– 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.
Bad News Barrett recently spoke to CBS Cleveland about Cody Rhodes creating his gimmick, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and more. Below is an excerpt from the interview, which you can see in the above video:
“I’ve always said that I want to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The Intercontinental Championship is nice and this is my fourth time having it but as far as I’m concerned, I’m ready to take a step up and become the man in the WWE. That’s where I want to get to and if Bad News Barrett is the vehicle that gets me there then great, but if not I’ll keep plugging away and one day I’ll be Britain’s first WWE World Heavyweight Champion – a certain part of it isn’t up to me and I’ve got to rely on certain people making certain decisions so hopefully that works out in my favor.”
– 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
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.
– 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 are results for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which aired live on the WWE Network on Tuesday, April 29, 2014.
– Goldust def. Alberto Del Rio in a singles bout to open the show. The match saw a lot of back-and-forth action until Goldust counters Del Rio’s superkick attempt and blasts him with his Final Cut finisher for the 1-2-3 and the victory.
– After Goldust picks up the victory, Cody Rhodes comes in and congratulates him. Renee Young enters the ring and interviews both guys. She asks if their recent singles matches means they are going their separate ways. Goldust says that the Brotherhood is still together. He says they may work singles matches from time-to-time, but ultimately they have each others backs. Young asks Rhodes if he is proud of his brother. He seems offended at the question and asks if she thinks Goldust is better than him because he won tonight and Cody lost on RAW. Eventually he apologizes and reiterates the fact that the Brotherhood is together and says things will stay that way. The two hug and that’s that.
– Paige def. Alicia Fox in Divas action to retain her WWE Divas Championship. The match went back-and-forth, with Paige taking a lot of punishment before ultimately hitting Fox with a big DDT to score the pin fall victory. After the match, as Paige was walking up the ramp, Tamina Snuka comes out to the top of the stage and the two have a staredown.
– Backstage, Renee Young is with Sheamus. She asks Sheamus for his level of concern knowing he has to face Bray Wyatt in the main event tonight. Sheamus talks briefly about how he’s not afraid and informs Wyatt that tonight — it’s time to fight.
– Bad News Barrett def. Kofi Kingston in singles competition. Barrett cuts a promo before the match dressing down Big E., informing him that he’s going to take his WWE Intercontinental Championship this Sunday at Extreme Rules. The two have a solid back-and-forth match that ends when Kingston leaps in the air off of the ringside steps, but gets caught on the way down with the Bull Hammer Elbow from Barrett. Barrett rolls Kingston back in the ring and covers him. 1-2-3. Barrett wins.
– Bray Wyatt def. Sheamus in the headline bout of this week’s edition of WWE Main Event. Bray Wyatt sings along with the crowd, singing of course, “he’s got the whole world in his hands.” He sings along with them until Sheamus’ music hits to interupt him. The two end up having an extremely competitive match that sees Erick Rowan and Luke Harper distract Sheamus at the end, allowing Wyatt to hit him with his Sister Abigail finisher for the 1-2-3.
– After the main event ends, Rowan and Harper join Wyatt in a three-on-one beatdown of Sheamus until The Usos come out to make the save. The show goes off the air with all six guys staring each other down.
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.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown, which was taped on April 22nd in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and will air this Friday, April 25th on the SyFy Network.
– “The Great Debate” between Paul Heyman and Cesaro.
– Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger
– Natalya vs. Tamina Snuka
– Curtis Axel vs. Jey Uso
– Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs. Goldust & Cody Rhodes
– Fandango & Layla vs. Santino Marella & Emma
– The Shield vs. 11 WWE Superstars
For a complete WWE SmackDown spoiler report for this week, click ahead to page two …
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.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross is profiled in a new SB Nation article called, “Good God Almighty, It’s Jim Ross! After a career that spanned four decades, wrestling’s favorite voice moves on.” The article focuses on JR’s early days in wrestling and how he became a broadcasting legend. You can check out the article at SBNation.com.
– The following are new “My First WrestleMania” videos from WWE’s official YouTube channel, which feature Kofi Kingston and Cody Rhodes talking about their experiences at their first WrestleMania.
– This Sunday is Mother’s Day in the U.K. and WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes, along with WWE Diva Natalya will be appearing on the ITV show “Surprise, Surprise.” The show was taped during the most recent WWE U.K. tour.
– The latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, which features an interview with comedian and television personality Howie Mandel, is now online. The official preview for the show reads as follows:
TIJ – EP25 – Howie Mandel Germaphobe Howie Mandel brings the comedy, laughs & anti-bacterial hand gel to Talk Is Jericho! He also brings a little behind-the-scenes dirt about Chris Jericho’s appearance on Howie’s TV show “Deal With It,” which is back for season 2. Plus, stories from his early stand-up days, kissing Howard Stern on the lips, and… Deal? Or No Deal?
You can download the podcast right now at PodcastOne.com.
The following is a non-spoiler match listing for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown. For complete spoiler results, click ahead to page two.
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel
– Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
– Goldust vs. Fandango
– Batista vs. Sheamus
– The Bella Twins vs. AJ Lee & Tamina Snuka
– Jack Swagger vs. Jimmy Uso
– The Miz vs. Mark Henry
– Bray Wyatt vs. Big Show
For complete spoiler results for this week’s WWE SmackDown, click ahead to page two …
The following are highlights of a recent Hartford Courant interview with Cody Rhodes:
CTNow: You’ve been through so many persona changes in a relatively short period of time compared to some other guys. I can think of at least four different versions of you. Was there any one of those personas — “Dashing” Cody Rhodes, Legacy Cody Rhodes or even the one when you first debuted with Bob Holly — that you wish you would have spent more time with, or one that was particularly your favorite? Do you ever miss things, like the mask or the mustache?
CR: I don’t miss the mustache. It was a wonderful talking point at signings, and I felt very much like an ’80s professional wrestler with the mustache. It was like, you’d see me in the airport and know I did something silly. I think if there’s one [character] in particular that I miss — I didn’t realize I was ever going to take the mask off, which was kind of stupid because I was 27 when I had it. You’ve got a lot of career [left]. You haven’t even entered your prime yet. This may not be the endgame, but I really enjoyed being under that thing. There was this side of me that it brought out. There was also this eerie confidence I had with certain elements of my game. I say I miss it, but the truth is that mask is under the ring at every WWE show. I guess it’s a bit of a spoiler, but at some point in my career, I wouldn’t be surprised if I pulled the apron up and then put it on one more time, that’s for sure.
CTNow: There’s a story floating around online about you paying for the Intercontinental title to be brought back in in its old form. At what point did you decide to go through with that, and what point did management start backing you and say that they’ll reimburse you for it?
CR: Sometimes, stuff happens. Sometimes, there’s no plan. Sometimes, you’ve got to be ready for that red light to turn on and have a new look or something about you. I had been going to WWE management about the Intercontinental title for five, six weeks, and I was met kind of roughly individually each time. But to me, it’s because they weren’t my age. It wasn’t because they thought I was stupid. I think it’s initially because they didn’t connect with my generation because they aren’t part of my generation. Three weeks in, I was very confident that I was going to get them to say yes on it out of pestering them alone, so I went ahead and followed through in getting it made for that reason. I wanted them to see it and maybe they could feel it. Sometimes, your passion isn’t always there when your ideas are shared, so I went directly to them with my passion, and the rest is history. At [WWE Hell in a Cell 2011 in] New Orleans, I pulled it out of some velvet bag, and it’s there forever, and I hope it stays the way that it is.
CTNow: Let’s say you get the chance to design your own storyline. What kind of thing would you do? Is there anybody on the roster you’re really itching to work with that you haven’t had much interaction with yet?
CR: That’s a good question because there’s only so many guys who are at the top of their game. For me, I’d probably like to finish something that I left off. [At] Battleground, we got rehired, and we got right into a war with the Shield. Next thing you know, we’re kind of a little new renaissance of tag team wrestling, but it all began with Triple H firing me in the first place. I’ve always had this goal ’cause my father a long time ago gave me this cheesy nickname, the Prince of Pro Wrestling, and I always thought, ‘Well, what would it be like it if you have the Prince of Pro Wrestling versus the King of Kings, and what kind of movie-like-quality dramatics can I provide the audience?’ Before he’s done with the in-ring element of the career — and he’s long from done — I’d like to find myself across the ring from Triple H one more time.
At the root of my professional career with my brother, I think I’m better than Goldust, and in his heart, he thinks he’s better than I am. We love each other, and we’re brothers, and that’s great, but at the root of all that, you kind of want to find out who’s right, and I certainly hope that at some point you get to see that match as well.
– According to one source, the three names that were initially listed internally for opponents for Batista at this year’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view were Daniel Bryan, John Cena or CM Punk. With Punk no longer actively working with the company, the latest word is that it will still be either Bryan or Cena facing “The Animal” in the main event for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
– The latest word going around WWE is that there will not be a “brother vs. brother” match between Goldust and Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania XXX.
According to reports, WWE is strongly considering the possibility of adding a third person to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship main event at WrestleMania XXX between Randy Orton and Batista. The latest internal lineup in the company reads, “Batista vs. Orton vs. ?”
Other WrestleMania XXX matches that have been discussed internally, but not yet decided on, include Big E. vs. Dean Ambrose in a match to unify the WWE United States and WWE Intercontinental Championships, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan vs. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, Sheamus vs. Christian, Goldust vs. Cody Rhodes and a match pitting two NXT wrestlers against each other in a match on the main card.
– A bunch of new PodcastOne.com podcasts are now available. Part two of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin on the new Jim Ross “Ross Report” podcast is available.
A new “Talk Is Jericho” podcast with Chris Jericho interviewing Ghosthunter star Jeff Belanger is up on his page.
Finally, the latest “30 Years Of WrestleMania” podcast featuring Renee Young interviewing Goldust and Cody Rhodes has been added.
You can check all of these shows out right now at PodcastOne.com.
– NBA star LeBron James recently bought his whole team WWE World Heavyweight Championship replica belts. He tweeted the following photo of his team with the belts on his Instagram account.
Always wanted to be the WWE Heavyweight World Champion so today I surprised my teammates with their… http://t.co/NmT44sSlVG
WWE officials are under the impression that Curtis Axel, who is from the Minneapolis area and is part of the famous Hennig family (Larry Hennig, Curt “Mr. Perfect” Hennig), may receive a babyface reaction from the fans in attendance at this Sunday’s WWE Elimination Chamber event.
As previously reported, Axel, along with Ryback, will take on Goldust and Cody Rhodes in a tag-team match during the Kickoff Show prior to the start of the pay-per-view.
– The new Jim Ross “Ross Report” podcast is already having great success. After only one show, JR’s podcast is already the number one ranked Sports & Recreation podcast on iTunes for the U.S., U.K. Canada and Australia. In overall podcasts, it’s number two in the U.K., number three in the U.S., number five in Australia and number seven in Canada.
– The latest video blog from Cody Rhodes and Brandi Rhodes (aka Eden) is now available. You can check it out at WWE.com.
– It was announced today that the USA Network will be airing a one-hour special for the WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony on Monday, April 7th at 11:05pm E.T. The special will air the night after WrestleMania XXX. The full ceremony will air live on the WWE Network on Saturday, April 5th at 9pm E.T.