– Although he noted on social media that he checked out fine and suffered no fractures, WWE kept Stardust out of the ring again this week. As noted last week, Stardust appeared to suffer an injury during his match against Jack Swagger on the December 7th edition of RAW, and was taken to a local hospital immediately after the show to be evaluated.
– A fan hit the ring at the NXT live event in Sheffield, England as part of the NXT U.K. Tour this past Sunday, December 13th. One of the NXT crew members, possibly Ryan Katz, stopped the fan before anything serious happened. The fan run-in spot took place during a tag-team match that featured The Mechanics vs. Jason Jordan and Chad Gable.
As the NXT U.K. Tour continues, it’s becoming quite apparent that the NXT brand is a hit with the English audience. Look no further than the above video for proof.
WWE posted the clip featured above on the official NXT Twitter page on Sunday afternoon that features a 30-second look at a chant that fans were doing that they claimed “went on for over ten minutes” during a Jordan and Gable vs. Blake and Murphy tag-team match at the sold out Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England.
The chant is apparently a remix to the song “No Limits” that is often done at sporting events in the country, with the words simply changed to the names “Jordan” and “Gable.”
Triple H also took to social media to address the hot crowd at the NXT Blackpool event on Sunday.
“A sold out venue, a loud audience, and a great show,” Triple H wrote. “Thank you.”
The NXT U.K. Tour continues to sweep across England with events in Nottingham on Monday, Cardiff, Wales on Tuesday and finally the NXT TakeOver: London live WWE Network special from the SSE Arena on Wednesday.
NXT Champion Finn Balor recently appeared as a guest on The Taz Show: Bodyslams & Beyond to discuss all things NXT. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On NXT talents that have ‘blown him away’:
“The growth that a lot of the boys have shown in the last year since I got here is just unbelievable. The likes of like Jason Jordan [and] Chad Gable, they’re two guys that, in the last year, have blown me away with their growth.”
On his demon body paint:
“Honestly, I’m just a fan of art. I’m a fan of expressionism. I’m a fan of changing things on the fly. I’m a fan of just going with the flow and being in the moment and that’s really what the demon is for me. It just kind of helps me channel, kind of, maybe an inner, darker side. People accuse me of being kind of too nonchalant or too laid back and too introverted and I feel like the demon definitely helps me bring a different side of my personality out.”
– In the video featured above, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan talk about defeating The Ascension on this week’s edition of NXT.
– Announced for next week’s NXT is a contract signing between NXT Champion Finn Balor and Samoa Joe for their match at the upcoming NXT TakeOver: London special, which takes place on Wednesday, December 16th at SSE Wembley Arena in London, England. As noted, the special will air live on the WWE Network at 3pm EST. / Noon PST. on 12/16.
– In addition to the contract signing, the following matches were announced for next week’s NXT, which will be taped on Thursday night, November 19th from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
* Bayley vs. Eva Marie
* Asuka vs. Dana Brooke
* The Mechanics vs. The Vaudevillains
At Wednesday’s NXT Takeover: Respect special on the WWE Network, the first-ever “Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic” tournament winners were crowned.
The teams of Finn Balor & Samoe Joe, The Mechanics, Baron Corbin & Rhyno and Chad Gable & Jason Jordan advanced to tonight’s WWE Network special, with Balor and Joe eliminating The Mechanics in the opener, and the team of Corbin and Rhyno taking out the team of Gable and Jordan to advance to the finals.
In the finals, which were held in the co-main event spot of the NXT special, Balor and Joe ended up defeating Corbin and Rhyno, who put up a good effort.
Cody Rhodes came out to do the Dusty Rhodes Tag-Team Classic Cup presentation to Balor and Joe. He mentioned that tonight everyone is a “Rhodes” member as “The American Dream” theme music played and the fans echo’d chants of “Thank You Dusty! Thank You Dusty!” to close out the first ever Dusty Classic Tournament and move on to the 30-minute “Ironwoman Match” for the NXT Women’s Champion.
– The following matches are scheduled for tonight’s NXT television tapings, which are scheduled to take place immediately before the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn event.
* Eva Marie vs. Carmella
* Enzo Amore, Big Cass, Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley vs. Jason Jordan, Chad Gable, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson
* Charlotte vs. Emma vs. Becky Lynch vs. Dana Brooke
* Bull Dempsey vs. Elias Samson
– The final episode of the WWE Tough Enough post-show “Tough Talk” on the WWE Network airs next Tuesday night with host Byron Saxton. The official description for the show reads as follows:
“Join Byron Saxton as he recaps the TOUGH ENOUGH highlights and sits down with the eliminated competitor whose WWE journey came to an end.”
– The latest edition of “Culture Shock with Corey Graves” airs on the WWE Network on Wednesday at 4pm EST. The official description for that one reads:
“Corey Graves heads to Baltimore, Maryland to experience BronyCon, the fan convention dedicated to all things ‘My Little Pony.'”
– Former WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA star Jerry Lynn underwent successful neck surgery at a hospital in Nashville on Thursday. PWInsider notes that the surgery took longer than expected due to the amount of bone spurs that had to be removed from Lynn’s neck. Lynn is currently resting in the hospital.
– NXT star and former Olympian Chad Gable spoke to WWE.com this week about his new tag team with Jason Jordan:
“Even though it took some convincing for him to give me a chance, I couldn’t be happier with the results. We just clicked from the moment the bell rang. It’s not very often that a team has chemistry from the very first moment. Beyond our chemistry, we have enough credentials between us to make any team jealous.”
“I want to get involved in the NXT Tag Team Championship scene immediately, and when I say ‘get involved,’ I mean take the championships. I have never said I’m going to do something and not done it. This will be no different. Ready, willing and Gable.”
– Lana and Team B.A.D. are featured in this week’s SmackDown Fallout videos:
– As seen on this week’s episode of NXT, Chad Gable revealed that Jason Jordan is finally taking him up on his offer to be a tag team. Next week, they’ll be in action against Elias Samson and Steve Cutler.
– WWE has released the following video of The Vaudevillians celebrating after becoming the #1 contenders to Blake and Murphy’s WWE NXT Tag Team Titles:
– NXT’s Shoot Nation stable is now simply a tag team with Sawyer Fulton and Angelo Dawkins. They will continue using the Shoot Nation name, while the former leader Chad Gable is going solo.
– Below, in order, are the top five most-watched shows on the WWE Network for the past week:
1. WWE 24: Roman Reigns
2. Chris Jericho interviews Stephanie McMahon
3. WWE NXT, May 6th episode
4. Jerry Springer Too Hot for TV: Love Hurts
5. Extreme Rules
– Other shows that drew well on the WWE Network include the special on Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show, the previous week’s NXT show, the Culture Shock show with Corey Graves, Unfiltered with Renee Young, Mick Foley’s “Cheap Pops” special, the sneak peek at ECW Uncensored Volume 3 and Jerry Springer’s new show.
– On the other side of the coin, two shows that aren’t getting a lot of views at all are the Cinco de Mayo special with Los Matadores, and pretty much any episode of WWE Superstars.
– For those who enjoy interesting trivia facts, it’s been pointed out recently that country music band Florida Georgia Line has made more WWE television appearances than Brock Lesnar since the Night Of Champions pay-per-view. Florida Georgia Line appeared at Night Of Champions, TLC and Tribute to the Troops while Lesnar has only appeared at Night Of Champions and last week’s RAW.
– Unless the January 1st edition of NXT on the WWE Network turns out to be a 2014 “Year-In-Review” type of show, Shoot Nation leader Chad Gable is scheduled to make his NXT in-ring debut, working against Tyler Breeze on the show.
NXT star and former linebacker at the University of Minnesota, Diggs Rawlis, made his in-ring debut at the NXT live event in Tampa, Florida this past Thursday night. Rawlis and his tag-team partner Cal Bishop lost to Shoot Nation’s Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton.
As noted in the past, the Shoot Nation stable now has five members — leader Chad Gable, Jason Jordan, Tucker Knight and the aforementioned Dawkins and Fulton. It looks as though the two main teams out of the stable will be Dawkins & Fulton and Gable & Jordan.
– WWE Superstars The Usos teased that they will be featured in a new WWE Network special after this coming Monday’s edition of RAW. The Usos wrote the following: “Check out a lil preview on the app for The Usos special!! Tune in Nov. 24 after Raw!! #USOOO”
– The new “Shoot Nation” heel faction in NXT has a new member, as Tucker Knight is now part of the group. Knight was an amateur wrestler at Arizona State University. With his inclusion, the group now consists of Chad Gable, Angelo Dawkins, Jason Jordan, Sawyer Fulton and Knight.
– Former WWE Diva Torrie Wilson took part in a photo shoot for a new Guess ad in Malibu this past Wednesday.
– The name for the new NXT stable, which consists of Chad Gable, Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton may be “Shoot Nation.” As noted recently, the group wears U.S.A. amateur wrestling singlets to go with their amateur wrestling backgrounds, kind of like the old “Varsity Club” faction back in the original NWA.
– Speaking of NXT, the official Facebook account for the developmental territory recently reached the milestone number of 2 million fans.