To follow up on our earlier report regarding the work visa issues with Wade Barrett and Drew McIntyre -Â we’re told at this point that WWE does not know when McIntyre will be back. Barrett might be able to return as soon as next week, but nobody knows for sure.
According to a source, WWE creative was told at Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings to presume assume neither man would be back until SummerSlam in August. Up until now Wade Barrett had been the centerpiece of the new Nexus group on RAW. It is possible Barrett or McIntyre could both be back soon, but that was the initial word as of today.
It should be noted that current WWE Champion Sheamus was signed by WWE around the same time as Barrett and McIntyre. The belief as of right now is that he is okay in regards to his work visa, but given the fact how things were handled with Barrett and McIntyre he could possibly be next. This is definitely causing major issues for WWE creative.
The first “Pros’ Poll” for the second season of NXT took place Tuesday night, signaling the end of one of the eight contestants from the weekly series.
The WWE Universe and the WWE Pros votes were combined to tabulate the first NXT Poll. Kaval is ranked No. 1, while Titus O’Neil came in last, ranking at No. 8. With the ranking, O’Neil has been eliminated from the NXT competition.
The combined results of the NXT Poll are as follows:
— Goldust wrote a post Tuesday evening on Twitter saying he has retired.
“i am retired,” he wrote, adding, “byeeeeeeeee.”
Though it should be noted that in a previous tweet, he said he was very tired coming off the road and heading to the beach, so it’s likely he was joking.
The multi-time Intercontinental Champion has been largely relegated to Superstars since being drafted to Raw in April, having only competed once on WWE’s flagship program. He once again appeared on Superstars at Monday’s taping in Philadelphia, teaming up with Yoshi Tatsu to take on Zack Ryder and Primo.
— In addition to Kelly Kelly, R-Truth and Cody Rhodes, both Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio were working through injuries this past week, reports F4WOnline.com.
In the case of Orton, he suffered a neck injury that prevented him from wrestling at Sunday’s live event in Wheeling, West Virginia. Meanwhile, Mysterio is dealing with a minor groin injury. Neither ailment is serious enough to keep the wrestlers from working through the pain.
— Corresponding with storylines, the official WWE website announced Tuesday that Ricky Steamboat suffered cracked ribs, internal injuries and a sprained neck as a result of a clothesline by Skip Sheffield and a 450° splash by Justin Gabriel on Raw.
SEScooops.com can confirm that The Undertaker and longtime girlfriend Michelle McCool were married on Saturday at a private ceremony in Houston, Texas. The two have been romantically linked since 2007.
The weekend wedding marks the third time around the block for the Undertaker and the second for McCool.
Among the wrestling personalities who attended were Torrie Wilson, Lisa Marie Varon and Sharmell Sullivan-Huffman (wife of Booker T), who is pregnant with twins.
WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt tells Courant.com that the lawsuit filed by the late Owen Hart’s widow, Martha, against WWE, Vince and Linda McMahon is without merit.
Martha Hart is suing the WWE for continuing to profit off the likeness of her late husband, especially as it pertains to the new Hart Family DVD set. Martha Harat issued a statement this week saying the WWE filed a lawsuit against her because she “had the nerve” to pursue a wrongful death claim following her husband’s death.
McDevitt now says Martha’s statement is false. this afternoon. According to him, WWE didn’t sue her because she brought the wrongful death claim. However, it did petition a court in Connecticut to hear the claim, instead of the Missouri court where Hart had filed her lawsuit, which was settled before going to trial.
McDevitt calls Hart’s statement “pejorative nonsense” and said her current lawsuit is nothing more than “a personal attack” on the McMahon family. He denies the insinuation that WWE is trying to deny Hart and her children compensation from the Hart Family DVD and says WWE handled the aftermath of Owen Hart’s death in a “humanitarian” way.
Here’s a live report of what happened after Monday’s WWE RAW went off the air:
WWE Champion Sheamus wrestled John Cena to a no-contest.
Sheamus grabbed the mic and called out Cena, saying he won’t even make it to the Money in the Bank pay-per-view.
Cena ran out to a huge pop from the crowd. Sheamus attacked Cena before bell and then went for several pin attempts.
Sheamus was in control for most of the match, not even letting Cena get his shirt off during the beatdown. Cena was on the match for nine seconds and got up just before the referee could count him out. Cenea tore off his shirt and went crazy. He hit two shoulder blocks, the five knuckle shuffle and went for an Attitude Adjustment, which Sheamus blocked.
Cena was able to lock in the STF when the Nexus came out and interfered. The entire RAW locker room came out and chased off the Nexus crew.
Cena’s music played and he and Orton celebrated to end the show.
Following Monday’s RAW, the following matches are confirmed for the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view on July 18th:
Steel Cage Match for theWWE Championship
Sheamus (c) vs. John Cena
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Rey Mysterio (c)Â Jack Swagger
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Randy Orton vs. Edge vs. Ted DiBiase vs. Chris Jericho vs. Evan Bourne vs. The Miz vs. R-Truth vs. John Morrison Winner receives a title shot against the WWE Champion.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
8 SmackDown Superstars (To Be Announced) Winner receives a title shot against the World Heavyweight Champion.
— Conspicuous by his absence tonight on Raw was that of Wade Barrett. Michael Cole continued in his role as mouthpiece for Raw’s still anonymous General Manager, announcing that the mystery GM will have a verdict on the season one NXT Rookies – who have taken to referring to themselves as The Nexus – on next week’s show. To explain Barrett’s absence, it was noted that he was conferencing with WWE officials to learn the fate of he and his group.
It should be noted that the season one NXT Rookies did run-ins during the main events of this past weekend’s Raw live events and Barrett was notably absent from the proceedings.
— Two WWE Superstars matches were taped prior tonight’s Raw broadcast in Philadelphia.
* Yoshi Tatsu and Goldust vs. Zack Ryder and Primo
* Nikki Bella vs. Jillian
Former WWE Diva Mickie James was interviewed by Alez Marvez of Scrippsnews.com last week and spoke at length about her wrestling and country music careers. James has spent the last year and a half working on her debut country music CD, “Strangers and Angels.” Here are some highlights of what Mickie James said about:
Her Country Music Career:“Wrestling has kind of taken a back seat right now,. This is a new passion of mine. I’m a very competitive person and very much a perfectionist. When I want something that badly, I’m willing to make sacrifices and do whatever it takes to make it happen.”
Getting Released By WWE: “It broke my heart. I admit it,” said James, who initially landed a WWE developmental contract in 2003 after spending four years on the independent circuit and in TNA Wrestling. “I had given so much of my life to this and sacrificed so much. I missed weddings, birthdays, my nieces being born. I starved on the road when I first tried to make it. I slept at rest stops because I didn’t have the money for a hotel. I wanted it that bad.
“When you get that call that you’re hired, it’s the greatest call in the world. It’s even better when you get the call that you’re coming to TV (tapings) and debuting. But when you get the call saying you’re gone … What bothers me is, I could see if I didn’t get a good reaction, but I would get the largest reaction of any female on the roster no matter who I was on the bill with. I still don’t understand why, but that’s life.”
Her Future in Wrestling: “For a while, I was going to say I didn’t want to wrestle at all because I’m still heartbroken (about WWE),” James said. “But I do love it so much. I intend to wrestle here and there and do the shows I really want to do, especially if it’s with someone who’s a friend of mine or someone I never got a chance to work with.”
– Rob Zombie, tonight’s RAW Guest Host, wrote on Twitter.com/RWZOMBIE that he’s “planning some big crazy sh*t for RAW.”
– The Chicago Sun Times has an article up about former WWE personality Mike Adamle, who talks about the brain damage he suffered while playing football earlier in his career.
‘I was on the air in 1999 when I had my first seizure. ‘One part of my brain was speaking, the other part was having a tidal wave,” Adamle said. ”There was deja vu. All kinds of flashing, loud ringing in my ears. Dizziness. My short-term memory was gone. There were tears in my eyes, thoughts of being a kid, thoughts of my grandfather. I was in the hospital for three days.”
Adamle said he has epilepsy from lesions on the left hemisphere of my brain and still has seizures. Adamle got a lot of criticism for his on-air gaffes during his time as a WWE announcer – and now we can see he’s been battling serious medical issues for years that explain his mistakes.
— Kelly Kelly was cleared to wrestle at last night’s SmackDown live event in Worcester, Massachusetts, so it appears her injury from the previous night was not serious. The SmackDown Diva’s bout with Layla was prematurely concluded by the referee after she took a bad shot to either the neck or shoulder.
— To correct an earlier report, R-Truth did not suffer a knee injury at Saturday evening’s Raw live event in Youngstown, Ohio, but rather a pulled groin. He is attempting to work through the injury. Like Kelly, his match came to an abrupt conclusion as a result of injury.
— Cody Rhodes, who took a bad hit to the head at Saturday night’s SmackDown live event in Portland, Maine, is apparently fine. He worked last night’s show in Worcester, losing to Kofi Kingston. It was initially feared that he had suffered a concussion, but it is now believed to not be the case.
– Tonight’s episode of WWE RAW takes place from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and will feature musician/director Rob Zombie as the guest host.
At this time, no matches have been announced for the show. The “anonymous” General Manager has promised that the Season One NXT rookies will face “appropriate consequences” as a result of their attack on Vince McMahon last week.
– Jim Ross wrote the following on Twitter this weekend about Bryan Danielson:
“Daniel bryan became relevant in 13 wks which is a big win. Sure hope wwe gives Bryan a 2nd chance some day. The kid has ‘it.’ Size non issue.â€
– Speaking of Daniel Bryan, he is already back on the independent scene and worked a show in Michigan on Saturday night. Here’s a clip of Danielson addressing the crowd, talking about his future and why “PG” wrestling isn’t so bad:
– Current plans call for eight WWE Superstars to work each Money in the Bank Ladder Match at next month’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view, reports f4wonline.com. The Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match is expected to feature Randy Orton, Edge, The Miz, Evan Bourne and R-Truth as participants, among others.
– Bryan Danielson returned to action at Saturday night’s CHIKARA Pro event in Taylor, Michigan, defeating Eddie Kingston with a roll-up. Following the bout, Danielson spoke on the microphone to discuss his future. The transcript of his speech is as follows:
“I just want you guys to know – I can’t say a lot about what’s going on right now – but, when I came through that curtain and all of you people cheered and all of you people cared and all of you people cared enough to bring ties, it made me feel good,” Danielson said.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with my career, but for the next little while while I’m on the independents, I have one goal and one goal in mind – to bring more people to independent wrestling.”
“Let me tell you about PG wrestling. CHIKARA does it at its very best. I kicked Eddie Kingston as long as I possibly could and that was PG. People came out here and mat wrestled as hard as they could and that was PG. When guys come out here and wrestle as hard as they can, that is still PG.”
— The official website of the Sprint Center, the venue holding next month’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view event, is advertising a WWE Championship Match between Sheamus and John Cena. The match is also being advertised to take place inside a Steel Cage.
— Today on Twitter, John Cena noted starting with WWE eight years ago today.
“Thank you to everyone who has sent well wishes,” Cena wrote. “Started something here eight years ago today, you are the reason I am still here. I will continue to give you everything I have, every night. I am truly grateful for all of you out there. You have no idea. This is my dream. Thank you for making it come true. Never give up. Eight years and going strong. They still can’t see us.”
Today is the eight-year anniversary of Cena’s debut match with WWE, which was broadcast on the June 27, 2002 edition of SmackDown!. He lost to Kurt Angle.
— David Hart Smith and Tyson Kidd are expected to defend their Unified WWE Tag Team Titles against the Usos at next month’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view, reports www.f4wonline.com.
Solomonster delivers a PACKED show with thoughts on Chris Benoit, Michael Jackson, Fedor tapping out last night, Martha Hart’s lawsuit against WWE, Paul Heyman being courted by TNA, Bryan Danielson a class act, Raw’s anonymous GM and the Fatal 4-Way PPV from Nassau Coliseum!
— R-Truth reportedly tweaked his knee during his Triple Threat Match against The Miz and Mark Henry at last night’s Raw brand house show.
Immediately following the conclusion of the match, which saw Miz pin R-Truth, the referee threw up the “X” signal. The former United States Champion was assisted by medical personnel to the backstage area.
R-Truth was the third wrestler to require medical assistance Saturday night as Kelly Kelly and Cody Rhodes suffered injuries during their respective matches at the SmackDown live event taking place in Portland, Maine.
— As seen on Friday’s SmackDown, a pre-taped vignette was aired featuring an individual by the name of Alberto Del Rio, who claimed to be the “only real honest man.” Del Rio, who’s real name is Alberto RodrÃguez, has ties to some of the most well known Mexican wrestlers as he is the son of luchador Dos Caras, as well as the nephew of Mil Mascaras and Sicodelico. Del Rio previously competed in Mexico under the name Dos Caras, Jr., a masked wrestler. He reportedly signed a three-year contract with WWE last June and had been working non-televised matches since April, both masked and unmasked.
— Commenting on rumors concerning his status with World Wrestling Entertainment, Bret Hart claims he too is unaware of his status with the organizaiton. Hart wrote the following yesterday on his official website, also noting Martha Hart’s lawsuit against WWE:
“As far as the recent lawsuit filed by Martha, I’m working on a detailed response that I will post soon, but I think my fans might be a little surprised at my take on things. Aside from that, I know that the WWE Universe is more than curious to know what my status is anymore and the truth is nobody knows, including me. There are a lot rumors out there about me and all I can say is that they’re rarely true. I will have some major announcements forthcoming, but right now I’m going to keep the lid on things because I’m not looking for any distractions.”
— During last night’s SmackDown house show in Portland, Cody Rhodes apparently took a bad bump as a result of a double back suplex, courtesy of Kofi Kingston and Matt Hardy. The second generation wrestler would continue the match a few minutes later, but had to be helped out to the backstage area by trainers following its conclusion.
— WWE returns to the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts on August 29th, 2010 at 7 PM. Tickets go on sale July 10th, 2010 at 10 AM. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
— Kelly Kelly reportedly suffered an injury at last night’s SmackDown house show in Portland, Maine.
Facing WWE Women’s Champion Layla, she was injured receiving a dropkick to either the back of her shoulder or neck. The bout was prematurely concluded by the referee.
— Finlay, who is believed to be semi-retired from in-ring competition, is working this weekend’s SmackDown house show loop. Newcomer Alberto Del Rio pinned the former United States Champion at last night’s live event with his feet on the ropes.
— WWE will be returning to Puerto Rico in September of 2010. Here are the dates & locations:
* September 2nd – Manuel Iguina Coliseum in Arecibo
* September 3rd – Juan Pachin Vicens Auditorium in Ponce
The following matches have been announced for WWE’s inaugural Money in the Bank pay-per-view, taking place on July 18:
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Rey Mysterio vs. Jack Swagger
SmackDown Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Eight SmackDown Superstars to be announced
(Winner earns right to challenge SmackDown’s World Heavyweight Champion at any time, at any place, for up to one year)
— The official synopsis for WWE’s upcoming DVD set on Chris Jericho, The Highlight Reel, has been released:
“The WWE fans love to hate Chris Jericho. Throughout his remarkable career he has provided sports entertainment fans with amazing matches and astounding moments whether he was in Smokey Mountain Wrestling, ECW, WCW, and WWE. He’s also left his mark on the entertainment industry outside the ring, from his band Fozzy, writing a NY Times bestselling autobiography, through his appearances on VH-1’s “I Love…†shows and his role in the hit film “Magruberâ€. But his most famous moments are in sports entertainment, where Jericho has won multiple championships, including the WWE, World Heavyweight, a record number of Intercontinental titles, and the night when he defeated both the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin to become the first ever WWE Unified Champion. But Chris Jericho has never had his remarkable career highlighted in a DVD set until now. This 3-disc release will include a never-before-seen documentary on the life and times of Jericho featuring new candid interviews with Jericho and his rivals, as well as more than a dozen of his greatest matches.”
— Thursday’s episode of WWE Superstars scored a 0.56 cable rating with 524,000 viewers. The number may be a record low for Superstars in its regular 8 p.m. time slot. The previous week’s episode, which aired late due to baseball, drew an all-time record low rating, a 0.35 with 308,000 viewers.
— WWE Magazine’s “Best of WWE 2010 Special Issue” features “1,001 answers to the WWE Universe’s most burning questions.” To read a few of the questions answered, click here. The issue hits newsstands this Tuesday.
— WWE developmental wrestler Richie Steamboat returned to singles action at Thursday night’s Florida Championship Wrestling live event in Tampa, Florida, pinning Donny Marlow. Last week, Steamboat teamed up with his father, WWE Hall of Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, his first match since tearing a ligament in his knee earlier in the year.
— Fans can meet Brie and Nikki Bella as they will be appearing at today’s Forman’s Foundation 2nd Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament at the Maderas Golf Club located in San Diego, California.
— Despite winning the World Heavyweight Championship at Sunday’s Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, Rey Mysterio does not appear on this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown. The reason for this is because he was given Tuesday’s television taping off so he could take his family on vacation to Hawaii. Mysterio’s contract with WWE gives him one weekend per month off from live events but he’s supposed to appear at all television tapings and pay-per-view events.
— As seen at last month’s Over the Limit pay-per-view, CM Punk had his head shaved after losing to Rey Mysterio in a Straight Edge Society pledge vs. hair match. Since this time, Punk has donned a mask to the ring in order to hide his shaven head. While Punk’s fully shaved head has yet to be revealed on WWE programming, an extra on the newly released Over the Limit DVD set shows Punk completely bald. The extra is a “G-TV-like” segment showing an upset Punk with a bare head in the locker room. However, Punk quickly gets over his loss (and lack of hair) as he engages in a group hug with The Straight Edge Society.
— WWE canceled it entire house show schedule for the weekend of July 4th due to poor ticket sales. The events have been rescheduled for December.
As reported Wednesday, ring announcer Savannah (Angela Fong, 25) was released from her WWE contract. She was recently replaced by Jamie Keyes as the ring announcer for NXT and instead moved to a backstage announcer role on Raw. It’s said her flubbing lines on last week’s Raw while interviewing Wade Barrett was the reason for her dismissal from the company.
Prior to entering the wrestling industry, Fong was a cheerleader for the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League, as well as a bikini model. She tried out for the 2007 Diva Search and although she didn’t make the final cut, WWE would sign her to a developmental contract a few months later. It had been long rumored that Fong would be called up to the main roster in a wrestler capacity, but she instead made her WWE debut as a backstage announcer on ECW. She assumed the role of ring announcer following Lauren Mayhew’s departure from the company last November.
Fong reportedly garnered heat with some in the company over a topless scene she filmed for a direct-to-DVD movie called Ratko: The Dictator’s Son, a National Lampoon production. She filmed the scene before being hired by WWE, but company officials were unaware she had until video stills of Fong appearing topless surfaced online earlier this year.
– While no television outlet has been announced, WWE plans on holding a third season of NXT. The current season ends in late August, and they have the Syfy slot at least until the end of September.
– WWE is working on a DVD set entitled 100 Craziest Moments in WWE History, which is due out in December. A “Best of Friday SmackDown” 2010 DVD set has also been planned.
– The WWE SmackDown taping on September 7th, 2010 will be held at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Tickets go on sale July 17th, 2010 at 10 a.m. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
– Today is WWE Women’s Champion Layla’s birthday, who turns 32 years old.
(sources: Wrestling Observer Newsletter, PWInsider.com)
Posted June 25th, 2010 in News, WWE. Tagged: Layla.
