzz TV about a number of topics. Below are some highlights from the interview.
On how it’s different working with Sara Del Rey compared to the male NXT trainers and how Del Rey has changed the women’s division down at NXT: “I’ve trained with men before I got here and now training with Sara…Sara understand the women’s side of you too…It’s always been kind of a dream to train with Sara Del Rey. Even before I got here, before Sara was the trainer, I remember emailing her, wanting to move actually to Philly, wanting to move to wherever she was to train under her wing and learn from her. It’s really cool that now I do.”
On getting started in pro wrestling: “There was this whole promotion by my house, it was called Big Time Wrestling in Newark, California. I started going to their shows when I was 13…I would go to every single one of them. I knew once I turned 18, because that was their age limit, I wanted to start training with them. So I showed up and the promoter [Jason Styles] because I actually got close to him throughout the years, the promoter actually sat down with me and called my mom and asked her if it was okay, ‘So I have Bayley here with me and she wants to start training. Does she have your permission?’ And she’s like, ‘Well, it scares me but she’s right there in front of you and I’m going to support her the rest of the way.’ I was the only girl in the class, I started with four other guys, but within a month they were gone. So I had been the only girl for such a long time.”
On what she wants her WWE legacy to be: “This started as I was a kid, since I started training. The thing I want out of it is for women’s wrestling to be looked at in a whole other way. I want us to be able to main event pay per views. I want people to buy tickets to come see us. I want them to buy a ticket and say, ‘I want to see Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky, Bayley, everybody.’ I want them to buy tickets to see us. But the main thing, and I think all of us here, we just want the girls in the crowd, the kids to feel motivated or inspired to do whatever they want to do. It doesn’t have to be wrestling.
On why she enjoys working with Charlotte: “I mean, Charlotte is amazing. Who wouldn’t want to team up with Charlotte? I’ve been in so many battles with her, so I know what it’s like to be against her, because I’ve failed so many times. One day I will beat her. I know what a great competitor she is…she’s a Flair. We have a really good chemistry together, no matter if we’re against each other in the ring or if we’re teaming up together, we just have a really good bond.”
Chris Jericho will be wrestling Finn Balor at the upcoming WWE live event in Tokyo, Japan on July 4th.
Originally, Jericho requested to work with Hideo Itami because he wanted to work a match that would be special to the Japanese fans. When Itami went down with an injury, Jericho then asked to work with Balor.
Speaking of Itami, despite his injury, he is still scheduled to head to Japan at the end of May to do some promotional work for WWE during their tour.
NXT has added a tag-team match with Bayley and Charlotte against Emma and Dana Brooke to next Wednesday’s NXT Takeover: Unstoppable event, which airs live on the WWE Network from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
As of this writing, despite their respective injuries, both Hideo Itami and Sami Zayn are still advertised for their originally scheduled matches on the show.
With that said, below is a look at the latest official lineup for NXT Takeover: Unstoppable:
NXT Championship Match
– Kevin Owens (c) vs. Sami Zayn
NXT Women’s Championship Match
– Sasha Banks (c) vs. Becky Lynch
NXT Tag Team Championship Match
– Blake and Murphy (c) vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass
Triple Threat #1 Contenders Match
– Hideo Itami vs. Finn Balor vs. Tyler Breeze
– Baron Corbin vs. Rhyno
– Emma and Dana Brooke vs. Bayley and Charlotte
Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com for the best NXT Takeover: Unstoppable live results coverage on the we
As of Saturday’s NXT live event in Orlando, WWE is still advertising a NXT Championship match between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens for their upcoming NXT Takeover event on May 20th.
WWE is not expected to officially announce Zayn’s status for the show until after next Wednesday’s NXT episode.
Zayn, as noted earlier this week, suffered an injury while hyping the crowd up prior to his match with John Cena at Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.
NXT Champion Kevin Owens recently spoke with Vaughn Johnson of Philly.com to promote the upcoming NXT live event in Philadelphia. Below are some highlights from the interview.
On returning to Philly: “To come with NXT as NXT champion is cool because the last time I was in Philly it was with Ring of Honor and I knew it was the last time I’d be coming to Philly with Ring of Honor. In my head I didn’t know when I’d be back in Philly. Now to do it with WWE, with NXT and as the champion, it’s a pretty good feeling.”
On learning at the WWE Performance Center: “Everything I knew, and I think I knew quite bit, it was still nothing compared to the wealth of knowledge that NXT and the Performance Center allows you to have access to. If you think you know everything when you get there you’re in for a big surprise. I didn’t know everything, I knew I didn’t know everything and I was so excited to get to learn from all of those people.”
On the NXT brand being praised: “I think [the praise is] well-deserved. Everybody works so hard. I see it everyday. That’s the thing. People watch NXT once a week on the [WWE] Network, and they see one hour of the work we put in. I see every single day the people that are there working hard. The praise that we get is not surprising because we work really hard. We’re going to put on a show Thursday with the knowledge that Friday we have to be better because we have to live up to what we do Thursday and we know we’re going to kick ass on Thursday, so Friday we have to make that even better and we will.”
– WWE Hall Of Famer Bruno Sammartino’s new documentary, “Bruno Sammartino: La Mia Mama,” premieres on Sunday, May 10th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The documentary, which focuses on his childhood and his family, airs on the CBS affiliate KDKA from 4-6pm and will be replayed from 8-10pm on the local CW station. Sammartino talks about the documentary in a new interview, which is available now at CBSLocal.com.
– The Rock’s cousin, Lina, made her official in-ring debut at a NXT Diva at the NXT live event in Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday night. Lina worked a six-Divas tag-match on the show. Below is a photo of her at the event.
