– In the Tough Enough Digital Extra video shown above, Sara Lee seeks out some advice from Lita with regards to what she’s doing in the ring.
Lita explains that watching Sara is tough in the ring because she has to watch her go through a mental checklist of everything before she does a move, which leads the move coming off “crappy.”
– Bayley, who has been off NXT TV lately due to an injury sent out the following tweet ahead of tonight’s episode of RAW which will take place in San Jose, California:
With #RAW being in my hometown tomorrow night, maybe I'll go visit my Mom..& have her drop me off at the arena..& sneak into some luggage.
WWE reportedly went back-and-forth in recent weeks over how to bring the group of NXT Divas to the main roster, as well as which Divas to use, so much so that arguments broke out between various members of the creative team.
At one point, there was an idea to bring the NXT Divas to the main roster and have them replace the current WWE Divas division, outside of a couple of Divas that could keep up, as well as those needed because of Total Divas.
Stephanie McMahon was always scheduled to be involved and that fact was never debated, however there was some discussion as to whether or not she should take credit for bringing the Divas in on television, as it is seen as a babyface move.
Originally, there was talk of calling up four NXT Divas — Sasha Banks, Charlotte Becky Lynch and Bayley, and at times, they were thinking about bringing only two NXT Divas to the main roster — either Charlotte and Banks or Charlotte and Lynch.
The belief is that both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are invested in this angle and are fully in support of it, so it likely won’t be one of those WWE angles that is quickly forgotten about in a matter of a few weeks.
– During last night’s episode of WWE NXT, Sasha Banks joined forces with Charlotte to take on the team of Dana Brooke and Emma. Following the match Charlotte challenged Sasha for the title.
Sasha was quick to accept the challenge and later on in the episode it was confirmed that next week it will be Charlotte vs Sasha Banks for the NXT Women’s title.
– Bayley also appeared on the show in a recorded video message where she talks about having to watch everyone else fight while she deals with a broken hand thanks to Emma.
She said that her biggest goal is to become the NXT Women’s Champion and spoke about how Triple H and Steve Austin managed to come back from injuries to become champions.
Bayley let Emma know that when she’s given the go ahead to come back, she will be the first person that she goes after.
While there has been a lot of speculation about the outcome of the current storyline involving Paige taking on Team Bella (Alicia Fox and The Bella Twins), we can now report what the current working plan is.
According to PWInsider.com, NXT Diva Charlotte is scheduled to make her main roster debut at next month’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view. Another NXT Diva, likely current NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks, will be debuting alongside Charlotte to help Paige.
There was some discussion of calling up Bayley for this storyline, however she is dealing with a broken hand, so the talk now is that Banks will be the second Diva called up for this angle.
– Veteran wrestling journalist Bill Apter caught up with WWE Hall Of Famers Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels at the Legends Of The Ring convention. Below is a clip of Hart and Michaels talking about their friendship and how nice it is to work together these days.
– NXT Diva Bayley did not work this weekend’s NXT live events due to a broken hand. Bayley had apparently been working with the injury for a while, however she is now in a cast, which she had fans signing at the events this weekend. You can check out the photos below.
At a recent convention, WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella, along with her twin sister — WWE Diva Brie Bella — fielded questions from fans in attendance about a variety of topics.
During the discussion, Nikki Bella revealed who she would like to defend her title against the most.
“I would love to square off with Sasha Banks,” said Nikki. “Champ vs. champ, WWE Divas Champ vs. NXT Champ. (Kevin Owens and John Cena) beat us to it, I was so pissed. Hopefully after their run, we can have a run.”
Brie added, “Charlotte, Bayley Sasha — there’s a lot of good ones down there [in NXT].”
Nikki also spoke about working with some of the NXT talent during a show at Madison Square Garden.
“Last year Nattie and I had a match with Sasha at Charlotte at MSG,” said Nikki. “It was awesome and really fun to work them. So I’m dying for some of those girls to get up here.”
– Paige’s ongoing storyline with the Bella Twins talking about bringing change to the Divas division will likely culminate with one of the NXT Divas being called up to the main roster.
Ric Flair’s daughter Charlotte is a strong possibility, since she’s been considered ‘ready’ for quite some time now.
– Bayley is currently working through a broken arm. She was wearing a cast at this past weekend’s NXT live events.
– Joey Styles confirmed on Twitter that the July 4th WWE live event from Tokyo, Japan will air live on the WWE Network in its entirety. Aside from the Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor NXT Championship match, Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho will also be in action on the show. (Full Card)
– The following is Part 1 of WWE’s new in-depth look at Finn Balor as he prepares to face Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship on July 4th.
Scott Fishman of the Miami Herald recently caught up with former WWE Divas Ivory and Molly Holly to talk about what they have been doing since parting ways with WWE, as well as the current state of women’s wrestling.
Below are some highlights from the interview.
Ivory on what she has been doing since leaving WWE: “I work with dogs and cats all day long. I work by myself, for myself. I’m around 15 or 20 dogs every day of my life. It’s just like wrestling.”
Ivory on the current state of women’s wrestling in WWE: “I was fortunate enough to watch Bayley at NXT, when they had their matches. Those girls were on fire. It’s all around us. Great ladies’ wrestling is all around us. So it has not disappeared by any means.”
Molly Holly on what she has been doing since leaving WWE: “I work at Teen Challenge, which is a worldwide organization that helps people overcome alcohol and drug addiction.”
Molly Holly on catching up with Natalya and watching Madusa go into the WWE Hall Of Fame: “I talked to Nattie [Natalya] a little bit, and I complimented her inducting Madusa. It’s about time. She really paved the way for me. To be able to be there, and she did such an awesome job with her speech. I thought it was great.”
NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Bayley and Becky Lynch spoke to WWE.com this week about their efforts to change the face of women’s wrestling.
Dubbed the “Four Horsewomen of NXT,” each of them talked about what they’re doing to ensure WWE has no choice but to #GiveDivasAChance.
Charlotte said it’s hard to be the “hardest worker in the room” in the NXT Women’s division, because everybody is the hardest worker in the room. She raved about Triple H’s decision to hire (the recently promoted) Sara Del Rey and said she gets goosebumps thinking about how lucky she is to have so many talented women to work with.
Bayley said Triple H has been incredibly supportive of them, showing a lot of interest in each individual. Triple H has solidified their mission to revolutionize women’s wrestling.
Becky Lynch said she stopped watching wrestling many years ago because it didn’t seem like women had a chance to be featured in a meaningful way. She said she walked around the WWE Performance Center and did not see any women’s wrestlers featured on the WWE PPV poster banners there. She knows that in five years, when she walks around the performance center, she’s going to see Bayley, Sasha and Charlotte on those banners. “Hopefully I’ll see myself, too, but I know I’m going to see them, and it’s not just because they’re good for girls. They’re just good. Just really good, and we’re just changing.”
Sasha Banks said that when she was working the indies, people wouldn’t care about women’s matches. Now, people come up to her and tell her she had the best match on the show. Male wrestlers come up to her and admit they are going to have a hard time following her match, which is an amazing feeling.
– Finn Balor’s ring entrance was screwed up during the NXT live event in Albany, New York on Saturday night. NXT had a few issues with the sound system throughout the show, but the most glaring issue came during Balor’s entrance for the main event. Tyler Breeze came out first to his usual ring music and had to stall in the ring for several minutes while the NXT production crew was presumably working on fixing whatever the issue was. Unfortunately, they didn’t fix it fast enough, so Balor ended up coming out to no music. By the time he hit the ring and was posing in the corners, his music finally played. Kevin Owens would follow as the third competitor in the triple-threat main event, and by that point, the audio issues had been cleared up.
Balor tweeted the following about his entrance mix-up on Saturday, and re-tweeted the following video of the entrance itself.
– NXT Diva Bayley’s boyfriend Aaron Solow posted the following audition video for the new season of WWE Tough Enough. In the video, Solow addresses the fact that he’s dating Bayley in real life.
NXT Diva Bayley recently spoke with AfterBuzz TV about a number of topics. Below are some highlights from the interview.
On how it’s different working with Sara Del Rey compared to the male NXT trainers and how Del Rey has changed the women’s division down at NXT: “I’ve trained with men before I got here and now training with Sara…Sara understand the women’s side of you too…It’s always been kind of a dream to train with Sara Del Rey. Even before I got here, before Sara was the trainer, I remember emailing her, wanting to move actually to Philly, wanting to move to wherever she was to train under her wing and learn from her. It’s really cool that now I do.”
On getting started in pro wrestling: “There was this whole promotion by my house, it was called Big Time Wrestling in Newark, California. I started going to their shows when I was 13…I would go to every single one of them. I knew once I turned 18, because that was their age limit, I wanted to start training with them. So I showed up and the promoter [Jason Styles] because I actually got close to him throughout the years, the promoter actually sat down with me and called my mom and asked her if it was okay, ‘So I have Bayley here with me and she wants to start training. Does she have your permission?’ And she’s like, ‘Well, it scares me but she’s right there in front of you and I’m going to support her the rest of the way.’ I was the only girl in the class, I started with four other guys, but within a month they were gone. So I had been the only girl for such a long time.”
On what she wants her WWE legacy to be: “This started as I was a kid, since I started training. The thing I want out of it is for women’s wrestling to be looked at in a whole other way. I want us to be able to main event pay per views. I want people to buy tickets to come see us. I want them to buy a ticket and say, ‘I want to see Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky, Bayley, everybody.’ I want them to buy tickets to see us. But the main thing, and I think all of us here, we just want the girls in the crowd, the kids to feel motivated or inspired to do whatever they want to do. It doesn’t have to be wrestling.
On why she enjoys working with Charlotte: “I mean, Charlotte is amazing. Who wouldn’t want to team up with Charlotte? I’ve been in so many battles with her, so I know what it’s like to be against her, because I’ve failed so many times. One day I will beat her. I know what a great competitor she is…she’s a Flair. We have a really good chemistry together, no matter if we’re against each other in the ring or if we’re teaming up together, we just have a really good bond.”
– WWE.com has issued a poll asking fans which NXT Diva should move to the main roster following AJ Lee’s retirement. The options are Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Bayley, Alex Bliss, Becky Lynch and Carmella. Charlotte is currently leading the poll with 41% of the vote.
Former WWE Diva AJ Lee revealed on Twitter a few days ago that she has a book coming out in the near future. It appears she’s working with working with New York City literary agent and publishing consultant Lisa Leshne of The Leshne Agency.
Thank you @LeshneAgency. I hope our book inspires girls to become strong women & underdogs to make their dreams a reality.
The following are results of the NXT TakeOver: Rival special, which aired live on the WWE Network on Wednesday, February 11, 2015.
– Hideo Itami def. Tyler Breeze in an excellent opening match. This was a solid match to kick off the special. The crowd was hot for it throughout. In the end, Itami picked up the “W” with a running kick to the face.
– Baron Corbin def. Bull Dempsey in a No DQ match. Dempsey dominated a lot of the action throughout the majority of the match, however in the end, Corbin hit his End Of Days finisher for the 1-2-3.
– Wesley Blake & Buddy Murphy def. The Lucha Dragons to retain the NXT Tag-Team Championships. This was a solid tag-team match with a ton of fast-paced, high-flying spots. In the end, Blake hit a top rope frog splash on Sin Cara for the pinfall victory.
– Finn Balor def. Adrian Neville to become the new number one contender to the NXT Championship. Balor did his elaborate entrance, which as usual, received a big reaction from the crowd. Neville dominated a lot of the action throughout, including multiple believable near falls, however in the end, Falor hit a giant double foot stomp off the top rope to score the win.
WWE NXT Diva Bayley recently spoke with Jim Varsallone of The Miami Herald. Here are some highlights of what she said about:
Her Character In NXT
“It comes kind of natural being Bayley. Watching wrestling already made me excited. When I was younger, going to live events, I was so into it and just felt something inside me that made me feel driven to do it; so when I go out to the ring, it’s a natural fire for me. I can’t help but smile. Bayley is a dream chaser. She’s grown up watching the product, wrestling, WWE, everything. She knows everyone, from top to bottom, all the history. She’s been motivated since she was 10-years-old and is finally here, trying to pursue the dream, live the dream to the fullest.”
Randy Savage Joining The WWE Hall of Fame:
“I’m a huge Macho Man fan. Him being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year is so cool, and it’s in my hometown [San Jose]. His ring gear is actually what stood out to me when I first saw him. He was the first guy I saw ever in wrestling; so that’s what hooked me to him and what got me into wrestling. I kind of base my gear to being very colorful, different shapes and a little bit of randomness, basing it off him.”
NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte:
“She’s amazing. Sometimes we’ll do stuff training, little warm-ups, and of course, she ups the ante on everything, and it turns out amazing. What she’s done in her past matches…You guys have no idea…She’s going to keep bringing it, and you’ll continue to be surprised and in awe of her. She’s great.”
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– As noted recently, Randy Orton has been advertised locally to return at several of the past WWE television tapings, but was held back due to creative decisions made by the company. Orton is being advertised for the February 16th edition of RAW in Orlando, which is the Fast Lane “go-home” edition of the show. With Orton scheduled to return in time for a program at WrestleMania 31, one would assume that if he doesn’t return on the 2/16 RAW show, he will be returning either at the pay-per-view itself, or at RAW the following night.
– The following matches were taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida for tonight’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network:
– Emma vs. Carmella
– Adrian Neville vs. Baron Corbin (Semifinals of the No. 1 Contender’s Tournament)
– Bayley vs. Becky Lynch
– Hideo Itami vs. Finn Bálor (Semifinals of the No. 1 Contender Tournament)
– Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville vs. Kevin Owens and Tyson Kidd
Check out the official video promo for tonight’s NXT show below.
– WWE is scheduled to release a new Ultimate Warrior DVD and Blu-ray on April 14, 2015. The project is called “Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe” and is expected to feature a new documentary.
– In the following video, NXT Diva Bayley talks with NXT announcer Rich Brennan about her recovery from a knee injury and drawing inspiration from Triple H. She also sends a message to “Team BAE’s” Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch.
The future of the WWE went to school last night, and I’m here to grade their performance. Matches will be graded based on usual factors such as workrate, in-ring psychology, crowd involvement, and overall impact on the storyline. Important promos will also be graded based on entertainment value, believability, and originality.
While this is supposed to act as a weekly report and recap for NXT, more importantly, it’s a place for you, the SEScoops readers, to discuss this week’s episode, dole out your own grades, and discuss the future of the product. Without further ado, here is this week’s NXT Report Card.
Adrian Neville/Kevin Owens Opening Promo
This was a pretty good way to start the show and the crowd really seemed to be into it. Neville did his best to make amends with the fans and put over Sami Zayn, saying things like, “We went to war” and “The better man won.”
Neville isn’t the strongest promo man in the game, but he did his best, even if he can be a bit redundant at times. Owens, on the other hand, cut an intense and articulate promo that seemed to have the crowd on the edge of their seats. Overall, it was a good way to start the show and set up the main event between Neville and Owens.
Grade: B+
Bayley vs. Becky Lynch
This one started off a bit sluggish, with most of the early action consisting of Bayley throwing punches and not utilizing many wrestling moves. The action picked up toward the end, however, with the ending sequence being particularly impressive. The counter into Lynch’s finisher was fresh and it worked well with the in-ring psychology due to Bayley’s injured knee.
While there is still one more set of television tapings before the next NXT live special, which is expected to take place on December 11th on the WWE Network, based on what has been taped thus far, the following matches are rumored for the fourth live NXT special:
NXT Championship:
– Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn
NXT Women’s Championship:
– Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks or Becky Lynch, or a multi-Diva match with Bayley included
NXT Tag-Team Championships:
– The Vaudevillians vs. The Lucha Dragons
– The September 21st episode of WWE Total Divas drew 1,188,000 viewers on E!. Despite the fact that it went head-to-head with Night of Champions, the show was up over 200,000 viewers from the previous week.
– Following John Cena’s win by disqualification over Brock Lesnar at WWE Night of Champions, Cena is now 2-4 all time in singles matches against Lesnar.
– NXT Diva Bayley posted the following promo on Instagram, vowing to capture the NXT Women’s Title from Charlotte at Friday’s live event in Cocoa, Florida:
The following are results of the NXT Takeover 2 special, which aired on the WWE Network on Thursday, September 11, 2014.
– The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara & Kalisto) def. The Ascension to become the new NXT Tag-Team Champions in the opening match of the show. The finish came when Kalisto pinned Viktor.
– Baron Corbin def. C.J. Parker in a quick squash match that lasted all of 29 seconds.
– Enzo Amore def. Sylvester Lefort with a rolling reverse cradle, holding his trunks during the pin. Lefort tried to run away after the match, but Big Cass clotheslined him. Louis attacked Cass and Lefort ran off, leaving Louis alone. Cass hit a big kick on Louis. Cass said to Amore, “Enzo, get the bucket!” in Dudley Boyz fashion. He poured the bucket on Louis and Louis ran off.
– KENTA came out to the ring after being introduced by William Regal. KENTA announced that his new name is Hideo Itami. The Acension came out and threw him out of the ring and demanded a tag-title rematch. He came back in and cleaned house of both guys.
– Bull Dempsey def. Mojo Rawley in about a minute with a diving head-butt. After the match, he gave Rowley another diving head-butt for good measure.
– Backstage, Enzo Amore and Big Cass wanted to see somebody bald. They found Louis and Lefort ran away, leaving him alone yet again. Cass attacked him and carried him to the ring. Cass hit him with a reverse atomic drop and Amore took the towel off that was covering his head, revealing that he only had a little bit of hair left and no eyebrows.
– Charlotte def. Bayley to retain the NXT Women’s Championship. The finish saw Charlotte hit a moonsault, followed by a neck-snapper for the pin. After the match, Sasha Banks came out and taunted Bayley and then attacked her. Charlotte ended up making the save.
– It was announced that Hideo Itami (formerly known as KENTA) will be making his in-ring debut on NXT TV next week, which is actually being taped on Saturday night, September 12th.
– Adrian Neville def. Tyler Breeze, Sami Zayn & Tyson Kidd to retain the NXT Championship. The finish saw Neville hit his spectacular Red Arrow on Kidd for the pin after Zayn had hit the running kick into the corner and had the match won, but Neville pulled the referee out of the ring so he couldn’t make the three count. This was definitely a “match of the year” candidate.
– NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte defeated Bayley in what was said to be an excellent main event at the NXT live event in Citrus Springs, Florida on Sunday night. The reason the NXT Divas were in the headline match of the evening was because several of NXT’s top talents were on the road with the main WWE roster this weekend.
NXT Champion Adrian Neville defeated fellow NXT performer Tyler Breeze at the WWE live event in Dayton, Ohio. Sami Zayn defeated Tyson Kidd and The Ascension lost to Big E. and Kofi Kingston at the WWE live event in Hampton, Virginia.
– Speaking of NXT, several new promos for NXT Takeover 2 have been added to the official NXT Instagram account. The two newest additions feature Sami Zayn and Sasha Banks talking about the upcoming live WWE Network special. You can check those out at Instagram.com/wwenxt.