WWE taped this week’s episode of SmackDown on Tuesday night from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Here’s a spoiler-free preview for the show:
* Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger in a no-disqualification match
* Christian vs. Drew McIntyre
* Layla vs. Tiffany for the Women’s Championship
* Big Show vs. Luke Gallows
* Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler
WWE taped this week’s episode of SmackDown on Tuesday night from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Credit to reader Joseph LeMcCoy and WrestlingNewsWorld for this live recap:
WWE SmackDown Results For Friday:
* Prior to the taping the ring crew places a black carpet in the ring with a casket.
* SmackDown opens with Kane in the middle of the ring with the casket. A video recap from last week is shown with Rey Mysterio earning the number one contendership. Kane says he sits by The Undertaker everyday waiting for him to awake. He said yesterday was the first time he moved his eyes and spoke. Kane says he only said two words; the name of the person who attacked him.
Kane said The Undertaker mumbled Rey Mysterio and anger raged through his body. He said Rey’s name hangs in the air like a demon. He then asks why Rey would do it. Kane continues on saying that beating Rey at SummerSlam still wouldn’t be enough. Kane says Rey must pay for his sins and experience what The Undertaker endured. The lights go out with Kane still in the ring.
* Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger in a No Disqualification match is announced.
* Christian b. Drew McIntyre
– Christian counters a DDT and gets the win via pinfall.
* Layla vs. Tiffany for the WWE Women’s Championship is announced for later tonight.
* Cody Rhodes gave his grooming tips. He was wearing a face mask. He said he’s bringing us one step closer to being dashing.
* An Alberto Del Rio video package is shown.
* CM Punk is backstage asking the rest of the SES which one was going to let him down. He smells Serena’s breath and tells her thanks for showing up sober. The then complains about Joey Mercury losing his mask and says none of them would be anything without him. He said if they don’t actually do something to pack their bags.
* Big Show b. Luke Gallows
– Big Show gets the win via disqualification when he’s attacked by SES. After the match CM Punk removes his sling to show that his arm is in good condition.
* WWE Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston b. Dolph Ziggler w/Vickie Guerrero via disqualification.
– Referees ended up having to restrain Kingston who was going crazy.
* Backstage, Jack Swagger says he doesn’t have time for stupid questions. Swagger says he’s going to beat up Rey, break his arms and throw him in the Gulf of Mexico.
* Vickie Guerrero announced Michelle McCool will replace Layla in a match against Tiffany. The match is still for the WWE Women’s Championship.
* WWE Women’s Champion Michelle McCool w/Layla b. Tiffany w/Kelly Kelly to retain.
– Layla interfered, allowing McCool to get the win. Teddy Long came out and said there only needs to be one Women’s Champion and they can either decide for themselves or he’ll decide for them next week. They argue to end the segment.
* Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger in a no-disqualification match ended in no contest
– They battled outside and Mysterio caused Swagger to fall into the water. Kane was outside and chokeslammed Rey into the water.
Dark Match Main Event:
* World Heavyweight Champion Kane b. Big Show in a Steel Cage Match to retain
– After the match, Rey Mysterio’s music hit and he came out and fought with Kane. Mysterio ended up teaming with Big Show to take out Kane to end the show.
— As reported last night, Shawn Michaels announced via YouTube that he has launched an official online presence. He said his official website is located at TheShawnMichaels.com and that he has opened accounts on Twitter and Facebook. Regarding Facebook, his account is located at www.facebook.com/theShawnMichaels. It has been verified on his YouTube account.
— Jeff Wilen of The Daytona Beach News-Journal conducted an interview with Sheamus promoting WWE’s live event in Daytona Beach on Saturday. He discusses the term “Celtic Warrior,” his wrestling background, what it means to be the first Irish-born WWE Champion, what his future holds, and more.
— As part of its “Summer Divas” feature, WWE.com has posted new bikini photos of Michelle McCool.
SUMMERSLAM LIVE COVERAGE at SESCOOPS
If you’re not ordering the PPV – BE HERE for our detailed Live Coverage of the event!!
At Wednesday’s WWE SmackDown tapings (set to air next week, August 6th) – it was announced that the rumored Big Show vs. CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury handicap is confirmed for SummerSlam.
With that match set, here’s the updated card for WWE SummerSlam on August 15th…
7-on-7 Elimination Tag Team Match
John Cena, Bret Hart, Edge, Chris Jericho, R-Truth, The Great Khali and John Morrison vs. 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
3-on-1 Handicap Match
Big Show vs. CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury
– As you’ve probably noticed here on the site, WWE has already taped next week’s RAW, NXT and SmackDown shows. The WWE SmackDown crew will be leaving the United States today for a a 5-day tour of Australia that will run from Saturday through Wednesday. The RAW roster will be leaving the United States later this week for live events in Japan on Friday and Saturday.
– Former WWE superstar Batista was spotted at a Washington Nationals Major League Baseball game this week.
– Tuesday’s NXT show drew a 1.01 cable rating and averaged 1,431,000 viewers.
– R-Truth and Dusty Rhodes will be appearing at Friday night’s Florida Championship Wrestling event from Punta Gorda, Florida.
– Thanks to Eric for the following WWE NXT spoilers, airing next Tuesday night, August 3rd:
* The show opens with the Pros on the stage and the Rookies coming to the ring. Matt Striker announces there will be a kissing contest tonight hosted by Layla and Michelle McCool.
* Husky Harris is up first for the kissing contest. McCool tells him to kiss her but he has to think about it. McCool interrupts his thinking and brings out Laredo’s own Margarita and out comes a fat Mexican woman. All the Rookies kissed her and as picked by her, Lucky Cannon was the winner. LayCool tell the Rookies that they each just won herpes.
* Husky Harris beats Kaval.
* Backstage segment with Kofi Kingston and Michael McGillicutty talking about fighting The Miz. Lucky Cannon comes in and says he wants to face Miz. Miz is watching everything and accepts the challenge to face the winner of McGillicutty vs. Lucky.
* Michael McGillicutty defeats Lucky Cannon.
* Alex Riley defeated Percy Watson.
* The Miz defeated Michael McGillicutty in the main event. This was the best match of the night.
— Syfy has begun promoting Friday Night SmackDown’s move to the network as a subsite has been launched on its official website. SmackDown premieres on Syfy on Friday, October 1st at 8:00 p.m. ET.
— Video of Randy Savage announcing his WWE Mattel action figure last Thursday at San Diego Comic-Con International has been posted on WWE.com.
— WWE returns to the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California on October 9th, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale August 21st, 2010 at 10 a.m. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
As many people know, Shawn Michaels has never held an internet presence. Fortunately for fans, those days are now over as the multi-time WWE Champion has opened accounts on social networking sites Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. He also plans on launching an official website in the near future.
Putting the doubters at ease, Michaels himself released a video message this evening on YouTube verifying his presence online. His Twitter handle is located at twitter.com/ShawnMichaels_, while his official website is www.TheShawnMichaels.com. Regarding Facebook, he does indeed have an account on the social networking site but the exact URL has yet to be disclosed.
In the video message, Michaels gives two reasons for hitting the web. The first and most important reason is that he wants to keep in touch with the many fans who have supported him over the years and let them in on what he’s up to — and not up to. His other reason for forming an internet presence is because there are far too many impersonators online claiming to be him or his wife, particularly on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. To reiterate, the only Michaels’ endorsed online accounts are noted on his YouTube page.
To view Michaels’ video message to his fans, click here.
Warning: The following article contains a *Spoiler* for next Monday’s RAW:
Melina made her return to WWE programming during Monday’s television taping in San Antonio, Texas. She performed a run-in following a Six-Diva Tag Match pitting Alicia Fox, Jillian and Tamina against Eve, Gail Kim and Natalya, attacking the Divas Champion. Her return will be televised during next Monday’s episode of Raw.
It was her first appearance inside a WWE ring since she underwent surgery for a torn ACL suffered last December. She spent the past few weeks at the company’s developmental facility in Tampa, Florida training for her return.
WWE creative brass initially planned on inserting Melina into the ongoing John Morrison vs. Ted DiBiase program as means to feature mixed tag matches, but said plans were nixed last week. Instead, she will going after Fox’s Divas Championship. A three-way feud between Melina, Fox and Eve is tentatively planned, though Maryse may be put in the mix.
Meanwhile, Maryse and DiBiase’s “power couple” placement is an offshoot of plans initially tapped for the French beauty and The Miz last year. Plans were changed when Maryse took a hiatus to recover from knee surgery and Miz got over well enough with the audience that she was no longer needed by his side. Maryse was ultimately placed with DiBiase in an effort to get him over.
Credit to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for some of the info used in this report
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog at JRsBarBQ.com with some commentary on the following topics:
Monday’s RAW: “Enjoyed Raw Monday night by and large. I do know this….if John Cena’s team doesn’t put their own personal agendas behind them then the Raw 7 has NO chance against The Nexus at Summer Slam. That point was made abundantly clear over the two hour broadcast from San Antonio. No unity=no win for Raw. “No win for you” ala Seinfeld’s ‘Soup Nazi.’ Got it? Good. :)”
Scouting Talent at FCW: “It’s back to Tampa for me this weekend to observe the FCW try out camp that likely will have over 50 individuals taking part in the process. Now seems to be a timely opportunity to get noticed and perhaps signing with WWE and assigned to FCW which needs more viable athletes and quality numbers in general.”
John Morrison The Next HBK? “I Tweeted @JRsBBQ that I liked John Morrison’s new beard and that I thought it made him look a little more rugged. Morrison is a gifted athlete who has ‘something’ that physically reminds me of a young HBK. One can only hope that Morrison can begin to approach the success that Shawn Michaels earned but that’s some king sized expectations. Nonetheless I think that Morrison can be a major player within WWE once his complete game comes together which simply takes time.”
– Monday’s episode of WWE RAW drew a 3.5 cable rating and averaged 5,192,000 viewers. The show did hours of 3.49 and 3.52.
– Today on Twitter, John Cena expressed his disappointment in Percy Watson, saying the NXT Rookie has “gone downhill” in recent weeks. Here is what he said after viewing last night’s episode:
“CeNation. Alex riley, and husky both strong showings last night. Give credit to miz, he’s a damn good coach. If percy watson makes another one of those faces where I’m supposed to think he’s mad but it looks like he just crapped himself…ill eliminate him. He has gone downhill.. Every single week. Dissapointing. He is really one hell of an athlete. I think he may be suffering from yep yep syndrome. Looking for something special when all he needs is what he’s got. (This fortune cookie moment brght 2 u by, schwin penny farlings).”
– WWE is holding a Friday Night Smackdown tonight in Laredo, Texas at the Laredo Energy Arena. This is the taping for the show that will air on August 8, as well as next week’s episode of NXT and WWE Superstars. Immediately following the taping, the SmackDown crew heads overseas to Australia, thus explaining why WWE is holding multiple television tapings this week.
– The July 16 edition of Friday Night SmackDown scored a 1.8 rating, with 2,857,000 viewers. The episode concluded with a confrontation between Kane and Jack Swagger. (source: PWInsider.com)
Rich Ward, the guitarist in Chris Jericho’s metal band Fozzy, was a guest on the Monday Night Mayhem radio show this week and spoke about Jericho’s future after his WWE contract expires later this year. There’s been speculation that Jericho is looking to move on from WWE and focus on his entertainment career (music & acting). Here’s the recap:
Monday Night Mayhem with Rich Ward
Hosts: The Big Mosh, Jimmy Noonan, and “The Chairman of the Board,” Todd Vincent
Airs every Monday at 6:00 P.M. (CT)
Show available at MondayNightMayhem.com.
The Band Working Around Chris Jericho’s WWE Schedule:
“In the early days it was more difficult, because we didn’t have chemistry worked out because Chris was so busy, not just with working in the WWE, but the travel days also, whenever there was a day off here and a day off there. Basically what we had to do was be super organized in how we structured things, and till the last couple of years, it started to fall into place to where when Chris is just sitting in a hotel room or something, he’s writing lyrics. I then take his lyrics and start building songs around it, and then I would send him the demos with me singing his lyrics, and then we start work back and forth through MP3’s. If it wasn’t for the modern age of the Internet, I don’t Fozzy could exist.”
Whether Chris Jericho Will Leave WWE When His Contract Expires This Year:
“He has told me that he has no plans on retiring, so as far as Chris stepping away from the ring, I have no idea if he has any plans to do that beyond the contract. I know from talking to him, and Chris’s business is his business, and never would I try to step and make announcements for him, but I think he told me that he’s contract negotiations with the WWE. With that in mind, I have no indications that he’s gonna take time off. I know he got two weeks off to do the UK run, and I know anytime we could get ‘Uncle Vinnie’ to give us a couple of weeks to go and play some rock shows in the UK, I feel like I owe him a steak dinner.”
Fozzy’s Potential:
“To answer that honestly, I don’t even think about tomorrow. I’m so focused in the now and what I’m doing instead of looking down the road. I feel like that has worked for me, and maybe other people it helps to plans things, but I find for my music career (in general) if I’m touring with Stuck Mojo, I focus 1,000 percent on that. If I’m with Chris, and we’re on tour with Fozzy, I don’t think about Stuck Mojo, and I don’t think about what I’m gonna have for dinner. I think Fozzy could go on until no one wants to hear another one of our songs, and we will continue to play to out four or five fan club members. We will just continue to rock on at a very high level of proficiency.”
* RAW Spoilers For Next Week (Surprise Return) & Big Change To Top SummerSlam Match
— The results of the NXT Poll were revealed on last night’s episode, and after the votes of the WWE Universe and the WWE Pros were combined, Eli Cottonwood was eliminated. Meanwhile, the immune Michael McGillicutty, who still boasts a perfect record, ousted Kaval for the No. 1 spot.
The results of the NXT Poll were as follows:
1. Michael McGillicutty
2. Kaval
3. Alex Riley
4. Percy Watson
5. Lucky Cannon
6. Husky Harris
7. Eli Cottonwood
After his elimination, an emotionally-charged Cottonwood attacked the other NXT Rookies.
— Matches taped this past week to air on tomorrow night’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America are as follows:
* Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov vs. William Regal and Primo
* Chris Masters vs. Caylen Croft
* MVP vs. Chavo Guerrero
— World Wrestling Entertainment has launched a micro-site promoting SummerSlam, SummerSlam.com.
Matt Hardy has posted a video to YouTube saying that he recently met with a fortune teller, who told him he’s about to experience an “extraordinary” event in his life. Check it out:
— Goldust suffered a knee injury during last night’s 7-on-7 Elimination Match on Raw, but as evidenced by him working the second set of tapings, was ultimately fine.
He noted on his Twitter account that while he’s fine now, the injury did scare him. He also said he’s sore.
— Apparently refuting a page on Facebook claiming to represent Shawn Michaels and his wife Rebecca, the official WWE Universe page on Twitter said there are no official Michaels pages on Facebook pages, nor are they any pages hosted by “representatives” that are officially endorsed by the family.
— DolphZiggler.com, the official fansite of the SmackDown Superstar, has posted a few special messages from those close to the man known as ‘Heel’ in honor of his thirtieth birthday.
Former WWE Womens and Divas champion Melina made her return to WWE television at last night’s WWE RAW tapings from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
.The return can be seen on next Monday’s edition of RAW on the USA Network. She returned at the conclusion of Alicia Fox, Jillian & Tamina vs. Eve, Gail Kim & Natalya, taking out Alicia Fox.
Related News: *Spoilers* WWE RAW Results For Next Week
Melina has been out since December 2009 after suffering a torn ACL. She underwent surgery in January and has been rehabbing for months.
She spent last week in Florida Championship Wrestling in Tampa working out and is back with the company fulltime.
(source: www.f4wonline.com)
— Many within WWE are predicting Michael McGillicutty or Alex Riley to win NXT Season Two. Meanwhile, it’s said that Husky Harris has unanimously impressed “everyone.”
— No Raw guest hosts are expected to be scheduled until after SummerSlam. Child star Bobb’e J. Thompson — who stars alongside Big Show in the upcoming WWE Studios film Knucklehead — and country music artist Toby Keith have been booked to host episodes of Raw in October.
— Two WWE Superstars celebrate birthdays today as Triple H turns 41 years old while Dolph Ziggler hits 30.
— Seeing as Chris Benoit took part in the Elimination Chamber Match that took place at the 2005 New Year’s Revolution pay-per-view, he is featured in WWE’s newly released DVD set highlighting the Elimination Chamber, Satan’s Prison: The Anthology of the Elimination Chamber. While he’s shown in the match – the first marketed of him by WWE since his 2007 double murder and suicide – anything remotely complimentary said by the announcers regarding Benoit was edited off the DVD
— WWE newcomers Jey and Jimmy Uso have received much praise amongst company officials, reports www.f4wonline.com. The twin sons of former WWE star Rikishi have quickly risen up the ranks in the company as they were signed to developmental contracts just last January.
— The SmackDown house show on October 16th, 2010 will be held at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Tickets go on sale August 28th, 2010 at noon. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
– Monday’s episode of WWE RAW did not air live. With WWE taping two episodes of RAW this week, the show started about 45 minutes early (so the 2nd taping didn’t end too late) and ran on tape delay.
Related News: *Spoilers* WWE RAW Results For Next Week
– WWE will tape tonight’s NXT and Friday’s SmackDown tonight from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Tonight’s NXT will see another rookie eliminated. Announced for SmackDown is a Women’s title match between Tiffany and Layla. Kane vs. Rey Mysterio in a steel cage match is being advertised locally as the
– WWE has released an updated calendar for the first 8 pay-per-views of 2011:
– Former WCW star and current WWE developmental trainer Billy Kidman will be working full-time as a producer/agent for WWE.
Partial source: f4wonline.com
– Bret Hart was not at last night’s double RAW taping from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas as he is in Hawaii on his honeymoon with his new wife Stephanie that he married this past Saturday in Calgary. It was announced last night that Hart will team with John Cena to face Edge and Chris Jericho with The Nexus as lumberjacks on the 8/9 edition of WWE RAW from ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California.
– WWE is searching for new Divas. The company has issued a request for agents and talent managers to submit female actresses to casting director Kristin Prouty. The new Diva hires would replace several of the current Divas on the roster. WWE has shown over the years that no Diva is too important to be replaced, letting go Mickie James and Maria Kanellis earlier this year. No word yet on who is at risk – but you can bet Michelle McCool’s spot is safe.
The casting will take place in October in various cities across the United States, including New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas WWE will then offer developmental deals to some of the women with deals that will be negotiated “specific to each woman.†The casting request is seeking women of all ethnicities.
The WWE RAW crew will be touring overseas next week, so next week’s show was taped after this week’s show went off the air.
The following matches were taped for Monday’s 8/2 episode of WWE RAW, the final show before SummerSlam:
* Edge vs. Wade Barrett
* Natalya, Gail Kim and Eve vs. Alicia Fox, Tamina and Jillian Hall
* Goldust vs. Sheamus
* John Cena vs. Chris Jericho
* Ted DiBiase vs. The Great Khali
* The Miz vs. Randy Orton
Dawn Marie Damatta, who performed for World Wrestling Entertainment from 2002 to 2005, admitted to the Connecticut Post that she used steroids during the course of her tenure in the organization.
“I chose to take that shortcut,” the former WWE Diva said. “Did Vince (McMahon) tell me to take that shortcut? No. Did WWE? No. Why did I do it? Because I thought that’s what I needed to do in order to keep up … There was no testing policy.”
Damatta feels one only needs to take a look at the physiques of present day WWE talent to know that steroid use is not as prevalent as it was in the past. She also believes the company’s drug testing policy has reduced the abuse of drugs such as painkillers, therefore saving lives. However, she feels Linda and Vince McMahon could do more to assist former talent.
“Wrestlers are taken as children, thrown into this industry and then we’re dumped back out as adults. There’s no learning in the world. We’re on the road, traveling, hustling, getting beat up,” Damatta said. “Where do I go? What do I put on a resume?”
The story on steroids in WWE and Damatta can be read here.
source: PWInsider.com
— During last Friday’s SmackDown broadcast on The Score in Canada, a SummerSlam commercial was shown featuring The Undertaker. Triple H, who is also out nursing an injury, was not.
Undertaker was originally scheduled to return at the event, but it now appears as though he will not return in a wrestling capacity until Night of Champions in September.
— WWE has apparently placed a ban on talent wrestling with gloves on. Dolph Ziggler revealed this tidbit today on Twitter when was asked why he no longer wears gloves when he competes.
He said, “DZBabe, I don’t wear gloves anymore! They have been banned from ringside! Hopefully we can atleast High-5!”
It should be noted, however, that both Rey Mysterio and MVP donned gloves on last week’s shows.
— Last Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars on WGN America scored a 0.65 cable rating, down from the previous week’s 0.74. Overall, the show drew 648,000 viewers. The midnight replay drew a 0.26 rating, with 248,000 viewers.
– CM Punk recently underwent minor surgery on his elbow to repair floating particles in his elbow, which was causing it to lock up. He’s expected to be kept out of the ring for 2-4 more weeks.
– WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin will be appearing on the NBC show “Chuck” again next season, eprising his role as secret agent Hugo Panzer. The announcement was made over the weekend at Comic-Copn in San Diego. Austin made his first (and quite entertaining) guest appearance on the show last season.
– There is no word yet on who the new WWE SmackDown! Diva is, but the rumors are that it’s AJ Lee, a developmental talent. WWE was planning to air her first promo video on last week’s SmackDown! but it was cut due to time constraints.
– World Heavyweight champion Kane appeared on Judge Napolitano’sFOX Business Channel show last night. Kane brought the World Heavyweight title with him, which the host referred to as a “belt buckle.” A variety of political topics were discussed, with Kane, an outspoken liberal, hitting the usual liberal talking points.
As previously reported, WWE legend The Undertaker and WWE diva Michelle McCool were married at the end of June at a private ceremony in Houston, Texas. The two have been romantically linked since 2007. The wedding marks the third time down the aisle for the Undertaker and the second for McCool.
There’s been a number of reports circulating that WWE was very unhappy that pictures from the wedding leaked online. Staugustine.com recently interviewed Michelle McCool, who would not comment on the situation. The article states:
“Recently the Internet buzzed with leaked information to her marriage to another WWE superstar. The Diva chose not to discuss those details.”
In case you missed it last month, here’s a picture of the Undertaker and Michelle McCool being getting married: