– WWE is scheduled to finalize several new developmental talent signings, which includes multiple professional athletes and independent wrestlers, in the near future.
– In the latest edition of Eden’s (aka Brandi Rhodes) video blog, she and husband Cody Rhodes exchange wedding anniversary gifts. You can check that out below.
– In addition to Rusev and Lana, who as we reported earlier today were on vacation in Maui this past weekend, Cody Rhodes and new-wife Brandi Rhodes (aka NXT’s “Eden”) also spent the weekend in Hawaii. The two were reportedly on their belated honeymoon.
– Apparently Ryback was exaggerating his condition with the video he uploaded to YouTube that showed him in a hospital bed acting like he was about to undergo major surgery. It’s worth noting, however, that he actually has been dealing with some injuries, although he apparently overplayed it simply because he likes to mess with fans on the internet.
(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
After being nominated by Alicia Fox, NXT Diva and Cody Rhodes’ real-life wife, Eden (aka Brandi Rhodes) took part in the ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge.”
Prior to dumping a bucket of ice water on herself, Eden extended the challenge to Howard Finkel, Tony Chimel and Cody Rhodes.
– With no WWE live events this weekend, several WWE Superstars and WWE Divas are on a rare vacation. For example, noted WWE couples Cody Rhodes and Eden, as well as Rusev and Lana have been in Hawaii this week.
– Below is the “SmackDown Fallout” for this week’s show, which features WWE United States Champion Sheamus, who talks about his upcoming title defense against Cesaro at WWE Night Of Champions.
– According to Amazon and other UK outlets, the following WWE DVD and Blu-ray titles are scheduled to be released later this year:
-The Attitude Era, Volume 2 (November)
-WWE Slam City (Animated series, possible UK exclusive in November)
-Macho Man: The Randy Savage Story (Macho Man documentary in November)
-Top Giants In Wrestling History (December)
– The following is the latest video blog from Cody Rhodes’ wife, NXT Diva “Eden” (aka Brandi Rhodes):
Money in the Bank is only a few days away, and it appears that the card is all but set. There are two ladder matches scheduled so fans can enjoy double the fun. Leading into the event, most questions have been answers, but a few still remain. Here are five questions that need to be answered heading into Money in the Bank.
This past week on Raw, Big E cut a rather passionate promo on Rusev. During his Intercontinental Title run, Big E was never really given an opportunity to connect with fans, leading many, including myself, to believe that his run with the title was stale.
However, after seeing him on Raw last week, I think that he could be one of the top superstars if booked properly. Instead of writing Big E cookie cutter promos that bore the fans, he should be given more time to speak freely and be himself as he did on Raw. If he had been given this opportunity while he still held the title, he could still be holding the strap today.
Bad News Barrett was unfortunately the one receiving the bad news this week after separating his shoulder during a SmackDown taping. It seems that Barrett cannot avoid the injury bug, as he has been known to go down to injury at the worst possible times.
There has been no official announcement regarding his status for this Sunday’s pay-per-view, but it seems as if he will have to sit out while his fellow competitors attempt to win at shot at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. One can only hope that he recovers quickly and gets back in the ring, especially considering how successful his latest push has been.
One week from today, WWE’s annual Money in the Bank pay-per-view will be held in Boston, Massachusetts. The event has quickly become one of the most anticipated programs of the year, as it provides exciting action and sets up the storyline for months by allowing a WWE superstar to stalk his prey while holding a contract for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match.
There will be two Money in the Bank ladder matches this year. One will be held for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and the other will be a traditional contest for a shot at the title. The first contest will feature perennial title contenders such as John Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, and Alberto Del Rio, as well as up-and-coming stars such as Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, and Cesaro.
The second ladder match will feature Seth Rollins, with the rest of the lineup to be determined in a series of qualifying matches. Thus far, only three matches have been announced for the entire pay-per-view, and with only one week left before the event, one has to wonder how the WWE will tie everything together in such a brief period.
Other than the two ladder matches, a matchup between the Usos and Luke Harper and Erick Rowan of the Wyatt family is the only confirmed contest on the card. It seems apparent that Dean Ambrose will be one of the participants in the traditional ladder match. Potential options also include those who did not qualify for the championship ladder match, including Bad News Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, and Rob Van Dam.
The two ladder matches will soak up a large portion of the roster, meaning the midcard will have to pick up some slack in order to fill up the three hours of airtime. Rumored contests include Cody Rhodes and Goldust vs. RybAxel, Rusev vs. Big E, and a Divas Championship match involving Paige and all or part of the Funkadactyls.
This week’s Raw took place in the dump of a city known as Cleveland, Ohio. The card featured a total of six matches, including two contests to finalize the field for the Money in the Bank championship ladder match.
Most notably, this week’s Raw saw Roman Reigns and John Cena punch their tickets for Money in the Bank, while Vickie Guerrero and Stephanie McMahon bonded with one another. As always, a few questions were answered, but many still remain. Here are five questions that need to be answered following this week’s edition of Raw.
Seth Rollins furthered his feud with former partner Dean Ambrose last night, and it seems apparent that the two will square off at Money in the Bank. Since joining the Authority, Rollins seems to have lost a bit of momentum.
Most importantly, it feels like Rollins needs new attire, as he is currently still sporting his Shield gear. His new theme music also does not fit him well, but there are rumors that it could change in the near future. Ultimately, the situation shows how haphazardly his heel change was handled, as there was not even a plan in place for new ring gear or decent entrance music.
There are rumors that Vince McMahon is not too keen on Adam Rose. He seemed to be over last night, with the crowd loudly singing along to his theme song for the first time that I can recall.
Rose defeated Fandango in a mixed-gender tag team contest. There was a bit of irony during the match, with Rose essentially being the same character that Fandango was a year ago. We all know what has happened to Fandango during the past year. Where will Rose be a year from now, and most importantly, will he still be with the company?
On Monday’s RAW, Cody Rhodes debuted a new character, Stardust, and teamed with his brother Goldust in a quick match against Ryback and Curtis Axel. Shortly after the match, Cody Rhodes, who has changed his Twitter handle to Stardust, tweeted:
It was always written in the stars…
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) June 17, 2014
Goldust wrote the following about his new tag team partner:
https://twitter.com/goldust/status/478902249372913665
https://twitter.com/goldust/status/478734825478557696
WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, father of Goldust and Stardust, heaped praise on Cody’s new character
No one on the roster has his overall talent @WWE #Raw every thing he does is like watching a movie .
— Dusty Rhodes (@WWEDustyRhodes) June 17, 2014
Cody jumps into STARDUST role @WWE ! It's magic to watch him work , I don't say much about my boys , but , I did ok :)
— Dusty Rhodes (@WWEDustyRhodes) June 17, 2014
For those wondering, the Stardust name is actually the nickname given to Dusty Rhodes back in the 1970’s when he was wrestling in Florida.
– It was announced on Monday night’s edition of WWE RAW that on this week’s edition of SmackDown, which airs Friday night on SyFy and will be taped on Tuesday night, Roman Reigns will battle one-on-one with Alberto Del Rio.
– Also on Monday’s RAW, Cody Rhodes debuted as Goldust’s latest tag-team partner as his new “Stardust” character. Stardust is a Goldust-looking character with gold face paint and a black star painted on his face.
– Goldust had fans speculating that former WWE Superstar Ted DiBiase Jr. may be the next tag-team partner that Cody Rhodes chooses for him. When asked who Rhodes might pick for Goldust’s partner this week, Goldust replied by saying that was “the million dollar question.”
– WWE Diva and Total Divas star Eva Marie recently did a fitness photo shoot for an upcoming issue of Iron Man Magazine. The shoot is expected to be featured on the next season of Total Divas.
WWE.com has a new article up looking at potential new members of The Shield, now that Seth Rollins has left the faction. The article looks at NXT Champion Adrian Neville, Big E., Dolph Ziggler, Cody Rhodes, John Morrison and Daniel Bryan as possible replacements for Rollins.
Following the success of the article, the website added a poll where fans could vote on the six aforementioned names. At last check, the results for the poll saw 43 percent voting for Bryan, 17 percent voting for Morrison and 7 percent voted for “none.”
WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan is also getting in on the action, hinting that The Shield might need a dose of Hulkamania, brother:
The Shield just might need Hollywoods services brother WWE4Life. HH
— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) June 9, 2014
The following are results of the matches taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars. The matches took place prior to Monday’s WWE RAW show, which was taped in the afternoon at the O2 Arena in London, England.
– Big Show def. Titus O’Neil in the opening match of the evening. Show ended up picking up the win via pin fall after hitting O’Neil with a chokeslam.
– Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) def. Cody Rhodes (with Goldust) via submission in the main event of the show. The finish saw Swagger lock Rhodes up in his Patriot Lock submission hold, forcing him to tap out.
It seemed as if the tag team division had been revitalized last year. However, almost as soon as fans started to become excited about the division again, half of the teams were broken up and it has been largely ignored.
The Usos are the current champions, and I think their pay-per-view exposure shows how confident the WWE is that the Uso brothers will draw. After all, they defended their tag titles on the pre-show at WrestleMania and did not appear in any capacity at Extreme Rules.
With that said, it would not take much effort to get the division back to where it was at the end of last year. Here are five current or potential tag teams that could help make the division relevant again (or at the very least, get it onto the pay-per-view card).
5. Rybaxel – At first, this team seemed like it would go nowhere. They had both just basically flopped while under the tutelage of Paul Heyman, so why would anyone believe that they would fare well without him? Surprisingly, both have improved since leaving Heyman, especially Ryback. He is hilarious on the microphone and can actually be pretty entertaining when he’s allowed to speak. I think the WWE still has plans to push both guys in the future, and a run with the Tag Team Championships could help elevate both superstars.
4. Damien Sandow and Dolph Ziggler – These guys have adopted similar personality traits in recent weeks, most notably because both guys seem disgruntled, annoyed, and displeased that their talents are not being properly utilized. Sandow and Ziggler would make a great team if paired together, as both are impressive in the ring and on the mic. There were rumors a while back of a possible stable of disgruntled superstars being formed, including Ziggler and the Miz, but a team of Sandow and Ziggler would work even better and could make the tag title picture exciting again.
3. Jack Swagger and Cody Rhodes – It is no secret that Zeb Colter has been trying to recruit a new member to the Real Americans since Cesaro betrayed him a few weeks back. With Cody being the son of the American Dream Dusty Rhodes, it would make sense for him to become a Real American. Cody and Goldust are definitely going to part ways soon, with Cody likely being the one to turn heel, so it would provide the perfect opportunity for Cody to align with Swagger and Colter afterward.
The following two matches are scheduled to take place at Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, which will be a taped show from London, England:
– John Cena vs. Luke Harper
– The Usos vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes
– WWE announced at last night’s SmackDown and Main Event tapings that the company will return to the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, NY on Monday, November 3rd for RAW.
– The long awaited Cody Rhodes vs. Goldust feud will in fact be happening, according to a report at PWInsider.com.
– Tuesday night’s episode of “The Goldbergs” on ABC did in fact feature a pro wrestling theme. The show was advertised as having a Star Wars theme, however, the subplot saw the older brother on the show trying out for his high school wrestling team and confusing that with professional wrestling.
The character referenced “WWF” a dozen times and was shown play fighting in his living room with wrestling buddies, something I’m sure many of our readers remember from their childhoods. The character even brought out a steel chair during his high school wrestling meet.
The episode ended with an Ultimate Warrior tribute graphic.
Early viewership data is in for the show and it actually drew a season-low 4.07 million viewers.
– The following is a WrestleMania Rewind Extra, which features Cody Rhodes talking about the Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather showdown from WrestleMania.
– The following is the latest Brandi Rhodes video blog (aka NXT’s “Eden”), where she talks about how she and Cody Rhodes first began dating.
– WWE added the following “Five Must-See Extreme Rules Matches” video to their official YouTube channel.
Veteran pro wrestling journalist recently caught up with D-Von Dudley for an exclusive WWE.com interview. Below is an excerpt from the interview.
APTER: Paul Heyman was, of course, the extreme ringleader. He riled the troops up and got everyone in an extreme mood, didn’t he?
DUDLEY: He sure did. I met Paul after I had a tryout for ECW. He was at the Pelham, N.Y., production studio they used for editing and doing the commentary. I got in there, Paul was sitting down, and we wound up talking and hitting it off great. I will admit right now that I am a Paul Heyman guy! When a lot of us wrestlers back in those days were looking for work and were not looked at by WWE or WCW, Paul was the one who gave us a shot. He believed in us. He saw things in us that we didn’t know we had and it brought out the best in us. Paul knew how to get certain things out of us to make us better. I used to call him Dr. Frankenstein because he created so much talent that came out of ECW that no one else would have been able to create.
APTER: What do you think of the current Paul Heyman?
DUDLEY: It’s the real Paul Heyman! He does things that make you hate him, but a minute later you want to marry him and love him. [laughs]
APTER: Who do you consider extreme on the current WWE roster?
DUDLEY: Daniel Bryan, for one. Most people wouldn’t put him in that category because he is such a technician in the ring, but I can see him getting down and dirty. Sheamus could be in that category as well. Put Randy Orton there, too. We beat the hell out of each other many times. I know a lot of people cheer him and a lot boo him, but I would put John Cena on that list as well. I had many brawls with him when I was in WWE and he was working himself up in the ranks.
APTER: So much of your career was as a tag team competitor with your partner, Bubba Ray. What is your current view of the WWE tag team scene?
DUDLEY: I think it’s great that WWE is strengthening the tag team division. If given the opportunity to go back to WWE, I would love to have a partner to take on The Usos, Cody Rhodes & Goldust, Ryback & Curtis Axel, The Shield, The Wyatts.
Check out the complete interview at WWE.com.
The official WWE website has published a new editorial piece featuring 8 bold predictions for the WWE Universe leading up to next year’s WrestleMania 31 event:
– Roman Reigns will win the 2015 Royal Rumble Match
– John Cena will join The Wyatt Family
– The Undertaker will retire
– The WWE World Heavyweight Championship will once again split into two titles
– Stephanie McMahon will target the Divas Championship
– Zeb Colter will form a stable of Real Americans
– Cody Rhodes will win (and cash in) Money in the Bank
– Cesaro will break away from Paul Heyman and challenge Brock Lesnar
Hit up the comments below and tell us if you agree with any of these picks.
– The official Newsday website has a look at WWE’s new “Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection” DVD set. You can check that out at Newsday.com.
– WWE has added the latest video blog from Brandi Rhodes to their official YouTube channel. The video blog features herself, along with her husband Cody Rhodes taking part in a week-long WWE travel schedule. You can check that out below.
Cody Rhodes is the latest wrestler to chime in on the controversy surrounding Nancy Grace’s Wednesday night TV broadcast looking at the Ultimate Warrior’s death and wrestler deaths related to drugs.
Here’s what Cody said about Grace, who listed Owen Hart, Chris Candido, referees Joey Marella and Mark Curtis as people who died young from drugs (none of them did):
“Why are folks surprised by @NancyGraceHLN ?? She got dumped by a pro-wrestler in the 80s’ and started a life quest to be just awful… …if she was remotely confident in her accusations, she’d interview an active talent, yet she won’t do that because she’d have a… …”Mark Cuban/Skip Bayless” situation, and she would come-off as the ignorant sweathog she actually is.”
In related news, #CancelNancyGrace was trending on Twitter on Thursday.
– The following is a photo of WWE Hall Of Famer Bob Backlund at WrestleMania Axxess in New Orleans:
Proof Bob Backlund is still crazy lol
#WWE #WWEAxxess #WWEHOF #WrestleMania30 #WM30
@MBoone420 @RyanClarkWZR pic.twitter.com/Yoft41PAZ1
— Jorge Romero (@Jromer0) April 5, 2014
– WWE added the following video of Stephanie McMahon, AJ Lee and Cody Rhodes at a WrestleMania Reading Celebration in New Orleans: