WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com.
As always, you can buy JR’s delicious line of BBQ products at WWEShop.com.
Here are some highlights of what JR said about:
Dolph Ziggler’s Concussion:
WWE World Champion Dolph Ziggler has a serious concussion which may be a redundant statement because what concussion isn’t serious? There’s no timeline as to Ziggler’s return as WWE will be particularly cautious in dealing with any injury but especially a head injury.
WWE’s New Performance Center:
The new, WWE Performance Center will always have a full time trainer on hand, ready access to medical personnel and a full time Strength and Conditioning coach who will help the athletes get stronger and more fit as that will help prevent some injuries. New talents coming to WWE go through a through, extensive process including through medical evaluation before they are allowed to report to work.
@WWEBrayWyatt and @WWEGraves will be on the next WWE, live event tout this weekend as the NXT representatives get the opportunity to gain more experience with the main roster. Both men are keepers and Wyatt especially has some special traits that one cannot teach. He’s a near 300 pounder who has the valued and rare, second gear and has a natural gift of gab much like his grandfather, the legendary Blackjack Mulligan, WWE HOFer.
@JakeSnakeDDT is earning remarkable success in his battle to gain sobriety and change his life. It will be a daily battle until the day that he dies that I pray he will endure and succeed and the same for @ScottHallNWO. Even though I truly believe that both men can add value to ANY creative process and have the skills to help many young talents, the focus of them regaining their health has to remain their top priority which it seems to be.
As noted late last week, NXT superstar Bray Wyatt was sporting a new mask at Thursday’s NXT television tapings from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Wyatt also appeared at this weekend’s live events wearing the same mask. According to Bray Wyatt himself – the mask is only a temporary measure to protect his recently-broken nose:
– There is a lot of buzz lately in WWE that Bray Wyatt will be called up to the main roster very soon.
– WWE recently applied for two new trademarks, which appear to be related: “Crush Couture” and “CC”. Both trademarks are for various types of merchandise. It’s unknown at this point whether Crush Couture will be a product line or a new WWE character.
– With WWE calling up several wrestlers from developmental soon, three talents at the top of the list are Bray Wyatt, Kassius Ohno and Adrian Neville.
– WWE is running a digital pay-per-view special where fans can view the entire 2013 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony on WWE.com, the WWE Mobile App, Xbox Live and Samsung SMART TVs. The show costs $7.99 and will be available starting Friday April 12th at 10 a.m. ET through April 19th. For more information, visit WWE.com.
– Dolph Ziggler tweeted the following about his World Heavyweight title win on Monday’s RAW:
– Friday’s SmackDown will feature Chris Jericho vs. Jack Swagger in the main event. Jericho tweeted the following about the match after Tuesday’s tapings:
Had a great match in Ft Wayne w @realJackSwagger for this weeks #Smackdown! Hard hitting, fast paced and stiff…worth checking out!@wwe
After tonight’s WWE RAW in Lafayette ended, Cody Rhodes came to the ring to look at the new WWE Title belt.
The Rock picked on Cody’s mustache and asked several fans at ringside if he should get a look at a Rock Bottom. Cody gets back on the mic and says he made a mistake.
Cody ended up taking a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow. The Rock grabbed the new WWE Championship belt and celebrated with it to end the show.
– It appears that tonight’s WWE RAW from Lafayette, Louisiana could feature the debut of NXT star Bray Wyatt. Wyatt, who wrestled previously as Nexus member Husky Harris, recreated himself in NXT as Bray Wyatt and has been teasing his RAW debut for several months now. He’s specifically mentioned the city of Lafayette as the site of his debut. Back on November 27th, he tweeted:
– As seen at Elimination Chamber, Josh Mathews conducted a ringside interview with The Rock’s “GI Joe: Retaliation” co-stars, D.J. Cotrona and Adrianne Palicki. Palicki gave a shout out to her cousin Benjamin Boone, who she said wrestles in Ohio. Boone wrestles on the independent scene and currently works with the PRIME Wrestling promotion.
– Chris Jericho tweeted the following about Elimination Chamber:
Great match at #EliminationChamber tonight!! Hard hitting,violent, action packed…one of my faves. And w over 30 min inside, my record grows
Jericho is scheduled for tonight’s WWE RAW from Lafayette, Louisiana and will then be taking several weeks off to tour Australia with his band Fozzy. Jericho will be back on WWE television next month to build to WrestleMania.
– On Monday’s RAW, we saw Intercontinental champion Wade Barrett get a surprising clean win over Randy Orton. While Orton jobbing to Barrett might seem like it could be related to the news of Orton taking time off soon to deal with personal issues, f4wonline.com reports that the loss will actually play into Orton’s eventual heel turn.
– NXT star Bray Wyatt continues to tease that he’ll be debuting on RAW soon, tweeting on Monday night:
– WWE Diva Rosa Mendes posted a photo on Twitter of the license she had to get in order to wrestle on the SmackDown’s brand’s weekend tour of Puerto Rico:
– WWE NXT star Leo Kruger worked Friday night’sWWE RAW live event in Pensacola, Florida. He teamed with Jack Swagger, losing to the team of Brodus Clay and Zack Ryder.
– Speaking of NXT stars, Bray Wyatt tweeted that he’s finally recovered from the torn pectoral muscle he suffered over the summer:
Wyatt is seen as one of the top prospects currently in NXT and is expected to be one of the next developmental stars to get called up to the main roster.
– WWE’s Gerald Brisco was scouting amateur wrestler Chad Hanke over the weekend. Hanke is a senior at Oregon State and was ranked #16 nationally going into this season. He’s currently just under 200 pounds but is looking to move up to heavyweight.
– Following the main roster WWE debuts of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, the next group of NXT stars in line to be called up look to be Big E Langston, Bray Wyatt and his brother, Bo Dallas. Earlier this week, Bray Wyatt tweeted “2 months #raw” – sign that he could be debuting in early 2013.
Two more NXT stars rumored to be ready for WWE are the tag team The Ascension, Conor O’Brian and Kenneth Cameron. The duo has a very polished act and have been been developing a move set that uses a lot of double team moves used by some classic 1980’s heel teams. With WWE’s tag team division picking up in recent months, it would be a good time for WWE to introduce another strong tag team act.
Wyatt is recovering from torn pectoral muscle that he suffered an an NXT live event over the summer. The former Husky Harris also tweeted a message his former Nexus partners Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel and Michael McGillicutty, calling them “amateurs.”
– UFC President Dana White says that retired UFC fighter Stephan Bonnar has been training for a career in wrestling. At this past weekend’s UFC 154 post-fight press conference, Dana White said this about the news of Stephan Bonner testing positive a banned substance following his recent loss to Anderson Silva:
“I think the thing that bums me out the most about the Bonnar thing is he didn’t tell me. I offered you this fight. He wasn’t planning on fighting. He said he was practicing to maybe do some pro wrestling. I’ve known Stephan for a long time, we have a great relationship – tell me. That’s the thing that disappoints me the most.”
– The general viewpoint among people in WWE is that there are two types of women who join the sports-entertainment organization. There are models who use the company as a stepping stone toward fame due to its substantial television presence. And then there are those who truly love wrestling, with Beth Phoenix and Natalya being the prime examples. However, it is said that the girls who perform for the love of the sport get easily frustrated because there is no reward for being talented in the ring, not to mention that they receive minimal television time to showcase their abilities. The model types are willing to wrestle for a few years, with the hope it leads to a break in the entertainment world, and bolt once they start attracting offers.
– The former Husky Harris, WWE developmental wrestler Bray Wyatt, has lost weight in recent months and is said to be down to 280 pounds. He has received rave reviews for his Cape Fear-esque character, which has been compared to that of former WWE Superstar Waylon Mercy. Many feel he would be on the main roster today if WWE chief Vince McMahon wasn’t negative on his physique.
– Friday’s Raw live event in St. Joseph, Missouri, drew 3,000 attendees paying $80,000. Saturday in Topeka, Kansas, drew 3,500 paying $110,000. Sunday in Wichita, Kansas, drew 4,000 for $125,000. Saturday’s SmackDown live event in Abilene, Texas, drew 3,000 for $95,000. Sunday’s show in Wichita Falls, Texas, drew 2,200 paying $55,000, which would be one of the lowest grossing events of the year.
WWE NXT star Bray Wyatt (formerly Husky Harris) announced on Twitter last night that he will be returning to action at the September 20th NXT tapings from Full Sail University. He has been out of action since June, when he suffered a torn pectoral muscle.
Wyatt says the wait is almost over – and he won’t be showing up alone:
– Triple H is said to be a strong supporter of Damien Sandow, with WWE’s most intellectual superstar in line for a major push this year.
– NXT starBray Wyatt (formerly Husky Harris) noted on Twitter that he will be returning “very soon” after missing several months of action due to injury.
– After asking fans for suggestions of what they should name their new tag team, Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd posted a video on Tout on Tuesday saying that they’re considering the name “International Airstrike.”
Paul Heyman gave a strong endorsement to FCW & NXT star Bray Wyatt (formerly Husky Harris). Heyman tweeted about the developmental wrestler’s potential:
@HuskyWWE Bray Wyatt is destined for greatness. U didn't hear it here 1st.But I mean it w/ more passion than any1 else! http://t.co/U0XecyYG
– WWE developmental star Bray Wyatt (formerly Husky Harris) will undergo surgery to repair the torn pectoral muscle he suffered at last week’s FCW live event, according to f4wonline.com. The surgery will keep him out of action for 6 months.
– Brodus Clay’s dancer Cameron tweeted that she hopes to wrestle in the future.
– Former WWE Diva Cherry wrote on Twitter that she is not interested in returning to wrestling.
– WWE Legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts is taking bookings through Shannon at farmgirl@atlantic.net.
– In a dark match that took place prior to Monday’s RAW went on the air, FCW wrestler Bray Wyatt (former NXT wrestler Husky Harris) defeated Alex Riley in approximately 5. Our live correspondent said that Wyatt got “tremendous heat” from the crowd and Riley got a good reaction as well.
– The following matches were taped for this week’s WWE Superstars, airing this Thursday online:
* WWE Tag-Team Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Michael McGillicutty
– WWE officials have been impressed with the Rotunda brothers, Taylor and Windham, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Taylor Rotunda worked the recent NXT tapings from Full Sail University as Bo Dallas while he former Husky Harris worked the tapings using his new religious gimmick, Bray Wyatt.
– There’s no word yet on how Mark Henry’s recent surgery went, but he’s not expected to return to action until late June. Henry had been working through knee and groin problems over the past few months and tweeted on Wednesday night:
“What up twitter nation I’m healing well,no complaining from me I man up.”
– After recently being released by WWE, Goldust announced on Twitter that he’s getting married soon. He is taking independent bookings and might travel to Japan to wrestle, but made it clear that he’s not interested in doing radio appearances. He tweeted, “Im not bitter so go ask someone else.”
– WWE taped the following matches prior to Monday’s RAW from Greensboro for this week’s Superstars:
– Santino Marella and Zack Ryder vs. Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks
– Tyson Kidd vs. Hunico
– Former Nexus member Husky Harris appeared under the name Bray Wyatt in a pre-Raw dark match. He defeated former NXT Season 2 peer Alex Riley.
Harris debuted the Cape Fear-inspired character in WWE developmental promotion Florida Championship Wrestling in March. He debuted the crowd before the WWE audience at Raw live events over the weekend. Here’s a picture of the new Bray Wyatt character from a live event this weekend:
