– Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy is no longer being advertised to perform at the Rockstar Uproar Festival on August 19th in St. Louis, MO, so Jericho should have no problem appearing at WWE SummerSlam that day from Los Angeles, California.
– WWE Intercontinental champion The Miz announced on Twitter that his girlfriend, former WWE Diva Maryse, is opening her new “House of Maryse” jewelry business next week.
– The success continues for WWE’s YouTube channel, which moved up one spot this week in the rankings to become the #3 most-watched channel on the service. The WWE Fan Nation channel had 5,979,000 views in the past weeks, more than double the views it had just a few weeks ago.
– Tonight’s WWE SmackDown will Vince McMahon’s announcement that Booker T is the new General Manager of the brand. Matches taped for the show include:
* Sheamus vs. Tensai
* Antonio Cesaro vs. Santino Marella (non-title)
* Ryback vs. Jinder Mahal
* R-Truth vs. Darren Young
* Alberto Del Rio vs. Randy Orton
* Chris Jericho, Christian & Kane vs. Daniel Bryan, The Miz & Dolph Ziggler.
– Chris Jericho responded to a several fan questions on Twitter on Thursday night and said he does not see him self retiring any time soon – and that he’d only wrestle for WWE.
He also named Shawn Michaels as his pick for the greatest wrestler of all time.
– Tonight on Big Brother, Frank Eudy’s father, former world wrestling champion Sid Vicious, talks about how is son is doing in the game. Here is a sneak peak video clip of Vicious discussing Big Brother which will air during tonight’s broadcast at 9:00 PM ET/PT on CBS.
– Twenty years ago today, Ron Simmons became the first African American to win a world title in professional wrestling when he defeated Big Van Vader in Baltimore, Maryland. WWE.com relives that historic night with video and a retrospective written by WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross.
– Chris Jericho will tour Europe with his band Fozzy in November and December. He tweeted, “It’s official! @Fozzyrock back in Europe in December! Info to come 7 Cologne 8 Kerkrade 10 Paris 11 Frankfurt 12 Vienna 13 Zurich 15 Munich.” He also noted, “Nov 27-Stoke 28-Man 29-Birmingham 30-Glasgow Dec 1-Leeds 2-Hafan Y Mor 4-Plymouth 5-London 6-Brighton.” Visit FozzyRock.com for more information.
Chris Jericho stated during an interview with iconvsicon.com that “he will be done with the WWE” on August 14 when “Sin and Bones” by Fozzy—his band—is released.
“I came back to the WWE and as of August 14, 2012, when “Sin and Bones” comes out, we go on the road with the Uproar Tour. At that time, I am done with the WWE and it is full-time with Fozzy until the album cycle and touring is done,” he states during an interview promoting the album.
A SmackDown taping is scheduled for August 14 in Austin, Texas. Contrary to his statement, WWE.com is advertising Jericho to appear at SummerSlam, which takes place five days later in Los Angeles, California. The official website of the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California is advertising Jericho for the following night’s Raw show.
Jericho’s top priority concerns his band, which he hopes is as successful as his wrestling career.
“Like I said, this is something I have been doing since I was 12 years old. It is part of who I am. I think I am very fortunate to have had two dreams that have come true, both of them in these very big ways. Fozzy is slowly catching up to where I am wrestling-wise,” Jericho states. “If I were to retire tomorrow, I would be very happy with all the things we have done as a band. We have worked really hard to get here and have all the pieces of the puzzle there and ready – it has been a whirlwind! I want to continue to build on those achievements!”
Jericho also revealed that he plans to begin working on his third autobiography while touring: “Rumor has it that I have signed a deal for a third but I haven’t really started working on it yet because I have been pretty busy. However, that is one of the things I start doing when we hit the road with Uproar. You have a lot of time to kill on tour! When you have 30 minutes on stage each night, it leaves you with 23 1/2 hours in between to kill! I am sure there will be a lot of working on the foundation on the book then. It is a long project, writing a book, and like you said, I have been fortunate enough to write two very good ones in the past. I have big shoes to fill or books to write when it comes to this third one! When the time is right, I will get the muse and get the inspiration. I already have more than enough material for the third book, so I think people will dig it when it is ready to go!”
In his first match since flooring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with a clothesline and subsequent Go to Sleep on Raw 1,000, CM Punk appeared as a babyface at Saturday’s SmackDown live event at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tennessee. He retained the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat Match against Daniel Bryan and Kane. Attendees largely ignored his apparent heel turn on Monday as he was loudly cheered throughout the match.
Chris Jericho rekindled his partnership with Christian as the duo took on Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler donned a Jericho “WANNA-BEE” T-Shirt, which Jericho ripped off during the contest. The match concluded with Jericho striking Rhodes with the Codebreaker.
Drew McIntyre appeared as a babyface on the show as he rushed the ring to aid Ted DiBiase from an attack courtesy of Camacho and Hunico—after DiBiase defeated Hunico due to interference from Camacho. The third generation wrestler then proposed they have a tag team match, which all agreed to. The match concluded with DiBiase escaping Hunico’s sleeper attempt and hitting him with Dream Street.
Other match results were Kaitlyn over Natalya, Jinder Mahal over Percy Watson, Justin Gabriel over developmental wrestler Leo Kruger and World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus over Alberto Del Rio in a Last Man Standing Match.
– Alberto Del Rio, Aksana, Antonio Cesaro and other Superstars discuss last night’s SmackDown events in Backstage Fallout. Chris Jericho also explains why he wore a Dolph Ziggler T-Shirt while attacking “The Showoff.”
“Pink. Very summery, with kind of some pastel blues, is it teal? Is that what you call that? I saw the front, it says “It’s not showing off if you back it up.” And that’s pretty much the epitome of what Chris Jericho does every single night,” he says. “So I don’t know if this is a shirt for Dolph Ziggler. It’s definitely not the shirt of someone who’s “losing his touch,” now is it Mr. Ziggy? So uh, come to think of it, I don’t really like this anymore, it’s cheap fabric, pink’s not really my color, so I’ll just give this to you. See ya next week Dolph!”
– Days after AJ was named the new General Manager of Raw, no new GM was slated for SmackDown. WWE.com has an article asking whether the blue brand needs a resident General Manager.
– Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion will be launching a professional wrestling school in Poughkeepsie, New York. Dreamer, Vik Dalishus and Hale Collins will be the instructors. E-mail school@houseofhardcore.net for more information.
– WWE brass had planned for developmental wrestler Dean Ambrose to be a member of the main roster by now as he is listed as a Superstar in the newly released WWE Souvenir Program sold exclusively at live events. He is pictured appearing menacingly in traditional wrestling trunks and billed at 6’4″, 250 pounds and hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio. He has competed in numerous non-televised matches for WWE since late last year, but not since June 16.
– Though Chris Jericho will never say anything publicly about his comings and goings with WWE, with him not advertised for televised events following SummerSlam on August 19, many employees believe he’ll be leaving the company shortly, at least temporarily.
– Former WCW announcer “Stagger” Lee Marshall is organizing a reunion of broadcasters at radio station KRIZ in Phoenix, Arizona in February. In addition to radio announcing, he is the voice of Tony the Tiger in Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes commercials.
– Celebrating birthdays Friday are Greg Gagne (64) and Manny Fernandez (58).
– Despite many expectations, Ric Flair was absent backstage at the 1,000th RAW on Monday. Many in the WWE believe that Flair will be back with the mega company eventually, but they are being cautious because of the recent TNA/WWE lawsuit. The company officially said they were not actively pursuing Ric Flair in a filing related to the suit and have no desire to give evidence to the contrary.
– Chris Jericho is now officially being advertised for the post-SummerSlam RAW, which will take place in Fresno, California on August 20th.
– Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion “Wildfire” Tommy Rich turns 56 years old today.
– Ring of Honor star Roderick Strong turns 29 years old today.
– Chris Jericho, who is not advertised to appear at tonight’s SmackDown taping in Kansas City, Missouri, issued a Tout message this afternoon stating that he was cruising down the highway to the event.
– Despite his character’s removal from television weeks ago, John Laurinaitis continues to work non-televised matches. A Handicap Match featuring the former Raw General Manager and Big Show versus John Cena has been announced to take place at the September 24 Raw taping emanating from Times Union Center in Albany, New York.
Talent advertised to appear at the event include CM Punk, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Kane, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Christian, Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes, Sin Cara and Santino Marella.
– WWE will hold a SmackDown live event at the Civic Center in Anderson, South Carolina on December 2. The event starts at 5:00 p.m.
– Chris Jericho released a Tout video from the site of tonight’s landmark edition of Raw noting that grappling greats will be on hand for the festivities.
“You won’t believe the special guests that are here tonight,” Jericho said. “It’s a who’s who of the history of this show.”
– WWE announced via press release that Outasight’s chart-topping single “Tonight Is The Night” will be the official theme song of its 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw. The song will be integrated into the telecast tonight at 8/7C on USA Network.
– Former WWE Superstar Goldust confirmed on Twitter that he will not be on hand for tonight’s landmark edition of Raw. He did, however, wish WWE good luck.
– Jim Ross tweeted Monday afternoon: “Backstage feels like being @ an all star game. I’m loving this day. #Raw1000 @ 8/7 central!”
During a recent interview with the Trentonian, Dolph Ziggler said he would still like to wrestle Zack Ryder at WrestleMania 29 from the Metlife Stadium in NY/NJ.
Ziggler, who currently holds a Money in the Bank briefcase with an opportunity to wrestle the World Heavyweight champion at any time, says he’d still want to wrestle Ryder even if he’s champion by next year’s big show:
“If I’m World Champion, I’d rather be in the ring with Zack because he worked hard to be there.”
During a recent interview on Chad Dukes’ radio show, Ziggler called Ryder one of the hardest working performers in WWE.
Ziggler also talked about his new feud with with Chris Jericho, which kicked off on last week’s RAW. Ziggler said he’s looked up to Jericho since he’s been a teenager, but stayed in his heel character during the interview and said he got the upper hand on the rocker during their exchange:
“For once, someone was witty enough, quick enough to shut Jericho up.”
Chris Jericho posted a new video to Tout on Friday hyping Monday’s 1,000th RAW celebration.
Jericho says with everything that’s being hyped for the show, he thinks he’s been overlooked – but he’s going to steal the show and will be “the one they’re going to be talking about when it’s through.”
The 15-second video, which was shot on the set of Fozzy’s new music video for the song “Sandpaper” can be viewed here.
– It’s being speculated that Val Venis will make a cameo appearance on tonight’s Raw SuperShow since the program emanates from his billed hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada and the official WWE website posted several videos on Sunday highlighting his career. When asked via Twitter whether he would appear for the organization again, he responded, “Not so long as they support sopa/cispa.”
– Alex Riley announced on Tout that he will be facing former Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes tonight in Las Vegas, Nevada and wanted fan feedback on what strategy he should use to defeat him. Riley, however, did not indicate whether the match will be dark, or take place on Raw SuperShow or WWE Superstars.
– Fozzy release a brand new single “Sandpaper,” via iTunes Tuesday. The single is taken from Fozzy’s upcoming new album, Sin and Bones, which is due out August 14 via Century Media Records.
– Former WWE Diva talent Maria Kanellis stated on Twitter that AfterBuzzTV.com’s recap show for Raw SuperShow will return next Monday night.
– Former WCW talent Marcus Alexander Bagwell (a/k/a Buff Bagwell) was apprehended by Georgia law enforcement on Monday and charged with reckless driving, according to the official website of the Georgia Department of Corrections. The 42-year-old wrestler was taken into custody to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and subsequently released on bond.
Bagwell has largely recovered from injuries suffered in a serious car accident on April 23 while traveling in Cherokee County, Georgia.
Here’s Bagwell’s latest mugshot picture:
– Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy will perform at The Vernon Club in Louisville, Kentucky on September 6, 2012. Tickets go on sale July 21. Click here for additional information.
– Former WWE Superstars Koko B. Ware, Sylvan Grenier and Tatanka appear for Top Of The World Wrestling on Saturday at Le Beach Club de Pointe-Calumet, Quebec (701 38 Street Pointe-Calumet, QC J0N 1G2, Canada). Click here for additional information.
WWE.com has a storyline interview up with Chris Jericho, who hypes his involvement in the RAW brand’s Money in the Bank match this Sunday. Here’s an except of Jericho’s comments:
“Money in the Bank Ladder Matches can be almost like stunt shows in a lot of ways. But this is not going to be like that. Sometimes there are guys trying to make a name for themselves, so they’re going to take more and more risks. We’ve already all made names for ourselves, already have WWE Hall of Fame careers. We’re not taking risks to prove anything. We have nothing to prove, but we have everything to gain.”
“I’m sure there are still going to be dangerous moments – there always are. But I think you’re going to see more intensity, more brutality, with the ladder used more as a weapon, at least that’s the way that I see it. That’s my strategy.”
“I think you’re going to see four guys that come out of there feeling every moment of the match, and feeling every moment of our careers. After doing this for 22 years, I get into a match like this knowing that I’ll feel every match I’ve had in those 22 years.”
– Kane bled under his mask on Monday’s Raw SuperShow after receiving an errant strike during the tag team match against Big Show and Chris Jericho. The mishap was not serious and he was able to finish the bout.
– Former WWE Superstar Bobby Lashley indicated on his Twitter account that he attended Monday’s duel Raw SuperShow and SmackDown event in Denver, Colorado. He tweeted two hours before the show, “Heading to the shows in Denver tonight!”
Lashley, who parted ways with WWE in 2008 and moved to the world of mixed martial arts, announced last week that he is hitting the wrestling circuit gain and accepting offers for upcoming events, autograph signings and other appearances via LashleyBookings@yahoo.com.
– The July 7, 2012 episode of A.M. Raw garnered a 0.33 cable rating, with 383,000 viewers.
– Interim Raw General Manager Theodore Long has announced via WWE.com a tag team match pitting Money in the Bank opponents for tonight’s Raw SuperShow as WWE Champion CM Punk and John Cena will face Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan.
– SmackDown ring announcer Lilian Garcia went to Akron, Ohio, to visit kids with cancer and help the Akron Children’s Hospital raise money at the 10th Annual LOPen Charity Golf and Music Event, where she sang the National Anthem and even hit the links at the LOPen Celebrity Golf Tournament Outing. (Article)
– The June 29, 2012 episode of WWE Vintage Collection featured the following matches and segments: Fit Finlay vs. Psychosis (WCW Thunder – June 4, 1998), Lord Steven Regal and Bobby Eaton become tag team partners (WCW Saturday Night – March 18, 1995), The Blue Bloods go to a Restaurant (WCW Saturday Night – March 25, 1995), The Blue Bloods vs. The Nasty Boys (WCW Great American Bash – June 18, 1995), The British Bulldogs vs. Nikolai Volkoff and Iron Sheik (WWF Prime Time Wrestling – November 5, 1985), Chris Adams vs. Dave Taylor (WCW Saturday Night – January 17, 1998), Lord Steven Regal vs. Davey Boy Smith (WCW Halloween Havoc – October 24, 1993). (Thanks to Devin Cutting)
– Chris Jericho’s metal band Fozzy will be playing at Pop’s Nightclub in Sauget, Illinois on August 21st. According to Poprocks.com, fans who have ticket stubs for the Uproar Festival will get free admission to the Pop’s Nightclub show on 8/21.
Fozzy is booked for several dates on the Uproar Festival, but will not be playing on Sunday, 8/19, the day of SummerSlam.
Jericho, who returns to WWE tonight after serving a 30 day suspension, is advertised for SummerSlam.
– Chris Jericho’s WWE suspension ends tomorrow and WWE is advertising that he’ll be at Monday’s RAW Supershow. With just one day to go until he’s cleared to wrestle again, Jericho continued his countdown on Twitter:
One man, one goal One mission One heart, one soul Just one solution One flash of light One God, one vision One flesh, one bone…
It’s expected that Chris Jericho will be working as a babyface when he returns to action. WWE showing footage of Jericho performing with Fozzy on RAW was the first step in portraying him in a more positive light.
– The theme song for the new season of WWE NXT is “Welcome Home” by Coheed and Cambria.
Chris Jericho revealed in an interview with Fighting Spirit Magazine that Fozzy is his top priority since he’s done everything he can possibly do in professional wrestling.
“When I was a kid I had two dreams, I wanted to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band and I wanted to be a wrestler, and I’m very fortunate that I got to do both at the highest level. At this point in time, 100 percent of my focus is on the band, and the mass of momentum that we’ve got over the last couple of years from touring and playing, and the reputation we’ve earned. I wanted to make the most of it, and take Fozzy to the next level,” he says in the interview.
“I’ve done everything I could possibly do in wrestling. It’s been great, but now Fozzy is kind of growing to be at the level where I am in wrestling, and Fozzy is what I wanna do. Wrestling will always be there, and if I decide to go back, it’s great. But after all these years of hard work with the band, to get some of this momentum behind us is a very rare thing.”
Three days remain on Jericho’s thirty-day WWE suspension due to denigrating the Brazilian flag at a WWE live event in São Paulo on May 24; he is scheduled to return on Monday’s Raw SuperShow. He referenced the lyrics to a 3 Count song in his latest suspension countdown message on Twitter: “Get up on your feet Put your hands together Sing along with 3 Count We’ll party up forever…”