SUMMERSLAM LIVE COVERAGE THIS SUNDAY
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BE HERE Sunday Night for SEScoops' LIVE COVERAGE of WWE SummerSlam

SEScoops’ Official Summerslam Preview & Predictions
by The Solomonster (thesolomonster@gmail.com)

WWE’s 23rd annual Summerslam will emanate this Sunday, August 15th, from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, it’s home the last two years and likely for many years to come. Summerslam has had its share of great matches and memorable moments over the last several years, but I can’t help but think the event has lost much of the luster it once had. On top of that, WWE pay-per-view buyrates have hit near rockbottom lows these past few months. On a positive note, we’ve also had a focused, lengthy storyline that revolves around a bunch of fresh faces in the main event picture, which has been a welcome change. But now, these rookies need to actually, you know… work a real match, and a PPV main event at that.

Will Summerslam mark the end of the Nexus storyline, or do they have an ace up their sleeve and a way to drag this out for another couple of months while keeping them strong with a victory? Let’s run down the card with some predictions:

Dolph Ziggler (c) v. Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Title

Congrats to Dolph, who while he can’t sing for shit, finally won the big one when he defeated Kofi Kingston for the IC title. Of course, when you keep feeding title shots to the same person over and over, he’s bound to win one at some point. Hence why titles mean nothing. Regardless, it would be ridiculous to take the title off Ziggler so soon after finally capturing it, so he has my vote to retain.

Big Show vs. CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury, 3-on-1 Handicap Match

CM Punk has been fantastic these past few months, in spite of his elbow injury, and his facials during the unmasking a few weeks back on Smackdown was a true gem. That said, I know he’s been hurt, but it makes me sad to see where Punk is on the card this year relative to where he was just one year ago, winning the World title from Jeff Hardy in a fantastic TLC Match. It would be far worse to see he and his Straight Edge Society squashed 3-on-1 by Big Show in this match. They may not be made to look strong, but I can’t see them losing in the end, so I predict victory for the SES. For the love of god, re-hire Colt “Don’t Call Me Scotty Goldman” Cabana and have him interfere as the newest member of Punk’s crew because, shaved head or not, he deserves the chance and is to Punk what Abbott was to Costello. What an act those two would make.

Alicia Fox (c) v. Melina for the Divas Championship

Melina made her triumphant return to Raw two weeks ago and was immediately thrust into a non-title match with the champion… on free TV one week before the PPV. Alrighty then. Now the title is on the line and Melina has her hands full in trying to avoid Alicia’s AXE KICK OF DEATH, which has overtaken Randy Orton’s punt as the most dangerous maneuver in WWE (at least in terms of the way it is executed). I honestly believe she is going to accidentally decapitate someone one of these days with that kick and heads are going to roll… literally, roll right out of the ring and onto the floor. Anyway, Melina just came back and they really don’t have another big name diva for her to feud with just yet unless they turn Eve heel, so my bet is that Alicia retains here.

Kane (c) v. Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship

Kane fans rejoice, he has held on to the World title for longer than 24 hours… eat that, Stone Cold! With that out of the way, I don’t think anyone expects Rey Mysterio to cleanly defeat Kane for his THIRD World title reign. Note my use of the word “clean” – it’s painfully obvious that VEGETABLE UNDERTAKER will (sprout?) from the grave once more and make his presence felt either during or after this match. Does he have to be there in the flesh? Of course not. We’ve seen Kane get flummoxed before just by the sound of his brother’s dong (boy, poor choice of words there) or the sight of a spooky TitanTron video, so perhaps a well-placed distraction allows Mysterio to cradle Kane for the victory. Or maybe Undertaker does, in fact, show up and beats the piss out of his younger brother. I predict Undertaker WILL make his presence felt in some way, shape or form, which is hardly a shocking prediction. However, I say Kane retains the title. I didn’t say he wins the match, per se, but no way he drops the strap here. It’s just too soon and dammit, he deserves more time before Undertaker obliterates him!

Sheamus (c) v. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship

The stipulation here is that if anyone interferes in the match on the champion’s behalf, they will be suspended. Conversely, if Orton should lose, he gets no rematch and moves back down to the bottom of the food chain. And really, why not? If you are the challenger to the title and you fall short, what entitles you to a rematch, anyway? I must say, their first singles encounter earlier this year at the Royal Rumble did not blow me away, but it wasn’t a bad match. Sheamus has improved a great deal since that time and I think this could be the sleeper match of the show. He and Orton shined big time during their segment on Raw this past Monday, which essentially was just each man saying he’s going to beat the other because the title means that much to them. Quite a simple formula, no? Sheamus retains, perhaps on some sort of flukey DQ finish that allows Orton to get a rematch anyway at the Night of Champions PPV.

7-on-6 Elimination Match
Team WWE (John Cena, Bret Hart, Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth and ?) vs. Nexus (Wade Barrett, David Otunga, Michael Tarver, Skip Sheffield, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater and Darren Young)

Survivor Series comes early with this rare elimination tag bout that may have big-time storyline repercussions, unless they kill it dead. This will be a huge test for Nexus, who find themselves in the biggest match of their lives. Barrett has clearly been the standout performer on the mic, and from what we’ve seen of him inside the ring, he’s acceptable. But the rest of the group is a big question mark. Fortunately, any weaknesses they may have can more easily be hidden in a format like this.

Meanwhile, after weeks of falling apart at the seams, Team WWE appeared united at the end of Raw this past Monday. Bret “Batman” Hart takes the place of an injured Ricky Steamboat as the resident legend on this team, and while he won’t be able to do much, he still brings some added starpower to this match. The question is, unless his team wins and he is one of the lone survivors (which would be a mistake), how do you eliminate him? A count-out or DQ of some sort would seem to make sense. Unless of course, Bret were to cost his team the match and go heel. General consensus seems to be that someone is turning heel this Sunday, which doesn’t mean it will happen, but it would certainly add intrigue to things and give Nexus the win they need to keep this storyline going for a few more months. For what it’s worth, I don’t believe it will be Bret Hart. If anyone’s going heel, it’s John Morrison. As if the scruffy beard on Monday wasn’t a sign, it’s painfully obvious that when it comes to promos at least, Morrison is much better as a heel. Would Cena screw over his own team? That would hardly make sense, and while I’d love to see him go heel, it doesn’t seem like the right time for it.

Which brings us to the seventh man. Last Monday, Nexus became babyfaces (to me anyway) by taking The Great Khali out of this match by attacking his knee. That leaves Team WWE at a disadvantage and the question is who, if anyone, will fill Khali’s shoes? Well, literally, nobody can fill his shoes, but I do expect Miz to play into this. Whether he actually accepts the spot or not, he should be there and deserves to be there. It makes for an interesting little twist, regardless of who it turns out to be, and it should be fun to see how they handle this. Remember, Evan Bourne doesn’t have a match on Sunday… just saying.

This entire Nexus angle appears to be building to something bigger, and before Triple H went down with yet another injury, there was serious talk of either he or John Cena going heel to align with the group. That could still happen, but it’s unlikely to happen on Sunday. Whatever happens, Nexus HAS to win this match. This show should do a far better buyrate than their most recent PPV offerings and there is more money to be made if they play their cards right. Remember, Team WWF got screwed over by Steve Austin and lost to Team WCW/ECW at the Invasion PPV back in 2001 (a show that did the company’s biggest buyrate ever for a non-Mania show). Granted, they greatly bungled the invasion storyline after that, but they were able to keep things going through Survivor Series that year. Being that they’re already giving away the elimination match, why not build to a WAR GAMES match in November? Make it happen!

So, what do YOU think will happen this Sunday at Summerslam? Will you be ordering the event and why? Leave your comments below and let your voice be heard!

Influential Capitol Hill news operation Politico has a story on Linda McMahon entitled WWE just a ‘soap opera’. It is titled as such due to the Republican Senate candidate referring to World Wrestling Entertainment as a soap opera upon being asked on Nightline if she was “creeped out” by an instance in which her daughter Stephanie walked into the ring as the crowd chanted “slut.”

“You have to think about… the WWE as soap operas,” McMahon responded.

“It was acting and WWE is the longest-running weekly episodic program in television. Sure, there are story lines that are better than others,” she said, adding that voters in Connecticut “are not concerned about soap opera story lines.”

To read Politco.com’s story, click here.

World Wrestling Entertainment spokesperson Robert Zimmerman contacted the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday to dispute elements of its story on Nightline profiling former WWE CEO Linda McMahon.

Zimmerman disputed a note on WWE lacking adequate steroid testing and Nightline referring to the lack of health care and pensions for former performers. Zimmerman said WWE does have an abuse and drug testing policy, which was reinstated in 2006.

He also noted that its Talent Wellness Program provides some medical services for performers under contract, but they are expected to pay for any non wrestling related health care services. Retired performers are not covered.

To read the story, click here.

Among the topics discussed in Chris Jericho’s upcoming autobiography, Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Steps, is that of Chris Benoit. He offers insight into the man he previously considered a friend.

Regarding Benoit’s peculiar sense of humor, the rough draft states: “Not a giggle, not a chuckle, not a tee-hee…never went ‘Ha.’ But when somebody threw up or fell down the stairs, he would laugh out loud for hours on end.”

On being his friend, Jericho said while they were close, it wasn’t easy.

The rough draft states: “I considered Chris to be one of my closest companions, but it wasn’t always easy to be his friend. You had to take the good with the bad when it came to his friendship.”

Upon learning of the Benoit family death, Jericho notes: “My gut feeling was Chris had killed them.”

The book also features discussion of his arrival to WWE, the highs and lows, his relationship with Vince McMahon, the creation of Fozzy, and more. The book is set for release on February 16, 2011.

For more details on the book, click here.

— Sky TV noted in an e-mail promoting Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view that Lay-Cool would be wrestling Tiffany and Kelly Kelly in a tag match at the event. It was also said that a Six-Pack Challenge for the Intercontinental Title involving Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Christian, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes and Matt Hardy was on tap for the show. However, it appears there has been a change of plans in regards to the Six-Pack Challenge as it was announced at last night’s SmackDown television taping in San Jose that Ziggler would solely be defending his belt against Kingston. Meanwhile, the Lay-Cool vs. Tiffany and Kelly Kelly was reportedly not announced at the taping.

— Matches scheduled to take place on tomorrow night’s episode of WWE Superstars are as follows:

* Goldust & Yoshi Tatsu vs. Jimmy & Jey Uso
* Chavo Guerrero vs. Chris Masters
* Michelle McCool vs. Kelly Kelly

— The July 30 edition of Friday Night SmackDown scored a 1.6 rating with 2.76 million viewers. The episode featured Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger in a No Disqualification Match.

source: PWInsider.com

— Regarding Ricky Steamboat’s health, he is expected to make a full physical recovery but will never wrestle again. The WWE Hall of Famer has been able to work out on an elliptical machine, but is prohibited from lifting anything heavier than five pounds.

— Tickets to Sunday’s SummerSlam at the Staples Center in Los Angeles are sold out.

— Saturday’s Raw live event in San Diego, CA drew 5,500 paying $215,000. Sunday’s show in San Bernardino, CA drew 2,000 people for $65,000.

— Beginning with a SmackDown live event on Dec. 4, WWE will hold all Las Vegas shows at the Orleans Arena Thomas, as opposed to the Thomas & Mack Center. The Orleans Arena is approximately half the size of the Thomas & Mack Center as the multi-purpose arena holds 9,500.

source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Earlier today, reports surfaced that Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were leaving TNA Wrestling.

A Twitter account that claimed to be Hulk Hogan (and was verified & linked to on Eric Bischoff’s Twitter page) announced that he and Eric Bischoff were parting ways with TNA Wrestling. The person claiming to be Hulk Hogan eventually admitted that he was a fake – but had ‘worked’ Eric Bischoff, Dixie Carter, Bubba The Love Sponge.

The fake Hogan wrote:

“I know you’ve heard the rumors brothers and they are true. Eric and I are leaving TNA on a mutual basis. I just got out of meetings now.” TNA has a new leadership coming in. Make sure you Hulkamaniacs still support them. TNA needs the power of Hulkamania to live on brothers.”

“Thank you Dixie and Bob Carter for the wonderful and positive experiences in TNA. Nothing but the best to you guys. Brothers, this isn’t the last of me though. You’ll be able to see me at “Hulk Hogan & Friends” events on tour soon.”

Eric Bischoff has posted on his Twitter page that the Hulk Hogan Twitter page saying that he and Bischoff were leaving TNA is a fake.He wrote:  “The Hogan twitter site that I posted is a fake one. Hulk IS getting a Twitter page up, but the most recent post is a fake. I will post the REAL page info as soon as we get it. Sorry for the confusion. The Hulk Hogan twitter posts are fake. Hulk IS in the process of setting up a page, but has not as yet. The rumors of us leaving TNA are bogus. ”

The funny thing is – Bischoff himself is the one who announced “Hulk Hogan joins Twitter” on his own Twitter page, with a link to the fake Hogan’s page.

Dixie Carter wrote: “Recent twitter of Hulk Hogan leaving TNA is bogus. To what extreme people will go.”

The guy who is running the fake Hulk Hogan Twitter is now claiming to be a disgruntled TNA employee upset with the Hogan-Bischoff regime, writing:

“I am not Hulk Hogan, but I am a TNA wrestler who got Eric, BTLS, Jarrett, and Dixie to think I was Hogan.. I rallied everyone in to get my true message out in anonymous fashion, b/c any other way on any media platform there would be consequences. ”

“@EBischoff GOT WORKED BROTHERS! He publishes information before even verifying its accuracy. How can someone like this even try to run TNA?!” and “That piece of s*** @BTLSRadio GOT WORKED TOO!”

On the basis of Eric Bischoff’s original announcement that Hulk Hogan’s Twitter account was “realhulkhogan” – SEScoops ran with the story that Hogan & Bischoff were leaving TNA. We apologize for the confusion – this has been a wild story to watch develop to say the least!

Linda McMahon is the Republican nominee for the vacant United States Senate seat in Connecticut. Following her big win on Tuesday night to secure that nomination, Linda McMahon spoke to CNN.com about whether her Democratic opponent will use her wrestling past against her.

“As my opponents talked more and more about the WWE and issues that may have been relative to programming content …instead of focusing on the issues, I talked about tissues and continued to gain momentum,” McMahon told CNN Wednesday morning.

“If my opponents want to talk about soap opera content instead of focusing on issues, I will win again in November,” she added.

Democrats have already drawn attention to WWE’s controversial programming and the countless wrestler deaths in recent years. Linda says it’s more important to focus on what WWE is doing today to protect its workers.

“The men and women that perform at WWE really are the primary assets of the WWE. And we want to protect them at all costs,” she said. “Doctors that travel with them…trainers that travel with them. We have a very comprehensive drug testing program. Let’s look at where WWE is today.”

– WWE brought its NXT contestant total to five this week, officially eliminating Lucky Cannon from the show.

While Cannon’s elimination was reasonably expected, the NXT Poll was not entirely in line with predictions–Alex Riley, considered a frontrunner to at least make it to the final elimination, dropped to number five in the poll, falling behind even Husky Harris.

The poll results were as follows:

1) Kaval
2) Michael McGillicutty
3) Percy Watson
4) Husky Harris
5) Alex Riley
6) Lucky Cannon

Two wrestlers will be eliminated next week.

– Randy Orton appeared on TBS’ Lopez Tonight on Tuesday and gave a very candid interview. Orton showed photos of him as a baby being held by Andre The Giant. Orton also talked about how his daughter is a fan of Big Show, Sheamus and John Cena before him and how she calls Cena “The Naked Baby.”

R-Truth also appeared on Lopez Tonight last night and took part in WWE Karaoke Week. Truth performed the song Kryptonite by the band Three Doors Down. David Otunga will be appearing tomorrow night and The Miz will be on Thursday night.

Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon won the Republican US Senate Primary in Connecticut on Tuesday night, taking almost 50% of the vote. She will now have to face Democrat Richard Blumenthal in November with the winner getting a US Senate seat for that state.

Linda released the following statement after her victory last night:

“Tonight, I am honored to have earned the support of Republicans around Connecticut. Since I entered this race eleven months ago, we have crisscrossed this great state and attended over 660 meetings and events, where I have had the opportunity to hear from voters and better understand their issues and concerns. And unlike someone else in this race, I didn’t need to fly to Vancouver to do it. I understand that people are hurting because I see it all around this state. And I know what that feels like because I’ve been there before.

“This election is about jobs. The American Dream is threatened, but Washington continues its reckless spending, massive debt, and tax increases. Washington is suffocating small businesses and killing jobs. This is not only threatening our well-being, but also the well-being of our children and grandchildren. It’s time for something different.

“I’m honored to have earned my Party’s nomination, and I am determined to lead our Party to victory in November.”

Congratulations to Linda and good luck to her in November!

SUMMERSLAM LIVE COVERAGE THIS SUNDAY
BE HERE Sunday – Nonstop Detailed Updates During The Whole show!

At Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings, it was announced that new Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler will defend against Kofi Kingston.

With that match set, the following is the updated line-up for WWE’s SummerSlam 2010, taking place this Sunday, August 15.

Elimination Tag Team Match
Team WWE (John Cena, Bret Hart, R-Truth, John Morrison & ???) vs. The Nexus (Wade Barrett, Skip Sheffield, Michael Tarver, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Darren Young and David Otunga)

WWE Championship Match
Sheamus (c) vs. Randy Orton

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Kane (c) vs. Rey Mysterio

WWE Divas Championship Match
Alicia Fox (c) vs. Melina

WWE Intercontinental Title Match:
Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Kofi Kingston

3-on-1 Handicap Match
Big Show vs. The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury)

Source: PWInsider.com

– This week’s episode of WWE RAW, the “go home” show before Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view, did a 3.3 cable rating and averaged 4.6 million viewers.  The show did hours of 3.23 and 3.45.

– Randy Orton has been one of the top three trending topics on Twitter for the last four weeks. Orton is the only wrestling-related term that’s been trending.

– Dolph Ziggler kicked off “WWE Superstar Karaoke Week” last night on George Lopez’s TBS show as a promotion for SummerSlam. Zigler sand Right Said Fred’s song “I’m Too Sexy.” Randy Orton and R-Truth appear on the show tonight.

WWE has announced that the stars of the new movie “Going the Distance: – Justin Long, Charlie Day & Jason Sudeikis – will be hosting next week’s episode of Monday Night RAW.

In Going the Distance, which hits theaters Aug. 27, Long plays Garrett, a newly-single New Yorker who hits it off with Erin (Drew Barrymore), a young woman from San Francisco. Neither thinks this apparent summer fling will last, but when Erin heads home to California and Garrett is forced to stay in Manhattan for his job, they soon learn that their feelings for one another are deeper than they imagined. Although his best friends Box (Sudeikis) and Dan (Day) give him grief for investing in a long-distance romance, Garrett is determined to make it work – even if it requires a full-time relationship with his cell phone. Can Long, Day & Sudeikis maintain some semblance of order on Raw 24 hours after SummerSlam? Tune in to find out.

WWE has also removed celebrities Penn and Teller from the upcoming RAW host listing. The duo was scheduled to host the September 20th episode of RAW but apparently that’s changes.

The only hosts listed after the cast of Going The Distance is Bobb’e J. Thompson on October 18th and Toby Keith on October 25th.

Here’s a recap of what you didn’t see at Monday’s WWE RAW:

Dark Match:

Vladimir Kozlov beat Primo

Superstars Matches:

Yoshi Tatsu and Goldust wrestled The Uso Twins

After RAW Went Off The Air:

Nexus ran back to the ring to brawl with Team RAW. The RAW stars cleared the ring except for Justin Gabriel. They all took turns beating Gabriel up before Edge speared him, John Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment and Bret Hart applied the Sharpshooter. The RAW stars then posed for the fans and went around ringside.

– As we reported here over the weekend, reigning Ring of Honor World Champion Tyler Black has reportedly agreed to a developmental deal with WWE. There is talk that Black will go to Florida Championship Wrestling and then be one of the featured talents on NXT Season 3.

– Speaking of NXT Season 3, WWE is already looking for contestants. One plan is for the show to feature four male wrestlers and four women wrestlers from developmental. There’s still no word yet on where NXT Season 3 will air once SmackDown comes to SyFy in the fall. (Source: f4wonline)

– WWE Monday Night Raw on November 1st, 2010 will be held at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, New York. Tickets go on sale August 21st, 2010. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

— As announced during Raw, actor Justin Long will serve as guest host on next week’s show. The official WWE website notes that Long’s Going the Distance co-stars, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, will host Raw alongside him.

— A match for Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars was taped before tonight’s Raw broadcast. The match featured Goldust and Yoshi Tatsu vs. Jimmy and Jey Uso. An apparent dark match took place as well, between Vladimir Kozlov and Primo.

— WWE Monday Night Raw on November 1st, 2010 will be held at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, New York. Tickets go on sale August 21st, 2010. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

– According to Mediaweek, Saturday’s WrestleMania 26 special on NBC posted a terrible 0.65 broadcast rating and 1.78 million viewers. The WrestleMania special had NBC draw the lowest ratings on Saturday night among the 4 big television networks (ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC).  Ouch!

– John Cena appeared at Sunday’s Teen Choice Awards show and posted a message on Twitter about his encounter with reality TV stars The Kardashians.

“CeNation. Just leaving teen choice headed for sac town. Cannot believe how downright beautiful the kardashians are. Wow.”

Chris Jericho re-tweeted Cena’s message, adding, “maybe they can join ur [Summerslam] team.”

– The Miz appeared on Sacramento, California’s KCRA morning show to promote tonight’s RAW. Miz, who brought his belt and his briefcase to the interview, was in character during the appearance. He did his “I’m Awesome” line and acting like a cocky heel. The host asked Miz to rap or sing his theme song, but the Miz refused. Miz said that he’s on the road to winning the WWE Championship. Overall it was a short but entertaining appearance.

– Tonight’s episode of WWE RAW takes place from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. The “go-home” show heading into Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view will feature an explosive main event of John Cena and Bret Hart vs. Edge and Chris Jericho with Nexus at ringside as Lumberjacks.

– Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new movie “The Other Guys” (starring Will Ferrel and Mark Wahlberg) opened at #1 this weekend and took in $35.6 million. The Rock is currently in Puerto Rico filming “The Fast and The Furious 5” with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.

Read More: Pictures Of The Rock On The Set Of “Fast & Furious 5?

– Eleven years ago today, Chris Jericho made his WWE debut on Monday Night RAW after months of buildup.

– In case you missed it, Dolph Ziggler defeated Kofi Kingston on this past Friday’s SmackDown to become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion.

Solomonster Sounds Off

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Solomonster talks Hardcore Justice, Samoa Joe’s suspension, AJ Styles tells it like it is, Tyler Black signing with WWE, heel turn at Summerslam, World’s Greatest Tag Team in ROH and a look back at Summerslam 1997!

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– Monday’s episode of WWE RAW scored a 3.3 cable rating and averaged 4,660,000 for the 2-hour taped broadcast. The show did hours of 3.17 and 3.39.

– There is talk of having the Undertaker wrestle Kane at Night of Champions on September 19th and then a rematch at October’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. The Undertaker has been out of action for several weeks and is expected to appear at SummerSlam next weekend.

– Randy Orton posted a message on Twitter last night saying that he may be appearing on an upcoming episode of the  TLC reality TV show “LA Ink” and get a tattoo from Ms. Kat Von D.

– This week’s Friday Night SmackDown will be pre-empted until 11pm in New York City due to the Yankees game.

Credit to f4wonline.com for some of the info used in this report

According to multiple sources within World Wrestling Entertainment, the company has signed reigning ROH World Champion Tyler Black to a contract.

It is believed that Black signed a developmental deal with WWE, but it has not been confirmed. He is expected to start with the company in September.

Black, who has been with Ring of Honor since 2007, has several title defenses scheduled next month. He will defend the ROH World Championship at the Glory by Honor Internet pay-per-view on Sept. 11 against Roderick Strong.

Black recently indicated on his Twitter account that he had some “decisions” to make, which sparked rumors that he would be joining WWE.

Credit to PWInsider.com for some of the info used in this report

— After a one year odyssey, Dolph Ziggler dethroned Kofi Kingston on Friday’s episode of SmackDown to become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion. The episode was taped on July 28 in Laredo, Texas.

Ziggler was scheduled to win the title from Rey Mysterio last year, but the former World Heavyweight Champion reportedly refused to drop it to him. Mysterio, however, agreed to drop the title to John Morrison once it had been announced that he violated the company’s drug testing policy.

— On Wednesday, Aug. 11, John Cena will appear at Pentucket Regional High School in West Newbury, Massachusetts to sign autographs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then, with his brother, he will oversee the raffle of a classic 1969 Chevy Chevelle. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Kenny Fowler Foundation. Click here for more information.

— John Cena is featured on the cover of the September 2010 issue of WWE Magazine, which hits newsstands this Tuesday.

Credit to TheStreet.com for this transcript of Vince McMahon’s address to WWE investors at this week’s conference call..

Click Here for more on WWE’s 2nd Quarter financial results.

Basically, we had a lousy quarter, and I think that it was sort of like a perfect storm, if you would, we had quite a number of negatives as it relates to the Icelandic volcano situation, which our troops were stranded over there for quite some time.

Notwithstanding that, another perfect storm as it relates to talent and intellectual property and the use of them at the end of WrestleMania, the remaining of those really our top talents, some of them retired, which one of them we knew was going to another we did not.

In addition to that there were considerable injuries that booked a number of our performers on the sideline as well, Undertaker, CM Punk, Shawn Michaels retired, Batista, unexpectedly, took a hiatus, Triple H injured. These are some of the stalwarts that we rely on.

These are some of the star, which that we are relying on to for pay-per-view numbers, rely on for live events, and that’s really my major barometer in terms of where the business is going. All live events is for those pay-per-view numbers, because the pay-per-view is no different than really a live event that’s simply televised.

So, those two are numbers that were indicative of the lousy quarter in terms of pay-per-view and the lack of attendance, but all of that of course relates to WWE not giving the public the performance in terms of attraction that they want to see.

And again, that’s because of the perfect storm-type situation that we’ve never had in the business in terms of all of these talents leaving and injured all at the same time.

We did have a couple of strengths in terms of home video somewhat up. Our tour launch with Mattel, and Mattel as a partner is tremendous and we will continue to have very positive impacts.

(source: www.pwtorch.com)

In a shades similar to past incidents with Kofi Kingston and Ken Anderson, Randy Orton was visibly upset with The Miz following his match against Jey Uso during the July 26 Raw.

After hitting the RKO on Sheamus, Miz entered the ring to tease cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase. “The Viper” then hit the RKO on Miz and was unable to hide his frustration. The word coming out of the show is that Orton felt Miz was positioned in a manner that indicated he was about to be hit with the signature maneuver.

Similarly, Orton angrily reacted during a bout with Kingston last January when the Ghanaian grappler messed up the timing of the finish. Orton was seen on-camera shouting “stupid,” among other obscenities, towards him. It is said that Kingston’s “main event” push at the time was single handedly derailed due to the incident. Likewise, Anderson’s untimely dismissal from World Wrestling Entertainment last year was largely attributed to Orton, as a result of the former Mr. Kennedy inadvertently dropping “The Viper” on his head with a back suplex. Orton later admitted to complaining to management about Anderson’s in-ring work, which was the primary reason for his release from the organization.

— WWE announced today that ‘acclaimed comic magicians’ Penn & Teller will guest host the Sept. 20 edition of Monday Night Raw taking place in Indianapolis.

Other upcoming guest hosts include actor Bobb’e J. Thompson on Oct. 18 and musician Toby Keith the following week.

— WWE Champion Sheamus appeared on BBC Radio 1 yesterday promoting his upcoming title defense against Randy Orton at SummerSlam. He also discussed former WWE Superstar The Rock during the interview.

When asked if he could beat The Rock in a match, he dubbed the former wrestling superstar “a mess” and jokingly said anybody could beat him now that he’s off doing movies such as Tooth Fairy. The Celtic Warrior was then asked if he now could beat The Rock of the 1990s, to which he replied, “absolutely.”

— The WWE Smackdown taping on Oct. 12, 2010 will be held at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon. Tickets go on sale Aug. 21, 2010. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)