The following press release was issued on Wednesday:
Los Angeles, CA, January 22nd, 2013 – (afterbuzztv.com) – Wrestler Chavo Guerrero made an appearance on Extra host Maria Menounos “after-show” network, AfterBuzz TV, on Monday night, where he joined the hosts of the WWE Monday Night RAW aftershow. Guerrero shared many of his opinions not only on the specifics of Monday’s RAW but also on other WWE moments and wrestlers.
Monday’s edition of RAW marked the return of Dave Batista aka “The Animal”. When asked his thoughts on Batista, Guerrero says, “If you guys know Dave, he’s got some massive legs. Maybe the [jeans he wore on RAW] weren’t skinny skinny jeans. Maybe they were normal jeans, but they look skinny on him…[Batista] looks like he’s shrink wrapped. I mean he’s so thin. The guy is in crazy shape… He’s like a genetic freak. He really is. You could work out as much as you want and never look like him. I mean, I don’t [look like him] and I work out a lot.”
Another wrestler who made a reletively recent return is Cody Rhodes’ brother, Goldust, the two of whom are now the WWE Tag Team Champions. Guerrero says of Goldust, “He’s an awesome guy and a really good wrestler from a great lineage…Very entertaining guy in and out of the ring.”
And just days away from John Cena’s rematch with Randy Orton at the Royal Rumble, there’s much speculation from fans as to who will win. But rather than speculate on the match, Guerrero divulged on a moment that he believes was the start of Cena’s superstardom. “One time, and this is a true story, we were in South Africa and [Cena] started battle rapping. He started rapping with someone and it was awesome. He went five minutes just talking about things around the room. And we were like, ‘Oh my gosh. Where did that come from?’ Tommy Dreamer heard it and Tommy took it to Shane McMahon and Shane McMahon heard it and took it to Vince McMahon and next thing you know he’s a rapper on TV…and he had already been with us six months or so. Slowly but surely he just became John Cena the superstar.”
Guerrero also openned up about his uncle, Eddie Guerrero, who passed away back in 2005. “[Eddie] was told he was a great performer, was always really really good. But he was told, ‘You’re a cruiserweight. You’ll always be a cruiserweight.’ And then when he left and got clean and sober and then came back, the fans just related with him so much and it was undeniable. They had to use him. They had to push him and he became who he was…When he passed, I would be walking in the airport and people would stop and look at me and hug me. They would give me a hug. I remember a TSA agent one time looked at my ID, looked up and looked at me. He didn’t say anything he just grabbed me and hugged me.”
Chavez says he’s very protective on Raquel Diaz, Eddie and Vickie Guerrero’s daughter, who is currently an NXT talent. “It’s really cool to see her follow the footsteps of the family…I have given advice and I’m always here for her. I don’t want to coddle her because she needs to do it. But she could call me any day and time and place and I’d be there for her. I just want to see her succeed. She’s got that Guerrero blood in her and people tell me that she’s really, really good.”
Links to Chavo Guerrero’s appearance can be found on AfterBuzz TV’s website or on iTunes or YouTube.
Following his return to WWE on Monday’s RAW, Batista tweeted a thank you message to his supporters and also gave a shout out to the ‘smarks’ who the fans who were critical of his appearance:
Just wanted to thank everyone who supported my return. I missed you guys!! All you other negative Smarks can suck my balls! Haha!!! #onelife
WWE has added the latest sit-down interview with Triple H, this time conducted by Renee Young, to their official YouTube channel.
The video, which you can view above, is accompanied by the following description: “WWE COO Triple H addresses whether Randy Orton “made things right” on Raw, CM Punk as the first entrant into the Royal Rumble Match and the possibility of Batista being “The Face of WWE.””
The ratings and viewership data is in for Monday’s episode of RAW and it was a home run for WWE.
The show did a 3.46 rating and averaged 4,868,000 viewers – way up from last week (3.12 rating, 4,404,000 viewers). This was the most-watched RAW since March 4, 2013.
WWE Superstar Batista and Brooke Hogan will be starring in the upcoming indie movie “L.A. Slasher” – which just wrapped post-production Here’s a synopsis, courtesy of horror website Bloody-Disgusting.com:
“[L.A. Slasher] is a biting, social satire about reality TV and the glorification of people who are famous for simply being famous, “L.A. Slasher” explores why it has become acceptable and even admirable for people to become influential and wealthy based on no merit or talent – purely through notoriety achieved through shameful behavior. Incensed by the tabloid culture which celebrates it, the L.A. Slasher publicly abducts a series of reality TV stars, while the media and general public in turn begin to question if society is better off without them.”
The film was directed by Martin Owen and produced by Jeffrey Wright and Daniel Sollinger. It stars Danny Trejo, Mischa Barton, Dave Bautista, Eric Roberts, Drake Bell, Brooke Hogan, Tori Black and the voice of actor Andy Dick.
– This year’s WWE Payback pay-per-view on June 1st will take place from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois for the second straight year.
– WWE returns to Madison Square Garden for a Road To WrestleMania live event on Saturday, March 8th. Here’s the advertised card:
* John Cena, Batista & Rey Mysterio vs. The Wyatt Family
* CM Punk vs. Kane
* Tag Team champions Goldust & Cody Rhodes vs. The New Age Outlaws
Also advertised to appear are Divas Champion AJ Lee, The Bella Twins, Alberto Del Rio, Damien Sandow, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, The Miz and others. WWE World Heavyweight champion Randy Orton is not currently advertised for the show.
Batista Returned to WWE and it’s the go home show before the Royal Rumble, but was it enough for us to say YES! Check out The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” Comment below and tell us your thoughts.
The Animal Is back, with the world’s tightest pants! NO!
The Authority, Randy Orton & Batista I wasn’t exactly thrilled with this segment. Randy Orton Triple H and Stephanie McMahon is just boring me. Orton is way more whinyer these days as well. This isn’t the cold-hearted viper, we all know and love. This is an annoying whimpy sometimes self-doubting viper. Batista comes out wearing a pair of ridiculous tight Jeans. That outfit is what I would expect someone to put on him as a joke in the WWE 2k14 video game, with a diva’s dancing entrance. He’s back to win the Royal Rumble and main event WrestleMania XXX in New Orleans to become the WWE Champion. Part of me want’s to say YES! because Batista is awesome, maybe I’m being to hard on the guy? But if I’m rating the segment by itself I have to go with NO!
Goldust, Cody Rhodes & Big E. Langston vs. The Shield WWE has won me over on tag team wrestling, plain and simple. I enjoy it, I love wathcing Cody and Golddust out there. I think it’s rediciolous that these two are defending their championship on the Royal Rumble pre-show. They deserve mid-card of the Pay-Per-View. Some would arugue, that if you put a solid match on the pre-show that will get people on the fence to buy the PPV. I get it, but still I think this is an attraction worthy of the actual event. Especially because I feel The New Age Outlaws could very well win the titles.YES!
Daniel Bryan is back YES!
Daniel Bryan & Bray Wyatt Great to see Daniel Bryan on Raw, especially since SEScoops.com broke the news a day after last week’s Raw that he had suffered a concussion last week. As a precaution he was pulled of the weekends live events and underwent impact testing to make sure he was good for this Sunday. He’s facing Bray Wyatt in a 1 on 1 match. Currently he is not scheduled to compete in the Royal Rumble. If he doesn’t show up in the Rumble and win it, I will be pretty disappointed, this is his year to win it. Do the right thing WWE, you have a major star on your hands. YES!
Xavier Woods vs. Fandango Fast forwarded this match. I think Fandango won. I have no idea why. Meaningless. NO!
CM Punk vs Billy Gun I didn’t catch Smackdown! on Friday, but I enjoyed The Road Doggs explinatinon here on commentary. The New Age Outlaws aren’t heel’s per se, more like tweeners. I would expect them to win the Tag Team titles to further along a breakup with Golddust and Cody Rhodes. Billy Gun looked a bit blown up in the match with CM Punk, but good match. YES!
Batista gets his revenge on Alberto Del Ro before the Rumble. Now What? – NO!
Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio Another fast forward delight, back in the day before DVR’s and dare I say VCR’s We would change the channel watching this thing live. Truth be told, I fell asleep during this very match live on Monday, and caught up Tuesday. Batista comes out and attacks Alberto Del Rio. Now I thought I was going to have to pay to see Batista get physical with Del Rio? Why give it away on Raw? I can only guess that Alberto Del Rio will cause Batista to be eliminated at the Rumble. We saw Batista destroy him, so something else needs to happen. Perhaps Ricardo Rodriguez comes back and they both get Batista out? Who knows. All I know is I give the match and aftermath a NO!
Brock Lesnar should be Fearless – NO!
Big Show, Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman Brock Lesnar shouldn’t be afraid of anyone at any time, period! I did like the Big Show this week, more serious, more business, calling out Brock Lesnar. I thought it was silly watching Brock backup from the ring, not wanting to get in there with Big Show. Getting thrown out and then throwing a temper tantrum. Brock is going to win this match at the Royal Rumble, a match I am looking forward to. But this segment was silly. I liked Big Show’s impression of Paul Heyman though. NO!
View Page 2 to find out more YES and NO from WWE RAW and our Overall Raw Rating
WWE has added the latest edition of their “Backstage Fallout” series on YouTube. The RAW “Backstage Fallout” video for this week, which can be viewed above, is accompanied by the following description: “Batista and Alberto Del Rio talk about their encounter on Raw.”
– WWE Superstar Batista, who made his return at RAW on Monday night, was interviewed backstage for the official WWE website. “The Animal” spoke about being nervous to return to WWE television and played up his storyline quest to win the Royal Rumble and capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
You can watch the video interview with Batista at WWE.com.
– As noted, E! filmed the wedding ceremony between Naomi and Jimmy Uso in Hawaii last week for a future episode of Total Divas. The crew also filmed additional footage of the couple visiting various attractions in the state for the next season of the reality show.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has posted a new blog entry, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Batista’s Return: “Good to See Batista back as Dave physically looked great and got a welcoming reaction back to the show. Batista is my favorite to win the Rumble Match this Sunday in Pittsburgh on PPV. One could assume that a major talent like Batista will have a huge role in NOLA at WM30.”
Daniel Bryan: “It seemed as if Daniel Bryan could have had a higher profile role on RAW based on how RAW left the air last week.”
Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar: “Impressed that Big Show was able to GUTWRENCH Lesnar over the top rope. Felt like a bigger moment at home than on TV. Impressive.”
John Cena vs. Randy Orton: “It’s obvious that the Cena vs. Orton WWE World Title bout is the primary focus of the Royal Rumble PPV this Sunday. Would loved to have seen Orton make a clean, non contact, getaway on RAW. I’d assume WWE will end with the Rumble match but make no mistake about it the focus of the show is on the WWE World Title….not that’s a bad thing.”
– It was announced on WWE RAW that one of the matches on this week’s edition of WWE Main Event will be R-Truth vs. Damien Sandow in one-on-one competition.
– WWE Superstar “The Animal” Batista made his return in the opening segment of Monday’s Royal Rumble “go-home” edition of WWE RAW. Batista confronted WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton and told him that his intentions are to win the Royal Rumble, headline WrestleMania XXX and become the new champion.
Batista returned to WWE on Monday’s RAW, confronting Randy Orton and declaring that he’s back for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Batista said he plans on winning the 2014 Royal Rumble and will then go on to headline WrestleMania XXX.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has posted a new blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Batista’s Return To WWE: “Monday Night Raw marks the return of Batista. Dave has been away from WWE doing film work, etc for around 4 years. His return is going to be perceived by the TV viewer/WWE fan only as big as it’s made to be tonight on live television. The pressures on. When will Batista be first re-introduced on the show? If it’s me, I’d consider doing it in the last segment of the broadcast.
Establish that Batista is in the arena and then facilitate him making a major impact on night one. Much like the slogan being utilized on the WWE Network, go over the top. Certainly Batista could be paraded out to the live audience earlier and then, later, have him do a heroic run on to garner another ‘pop’ as there are always multiple ways to do something the right way in the world of entertainment and in sports.
WWE’s Promotion of The Royal Rumble: “How WWE strategically produces tonight’s broadcast has me especially anxious to watch it. There are many stories to forward all the while getting one last shot on their franchise broadcast to sell PPV’s for Sunday’s Royal Rumble. One thing for sure is that the Rumble Match needs a lot of promotional love tonight.”
Brock Lesnar & Big Show: “Brock Lesnar is scheduled to be on RAW tonight and that rare appearance can’t be taken for granted and requires creating water cooler talk in some regard. Brock is too much of an investment and has too few dates to have a pedestrian appearance for Lesnar who’s preparing to face Big Show this Sunday. Brock vs. Show needs another log on the fire.”
WWE Superstar “The Animal” Batista, who makes his return to the company at RAW on Monday night in Dayton, Ohio, posted the following tweet on his official Twitter account regarding his long-awaited television return:
Made it 2 Ohio. Feels like I'm counting every second until I hit the ring tomorrow night. #dreamchaser
WWE.com has published a feature looking at the company’s “Most Shocking Night” – January 18, 1971, the night Bruno Sammartino lost the WWE Championship to Ivan Koloff.
The article states that on the following day, the New York Daily News reported the result and published photos of “fans crying as they mourned this incredible loss.”
– The latest “WWE Top 10” video looks at some of Batista’s best powerbombs.
Batista has given 100’s of WWE Superstars the Batista Bomb. Which 10 rank as the best Batista Bombs of all time?
Posted January 18th, 2014 in News, WWE. Tagged: Batista.
– “The Animal” Batista’s return to WWE television on Monday’s RAW has been several months in the making. Triple H and Batista began negotiating back in September, with both sides coming to an agreement around October. He’ll be working a close-to-fulltime schedule (including house shows), taking time off when needed to promote his movie projects.
– The deal to bring The Ultimate Warrior back into the company for a WWE Hall Of Fame induction was reportedly finalized a week before Christmas. The deal was brokered by 2K Sports, who worked with Warrior directly on the WWE 2K14 video game. As previously reported, Warrior dealt directly with Vince McMahon and had no interaction with Triple H. Warrior apparently wanted an apology for the 20045 “Self Destruction” DVD and is getting a proper DVD release on his WWE career that will be released the Tuesday before his Hall oof Fame induction and WresteMania XXX.
As for Warrior’s Hall of Fame inductee, both Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan are rumored to be doing the honors. Considering how much leverage Warrior had during the negotiations, it seems unlikely that he’d sign off on Hogan inducting him, so Vince appears to be the frontrunner. Warrior’s well-documented unpredictability and what he’ll say during his speech is one of the main selling points for this year’s ceremony. This was referenced by JBL several times on Monday’s RAW and was acknowledged by Warrior himself this week on Twitter.
– The official WWE website has added a new video playlist featuring many of John Cena’s recent media appearances promoting his “BodyChange” workout. You can check that out at WWE.com.
– Speaking of new WWE playlists, the official WWE website has added a video looking at some past comical Royal Rumble moments. You can check that out at WWE.com.
– The WWE Shop website has added new Ultimate Warrior merchandise, as well as some retro Batista merchandise. You can check out all that WWE has to offer at WWEShop.com.
WWE has added the latest sit-down interview between Triple H and Michael Cole to their official YouTube channel.
WWE COO Triple H addresses Randy Orton’s attack on John Cena’s father, The New Age Outlaws walking out on CM Punk, the decision to induct The Ultimate Warrior in the WWE Hall of Fame, Batista’s looming return and WWE Network.”
With two weeks before the Royal Rumble, Noah Mark is back with his analysis of the second raw of 2014. Check out The YES! & The NO! of WWE RAW.” Comment below and tell us your thoughts.
Daniel Bryan & Bray Wyatt Kick Off Raw vs The USO’S – YES!
The Usos vs. Bray Wyatt & Daniel Bryan (Part 1) Raw starts off with the match advertised last week of Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. The USO’s were in the ring at the start of Raw ready for the match. The lights blacked out for the Wyatts entrance, and came back on 30 seconds later to reveal Daniel Bryan and The Wyatts already in the ring. I liked the quick entrance. The match was good with Daniel Bryan in a more aggressive style. Luke Harper and Derek Rowan, interfered just before The USO’s were about to get airborne on Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. This prompted another DQ on the Wyatts in their second week in a row with Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan drops to his knees to receive a Sister Abigail from Bray Wyatt. As I said for the last two weeks, I’m okay with this story in it’s context, provided it doesn’t go 16 weeks to WrestleMania. YES!
Damien Sandow holding his own against John Cena – YES!
Damien Sandow vs. John Cena I was fortunate to be in the crowd at Raw in Orlando, FL the night after The Hell-In-A-Cell Pay-Per-View. It was on that night that Damien Sandow cashed in his Money-In-The-Bank briefcase on John Cena. Although he didn’t win the match then, it was a great competitive match with Cena, and this episode of Raw was no different. There is a great chemistry between Sandow and Cena, and proof that Sandow should have a much more elevated status in WWE. All the things about Damien Sandow I enjoy are stripped away, no more robe, no more witty promos, he’s seemingly just an angry body. Where’s the man that would sign autographs with a quill pen? Why do we get “Sandow-Gimmick-Light”? I question this especially, because when he is called upon he delivers. Match was great. Don’t throw away Sandow after this. YES!
Kane & Brad Maddox, No Triple H or Stephanie. Kane and Brad get into it backstage, and Mr Maddox comes up with a Bray Wyatt & Daniel Bryan vs The Uso’s rematch in a steel cage for the main event. With Kane adding that he will personally chain the cage door shut. I thought this would spell disaster for Daniel Bryan, with some ulterior motive for his former Co-Tag Team Champion.
I did like the fact that Triple H and Stephanie were not on the show this week. Although they seem to back Orton, promoting him as the face Of WWE, they haven’t been targeting John Cena, like they did Bryan, with beat-downs and impossible handi-cap matches. YES!
Left – Intense Big Show to confront Brock Lesnar 1/6 YES! Right – Jolly Big Show eventually Beating Up Zed NO!
On an unrelated note, is Kane injured? Kane is one of the longest tenured Superstars on the roster, I know he has been working several holiday house show matches, however I don’t recall him having a TV match since that aforementioned Orlando Raw I was at where, on that show he shed his mask, this was after returning from filming a See No Evil sequel. It looked like he had a noticeable limp coming down the aisle way.
Big Show vs. Jack Swagger I don’t like smiling big show. I liked hoodie and skull cap wearing, intense Big Show from last week. I want all business Big Show. I want a focused Big Show that is going to seriously take on Brock Lesnar. Big show almost has John Cena-itus. Big Show should learn from his mistakes. Smiling Big Show ended 3-4 Raws this fall, then lost the Big One. Big show can smile his way to another loss at the Royal Rumble. I like Zeb Colter, but for some reason I DON’T want to see him hurt. I like Paul Heyman, but I DO want to see him get hurt. NO!
Moments before The New Age Outlaws, pull back their hands and walk out on CM Punk – NO!
CM Punk & The New Age Outlaws vs. The Shield I’m hoping after The Royal Rumble, CM Punk will move away from The Shield. I love Roman Reigns but If the Shield were to break up, I don’t think he should be put against CM Punk one on one, yet. I like the idea of him building up his singles resume, perhaps with a Big E, Dolph Ziggler, a returning Jericho, maybe even Daniel Bryan, before we see CM Punk vs Roman Reigns in a big time match. I love the New Age Outlaws, and I don’t want to boo them. I haven’t checked out the Smackdown Spoilers (They are scheduled to take on Cody Rhodes and Golddust) so I’m curious to see if they are “bad guys” now. They both appear to be in great shape, and would love to see them, hang around till WrestleMania, but not at heels. Besides, book him however you wish, but at WrestleMania XXX they will no doubt be faces one way or another. NO!
Meaningless win for AJ. Waste of talent – NO!
The Funkadactyls vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka Throw-a-way match, AJ being underutilized. AJ hasn’t had many title defenses, the belt isn’t as special, not because of the person, because of the booking. She taps out and pins people left and right, then a silly beat down afterwords. If you’re going to give her a clean win, why bother, having the faces beat her down after the fact, they lost. This is why there is a huge drop off in star power in WWE, because you have someone like an AJ Lee who can cut a dynamite promo, you can cultivate that, make people want to see her, and let her flourish! Instead of losing her in the shuffle of 20 Total Diva® tag matches. NO!
WWE Hall Of Fame 2014 Inductee The Ultimate Warrior will Headline The 2014 Hall Of Fame. Ironic I watched a DVD about how he was horrible person to work with, held up Vince McMahon for money at SummerSlam 1991, and “self destructed” But as the saying goes Money Talks, and there is a lot of people who remember the guy you see below and could care less about what was hapening behind the curtain. So for that (and because our Webmaster is a huge fan of the man from Parts Unknown) we say YES!
View Page 2 to find out more YES and NO from WWE RAW and our Overall Raw Rating
As previously reported in a spoiler article based off of Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown television taping in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar’s match at the upcoming WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 26th is now confirmed to be a one-on-one match against Big Show.
The Lesnar-Big Show match was made official during SmackDown this week, as Lesnar’s on-air manager Paul Heyman accepted the match against Big Show on his behalf during a MizTV segment.
With the Lesnar-Show match now official, here is the updated official lineup for the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view:
WWE Royal Rumble Match
– Confirmed participants thus far: Batista and Alberto Del Rio
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
– Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena
Batista and Alberto Del Rio have been exchanging some tweets this week, with Batista warning Del Rio not to “turn a work into a shoot.”
During Monday’s Old School RAW, Alberto Del Rio defeated Sin Cara and cut a promo announcing himself as an entrant into the 2014 Royal Rumble. Baitsta then tweeted:
“Seems 2 me that some C level stars in a B level star era have bought into their own hype. Don’t turn a work into a shoot. #realitycheck”
The tweet was later deleted. According to a source in WWE, Batista deleted tweet was a big topic of discussion among the wrestlers this week. With Batista expected to be featured in a main event program when he returns to WWE on the January 20th episode of RAW from Dayton, Ohio, the feeling is that his tweet about this being a “B level star era” is a sign that he’s bringing a big ego with him.
