With a victory over Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara on Raw Monday, Team Rhodes Scholars won the No. 1 Tag Team Title No. 1 Contenders’ Tournament to earn a title opportunity against Team Hell No at WWE Hell in a Cell this Sunday.
The official WWE website has released a match preview.
The announced card for Hell in a Cell, which takes place Oct. 28 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, is as follows:
* WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Ryback
* World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus vs. Big Show
* Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz
* WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No vs. Team Rhodes Scholars
– Delayed one week due to Rey Mysterio having the flu, Mysterio and Sin Cara will face Team Rhodes Scholars tonight on Raw in the Tag Team Tournament Final. WWE’s mobile service issued a text message stating that the masked grappler will compete as scheduled: “Rey Mysterio is in NJ and will compete tonight on RAW presented by Hot Pockets brand sandwiches.”
The winners will face WWE Tag Team Champions Kane and Daniel Bryan next Sunday at Hell in a Cell.
– WWE Tag Team Champion Kane is now on Twitter at KaneWWE. The account has been verified by the micro-blogging site, thus confirming its legitimacy.
– Raw General Manager and video game aficionado AJ Lee spoke to Inside Gaming about THQ’s WWE ’13 in the following video interview.
– Silvervision has released WWE’s promotional trailer for its upcoming nWo DVD and Blu-ray release, nWo: Revolution. The video features soundbytes from Booker T, Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Eric Bischoff, Sean Waltman, Big Show, Cody Rhodes, Kevin Nash and “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase weighing in on the rise and fall of the group.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=216wbicjYzs
The title will be released in North America on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
– The official WWE website has announced that John Cena will appear as a guest on “The Chew” and cook with Chef Michael Symon. The program airs Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. ET.
– Tickets for WWE’s SmackDown taping on Wednesday, Dec. 19 in Rochester, New York at Blue Cross Arena go on sale this Friday via Ticketmaster. (Ticket Information)
– Hip hop star Asher Roth has released his latest single titled, “Wrestling Is Fake” off his upcoming sophomore album. To listen to the song, visit Defsounds.com.
– Rey Mysterio tweeted the following on Thursday regarding his health and having to miss WWE’s tour of Egypt:
Would like to apologize to all the fans out in Cairo for not being able to attend the tour due to a serious illness!
– WWE.com has posted a photo gallery of Cody Rhodes granting his first wish for the Make-A-Wish organization earlier this week.
– NYC-based radio host Peter Rosenberg interviewed Paul Heyman for almost 20 minutes this morning. Heyman talked about enjoying his current WWE run, how his role with CM Punk is different than anything he’s done previously, his epic in-ring confrontation with Stephanie McMahon, several weeks ago, WrestleMania 29 & 30 and more. Here’s the audio:
– In an exclusive interview for WWE’s new mobile app, Matt Striker interviewed Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow after they won their match to advance to the finals of the tag team tournament. Rhodes and Sandow declared they will be the next WWE Tag Team Champions because they are the “smartest, youngest and hungriest” team in WWE.
– Following the split of R-Truth and Kofi Kingston’s tag team on RAW, Kofi is in line for a singles push. There has been talk of feuding him with Intercontinental Champion The MIz.
As for R-Truth, we saw an in-ring segment with him and Brodus Clay on RAW. With Kofi Kington breaking off on his own, there was talk over the weekend of pairing R-Truth and Brodus Clay together as a team.
– RAW social media ambassador Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dolph Ziggler were trading insults on Twitter during RAW. Arnold says he will be back:
– At the conclusion of Raw Monday, Vince McMahon presented WWE Champion CM Punk with an ultimatum: at Hell in a Cell, he would either face John Cena or Ryback. And if Punk hadn’t made up his mind in seven days, The Chairman said he would make it for him.
– The finals of the WWE Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contenders’ Tournament will be determined next week on Raw as Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara take on Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow. On Monday’s show, Mysterio and Cara defeated The Prime Time Players while Team Rhodes Scholars beat Santino Marella and Zack Ryder.
– WWE has released a promotional video hyping a match between Randy Orton and Big Show this Wednesday on WWE Main Event on ION Television. (Watch)
– Today’s wrestling birthdays include WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz (32) and former WWE star Paul Burchill (33).
– Sheamus vs. The Big Show and Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio are the top matches WWE is advertising for December’s SmackDown Holiday Tour.
– When asked by a fan if Jerry Lawler will on tonight’s RAW, Jim Ross replied, “No…it will be a few wks but he’s doing great.”
– Cody Rhodes suffered a black eye during his tag match with Damien Sandow against Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio at last night’s WWE SmackDown live event. Sandow Tweeted this about the injury:
Following Wednesday night’s of WWE Main Event, the updated brackets have Santino Marella and Zack Ryder facing Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow in one semi-final match.
The other semi-final match will feature Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara vs. the winner of Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs. Darren Young and Titus O’Neil (which takes place on Friday’s SmackDown. )
As we know, the winners of the tournament will face Kane and Daniel Bryan for the WWE Tag Team Titles at Hell In a Cell.
In a spoiler update, Rhodes and Sandow are scheduled to win the tournament and challenge for the titles at Hell In a Cell later this month.
The plan is for Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara to lose to Sandow and Rhodes in the finals due to interference from Young and O’Neil. This would lead to a second tag team match at Hell In a Cell – Mysterio and Cara vs. Young and O’Neil, which would be a rematch from the finals.
– Per a huge announcement by SmackDown General Manager Booker T, Kane and Daniel Bryan will defend the WWE Tag Team Championship on Oct. 28 at Hell in a Cell against the winners of an eight-team tournament.
The bracket revealed on SmackDown showed the following first-round match-ups: Team Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow) vs. Jimmy and Jey Uso; Santino Marella and Zack Ryder vs. Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd; Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs. The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O’Neil); and Epico and Primo vs. Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara.
– This week on “Backstage Fallout” for SmackDown, The Miz addressed the chaos on “Miz TV,” which resulted in the show’s host being punched in the face by World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus. Wade Barrett also boasted about his dominance after defeating Zack Ryder. Plus, Big Show talks about becoming the No. 1 contender to World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus at Hell in a Cell. (Watch)
– Former WWE superstar Goldust says WWE continues to take away signs from fans that talk about a potential Goldust vs. Cody Rhodes match. He tweeted during Night of Champions:
– As reported over the weekend, JBL will be doing commentary once again at tonight’s RAW. JBL got mixed reviews backstage for his commentary work at Night of Champions. The feeling was that did a good job, but was rusty and made a few mistakes earlier in the evening. JBL was doing his “homework” backstage before the show, getting himself up to speed on WWE’s characters and storylines.
– There has been a lot of talk in WWE this week about having Dolph Ziggler cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase tonight at Night of Champions. Ziggler has been one of the breakout stars of 2012 and management thinks that he’s really on the cusp of making it to the main event level.
– With the anti-American riots currently taking place in Egypt, WWE’s upcoming tour of the country scheduled for late October might be rescheduled. Cody Rhodes was scheduled to visit Cairo, Egypt to do promotional work for WWE, however it’s unknown whether he’ll be making the trip. Rhodes has since been added to tonight’s Fatal 4 Way match for the Intercontinental Championship.
– Here’s this week’s “Are You Serious?” Youtube show with Josh Matthews and BG James:
It was announced on Friday’s SmackDown that The Miz will defend the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara and Cody Rhodes in a Fatal 4-Way Match this Sunday at Night of Champions.
With the addition of the match, all six titles will be at stake at Night of Champions. The United States Championship Match will be set on the pre-show when the winner of a battle royal advances to the pay-per-view to challenge Antonio Cesaro.
* WWE Champion CM Punk vs. John Cena
* WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes
* WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio
* Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler
* WWE Tag Team Champions R-Truth and Kofi Kingston vs. Kane and Daniel Bryan
* WWE Divas Champion Layla vs. Kaitlyn
* Pre-Show Battle Royal to name No. 1 Contender to WWE United States Champion Antonio Cesaro
WWE NXT star Kassius Ohno (formerly Chris Hero) tweeted the following messages on Tuesday night about Friday’s night’s NXT match between NXT Champion Seth Rollins and WWE superstar Cody Rhodes:
So there's this whole #RollinsVsRhodes thing. Friday in Ft. Pierce, Cody's coming to NXT to wrestle Seth, which is cool, don't get me wrong
– On this week’s “Backstage Fallout” for Raw, Dolph Ziggler rips WWE Champion CM Punk for walking out on him during their tag team match before vowing to defeat Randy Orton this Sunday at Night of Champions. Cody Rhodes rips The Miz, with The Awesome One responding in a separate interview that Rhodes is jealous. Plus, Eve leaves WWE Divas Champion Layla and Kaitlyn dumbfounded with her encouraging remarks.
– Monday on Raw, Sheamus’ use of the prohibited Brogue Kick prompted a response from Raw General Manager AJ Lee who, in turn, was interrupted by SmackDown General Manager Booker T. Since the World Heavyweight Championship falls under T’s jurisdiction, he decreed that if Sheamus uses the kick again, he will be stripped of the title.
Lee posted a Twitter message furthering the storyline. She wrote to T, “Hey @BookerT5x next time you want to appear on RAW, my show, ask first. I could have handled @WWESheamus without your help.”
– WWE.com has released a video playlist highlighting the biggest WWE Superstar “Dream Teams” of all-time. Video clips of some of the biggest WWE stars of all time teaming up to do battle include The Undertaker and The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, Trish Stratus and Lita, and more.
– Cody Rhodes, who has become obsessed with unmasking Sin Cara on WWE programming, rattled a top ten list of celebrities he thinks should put a mask on to WWE.com.
On actor Jonah Hill, he states, “We live in a day and age where you no longer have to be talented, or even good-looking, to be in films. These days, Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill … We can identify with them because they don’t take care of themselves and they’re kind of funny, I think — or is that quirky? Either way, I enjoy nothing they do.”
Rhodes also takes aim at ESPN commentator Skip Bayless: “Another person in dire need of a mask. After watching [Dallas Mavericks owner] Mark Cuban rip [ESPN commentator] Skip Bayless from head to toe over stats that Skip Bayless should have known, I lost my interest in Skip Bayless’ show and started to trust [ESPN commentator] Stephen A. Smith, which I never thought would happen in a million years.”
The SmackDown star thinks Ang from the VH1 reality series Mob Wives is in dire need of a mask as well: “For obvious reasons, I will plead the fifth on why Big Ang needs to wear a mask. All you need to do is Google ‘Big Ang,’ and you’ll find two excessive reasons for a mask.”
– Santino Marella is searching for his first international correspondent for “Santino’s Foreign Exchange’s.” He conducts his search with a number of WWE Superstars.
– Several WWE superstars have been using the hashtag #RollinsvsRhodes to give their predictions for the upcoming match between NXT Champion Seth Rollins and WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes. The match takes place at the upcoming NXT live event on September 14th from Ft. Pierce, Florida. Here are some highlights of what the following superstars have said:
Daniel Bryan: “I love good wrestling… which means I can’t wait to see my old rival @WWERollins square off against @CodyRhodesWWE on NXT #RollinsVSRhodes”
Ted DiBiase: “Heard about #RollinsVSRhodes coming up. Should be a great match up, however, my bets are on Rhodes.”
NXT Star Big E. Langston: “#RollinsVsRhodes 9/14. Should be held in the yard at Ft. Leavenworth w/ each combatant in prison garb a la “Life,” but Ft. Pierce will do.”
Tyson Kidd: “Looks like poor @CodyRhodesWWE can’t handle others like @WWERollins making a buzz. Maybe Blackout time?? #rhodesvsrollins”
– To commemorate 10 years since WWE re-introduced the World Heavyweight championship, the WWE website has ranked the Top 15 WWE World Heavyweight Champions of All Time.
15. Goldberg
14. Daniel Bryan
13. Randy Orton
12. Kane
11. CM Punk
10. Chris Jericho
9. John Cena
8. Mark Henry
7. Rey Mysterio
6. Sheamus
5. Booker T
4. The Undertaker
3. Edge
2. Batista
1. Triple H
– Late night television host Jimmy Fallon’s production company, Holiday Road, recently pitched a pro wrestling-themed sitcom to NBC. The show, tentatively called Slammed, is written by one of Fallon’s writers and takes place behind-the-scenes at a pro wrestling promotion.
– NXT Champion Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes have been feuding via social media this week. After Rollins took offense to The Miz calling Cody the “Future of WWE” on RAW, the second generation superstar issued a challenge to Rollins at the upcoming NXT show from Fort Pierce, Florida on Friday, September 14th.
Seth Rollins has accepted the challenge in this Tout video:
– In the midst of Cody Rhodes’ “obsession” with unmasking Sin Cara, WWE.com has published photos of the high-flying Superstar with his mask removed. His face, however, is not visible in the photos.
– WWE will hold a SmackDown taping at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Tuesday, November 20. Tickets go on sale Saturday, September 15 at 11:00 a.m. via Ticketmaster.com.
– Former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis has been announced to appear ringside for CHIKARA Pro’s King of Trios tournament September 14-16. She will be in the corner of Mike Bennett and the Young Bucks when they take on The Warlord, Barbarian and Meng.
– Lex Luger is featured in today’s “Superstar Spotlight” on WWE.com.
– WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart has been announced for Monday’s RAW from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada for “Pat Patterson Appreciation Night.” The Bell Centre is the site of the infamous Montreal Screwjob that drove Bret Hart away from WWE for over a decade.
– Damien Sandow will be appearing at this Friday’s WWE NXT show from Orlando, FL at the Armory.
– Cody Rhodes is firing back at NXT Champion Seth Rollins for taking issue with The Miz declaring Rhodes the “Future of WWE” on Monday’s RAW. Cody has now issued the following video response and says he is open to wrestling Rollins at the September 14th NXT live event, which both wrestlers will be attending:
– Chris Jericho is now blogging updates from his current tour with Fozzy at MetalHammer.co.uk. His latest entry, titled, “Hammer Is Jericho Blog 2: Sin And Bones Uncovered (AKA Wait. Wait. I Never Had A Chance To Love You),” is now online.
– WWE NXT Champion Seth Rollins is taking issue with The Miz referring to Cody Rhodes as the “Future of WWE” on Monday’s RAW. Rollins tweeted on Monday night, teasing a confrontation with Rhode at NXT’s upcoming live event from Ft. Pierce, Florida:
– WWE.com updated its roster page this week to reflect recent storyline developments.
Eve and Curt Hawkins are now official members of the SmackDown roster. On last week’s episode of SmackDown, Eve defeated Kaitlyn to become the SmackDown Assistant General Manager to Booker T. Hawkins appeared on the show with Tyler Reks as they debuted male stripper characters. Reks was briefly listed on the page before he was granted his contract release on Tuesday.
AJ Lee is officially a member of the Raw roster after being named Raw General Manager by WWE chief Vince McMahon on Raw 1,000. Despite controlling the program, she continued to be listed as a SmackDown Diva.
– This week’s episode of WWE Superstars is headlined by Justin Gabriel vs. Cody Rhodes. Also featured are Yoshi Tatsu vs. Damien Sandow, Santino Marella vs. Jack Swagger and Alex Riley vs. Drew McIntyre. (Watch)
– Jim Ross, who will commentate matches at tonight’s WWE NXT tapings at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, tweeted prior to the event, “I have plenty of time 4 any NXT talent who wants to be great. To be physical & smart. To work diligently to improve. To the others, nothing.”
– Tyler Reks announced on Facebook and Twitter Wednesday that he has been granted his release from WWE. He cited his desire to be a full-time father, writing, “I realized recently that being a Superstar means sacrificing certain things, including time with my family. As a new father, my heart broke every time I had to leave to go on the road. I didn’t ever want to miss another moment with my daughter, so I made the decision to be a full time dad and hang up my boots.”
Curt Hawkins addressed his former tag team partner’s career decision via Twitter, writing, “Lucky for all of you I’m not a Dad (yet), I’m just a determined kid who loves the wrestling business. I’m here to stay. See you at the show.
– SmackDown Superstar Cody Rhodes has been announced to appear at the NXT live event taking place Friday, September 14 at Fenn Center 2000 Virginia Ave Fort Pierce, Florida 34982. He is scheduled for a Meet and Greet.
– Ticketmaster.com is holding a pre-sale for the October 15 Raw in Nashville, Tennessee at the Bridgestone Arena beginning Thursday at 10:00 a.m. with the passcode MARK. The venue’s official website is advertising a WWE Championship Match between CM Punk and John Cena.
– Raw General Manager AJ Lee announced on Twitter Monday night that Daniel Bryan will attend anger management classes beginning next week. “Starting next week, I’ve decided to help Daniel Bryan out with his anger issues, by sending him to anger management therapy classes,” she tweeted.
Bryan vehemently opposes her decision. He sent out a Tout where he angrily states, “I don’t belong in anger management! I do not belong in anger management! That Big Red Monster, he does! Do I? Look at my new T-Shirt! No! No! No! The new General Manager is nuts.”
– WWE Diva Eve Torres turns 28-years-old on Tuesday.
– EOnline.com has published an article on Khloé Kardashian Odom serving as Social Media Ambassador to Raw Monday.
“Divas Battle Royal!! This is what it was like growing up with my sisters! JK!,” she joked on Twitter at one point. She also noted, “I bet Sin Cara is gorgeous under his mask, probably better looking than @CodyRhodesWWE.”
– Cody Rhodes posted a video on Tout and says it’s his “responsibility” to unmask Sin Cara and show the world his face. (Pictures of Sin Cara Unmasked)
– Just days after the release of WWE’s new mobile app, the app is already 14th most downloaded app in the Apple App Store and the 21st most downloaded app in the Google Play store. For those who haven’t downloaded it yet, it’s absolutely worth a look and one of the most content-rich, polished apps we’ve ever seen.
– Damien Sandow will be appearing at the upcoming NXT live event from the Orlando Armory in Orlando, Florida on September 7th.
– Kevin Dunn, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Television Production, reportedly went ballistic on Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst at SummerSlam for flashing the middle finger when he was shown at ringside last night, according to f4wonline.com. WWE reportedly blurred out the middle finger on some delayed PPV feeds and the replays of the show.
– WWE superstar Ezekiel Jackson noted on Twitter that he watched WWE SummerSlam from a Hooters restaurant.
– During an interview with theScore’s Arda Ocal (@arda_ocal) over the weekend in Los Angeles, WWE Superstar Cody Rhodes graded his Intercontinental title run and talked about what’s next for him, whether or not he is ready for the main event and an interesting revelation about “Dashing” Cody Rhodes’ grooming tips.