– WWE Hall Of Famer Howard Finkel confirmed on Thursday that he will be included in the new WWE 2K16 video game, particularly in the Showcase Mode. This is the same mode that features fellow WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross.
– Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts will be the guest on Jim Ross’ “Ross Report” podcast on Tuesday, September 8th at PodcastOne.com.
– The following are some Total Divas preview clips featuring Paige’s boyfriend writing a song for her, as well as The Bella Twins meeting their friends for dinner in New York City.
Several of the WWE Divas who worked last night’s RAW expressed their frustration with the fans in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, particularly with how they reacted during the Team P.C.B. vs. Team Bella match.
Paige tweeted the following comment, but quickly deleted it: “You helped us create change and then did your best to disrespect. Niceeeee jobbbbbbbb!”
Below are some posts from other WWE Divas involved in the match/segment, all of which spoke about the negative fan reaction as well.
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.
WWE has posted several Money in the Bank Fallout videos online.
After capturing a WWE World Heavyweight Title Match contract, The Celtic Warrior vows to cash in and reclaim his rightful spot as the dominant force in WWE, aka the “land of the giants.”
The Prime Time Players celebrate their first WWE Tag Team Championship victory over New Day at Money in The Bank.
The Bella Twins defend Twin Magic and deny any wrongdoing at WWE Money in The Bank where Nikki successfully defended her WWE Divas title against Paige.
WWE Diva Tamina Snuka, who has been off of television for a while now, returned on Monday’s RAW with a new gimmick.
We reported earlier today that Snuka had been working as a bodyguard for Naomi at recent non-televised live events, and that there’s a good possibility that it would be brought to television, and that’s exactly what happened.
As The Bella Twins were making their way to the ring on RAW on Monday night in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, they were attacked from behind by Naomi and Tamina Snuka.
After the beatdown, Naomi says to The Bella Twins, “You’re sibling reign of dominance over the Divas division is over. This is what family is all about.”
The announcers would go on to explain to the viewinng audience that Snuka is the cousin of Jimmy Uso, Naomi’s husband, by marriage, which would explain the family reference in her one-line promo.
– WWE is teasing that 2015 King of the Ring Bad News Barrett will be addressing the WWE Universe on tonight’s episode of RAW from Montreal.
“We haven’t heard from the new King of the Ring on WWE television since that momentous win. Is King Barrett preparing to make a royal decree? Will one of his foes get clobbered by a regal Bull Hammer? What other King of the Ring Tournament fallout can we expect? WWE’s “Game of Thrones” continues on Raw.”
– Erick Rowan worked as a heel at this weekend’s WWE live events. He lost to Sami Zayn in one match and also teamed with The Ascension to lose to Jimmy Uso and The Prime Time Players in six-man action.
– Title Match Wrestling has published an interview with The Bella Twins from WrestleMania 31 week. The Bellas discuss WWE crowd reactions, their love for wine and more:
Former WWE writer Kevin Eck has posted a new blog at SportsBlog.com about the state of WWE’s Divas division and the recent #GiveDivasAChance movement. (more…)
WWE Divas The Bella Twins are on the cover of the new Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine. They tweeted this photo of the magazine, which is now available on newsstands: (more…)
– Chris Jericho posted the following on Instagram about his live interview with John Cena last night on the WWE Network after RAW (Full Recap):
“It’s official…the #CenaVsJericho episode of #LiveWithChrisJericho was a HIT!! The Great conversation between two friends on the #WWENetwork is a MUST SEE! And for those of you complaining that I didn’t ask the “Hard Questions”, what were you expecting? “So why did u bury so and so John?” “Ever murder someone Cena?”…It’s a talk show for Pete’s sake! I’m all about fun stories and having a few laughs and my show will always reflect that. Don’t wanna laugh? Then Don’t watch the next one…and there will be a next one! @johncena @wwe”
John Cena also commented:
From Johnny Fabulous to Wacky Roll Up Guy and everything in between, thank you @IAmJericho! @WWENetwork
– The Bella Twins give their thoughts on AJ Lee’s WWE departure, the state of the Divas division and next week’s Divas Battle Royal to determine the next #1 contender to Nikki’s title:
– Paul Heyman’s Heyman Hustle site has published exclusive photos of the Bella Twins from WrestleMania weekend.
– According to new business data released by WWE, February’s Fastlane pay-per-view did 43,000 buys (27,000 domestic, 16,000 international).
– Recent WWE signee Uhaa Nation was one of several talents who began training at the WWE Performance Center on Monday.
– “Stone Cold” Steve Austin announced on Twitter that he’ll be addressing the rumors regarding his relationship with WWE on Tuesday’s Steve Austin Show podcast at PodcastOne.com.
On last night’s season finale of Total Divas, the Bella Twins teased that they are leaving WWE soon.
Nikki and Brie informed WWE officials that they are not planning to renew their contracts.
The scene was filmed around the time of November’s Survivor Series, where Nikki Bella captured the Divas Championship. Nikki is still the Divas champion and has been feuding with AJ Lee since she returned to television last week.
Season 4 of Total Divas premieres this summer on July 7th.
On tonight’s edition of WWE RAW, which takes place in Newark, New Jersey, Paige will challenge Nikki Bella for the WWE Divas Championship.
Whether or not the Paige-Bella match plays into the planned angle heading into the tag-team Divas match scheduled for WrestleMania 31, which will feature Paige & AJ Lee vs. The Bella Twins, remains to be seen.
WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon has responded to the #GiveDivasAChance movement, assuring fans that WWE is well aware of the latest viral backlash campaign.
The trend is the product of widespread frustration surrounding the way women’s wrestlers are used on WWE television. It’s not a new situation, but it’s finally gaining some mainstream exposure due to fans being fed up and WWE’s top Divas speaking out publicly about it.
Earlier this month at a Wizard World Comic Con event, the Bella Twins spoke about the Women in NXT getting much more time int he ring than the Divas in WWE.
On Tuesday night, after #GiveDivasAChance had been trending for nearly 24 hours, AJ Lee sent Stephanie McMahon a series of tweets pointing out that Divas do not get equal TV time or compensation compared to the Superstars. (Read Her Tweets Here). Stephanie has since responded:
The following matches were taped for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to the SmackDown television tapings on Tuesday night in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dark Match
– The Prime Time Players def. two local wrestlers.
WWE Main Event
– Cesaro & Tyson Kidd def. The Lucha Dragons in tag-team action. This is the second straight week that the Lucha Dragons have worked the Main Event tapings. The finish in this one saw Cesaro hit his big uppercut for the 1-2-3.
– The Bella Twins def. Paige & Emma in Divas tag-team action. This was a rematch from Monday’s RAW, which saw Brie pin Emma for the finish.
– Stardust def. Kofi Kingston in the headline match of the evening. The crowd got on Stardust’s case with “Cody” chants throughout the match. In the end, Stardust picked up the “W” by way of clean pin fall.
On Monday’s RAW, we saw another throwaway Divas match, with The Bella Twins defeating Paige and Emma in 30 seconds. Shortly after the match, #GiveDivasAChance was trending on Twitter – and it still trending on Tuesday afternoon more than 12 hours later.
WWE’s Bella Twins made headlines recently after their comments a Wizard World Comic Con panel about WWE Divas deserving more time in the ring. They said the women at NXT get much more leeway to practice their craft and entertain the fans, even saying that if they were NXT women’s wrestlers, they wouldn’t want to join the main roster.
Here are some of the tweets from the #GiveDivasAChance movement:
– WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels is the guest on the latest edition of Steve Austin’s “Steve Austin Show” podcast. The official description for the show reads as follows:
SASc – EP195 – WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels
“WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels talks to Steve about his new book, and his time in the ring. They cover WM 14 and what that was really like for Shawn given his injuries then, Shawn’s retirement from pro-wrestling, his in-ring work philosophy, hitting rock bottom with pills & coming out on the other side, best advice he got from Macho Man Randy Savage, what he learned from Ric Flair, and how shooting’s going for his reality TV show, MacMillan River Adventure.”
– The official WWE website has video footage of The Bella Twins at the 2015 ESPN Sports Science Newton Awards during Super Bowl weekend. You can check that out at WWE.com.
– Stardust’s (Cody Rhodes) wife, NXT Diva Eden, posted the following tweets regarding the promo on RAW:
Over the weekend, we ran a report that WWE talent is frustrated that the wrestlers at NXT get much more time to wrestle during their matches and are much less restricted with what they get to do in the ring. WWE Divas The Bella Twins appeared at Comic Con in Indianapolis over the weekend and corroborated the sentiment.
When asked about the women in NXT wrestling lengthy matches while WWE Divas only get a few minutes to work each week, Nikki said that she and Brie were just talking about that the other day. Brie said:
“I was saying that. If I was in NXT I would not wanna come up to the main roster because you get so much time down there. If you come to the live events you’ll see we get a lot of time at the live events. When it comes to TV we get so frustrated because it’s hard to tell a story in 3 minutes and especially when they want an entrance. We want time to wrestle. Especially after watching NXT Rival pay-per-view and seeing them go 20 minutes, it’s like a dream. It’s something we’d love and we’re trying so hard to get more time. There’s a three hour Raw and you can’t give more time to the Divas? But, hopefully in the future.”
They also spoke about Total Divas, with Brie mentioning that she thinks its silly for WWE to have the storylines crossover to WWE RAW. Since Total Divas taped months in advance, its difficult to act like the events that took place on Total Divas occurred the night before.
– Following their performances at NXT TakeOver: Rival, Paul Heyman praises the efforts and abilities of both Finn Balor and Kevin Owens. Heyman tweeted the following:
– Chris Jericho noted on social media recently that his “Talk Is Jericho” podcast has had over 53 million downloads since December 4, 2013.
– The following is the official synopsis for tonight’s edition of WWE Total Divas on E!:
“The future of the Bella Twins is in question after Brie’s admission that she doesn’t use protection; Nattie is forced to work with TJ even though they are separated; and Ariane makes a disastrous attempt to find out why exactly Alicia hates her.”
– Below is a photo of WWE Superstar David Otunga with his fiancee Jennifer Hudson at Clive Davis’s annual pre-Grammy Awards party on Saturday night.
The International Business Times has published an interview with The Bella Twins, which was conducted during Super Bowl 49 weekend in Phoenix, Arizona.
Last summer, Nikki and Brie were embroiled in a heated feud that culminated at SummerSlam with Nikki turning on her sister and siding with Stephanie McMahon and Brie becoming Nikki’s assistant after they wrestled at Hell in a Cell in October. The feud ended abruptly, with the sisters reuniting on television shortly afterwards as if nothing ever happened.
Here’s what they said about it:
Nikki: “I really enjoyed where the story started. There was nothing better than having that turning moment on Brie at SummerSlam against Stephanie McMahon. Brie and her had such a great buildup, they had such a great story and I loved the start of our story. I feel like we didn’t get a chance to end our story. Unfortunately, we didn’t end it, and I wanted to go so much longer with it and I felt like we could do so much more. I truly enjoyed my pay-per-view match against Brie. We have a bond that you just can’t create. We’re born with it and we had this magic in the ring. We had great chemistry, and I wish we could’ve done a lot more. I was really enjoying our feud and the people were. It was hard for some people to watch because it’s like “Nikki’s so mean.” It was just fun and I think why it was hard for people too is because it’s (like) real life. People get interested in moments with their siblings. I wish we went longer, and I wish we could’ve finished the story. I think Brie needed to do something to me because I was just so mean to her.”
Brie: “It was a lot of fun to be working with my sister and to go from Stephanie McMahon to my own sister was great. And the nice thing is we all have a really good friendship with Stephanie. I have one with my sister, and I think you go out and there and you make magic. And after we’d be done in the ring we’d go backstage and whether you’re crying or hugging, you just let it all out and we’re like “OK I didn’t mean that.” So that’s the great thing about having your sister in the story with you.”
There were many other topics discussed, including how Total Divas has affected their careers and how Daniel Bryan and John Cena have helped them improve in the ring.
After being postponed last week due to snow, the good ole live, in-ring version of Raw was back last night, emanating from the Mile High City. The company was back in full force, with Triple H making a “major announcement” and a big main event between Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from last night’s episode of Raw.
Pros
The clear highlight of the night was the main event between Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan. Anytime you get two guys with this type of talent in the same ring, you know you’re in for a treat. They certainly didn’t disappoint either, pulling off a number of impressive spots and exhibiting impeccable chemistry. The spot of the match was probably Rollins countering Bryan’s Running Knee finisher into a Powerbomb. In the end, Bryan picked up the win and will face Roman Reigns at Fast Lane for a chance to go to WrestleMania (more on this later).
The second best part of the night was probably the segment involving Curtis Axel and Dean Ambrose. It’s sad when the first thing Axel has to say when coming out is, “Don’t change the channel.” It’s like he’s a mind reader or something. Anyway, it was hilarious to see Ambrose quickly toss Axel over the top rope before telling him he’s now eliminated. Even more exciting was that Ambrose called out Bad News Barrett. This is a program that really needs to happen, as Ambrose is the type of guy who could bring some prestige back to the Intercontinental Title after the company has played hot potato with it over the past few years.
Bray Wyatt had a big night. His match with Dolph Ziggler was incredible, and it was nice to see two guys who don’t work together much get a chance to shine. Wyatt hit a devastating Sister Abigail that Ziggler sold better than anyone to end the match. Later in the night, he cut a promo saying things like, “I am the new face of fear” and, “We cannot wait to see you again.” It looks like they are going with the rumored Wyatt/Taker program for WrestleMania and I, for one, cannot wait. If only they had gone this route last year instead of wasting the streak on a part-timer…
Rusev’s beating of Rowan and post-match promo was money. I absolutely love this guy and he played off of the Russian flag miscue perfectly. Please push this guy to the top and don’t feed him to Cena.
Jimmy Uso and Cesaro looked great together. The highlights were a Cesaro Swing into a Half Crab and a brutal uppercut to end the contest. It was nice to see Cesaro pick up a victory, but the only downside was that they are already teasing tension between Cesaro and Kidd. I’d like to see these guys stick together for a while and get a run with the titles.
Finally, the Miz/Mizdow promo was absolutely hilarious. It was nice to see the Miz berate his now former stunt double and put the wheels in motion for a breakup. Here’s to hoping for a payoff at WrestleMania.
On Monday’s WWE Royal Rumble “go-home” edition of RAW, two new matches were announced for this Sunday’s pay-per-view event.
In what will be the WWE Royal Rumble “Kickoff Show” match, the New Day faction, which consists of Kofi Kingston, Big E. and Xavier Woods, will compete in a six-man tag-team match against Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and Adam Rose.
Also announced for this Sunday’s Royal Rumble show is a Divas tag-team match, which will feature The Bella Twins vs. Paige and Natalya.
Make sure to join us here on the website this Sunday night for live WWE Royal Rumble play-by-play results coverage.
– After being “fired” on RAW and being pulled from this weekend’s WWE live events, Dolph Ziggler will be doing improv tonight in Hollywood California at Second City Hollywood. He’ll be joined by Lucha Underground star Johnny Mundo (John Morrison) and Ziggler’s brother, Ryan Nemeth. For ticket information, visit SecondCity.com.
– The “season finale” of the Monday Night War series on the WWE Network airs this coming Tuesday.
– The Bellas Twins will be appearing at the New Orleans Wizard World convention on Saturday.
– NXT will be holding live events in Citrus Springs, FL and Fort Pierce, FL this weekend.
– WWE and 2K Sports announced today that the WWE SuperCard mobile game has surpassed 5 million downloads since it was released back in August.
WWE Diva Emma had an injury scare at the WWE live event in Hershey, Pennsylvania on Sunday night.
During a tag-team match, which featured Emma and Alicia Fox against The Bella Twins, Brie Bella attempted to toss Emma out of the ring, however Emma landed awkwardly on the hard part of the apron and appeared to have injured her back. WWE trainers came out to check on her for about five minutes before the match was over.
– Jimmy Jacobs, a well-known wrestler out of Ring Of Honor, appeared on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. Jacobs was one of the Rosebuds during a backstage segment with Adam Rose and Kane. Former TNA Knockout Taeler Hendrix was also one of the Rosebuds.
– Tyson Kidd and The Bella Twins furthered the angle that was started on Monday’s RAW on Twitter. Below is an exchange between the three.
Checking on old friends @BellaTwins I have a lot more compassion than people may think, recurring injuries suck. Just looking out#Raw